The Summer Reading Program at the Dare County Libraries is designed to be flexible and fun for children of all ages.
Parents can rest easy knowing the Summer Reading Program is educational and will help children maintain the reading skills they developed throughout the school year so they are better prepared to enter the classroom once again in the fall.
This year’s Dare County Library Summer Reading Program is planned differently. Unlike prior years, we won’t be hosting popular performers and filling our meeting rooms with dozens of parents and children. To begin Summer Reading this year, programs will be “virtual”, or outside (weather permitting) and we will have weekly “kits” including activity sheets for parents to take home, and available on our website. If guidance changes, it is possible we will have an in-person program or two by the end of the Summer Reading Program in early August. Weekly activity sheets will be posted on our website and weekly activity kits will also be available via our convenient “no staff contact” curbside pick up at each library location.
This year’s Summer Reading theme is “IMAGINE YOUR STORY” and many fun and exciting activities have been planned. Children can register in one of two ways: On our website darenc.com/SummerReadingProgram, there is a simple fill in form for parents and children to complete. You may also register outside the library. Starting on Monday, July 6 you can pick up a registration form and reading tracker curbside at the Hatteras and Manteo locations between the hours of 10:00 a.m. and 3:00 p.m. Kill Devil Hills curbside registration will be on Tuesday, July 7. After July 7, parents not wanting to register online can call and pick up forms for their children at the library via curbside service calling their library weekdays between 10:00 a.m and 5:00 p.m. Weekly themes and activities will be posted on the Library’s Summer Reading Website.
This year, “IMAGINE YOUR STORY” Summer Reading Program will reward children who complete 5 fun reading activities on their reading tracking form (bingo card) by August 7 by awarding them a brand-new free book of their choosing from a list, courtesy of the Dare County Library Foundation. The reading tracking form (bingo card) is also available on our website. There is a tracking form for preschoolers and a different one for school age children. Each week a new activity sheet will be available on our website darenc.com/SummerReadingProgram, and weekly activity kits will be available for curbside pick-up beginning each Tuesday at Kill Devil Hills and Manteo and each Thursday at Hatteras.
Participating children can read books from home, or books from the Dare County Libraries via our convenient curbside delivery service. The Dare County Library also offers free eBooks for children of all ages.
- Cloud Library offers thousands of eBooks titles for children of all ages as well as teens and adults.
- TumbleBookLibrary is an online collection of animated, talking picture books that teach kids in preschool through grade six the joy of reading.
- NCKIDS Digital Library is a state-wide ebook collection of over 5,000 eBooks for preschoolers through Grade 4.
For more information about our free eBook products, including how to access, visit darenc.com/virtuallibrary.
Major funding for the 2020 Summer Reading program comes from The Dare County Library Foundation, darecountylibraryfoundation.org. The Dare County Library Foundation was established in 2002 to enhance library services and collections. The mission of the Dare County Library Foundation is to improve the quality of services that the Dare County Library provides to the community. By securing resources to support library programs and projects not normally met by public funding, the library can grow and better meet the needs of our community.
We hope that parents, grandparents and caregivers will give their child, grandchild, niece or nephew the opportunity to discover or rediscover the wholesome enjoyment that reading for pleasure can give to a young person as they “IMAGINE YOUR STORY!” at the Dare County Library this summer.
Weekly themes and activities will be posted on each library location website.
Hatteras Library: 252.986.2385
Kill Devil Hills Library: 252.441.4331
Manteo Library: 252.473.2372