Kids can GO! everywhere they want to this summer – just by vising the library
Kids can explore the world this summer through the TD Summer Reading Club at Toronto Public Library. This year's theme is GO!—encouraging children to journey to places near and far, from the backyard to other worlds.
The TD Summer Reading Club is a free, inclusive national and bilingual program that strives to engage children 12 years of age and younger in the joy of reading during the summer months. Research shows that children who participate in summer reading clubs improve their reading skills and increase their love of reading, returning to school in the fall without learing loss and with an increased confidence in reading and in school.
Through generous support from TD Bank Group, the TD Summer Reading Club is developed by Toronto Public Library and offered to libraries nationwide in partnership with Library and Archives Canada. The 2013 national launch took place at Winnipeg Public Library last month, and the program kicks off in Toronto library branches after the last day of school.
Children who join the club receive a reading passport plus a pre-reading activity book (ages 0-5) or school-age magazine (ages 6-12) that they can enjoy all summer long. As club members read, they earn collectible passport stickers with codes that unlock bonus website content. The TD Summer Reading Club national website features recommended books, drawing how tos, kid-submitted jokes and drawings, puzzles, silly stories, digital books to read online and more.
All kinds of fun, free TD Summer Reading Club programs and events are being offered at TPL branches across the city this summer. Expect special guests, scavenger hunts, puppet shows, crafts, games, bingo and more.
Award-winning painter, illustrator and musician Matt James is behind the club's artistic elements this year. His picture books, Yellow Moon, Apple Moon by Pamela Porter and I Know Here by Laurel Croza, have received many awards, including the Boston Globe-Horn Book Award and TD’s Marilyn Baillie Picture Book Award. Matt has most recently illustrated Northwest Passage by Stan Rogers (September 2013) and he is currently working with Laurel Croza on a follow-up to I Know Here.
Matt lives in Toronto and he will be leading drawing programs for kids at six Toronto Public Library branches throughout the summer. Space for this program is limited and advance registration with the local branch is advised.
Matt James Drawing Program Schedule:
Barbara Frum Branch – July 2 at 2 p.m.
Northern District Branch – July 11 at 2 p.m.
Parkdale Branch – July 18 at 2 p.m.
Highland Creek Branch – July 23 at 2 p.m.
Thorncliffe Park Branch – August 8 at 2 p.m.
York Woods Branch – August 15 at 2 p.m.
For more information about how to participate in the club, and for a full listing of upcoming programs and events, please visit a Toronto Public Library branch or http://www.torontopubliclibrary.ca/go.
Tell us how you plan to incorporate reading into your child's fun this summer!
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