Summer reading introduces new genres, fosters excitement

Maddie Dougherty understood the payoff of reading for fun last summer. Her mom, Elizabeth, saw the payoff in other ways.

Maddie was the grand prize winner of Reading Rocks, Elkhart Public Library’s 2018 summer reading program. She won tickets to see Taylor Swift in concert at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis.

The prizes may draw kids to participate, but Elizabeth Dougherty sees many more benefits to making the library an important part of summer.

“(She gets) to check out new books that maybe the school doesn’t have,” Elizabeth says. “It gives her some opportunities to branch out, it brings her things that maybe she wasn’t familiar with. I’m never worried about her falling off with reading during the summer, but I feel like it diversifies her a bit.”

For Maddie, that means a chance to read different genres.

“Maddie loves to read, excessively almost,” Elizabeth continues. “She likes the summer reading program because she gets rewarded for that, whether it is the beads and the bead chain or the grand prize.”

According to Elizabeth, Maddie enjoyed the newest component of the program: writing a short report about the book she read.

“Telling other people about the books through the reviews was really exciting for her,” Elizabeth says. “She discovered a new author … (and) she was really excited to tell other people about that. One of those reviews is actually the one that she won with.”

Maddie and her brother, Henry, come to the library to check out books most often during summer, according to their mom.