June 13 is the last day of school for most students across the territory. As kids spill out the doors of schools and into the sunshine, the Yukon Public Libraries is introducing an initiative to make sure they don’t leave their books behind.
For the first time, Yukon Public Libraries is launching the Summer Reading Passport Program across all 15 libraries in the territory: the English-language passports are available at the Whitehorse library, and will be arriving at community libraries in the coming days. There will also be French language passports available.
The passport looks akin to the Canadian passport, dimension-wise, said Drew Whittaker, the public programs librarian with Yukon Libraries.
Inside, artwork done by local artist Dan Bushnell adorns the stamp pages, inspired by Yukon nature and wildlife, Whittaker said.
Interested children will be given passports and be encouraged to come up with a summer reading goal in consultation with their families, he said.
“Maybe it's about numbers of books, but it doesn't have to go numbers of books,” Whittaker said. “Maybe it's about the type of books that kids want to read, and it's also there's a chance for kids to kind of reflect on reading something new…”
The librarian will sign off on a child’s reading goal, and stamp the reader’s passport as they move towards their goal, he said.
“They take their passport with them. They check out books. They read, read, read all summer long, books from the library, books from home, books from those small community library boxes. They read comic books. They just read as much as they can. They keep track of it, loosely. Keep track, and then they get their passport stamped at any Yukon Public Library location,” he said.
Aside the gift of reading, children will also receive a medal at summer’s end to reward them for their reading, Whittaker said. All 15 libraries will hold a community event to honour those that have achieved their reading goals, he said.
Reading is a radical and revolutionary thing, Whittaker said. It preserves and shares information with others across space and time, he added.
“The value of reading to children is about interacting with their world, is about deeper, enriching experiences with their world. It's about being able to share, communicate their ideas. It's about opening their lives into human creative processes, of which, writing, discussing, debating, is part of our intellectual human existence,” he said.
Reading and writing are also important for a child’s future, be it education or employment, he said. A good foundation in literacy is connected to better life outcomes, he said.
This is the first year the program is running, although previous years have seen similar programs imported from outside the Yukon, said Whittaker. Whittaker said creating a made-in-Yukon version was discussed for years.
“We like the made-in-Yukon approach. We are a different place. I think we're very keenly aware of how, of the differences up here, and often think like, oh yeah, we can do it. We can do our own and it'll be better,” he said.
“Libraries are institutions that are constantly changing, with changing technology and changing community needs. So you know, we're always keen to, like, look at our programs and see if they need a tweak or a change or an overhaul.”
Contact Talar Stockton at talar.stockton@yukon-news.com
