Free entertainment, celebrity readers and storytellers, and all the books you can read.  It's all part of the public libraries' summer reading club, aimed at providing summer fun, and more, to out-of-school students.

Amanda Travis coordinates the summer reading programs for Onondaga County Public Libraries, and says this year's program has a lot to live up to:  last summer 8,000 children and teens were enrolled, and read 10,000 books.  The numbers translate into good news in fighting the 'summer slide':  educators know that students who don't use their brains for the two and a half months of summer vacation spend a long time re-learning, instead of being ready to go on to new material come Fall.
And, Travis says, the summer reading program also lets young people choose their favorite topics, and explore areas of interest, rather than being assigned required reading.

This year's summer reading theme is 'One World, Many Stories' and signing up for the free program also gives any  young NY resident a chance at prizes and more.   NBC-3 is also in its 25th summer of Book Breaks.  Our staffers are reading at 17 Onondaga County Public Libraries this summer, as part of the fight against 'Summer Slide.'  Come join us and meet some of the people you see on tv!