The CLEL Bell Awards, presented by Colorado Libraries for Early Literacy (CLEL), recognize five high-quality children’s books that provide excellent support for early literacy development in young children ages 0–5. Awards are given in the five early literacy practice categories for both English and Spanish titles: Read, Write, Sing, Talk, and Play (leer, escribir, cantar, hablar, and jugar). The five winning titles are selected from a shortlist of 25 honored books chosen from nominations submitted by CLEL committees.

The CLEL Bell Awards are a wonderful reminder that picture books are powerful tools for building early literacy skills. A book can encourage a child to talk about the story, sing along with a repeated phrase, experiment with writing and drawing, engage in imaginative play, or simply enjoy the rhythm and joy of reading together with a caring adult.

2026 CLEL Bell Winners

READ
Let’s Be Bees by Shawn Harris (Neal Porter Books)

WRITE
Don’t Draw In This Book by Bill Cotter (Sourcebooks Jabberwocky)

TALK
I Can Say Moo! by Stephanie Cohen, illustrated by Lindsay Dale-Scott (Sourcebooks Explore)

SING
Abuelita’s Song by Gloria Amescua, illustrated by Mariyah Rahman (Beach Lane Books)

PLAY
Catch! by Trish Cooke, illustrated by Ken Wilson-Max (Charlesbridge)

You can explore these winning titles in more depth and find early literacy activity sheets for each book on the CLEL website. These resources are a great way to extend the reading experience and help caregivers and children continue interacting with the books beyond the final page.

Help Choose Next Year’s CLEL Bell Winners

As librarians, we know that there are countless picture books published each year that inspire conversation, creativity, movement, and connection. The CLEL Bell Awards are an opportunity to celebrate the books that intentionally support young children’s early literacy development.

If you’ve discovered a book published within the last year that is an excellent example of one of the five early literacy practices, consider submitting it for a CLEL Bell Award. When completing the nomination form, you will enter the book information, select the early literacy practice you think the book best represents, and answer three questions:

• Please describe the connection between this title and the category you selected.
• How does this book support or model an early literacy practice or skill?
• Beyond simply reading the book together, how could it encourage interaction between an adult and child?

As you read new picture books, keep these questions in mind. Some books naturally invite conversation, movement, singing, drawing, imaginative play, or repeated reading. These are the books that create opportunities for children and caregivers to build early literacy skills together.

The nomination committee is accepting submissions through November 15. If a recent favorite comes to mind, consider sharing it with the CLEL Bell Awards Committee. Your nomination could help highlight the next outstanding books that support early literacy development for young children.

The post CLEL Bell Awards: Celebrating Picture Books That Support Early Literacy appeared first on ALSC Blog.

The five senses are touch, hearing, smell, taste, and sight. After explaining when they develop for most babies, some suggestions for incorporation into library programming will be listed.

Touch

Touch is the most advanced of the five senses at birth. This means that:

·      Songs about body parts can help teach bodily autonomy early on.

·      Being held by their caregivers during storytime helps form emotional bonds.

·      Textured books are fun for a sensory experience!

Hearing

Hearing is also developed at birth and developing babies can hear in the womb. Many babies start to babble by 6 months old. As a result:

·      Songs encourage the development of language skills.

·      Human interaction is a key component of language development.

Smell

Smell develops rapidly over the early years of a baby’s life.

·      Strong smells can interfere with appetite.

·      Try to avoid strong scents and sensory fragrances during storytime like perfumes or food smells.

Taste

Taste also develops quickly through the early years.

·      Babies prefer sweet tasting foods, but will try to put storytime books and props in their mouths.

·      They’re just exploring—have a plan for sanitizing later with non-toxic products.

Sight

Sight is the least developed sense at birth. Babies don’t fully have color difference or depth perception until around 8 months old. The following link contains an image of what a baby’s vision looks like through the first 6 months versus adult vision: https://www.spectacleoptometry.com/blog/what-can-babies-see

·      This is the reason why there are so many black and white board books. Babies have an easier time seeing the pictures.

