Summer Stars is coming!

Enjoy choosing books that you might like and read as many as you wish during school summer holidays at your own pace. Summer Stars is all about Reading for Pleasure. That’s the message from Clare County Library as it announces the annual Summer Reading Programme. Summer Stars gets under way for children on June 15th, with additional online activities for all who sign up.

As we are currently operating a Contact and Collect Service through many of our public library branches, Summer Stars will be managed in the same way. Ask your parent/guardian to phone or email your local library to order your summer reads and you can pick up your collection of 6 books at a designated time at the library door. You will receive a Summer Stars log card to track your reading. We will need to know your age so that we can choose the most suitable books for you. If you would like library staff to include an Irish book or a non-fiction book in your selection we will be happy to include some of our most popular titles.

We are delighted to offer you the option to include e-books and e-audio books downloadable for free from the library website to add to your Summer Stars reading experience. Simply choose Borrowbox from the library’s list of e-Resources on the library website homepage and log in with your library ID/barcode and password/PIN. With the help of your parent/guardian you can download the app. From the 15th of June, there will be a Summer Stars section on Borrowbox which will have a range of children’s e-books and e-audio books with individual collections for children aged 0-4, 5-8, 9-12 and 13+.

Remember to keep a lookout for the latest posts on Clare Library’s social media channels as there will be fun learning activities in the coming weeks for you to join as part of Summer Stars 2020. There will be words of encouragement from some of your favourite authors, readings by Clare library staff and a Story Competition – An Unexpected Adventure that will be open to children all over Ireland. Entry details are not available yet but feel free to begin imagining your story right now! There will be great prizes for all the winners and runners up.

So in summary remember to:

• Borrow your books from branches of Clare County Library and electronically from the Borrowbox App after June 15th.
• Enjoy reading every single book
• Log onto our website www.clarelibrary.ie for Summer Stars updates
• Full details of the Summer Stars programme are also available at www.summerstars.ie
• Remember to visit our Facebook, Twitter and Instagram social media channels for regular Summer Stars postings throughout the summer.
• List the books you have read on your Summer Stars reading log and remember to return it to your library to receive your Summer Stars Certificate in September.

The Summer Stars Reading Adventure is an element of the Right to Read initiative, which is co-ordinated at national level by the Right to Read Steering Group, chaired by the Department of Rural and Community Development. Right to Read is an annual programme to support literacy and reading development across local authorities and is led locally by the public library service. Key elements of the Right to Read service currently include a network of local partners supporting and co-operating in literacy and reading development activities and a series of annual reading activities including Spring into Storytime, Summer Stars, Children’s Book Festival and Family Time at Your Library.