Summer Reading Booklets

I thought that y’all might be interested in what we do for our children’s Summer Reading Program. I mean, beyond all of the many storytimes and book clubs. If not, then skip this post.

Years ago when I began at this library, the program was rather chaotic and messy. Individual coupons were given out, and along with other really cheap tchotchkes (i.e. they broke within 30 seconds of child use) that may or may not relate to the theme.

At some point after surviving two crazy summers where kids would come in begging for new coupons since they’d lost theirs, running out of tchotchkes, and more often than not having waaay too many coupons printed, I had an epiphany: let’s create a summer reading booklet with activities and coupons in them. Furthermore, we could brand the booklets, make them match the theme, and hopefully make them keepsakes for participants.

And our Summer Reading Booklet was born. I put together Publisher files and made the general template. The first year’s theme (that we used booklets) was One World, Many Stories therefore, we called our booklets Passports. Unfortunately, I became very ill during most of the following summer, and the concept for switching the booklet’s name to match the theme didn’t happen. And so they were called Passports again for Dream Big Read (though I had wanted to call them Dream Journals). When I was back for the following summer, we called the booklets Field Guides for the theme of Dig Into Reading. This year? Science Journals. But to this day many people refer to them as Passports. And that’s cool as long as we understand each other.Booklet on Make A Gif

These booklets have been a huge hit for the staff, our local businesses who are super-supportive, and patrons (both young and old). I’ve lost count of how many parents have thanked us for consolidating the coupons into a harder-to-lose booklet. The businesses seem very pleased that they’re part of something that could be a keepsake.

I’m super pro-branding (it was something ingrained into me after working several years as a marketing manager for a big bookstore), and feel that it’s an important concept that more libraries should embrace. So with that in mind, we dumped all the CSLP prizes, bags, etc (all but t-shirts for the staff) and went with our own. It’s always bugged me from day one that the CSLP items don’t even mention libraries in general. If they were to offer personalization with the library’s logo on items? I’d be over-the-moon happy.

This year we invested in green convention bags, and two custom self-inking stamps all with our logo on them created by an Etsy seller:

We also had a local business make these signs for the local businesses who support our program:

They’re double-sided and removable (since they’re like a sturdier vinyl decal). They’re also thick enough that they can be propped up in a stand depending how the business chooses to display theirs. Our wonderful Young Adult Librarian came up with this idea, and it was warmly received by businesses.

This year, I’ve been trying to start pushing more advocacy for our library, and I came up with the idea of having a new Mayor’s Summer Reading Challenge that we added to the booklet. Basically, children (1st-5th grade) are challenged to read a handful of different types of books. If they read one from each category, then the mayor will present them with a special certificate at a ceremony where he will discuss the importance of reading and our library. Yay!

A little more about the booklet and how it works:

We give the guidelines (suggested reading times, our policy on replacement booklets, etc.) in the front, and then each following page contains a coupon and a fun or creative activity related to the theme on the opposite page. The coupons correspond to one week during our summer program. Children are not allowed to work ahead on the booklet (at least for the reading times), but can bring in a booklet with several previous weeks filled out and we’ll “activate” the coupons.

“Activating the coupon” means is that we look for a reading time in the week’s coupon page, and if there’s a time written (any time), then we stamp that page with our library logo stamp. At that point the child can go to that business and get the prize.

The activities on the opposite pages are what we hope will make the booklet a keepsake along with the changing covers. I’ve had a few parents mention that they’ve kept theirs, and it’s also become fun for us to reveal the new covers.

I’ve been hearing more and more librarians mention that they’re moving away from toy prizes/prize baskets. We did that last year and it was one of the best changes we’ve made. We let children pick out two “forever books” (a term one little girl used last year when she grasped the concept) if they managed to read every week during the program. You should see some of the kids’ reactions when they realize this. And many parents have expressed how much they love it. Not a single person complained when we got rid of the other prizes – actually several parents thanked us for doing so. If you’re thinking of making a change to books-as-prizes: DO IT!!!!!

And guess what the children put their “forever books” into? Well, this year it will be our library’s new plastic bags. Yay! I can hardly wait for the final weeks where we’ll have children streaming out into the world with two special books that they selected, and advertising our library/program.

If you have any questions about this, then don’t hesitate to ask me – either in the comments or send me an email at hafuboti@gmail.com.

Update: Someone asked about deciding how many booklets to make, and I thought it worth sharing the answer here. We have a “one tier” upgraded Survey Monkey account (paid for by our Friends group), and we ask that parents register their children for a booklet. That way we have a good idea of how many to make (then we make about 50 more for “walk-ins”). We had a larger-than-normal amount of walk-ins this year, so next time we hope to encourage more preregistrations by offering a local bookmark coupon to those who sign-up early.

Updated-update: We’ve been giving out coupons for those who preregister AND come in to pick up the booklets when 2 weeks of their release.

We have also tried various different “challenges” to replace the Mayor’s Reading Challenge (which was slightly disastrous – it’s a long story). We tried making it a School Reading Challenge where kids could earn books for their school libraries (there was a lukewarm response to it). We finally hit on the perfect challenge: attending a certain number of library events in order to earn one more “forever book” at the end of the program. This has proven very popular. We set the bar at five programs for kids K-5, and three programs for the younger children.

Furthermore, after the two week mark, I email or call those who have preregistered but have not yet picked up their booklet(s). I did this one year, skipped it another, and then resumed again last year. It was glaringly obvious which years I reminded patrons that their booklets are waiting for them, so I highly recommend making the time to do that.