·      Since touch is much more developed than sight in young infants, passing out durable board books can be helpful for establishing the book as an object. It’s okay if caregivers don’t make it through the whole book in order. What’s important is to learn that books are where stories come from!

References and Additional Resources

1. Harvard University. (2025).Center on the Developing Child at Harvard University. Center on the Developing Child at Harvard University. https://developingchild.harvard.edu/  

2. NAEYC. (2020). Principles of child development and learning and implications that inform practice. NAEYC. https://www.naeyc.org/resources/position-statements/dap/principles  

3. UMass Global. (2025). What Is Early Childhood Education? UMass Global. https://www.umassglobal.edu/blog-news/what-is-early-childhood-education

This blog post relates to ALSC Core Competency of: III. Programming Skills and VII. Professionalism and Professional Development.

Ashley Brown is the Program Manager of the Online MLIS at Denver Program at the University of Denver where she instructs primarily in Youth Services Librarianship and is a current member of the 2025-2027 ALSC Membership Committee.

The post Sensory Development in Babies (and Why It Matters to Libraries) appeared first on ALSC Blog.

Join the ALSC Blogging Team

We are seeing growth in our Blog and would like to add to our team of regular ALSC Bloggers. Regular ALSC bloggers must be members of the Association for Library Service to Children; they normally submit one piece per month.

Members of our ALSC Blogging Team must be current members of ALSC and generally commit to contributing one post per month. With the reunification of ALSC and YALSA in full swing, we are particularly seeking out bloggers who will offer a look at teen related topics in libraries. We are looking for a broad range of perspectives and experiences with a specific focus on representing and empowering diverse voices.

Interested in joining our team of regular bloggers? Submit a Regular Blogger Interest Form.

Become a Guest Contributor

Guest contributors may request an opportunity to submit a guest blog post. Guest bloggers don’t need to be ALSC members, but the post must be of interest to librarians, must be related to children’s or teen librarianship, and must align with the mission of the blog. Guidelines related to guest bloggers can be found in our Guest Post Guidelines.

Some recent guest posts have included:

• Scratch, Read, Repeat: Bringing a Little Extra Joy to Summer Reading with Scratch-off Cards by Renee Kitson
• Why This Small Library Hired an Artist instead of a Librarian by Peter Blenski
• New Research on the Ecosystem that is Changing Early Literacy in NYC by Jessica Lizzio
• Thinking Money for Kids Librarian Summer Camp by Jennifer Knight

Interested in submitting a guest post to the ALSC Blog? Read and fill out our Guest Blogger Interest Form.

Join a Conference Blogging Team

The Annual ALA conference and the ALSC Institute are both experiences at which micro-bloggers reflect and report on their experiences for those who are unable to attend. As an attendee, we invite you to share what you’ve learned through contributions via the ALSC Blog. Our next conference blogging opportunity will be at the ALSC National Institute, October 1 – 3, 2026.

Curious about what this type of blogging entails? Take a peek at our live blogging archives to see examples of past conference coverage. If this sounds like something you’d enjoy, we’d love to have you join our team! Your contributions will play a vital role in making the conference accessible to all; especially those unable to attend.

Interested in participating as a volunteer conference blogger? Complete the Conference Blogging Interest Form.

Want to write for the ALSC Blog? We’d love to hear from you!

Mary R. Voors
ALSC Blog manager
alscblog@gmail.com

The post Want to Write for the ALSC Blog? appeared first on ALSC Blog.

Here are three jobs I wish really, truly existed for us kid lit lovers out there: 

Story Time Educator for Professional Sports Teams

In this dream job, I would travel around to professional sports team—basketball, football, hockey, baseball, etc—and teach them how to properly do story times and group read-alouds. As a school librarian, I saw a lot of sports teams eager to connect with schools and student groups. But then the reading element kind of faltered. They don’t always know the best way to hold the book, which is awkward. The teams aren’t always making the best selection of a read aloud story. Some of them are not doing the voices right! The readers are not using it as a chance to build vocabulary. Sometimes it’s simply their confidence that lacks. In this job, should it exist, I would right all these wrongs and ensure that these famous athletes were also famously great readers and made the story time experience a glorious one for everyone involved. 

