Calgary Public Library hosting Ultimate Summer Challenge

The Ultimate Summer Challenge is the Calgary Public Library's largest program with close to 20,000 people signing up annually for the last seven years.

The challenge is to encourage every family member to keep track of their reading throughout the summer.

"It can be your family reading at home, it can be your book club, it can be a group of girlfriends sharing titles through the summer," said Melanie Nicholson, communications lead at the Calgary Public Library. "Read as much as you want, read whatever you want, it can be a fiction novel, it can be a comic, it can be a graphic novel, it can be an audio book, it's really just about establishing that habit of reading and having fun while you're doing it."

Registration opened June 1 and the free program runs from July 1 to August 31st. Nicholson says it's easy to sign up and participants are eligible for prizes for all ages that include Calgary Zoo memberships, game prize packs, activity subscriptions, iPads, AirPods, and a variety of other items.

"What we're doing is creating a daily habit of reading," she said. "So once you've done that for 62 days, you're not going to stop on September 1. It just keeps on going and into the school year and into that back-to-school feeling -- so that's really what we're after."

App for that

Once signed up, there is an app to track daily reading and see how everyone in the family is progressing.

Organizers say the challenge is an opportunity to develop consistent reading habits.

"Originally one of the reasons for the challenge was to help combat what was known as summer slide," said Nicholson. "Where children are having such great momentum they get to June and then they stopped, everything stops.

"The (Ultimate Summer) Challenge is a way for people to continue reading, especially for those young ones that are just getting started and they don't lose their momentum through summer, they can maintain that habit, they can keep learning keep growing, and then they hit the ground running in September when they're back to school."

Vowel sounds

Lindsey Bowns signed her family up for the first time. She's a library member and regularly checks out books with her six-year-old daughter Maribelle.

"Maribelle has been working really hard on her vowel sounds and learning her letters at kindergarten," she said. "We don't want to lose that in the summer, but (the challenge is) way more fun than working through textbooks and worksheets."

Maribelle is keen to improve her reading and enjoys books about unicorns and princesses.

"A princess book, what I like about it is how they have a happy ever after," said Maribelle. "I have phonics books, I have learning books, I like those books to help me learn."

Bowns was given access to the app to help track the family's reading. Maribelle can also colour a map to see her progress and get stickers to put on it at any library location in Calgary.

"I would love for her to have filled up that sticker chart and the coloring sheet as much as she's happy with," said Bowns. "And to be able to proceed into Grade 1 knowing that we've read so many books, we've had so many imaginative trips during the summer, she will have new talking points with her friends, new vocabulary and have been practicing her reading right back into the school year."

The Ultimate Summer Challenge is presented by the J K L MacLachlan Family Fund and is part of the TD Summer Reading Club, which is a national program for kids in Canadian public libraries.

Learn more about the program here.