Summer’s here, and nothing like a good beach read! Don’t you wish the kids were enthusiastic about Summer reading as you are? In this story, I’ve got a list of Summer Reading Programs in Central Mass.
Kids–they’ve got all the time in the world in the summer, and can just lay around reading all day if they wanted to. Unfortunately, for many parents, getting the kids to do their summer reading can be quite the chore. With six kids, we always had to be pretty creative to keep things equal across the board. Jay and I are pretty voracious readers, him more so than me these days, but it wasn’t always easy to get our kids to read as they were growing up.
When our older kids were in high school and the younger were in elementary grades, we had to come up with something that inspired or incentivized them, to keep us from losing our minds.
We decided to implement a summer reading program by which they were to earn credits for our upcoming school clothes shopping. This was in the olden days, probably around 1999 to 2007.
The Shenk Summer Reading Program had the following benefits and rules. Each kid got one new outfit and one pair of shoes. After that, they could earn $25 per book for anything that they read over the summer. The book must be at, or above, their current reading level and they had to type a one page summary about the book they read. Raise your hand ~~ wouldn’t you love to be given that opportunity yourself?
The first year started slow, with two reluctant teenage readers and a third who called our bluff and thought there’s no way we’d starve him out with only one outfit. That’s what they got that year. The next year, still reluctant, the same kid may or may not have written a summary based on the description on the back of the book, and no partial credit was given, so it was a light year for him then as well, but his siblings were catching on and reading like crazy. The third year was when Abercrombie and Fitch came to our area, and man, were those clothes expensive. That kid finally turned the corner and now 20 years later half of the kids are voracious readers, that one included.
For our youngest daughter‘s college graduation in 2025, Jay and I, and each of her siblings chose a title for her and we gave her 7 books for pleasure reading–something that has been a long time coming.
There are a lot of summer reading programs in Central Mass for adults and kids, and I’ve created a list below.
Am I missing anything in this Summer Reading Programs in Central Mass RESOURCE STORY? Please message me with any info you have, so I can always keep my CENTRAL MASS RESOURCE STORIES as current and relevant as possible!
Ashburnham
The Stevens Memorial Library
“Stomp Into Summer” Reading Kick-Off
Saturday, June 13
Ashby
Ashby Free Public Library
Athol
Athol Public Library
TBA
Boylston
Boylston Public Library
Fitchburg
Fitchburg Public Library
Gardner
Levi Heywood Memorial Library
ur
Holden
Gale Free Library
Children’s Summer Reading
Adults Summer Reading
Monday, June 15
Hubbardston
Hubbardston Public Library
Lancaster
Thayer Memorial Library
“Plant a Seed, Read!” Summer Reading
Children and Adults
Saturday, June 27 – Saturday, August 15
Leicester
Leicester Public Library
Leominster
Leominster Public Library
“Plant a Seed, Read!” Summer Reading
Friday, June 12
Lunenburg
Lunenburg Public Library
Children’s Summer Reading
Phillipston
Phillips Free Public Library
Princeton
Princeton Public Library
“Plant a Seed, Read!” Summer Reading
Rutland
Rutland Free Public Library
Children’s Summer Reading
Sterling
Conant Public Library
Children’s Summer Reading
Monday, June 8
Templeton
Boynton Public Library
Westminster
Forbush Public Library
Summer Reading Kick-Off
Saturday, June 13
West Boylston
Beaman Memorial Public Library
Summer Reading
Winchendon
Beals Memorial Library
“Plant a Seed, Read!” Summer Reading
Worcester
Worcester Public Library
