Summer Reading Party

Bubbles and music filled the air as families arrived at the Fortnightly on Saturday, August 1st, for the annual party to celebrate summer reading.

Knox County Public Library’s youth department staff wants to thank the Friends of the Knox County Public Library, Knox County Public Library Board, donors of prize coupons, volunteers, all library staff members, local media outlets and participants for a summer filled with learning and fun.

We’re delighted that total participation exceeded the 2025 total by 184.

Here are the participation totals: Adults 308, Teens 76, Children 545 for a grand total of 929!! Total attendance at all summer reading special programs/events was 355.

With this column is one of Tom Bartholomew’s many excellent photos of this year’s summer reading program.

The main purpose of the Summer Reading Program is to help combat the “summer slide”. This is the loss of knowledge from the end of one school year to the beginning of the next. Library summer programs have been shown to dramatically increase retention of information by helping keep young minds engaged over the summer. Even if people read for fun, it helps keep their mind stay engaged and helps young people retain what they learned the previous year.

Summer reading programs have been offered in public libraries throughout the United States since the 1890’s. Though some formats and materials are different, the benefits are the same. They include but aren’t limited to the following:

• Children are motivated to read.

• Children develop positive attitudes about reading, books and the library.

• Children maintain their reading skills during summer vacation.

• Children have access to experiences that further their sense of discovery.

• Children have access to experiences through which they can lear to work cooperatively.