Children’s Book Adaptation Dramaturg 

A dramaturg helps bring authenticity, research, and background to a theatrical production. They create packets—-packets, that’s a librarian’s dream! This dream job would serve that dramaturgy role specifically, and exclusively, on adaptations of children’s books. Ideally, children’s chapter books into full-length film, television, or stage plays. This role is making packets about the cultural cache behind The Westing Game, or the unicorn lore in Skander and the Unicorn Thief. Maybe this role would be putting together reading lists for the crew of stage adaptations of Caldecott picture books. Ideally, this role is booked and busy because that means there are even more adaptations of children’s books!

Museum Gift Shop Book Curator

Now, hear me out. I know that running retail for a museum gift shop is a real job, but I don’t want that job. I just want to pick the books. This job idea came to me after I visited a Holocaust Museum that had a temporary exhibit on the kindertransport, but no copies of Nicky & Vera to be bought in the gift shop. Here, I would be the liaison between the retail element and the curatorial side, ensuring that great books for kids, and adults, would be ready for people who come in excited from a great museum day to learn more. For example, an art museum where a heist once took place absolutely needs a copy of A Strange Thing Happened in Cherry Hall. Perhaps this role also oversees a book club. A dream world, right?

Maybe all of these jobs are being done by someone right now in the world, but wouldn’t it be great to see the importance of children’s literature expertise celebrated on job jobs outside of libraries and schools? 

What is your DREAM Kid Lit job, even if it doesn’t exist quite yet? 

The post 3 Dream Jobs I Wish Existed for Kid Lit Lovers appeared first on ALSC Blog.

1. Start with relationship building
   • As with any working relationship, getting to know one another is essential. This will allow you to build a connection with the teens you are working alongside, and discover areas of interest for future projects.
2. Teach them what they need to know
   • While most of us know the basics of shelving and the classifications that our own libraries use, new teen workers do not! Taking time to explain how processes work, modeling for them how to do tasks, and then allowing them to show you the task with supervision is a great way to help them learn the skills they need to be successful. It can also help to prevent mistakes further down the line. Always presume competence, but don’t assume that they know the ins and outs of our chosen field!
3. Support them
   • Scheduling regular check-ins was a favorite of my summer employee this year. For the first week or so that she started in her position, we would touch base each morning and create a list of tasks for her to work on. These were often the same each day, but it helped her to see what tasks needed to be repeated daily and which were less frequent. These check-ins also allowed me to follow up on previous training and find out if more support was needed. 
4. Provide feedback
   • It would be great if when we learn a new skill, we all mastered it straight away. However, that is not usually the case. If you notice your teen employees making mistakes, find ways to constructively correct them. Don’t be overly critical and offer to review any tasks that they might have questions about.

If you’re new to managing teen volunteers, check out these handy tasks guides that I created. One highlights my system’s shelving procedures, as well as other collections-related tasks. The other highlights program assistance. I really enjoy using these as a basis for training new volunteers and teen employees, as it breaks down tasks into manageable steps, and allows room for reflection and questions. 

This post addresses ALSC core competencies 6.7, 6.8, and 7.8.

Annaliese Melvin (she/they) is a children’s librarian at a neighborhood library in Washington, D.C. Originally from Pennsylvania, she moved to the DC-area in 2020 to become a special education teacher after graduating with her bachelor’s from Arcadia University. In 2023, she graduated from the University of Southern Mississippi with a master’s degree in Library and Information Science and transitioned into the library field. Annaliese currently works to bring more inclusive programming to DC Public Libraries for children of all ages. She is passionate about equity, inclusion, reading, and Philadelphia sports.

The post Working with Teens at the Library appeared first on ALSC Blog.

The genesis of Gymnastics Storytime? Jealousy.

When trying to reschedule storytime to better align with staffing needs, I was running into a bit of a problem. Families are busy, and almost everyone was busy on the same day. As I spoke with folks about dates and times, it became clear that everyone was doing gymnastics, and they were doing it for free, in the town over, with a story-reading included.

Our town has its own gymnastics studio, but I’ve never heard it mentioned in the busy schedules of younger children. Well, that seemed like a big opportunity to me!

