Every year Citrus Libraries host a series of activities for students during the months of summer vacation.

Library Launching Digital Summer Reading Program

Activities are focused on encouraging community youth to get excited about books and practice their reading skills while they are out of school. Youth librarians usually achieve this by providing programs inside the library while also offering a number of incentives for students who work towards their personal reading goals for the summer.

This summer Citrus Libraries will be approaching the Summer Reading Program from a more digital angle. The theme for this summer is “Imagine Your Story” and will focus on folklore and fairy tales from around the world; each week will explore a different element of the overall theme. Beginning on Monday, June 15th, and running six weeks Youth Librarians will post daily videos featuring storytimes, crafts, and experiments. New videos will be uploaded to Facebook, YouTube, and //citruslibraries.org/youthsummer at 10:00 am Monday through Friday.

All five branches currently have Imagine Your Story Activity Bags available for pickup. These bags contain some of the materials for the crafts and activities that will be featured throughout the six-week program. Bags will also contain raffle ticket books for two of the three reading incentive programs happening this summer.

Students entering kindergarten through 12^th grade can enter into a raffle to win a bicycle of their choice, sponsored by Walmart of Homosassa. Participants must have a library card and can enter up to 6 times, once per week. Entries will be collected through July 24. There will be a systemwide total of 5 randomly selected bike winners. Students will also receive a prize when they submit these tickets at their library.

The Reading with the Rays program has gone completely digital this year and students are encouraged to visit //raysbaseball.com/reading for details on how they can read through the summer and receive two free tickets to a future Rays baseball game.

Everything parents and students will need to know can be found at //citruslibraries.org/youthsummer as well as on the library’s Facebook page.