66 thoughts on “Summer Reading Booklets

    • 1. I am so tickled to share, and glad that you liked it.
      2. I love your Tiny Tips blog, and sort of loudly “squee’d” when I saw that you’d commented on my blog. You made my day :)

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  5. I’m just now reading this post as I’m doing research again on going prizeless – thanks again for sending me your files last spring, and no worries about the font – I didn’t even notice! :)

  6. How do you handle children who sign up for the reading program a few weeks into the summer? Are they still eligible to get forever books, since they didn’t technically read every week?

    • As long as they get reading times filled out, and it’s their first booklet, then we’re fine with them working backwards – it’s like we tell kids who are at camp and can’t read that they can always work backwards. However, we won’t let kids work ahead of time. There are families who come in the very last week to get all of the booklet stamped and make a day of getting all of the coupons.

      Did that help explain it? Let me know if you have any other questions!

  7. Hi – would you be willing to send me your files for the booklets? I love, love, love them :)
    thanks,
    Erin
    (kplyouth at kctc dot net)

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  9. Have you updated / Will you update the files for the 2015 Summer Reading Program theme of “Every Hero Has a Story?” I would love to have the files (and the font too, if you don’t mind) whether they are/will be updated or not. Thanks so much!

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    • Yep – I sure am! I just sent the files to the email you used in order to post a comment. PLEASE let me know if you didn’t receive them, or that you’d like me to use a different email. :D

  11. Thank you for blogging about all your amazing ideas! I’m working on changing up our summer reading logs an would love to see your file if you are willing to share.

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  13. We’ve been “toying” around with the idea of less giveaway trinkets too. I would love love love to see your booklet so I can add it to my inspiration pile.

    • I will love love love to send the files to you! Even if you don’t end up doing anything with them, then take pride in that you’re willing to grow or change your programming vs. staying stuck in “we’ve always done it this way.” :D

  14. This is too late for this years summer reading, but will you send it to me for next year. I tried to convince my staff this year that toy less was the way to go. So this will help them to see your awesome example.

  15. I love this idea! Did you do it this past summer, too? How have the patrons responded? One more: do you mind sharing your booklet with me? Thank you! And awesome job :)

    • Thank you, Emily!
      In answer to your questions:
      1. Yes we did! It was the fifth year that we’ve used the booklets.
      2. Even the first year they were warmly greeted by our patrons. Previously there were cheap trinkets and loose coupons. Now the focus is on community and getting at least one book by the end of the summer.

      Every year we make notes of ideas to improve the booklet. This upcoming summer we’ll likely not change a thing (but we’re still open to looking for changes/improvements).
      3. I don’t mind at all! I’ll send you the Publisher files in just a bit :D It’s totally my pleasure!

  16. How do you handle patrons that lose their booklets? I love this idea, but I wonder how many times we’ll hear “I need a new one”. Do you keep track of their progress as well?

    • Awesome questions!
      We use Survey Monkey to sign up as many participants as possible ahead of time. We then download that info into Excel and organize it with two columns next to participants’ names, phone/email: P/U and 2nd. We put a check in the P/U column when they pick up their pre-registered booklets PLUS a bonus local business coupon as a thank you for pre-registering. Then, if they come in for a second booklet, we make a check in the 2nd column, and we cross-out every previous weeks’ coupons.

      The first two years of this program, we had a small handful of kids lose their booklets and have coupons crossed out. This year? I can’t even think of one.

      We don’t track progress except for the final prizes. So we just track if the program was “completed.” We want this to be a fun experience and not a chore. But we make sure to compliment the kids if they have a good amount of time marked down for their weekly reading. :)

      Hopefully that all makes sense! It’s easier than it sounds – I promise.

  17. This sounds like such a great idea! Our Library is thinking of going prize-less as well. Would you be willing to share/email your booklet template with us?
    Thanks so much!

    • Y’all really should – it’s WONDERFUL!!!!!
      As soon as I reply here, I’ll send you an email (at the email you provided) with the files.
      You’re so very welcome – it’s totally my pleasure!

  18. I just saw this featured as a link in a American Libraries edition. I love this idea. I wonder if you have any suggestions on how to track the amount of books read? We like to keep this number for our statistics.

    • I would think that it’d be a pretty easy adjustment (at least in our booklets). We’d adjust the time read that week for # of books read, and then have a dedicated tally sheet for staff to tally those numbers (or just write the number instead of tallying).

  19. I am just now reading this. I know that this is 2017, but I was wondering if you were still updating your Publisher Files and booklets? If so, would it be possible for me to receive your Publisher Files and and helpful tips for putting the books together.?
    When I took over as Library Director in 2011, our Summer Reading program contained a lot of prizes out of the prize box whenever the certain number of books was read. We had overflow of Scholastic books, duplicate copies of books we had on our shelves, so I chose to not only give prizes out of the prize box but their main prize was so many free books for the amount of books they read during the program. The prize box prizes became items that were put in a goody bag with a book mark that the children would receive as they went out the door each week of the program. In the past 5 years our program has gone from mainly prize centered to more book centered.

    • Hiya, Kathy! I have files from 2016 which we just updated a few things on for 2017. 2017 is the first time that we haven’t done any true changes to the format – so the ’16 should work!

      I’ll email them to you along with some tips! :)

  20. Hi
    Would you be willing to share/email your booklet template with us? Do I need to know or do anything special to edit it?
    Wonderful idea, thank you so much!!!

    • Hey Someone – I’m totally cool sending the template :) Gimme a few minutes and it should be in your inbox along with some pointers. It’s a Publisher file, so if you’re comfortable with that program, then you’ll be totally cool 🙂

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