Editor's note:
Hilary Bloom is Director of Library Services at the Squamish Public Library
Reporter Steven Chua’s opinion piece, Teach Kids to Read Critically (July 20, p. A10), highlights the challenge we all face in distinguishing facts from “alternative facts” in our information-overloaded world. However, his assessment that summer reading club programs are no longer enough undervalues the foundational literacy skills that these reading incentive programs build in the emerging readers who participate. Kids need to read for pleasure, they need to read widely, they need to read what they’re interested in (even if their parents don’t approve of it), they just need to READ.
Reading gives you the superpower to see things from a variety of viewpoints. Reading makes you think in ways you’ve never thought before. The more you read, the better you are at processing and assessing the information coming at you from all directions. Furthermore, if a sticker or a prize is enough of an incentive to motivate a child to stick to this habit through the summer, and into adulthood, fantastic!
As kids get older, they do need to learn to think about whether or not the information they consume is from a reputable source; it would benefit all of us to apply a more critical lens while reading. The good news is that your local public library supports this learning by providing open access to a great variety of high quality, selected resources. Our staff can show young patrons how to access and evaluate information, and we organize programs and activities for children to develop information literacy skills and digital literacy skills, often working in partnership with local schools and teachers. We do all of this for adults too (at no charge)!
We invite everyone to drop by our library’s “Read-a-Thon” on Friday, July 28 to witness first-hand the power of summer reading club programming for Squamish kids. Who knows - it might kick-off or reignite your own love of reading, or at least reassure you that information literacy is alive and well at the Squamish Public Library, participation stickers and all!
