It’s October, so naturally it’s time to start thinking about 2022’s Summer Reading Program. (See, this is the kind of thing that makes people who work in normal fields think we’re weird.) For many of us, our professional lives revolve around a few hectic, sunny weeks when we blow most of our budgets and energy reserves in an effort to keep young brains from atrophying. I exaggerate. Sort of. Anyway, it’s fun! Summer Reading is fun, and that’s why we’re excited to launch our monthly, SRP-focused office hours:

• Wed, Nov 3rd at 1pm
• Tues, Dec 7th at 1pm
• Wed, Jan 5th at 1pm
• Tues, Feb 1st at 1pm
• Wed, March 2nd at 1pm
• Tues, April 5th at 1pm
• Wed, May 4th at 1pm 

We’ll be meeting monthly, alternating the first Wednesdays and Tuesdays of every month at 1:00. The Zoom links for the office hours will come through both the OYAN and Kids-lib listservs. If you’re not already registered for those lists, you can do so here: https://bit.ly/orlists. Look for Greta’s invitation for the meeting on Wednesday, November 3, when we’ll be focusing on debriefing about last year’s program and looking ahead to what’s next! In the meantime, we’ve created a Jamboard to get the conversation started. Please take a look and add your thoughts: https://bit.ly/SRPjam
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If you have any SRP-related questions or suggestions, you can reach out to us, Lisa Elliott (Tigard Public Library) at lisae at tigard-or.gov and Dena Chaffin (Silver Falls Library) at dena.chaffin at ccrls.org.  Check out the CSD Summer Reading webpage.

I encourage you to check out the whole presentation, as Manfredi’s enthusiasm is infectious and had me placing all sorts of holds and orders. Covering it all would be a very long blog post, so here are some highlights.  See her entire presentation and her slide deck at the end of this blog post.

Here is a bibliocommons list of board books and picture books that Manfredi recommended in her presentation.

​Manfredi shared tons of great comics suggestions, including highlighting the recent trend in early reader comics. For those looking for the next Gerald & Piggie, try the Fox & Rabbit series by Beth Ferry, illus. Gergely Dudás (Amulet Books) or the Bunbun and Bonbon series by Jess Keating (Graphix). Raina Telgemeier fans should dive right on into Twins by Varian Johnson, illus. Shannon Wright (Graphix), Stepping Stones by Lucy Knisley (RH Graphic), and the Shirley and Jamila series by Gillian Goerz (Dial). 

​Another publishing trend Manfredi shared was the boom in 80-112 page, highly-illustrated chapter books. She specifically called out three publishing imprints: Aladdin QUIX (Simon & Schuster), Acorn (Scholastic), and Harper Chapters (HarperCollins). Smaller publishers like Capstone are getting in the game as well, with series like Astrid and Apollo by V.T. Bidania, illus. Dara Lashia Lee (Picture Window) and Sadiq by Siman Nuurali, illus. Anjan Sarkar (Picture Window).

​Take Manfredi’s word for it: vampires are back in YA publishing and anthologies are coming in hot. For both, Manfredi recommends Vampires Never Get Old: Tales with Fresh Bite edited by Zoraida Córdova & Natalie C Parker (Imprint). But the two books from 2020 Manfredi says she was thinking about all year were Not So Pure and Simple by Lamar Giles (HarperTeen) and Parachutes by Kelly Yang (Katherine Tegen Books), both realistic fiction. Manfredi’s highest praise, though, went to The Magic Fish by Trung Le Nguyen (RH Graphic), a graphic novel she calls “one of the best YA books ever.” (I 100% agree with her on that assessment!)

Click here to see Manfredi's slide deck.  You will need to log into Google in order to view it.

To wrap it all up, Manfredi shared some tips & tricks for keeping up with publishing:

• Read Children’s Book Council Hot Off the Presses (free)
• Read PW Children’s Bookshelf Newsletter & on sale calendar (free)
• Let publishers market to you (if you want, how you want) by reaching out to them

If you liked Manfredi’s presentation and want more, her series of similar talks for the State Library of Iowa can be found here: Check It Out! (2021) and Check It Out! (2019). You can also find her on Twitter @misskubelik, her blog Fat Girl Reading, or connect with her via email.

For the complete poem, click here.

The poem enabled workshop participants to take some much needed time to reflect on our previous past two years of summer reading endeavors.  Greta asked, "What will we keep for upcoming summer reading programming, and what will we stop?"   The workshop gave participants the space to not only reflect, but to problem solve and most importantly to be reminded of our why for summer reading:

• Every kid in our community can access reading materials they enjoy.
• Every family member feels like the library matters to them and that they matter to the library.

Youth services staff were up against many challenges during the pandemic. We consistently tried to provide the best summer reading experience to our youth patrons and their families.  Much of what we provided was successful.  However, there were still challenges.  During our workshop we had time to reflect and evaluate what worked well for summer reading and what did not. Some examples of the many challenges included:

• My teens don’t have transportation to the library
• We have a lot of new parents and babies in our neighborhood.  We don’t see them accessing our services. 
• The nonprofit down the street wants to combine forces to support families next summer. I have no idea what to do.
• Some of our families don’t see themselves reflected in our library spaces and services. They don’t feel that the library is their library.
• Our summer lunch site coordinator says they want to work together to keep kids reading, but they never communicate with us. 

Greta lead us through a few meaningful activities that enabled us to reflect, evaluate and collaborate with other youth service staff.  We discussed significant summer reading challenges and had the opportunity to create tools and techniques to address these challenges.  ​If you were unable to attend the workshop, try the following activities for yourself and with other youth services staff in your library. See what tools and techniques you come up with that could solve your key summer reading challenges.  

Think of a story about the last activity you tried for the very first time.

• Was it exciting or scary?
• How did being a beginner help you?
• Share and discuss your answers or journal about them.

Greta Bergquist is our State Youth Services consultant.  The Summer Reading Chairs are Dena Chaffin (CSD) and Lisa Elliott (OYAN).   Feel free to contact them with your summer reading questions. 

Please look out for Zoom links to the Summer Reading office hours:

• Wed, Nov 3rd at 1pm
• Tues, Dec 7th at 1pm
• Wed, Jan 5th at 1pm
• Tues, Feb 1st at 1pm
• Wed, March 2nd at 1pm
• Tues, April 5th at 1pm
• Wed, May 4th at 1pm 

If you have questions or concerns about Summer Reading for next year, drop in to Summer Reading Office Hours.  Look for more information coming with Zoom links.  The Summer Reading Chairs Dena Chaffin and Lisa Elliott will join Greta at the following dates and times: