Summer Reading!

Summer is almost here!  What will you read this summer?  Here are some tips to make sure you beat the dreaded summer slide!  Keep your reading mountain going higher and higher so you start next year at the same spot you left!

1.  Visit the Austin Public Library!  The Spicewood Branch is only a few miles from Forest North.  Get unlimited free checkouts with a library card.  Check out the amazing programs they're having this summer, too!  

2. Come visit Forest North during Summer Library Hours.  Our library will be open during the summer on these Tuesdays from 4:30-6:00 pm.  Come check out some books, play games with teachers, and see your friends!

• Tuesday, June 16th
• Tuesday, June 30th
• Tuesday, July 14th
• Tuesday, August 11th

3.  We'll also have our 2nd annual LIBRARY LOCK IN on Wednesday, July 29th, so save the date now!  More information on that to come!

4. Ways for librarians, teachers and parents to prevent summer slide!  Just a few ways listed in this article include turning on closed captioning on TV, cooking with a recipe, looking things up on the internet, having quiet time during each day to unplug from devices, read on the go, and limiting screen time.  It's all about increasing the number of words read, in any way!

5. Read something fun!  Find something that's interesting for you.  Here are some ideas:

• Next year's Texas Bluebonnet Award books for kids in 3rd-6th grades.
• Next year's Lone Star Reading List for middle school readers
• Adults should read too!  Check out this year's Lariat Reading List!
• Next year's 2x2 Reading List for readers 2 years - 2nd grade.
• The New York Times Best Seller List for middle grade fiction
• Horn Book Magazine's recommendations for newly independent readers ( entering1st-2nd)
• Horn Book Magazine's recommendations for intermediate readers (entering 4th-6th)
• Horn Book Magazine's recommendations for picture books (fiction & nonfiction)
• Most of all, read what YOU like.  Anything and everything counts as reading!
• Think you're too busy to read?  You're not!  Read on your way to your grandma's, while you wait at the doctor, while you're at your sister's swim practice.  Read in the edges and you'll always be in the middle of a book!

6. Make a list!  Remember we talked about this during our Thanksgiving Bookathon?  Always keep a list ready of books you want to read next so you're never stuck between books.  Good readers are never done with their "to be read" list.  Keep track of your list on goodreads or write it down!

7. Take a photo!  Make your title match your setting and save that snapshot for our annual Special Reading Spot Photo Contest!