I reached out to the studio owner about partnering with the library to host a storytime at the studio. After some light cajoling and sharing what his out-of-town competitor was doing, we had a deal.

I went out of my way to start this partnership, but I’ve declined many other opportunities that came to my inbox. It is crucial to develop your own outcomes and guidelines for working with business partners before building storytime programs with them.

Why Initiate a Business Partnership?

This isn’t a new idea. Laundromat story times and similar initiatives have been around to remind us of the importance of meeting families where they already are. Even among families with fewer barrier to the library access, we’re reliant on opportunities to demonstarte the value libraries add to busy family schedules.

I only target opportunities that will connect the library to activities and opportunities that are sought after by local families or see high traffic from the five and under crowd. The intention behind partnering is to increase access to family activities and to showcase what the library has to offer. It’s no secret that storytime has a bit of an image problem. Why spend your valuable time struggling to sit silently in a circle while someone reads to you? By creating opportunities to see storytime in other contexts, we can show families that storytime welcomes movement and much more than just reading. 

I prefer to go to businesses to offer storytimes, rather than having them come to the library. This helps clarify the rules for promoting services to families and ensures they’re getting something more impactful than a coupon. Check what your library’s rules are around working with businesses. Even if you have carte blanche, think carefully about what it means for families to feel like they’re being sold something in one of the few free spaces available to them. By hitting the town, the library is seen as a full community resource.

Approaching Businesses

First, get to know your community and the opportunities that families speak about covetously. I like to start by initiating a chat with the purpose of getting to know more about the business and the work they do in the community. This will give you a chance to explore their offerings and ethos before floating a partnership. 

If you’re seeing the potential, introduce your idea and invite their questions.

The Non-Negotiables

Working with businesses that are aligned with your missions to increase access to services is essential. When approaching businesses, I make sure we are on the same page about these fundamentals:

• The storytime will be offered in conjunction with FREE access to their space, service, or product. Many businesses already offer free days or demo classes, which are a great place to start when considering a partnership.
• The library will control the content presented during the storytime portion of the event.
• The storytime portion of the event will not be held simultaneously with other activities. This helps create a focused time for literacy and eliminates caregivers needing to fight distractions. 
• Both parties will co-market the event.

Tailoring your Storytime

Now, in a space like a gymnastics studio, you aren’t always the reason families are there. You’re the reason it is free. That doesn’t mean you can’t enhance the experience, while respecting that families want to spend most of their time exploring what your partner has on offer! 

To keep things short and snappy, I usually share one book, sometimes a flannel board, and 1-3 songs. For gymnastics, everything is about getting them warmed up and ready to play. I highlight parts of the stories that invite movement and give them language to talk about their bodies as they play. 

You may need to ask for a certain set up to help caregivers and children transition from play to listening. 

Sustaining Partnerships

Check in frequently to determine continued interest and capacity. You can create formal agreements to ensure you stay aligned in messaging and distribution of responsibilities. Listen to feedback and scheduling needs from both parties. It is okay for a program to run its course. You may find you’ve built a relationship that will support future endeavors.

Eleanor Howell-Shryock (she/they) is the Head Children’s Librarian, managing family and outreach services at Burlington Public Library in Burlington, Washington. They are the Chair Emeritus of the Washington Library Association’s Children and Young Adult Services Section. They are excited to highlight some of the unique challenges and opportunities of working in small and rural libraries for the ALSC blog.

The post Building Better Business Partnerships for Storytime appeared first on ALSC Blog.

When we take the time to reflect on the data, it can guide us to meaningful action. Good data helps us ask better questions, understand our communities more deeply, and make more informed decisions about our services. REFLECT: If attendance at a long-running program drops, do we simply note the decline, or do we investigate what the numbers are telling us? Maybe the program content needs to be refreshed. Looking at data through an equity lens also means asking who is participating, who is missing, and what barriers may exist. ACT: If outreach data shows that few families from a particular neighborhood participate, then the solution may not be more marketing. It might be time to consider bringing programs into schools, community centers, parks, or other places where families already gather.

