Frankston City’s Big Summer Read will be a page turner for bookworms

Published on 30 November 2021

Frankston City Council Mayor Nathan Conroy has urged kids to ensure this summer is fully booked with great reads.

The Mayor said Frankston City Libraries are excited to be part of the Big Summer Read, adding: “The school holidays are a time for kids to enjoy a break from school and enjoy a relaxing time with family and friends.

“While this is vitally important, research has shown that kids can lose some of the literacy skills they gained during the year and start the following year at a disadvantage. However, there’s an easy solution and it doesn’t involve more school work over summer!

“Kids simply need to keep reading and be read to by parents, guardians and carers. Summer is the perfect time for children to indulge in books and stories and read for pleasure,” Mayor Conroy said.

Frankston City Libraries Manager Laura Antoniak said the Big Summer Read program has been developed by Public Libraries Victoria to raise awareness of the benefits of reading over summer and to ensure children have access to resources to slow the ‘summer slide’

As part of the Big Summer Read, kids are encouraged to keep reading over the summer holidays with incentives via Beanstack, a mobile app that provides rewards for reading.

When reading milestones are reached, kids earn ‘badges’ for their Beanstack profile and increase their chances of winning a prize!

Participants need to log a minimum of 10 books and collect five activity badges to complete the challenge. All badges will be released at the start of the program and can be completed at any time.

The Big Summer Read is now open for pre-registration and starts Wednesday 1 December 2021. Pre-registration enables kids to create their account on Beanstack and sign up to the program. It ends on Friday 31 January 2022.

The program is ideally suited for primary-school aged children, but parents and guardians can sign up pre-schoolers. Teenagers are also welcome to participate.

Ms Antoniak added: “We have prizes from Frankston local business Holey Moley and Strike to give away and a bumper prize at the end, donated by Lions Club Frankston. Stay tuned and keep reading for more prize information.”

For more information about the Big Summer Read including registration, please click here.