Big Summer Read provides a novel idea for eager readers

Published on 08 March 2022

Frankston City’s Big Summer Read has been a real page turner for our young bookworms.

Mayor Nathan Conroy, Lions Club of Frankston President Julie Swan and Frankston City Libraries Manager Laura Antoniak met with excited young readers to present awards for the Big Summer Read challenge.

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.

Frankston City’s avid reader, Nathan, won an iPad, donated by the Lions Club of Frankston, with runners up Merrin and Mathys receiving passes to Holey Moley Mini Golf and Strike Bowling respectively for their top efforts.

Participants in the challenge had to log a minimum of 10 books and collect five activity badges to complete the challenge.

Mayor Conroy congratulated the winners for their efforts and embracing the joy of reading.

“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 over summer.

“The Big Summer Read is a wonderful initiative that promotes reading over the summer break. It provides a great incentive for children to indulge in books and stories and read for pleasure,” Mayor Conroy said.

Lions Club of Frankston President Julie Swan said the club is keen to support local community projects that make a positive impact in people’s lives.

“Reading is vitally important for children and the Big Summer Read highlights the value of literacy,” she said.

Young reader, Rosita, who attended the Big Summer Read presentation at Frankston Library, won a Robinson’s bookshop voucher as the door prize.

Frankston City Libraries offers an extensive range of services including the FrankTALKS discussions with authors in the series, online 24/7 student support, language tutorials, free access to researching family history and digital magazines available.

For more information, please visit https://library.frankston.vic.gov.au