Collecting fewer, more meaningful measures can free library staff to spend more time observing, connecting with families, and reflecting on what those numbers mean. REFLECT: Are staff spending valuable time collecting information that never influences programming, budgeting, or resource allocation? Are trends reviewed from month to month or year to year? ACT: Sometimes the solution is as simple as asking patrons what they want through conversations, surveys, suggestion boards, or passive feedback opportunities. If you need proven tools and templates, explore the Public Library Association’s Outcome Measurement for Public Libraries, which “helps libraries demonstrate their effectiveness beyond attendance counts and anecdotal success stories.” 

Youth librarians invest countless hours planning programs, purchasing materials, building partnerships, and creating opportunities for children and families. Sometimes no one attends, and sometimes outreach efforts go unanswered. Rather than viewing low attendance as failure, view it as information. REFLECT: What is the data telling us? Perhaps families work evenings, lack transportation, or speak languages other than English. Children with disabilities may need additional accommodations. Tweens and teens may not see programs designed with their interests in mind. Trusted community organizations may also be valuable partners or places where library services can reach new audiences. ACT: Read “Reflective Practice in Children’s Services” to see this in action.

Sharing data with the community demonstrates the value of library services while helping patrons recognize their own role in the library’s success. It also reminds the community that their participation helps shape future library services. Transform library statistics into an easy-to-understand infographic or display. Share the information through a bulletin board, social media, newsletters, book displays, or brief announcements during programs. Invite patrons to respond with a quick note or vote for future programs, services, or book series.  “Put the Bulletin Board to Work.”)

As a Pre K–7th grade  school librarian, I used the last two weeks of school to share library statistics and photo highlights with each class. Even the youngest students were excited to learn the year’s top-circulating titles, discover how many books their grade level checked out, and celebrate their reading accomplishments. The numbers became another way to build excitement, recognize student achievement, and strengthen each student’s connection to the library.

Public libraries are wrapping up their summer reading programs right now and have collected numerous data points.At the public library, sharing data could become part of an end-of-summer reading celebration. Participants could be invited to celebrate with a slideshow, infographic, trivia activity, or displays highlighting program participation, favorite books, and community impact. Sharing the human stories behind the statistics helps  participants feel recognized and may encourage new families to become involved.

Data is more than a reporting requirement. It is a tool for listening, learning, advocating, and improving. When we reflect on what our numbers reveal, take action, and share those stories with our communities, we are empowered to create library services that are more responsive, inclusive, and equitable.

What is your library’s data telling you to do next?

This post addresses the following ALSC Core Competencies: I. Commitment to Client Group; V. Outreach and Advocacy; VI. Administrative and Management Skills 

Amalia E. Butler is a member of the ALSC School-Age Programs and Services Committee. She is the P-7 librarian at Park Avenue School (Orange, NJ) and previously served as a public librarian.Amalia can be contacted at amalia.e.butler@gmail.com or through ALA Connect.

Meta description: Library data is more than numbers. Learn how reflection can transform statistics into action, stronger programs, and deeper community connections.

The post More Than Numbers: Turning Reflection into Action with Library Data appeared first on ALSC Blog.

Alice’s Reading Room

We encountered Fairlyand’s library, officially “Alice’s Reading Room,” on our way to the puppet theater. The wooden structure greeted us with a sign that said to find a comfy spot around the park to read.

The sign also said to return books to the basket inside for reshelving. I couldn’t resist reshelving the books that filled the basket less than four hours after the park had opened for the day. Another (hand-painted) sign made reshelving easy. The books were organized into four color-coded categories: board books for the littlest ones, picture books that could be read together in about 15 minutes, longer picture books, and (graphic) novels for independent readers.

I’ll admit my reshelving wasn’t selfless. It meant browsing the hundreds of books and selecting titles for empty displays. Titles that—like the collection as a whole—mirrored the diversity of the East Bay, where Fairyland is located. (A land far, far away from my home in Florida, the book-banning capital of the U.S.A.) This same diversity was reflected in the storybook characters brought to life throughout Fairyland, which pre-dates Disneyland.

