We’re kicking off our If You Give a Child a Book Campaign – a chance for you to help children in Milwaukee develop strong reading skills! A solid foundation helps set kids up for success in high school, college, and beyond.
Milwaukee Public Library (MPL) knows reading doesn’t have to be a monster – but the staff is using some friendly reading monsters to encourage summer reading.
“It’s probably the most powerful thing that we can do,” says Victoria LaPorte Sanchez, MPL’s Library Education and Outreach Coordinator. “It’s magical when you really think about it. I can make these scribbles on a page make sense and it just unlocks worlds for me.”
LaPorte Sanchez says summer is a special time for kids.
“The summer is a great opportunity to explore your identity as a reader – ‘what do I like to read? What really grabs my interest?’”
That’s why MPL puts on its Summer Reading Program. Kids get points for reading books and doing other activities, with the goal of earning 30 total points.
“Reading begets more reading, and if you really see yourself as a reader, and that’s part of your identity, then you’re going to find those opportunities to read wherever you are,” LaPorte Sanchez says.
Practice makes perfect! As kids get older they need to read more and more for every subject at school.
“The content area reading becomes easier if you have that solid foundation of reading in the early years,” LaPorte Sanchez says.
This is why she and her staff want to make sure kids learn to love reading – no matter what genre, subject, or author.
“We just want to continue to feed them that steady diet,” LaPorte Sanchez says. “You want more of that? We’ve got more of that.”
Help kids reach their reading goals by donating to our If You Give a Child a Book Campaign, which runs until the end of September. Every $5 you donate buys a book for a deserving child in our community.
You can even text to donate! Just send 4BOOKS to 345-345.