Plátanos Go with Everything

After the Magic Teakettle puppet show, my nibling and her parents returned to the library to read a book. Her mom’s eyes went right to Plátanos Go With Everything, which I had placed on display with them in mind. (Her parents, both Cuban American, grew up Miami, Florida. Over more than two decades of friendship, I have lost count of the times we have sat around a table eating plátanos together.) And this was what made it so magical: I got to witness my childhood best friend share this book with her daughter.

Fantasy readers often talk about the “magic system.” In this story, the library system is the magic system.

You can help keep the magic alive in Alice’s Reading Room by donating books through Fairyland’s gift registry with their local bookstore, East Bay Booksellers.

*Admittedly, the examples of fantasy books that feature libraries that are freshest in my mind—like Callie Hart’s Fae & Alchemy series—are decidedly not children’s books and technically fall under the genre of romantasy. 

The post Once Upon a Library in Fairyland: A True Story appeared first on ALSC Blog.

Apologies to Jane Austen, but my past library experience has shown that school age children and teens really enjoyed button-making.  Getting to see up close how they are manually put together is fascinating for the science-minded who like to figure out how things work.  Artists love the idea of designing their own buttons.  Fans of…anything love to show their allegiance to the fandom.  Button making hits a LOT of different interests.

But how to do this successfully with the toddler and preschool set?  Parents were certain this would be a hit, and they were correct.  Some tips for offering button making with the very young.

• Make sure an adult is working the actual button making machine.  Do it at a table that is low enough that the children can put their hand on the lever while the adult actually pushes it down.  They will be thrilled. 
• Have ready-made button designs for those not inclined to create art.  Possible ideas include popular characters, your library logo, and summer reading themes. 
• Have blank patterns ready for artists to create.  Simple smiley faces and names were popular with the young, but we had one four-year-old boy create the most incredible Super Mario drawing.  It looked remarkably like the cartoon.  Amazing!
• Send families a template beforehand.  One mom brought printouts of photos of her family, and the buttons turned out beautiful.  She later shared how touched her husband was when she surprised him with the buttons.

The buttons were so successful with the little ones that we are going to do it again.  Next up—make your own monster buttons for Halloween.

What button successes have you had, with any age?

This post addresses the core competencies of I. Commitment to Client Group and III. Programming Skills.

The post Button Up! A Program That Clicks with Every Age appeared first on ALSC Blog.

Instead of creating a traditional reading tracker, we designed custom scratch-off cards that combined our Summer Reading promotion and reading log into one simple, engaging tool.

One Card, Two Purposes

Each spring, our local school librarians help us share information about Summer Reading before students leave for summer break. Rather than sending home a flyer and asking families to pick up a reading log later, we combined everything into a single card.

The front of the card introduced our Summer Reading program with the scratcher, while the back included simple instructions for participating. Once school was out, children already had everything they needed to begin reading on day one.

The card served two purposes: it advertised Summer Reading and became the reading tracker itself.

Making Reading Logs More Fun

Participants read for 30 days during the summer. Instead of coloring in a box or checking off a square, they scratch off one circle each day they read.

Hidden beneath each circle is either a cheerful illustration using the iREAD digital assets or a short message of encouragement. The final circle lets readers know they’ve completed the challenge and can visit the library to collect their prize. The goal is still the same, read for 30 days, but the experience feels a little more playful. Every reading day ends with a small surprise.

Designed for Every Age Group

This year we created three versions of the scratch-off card, each with artwork and prizes tailored to its audience.

Children who complete all 30 days receive a free book of their choice. Teens earn a $5 coupon to our Friends of the Library Gift Shop, giving them the opportunity to choose something they’ll enjoy. Adults complete their own scratch-off card to earn one of our library mini tote bags.

Although each age group has its own card design and prize, everyone shares the same daily experience of uncovering a new surprise after reading.

Simple for Families, Simple for Staff

One of the things I appreciate most about the scratch-off cards is how easy they are to explain. Read for the day. Scratch off one circle. Repeat for 30 days. Bring the completed card back to the library for your prize.

We wanted summer reading to be as simple as possible. Each day a child reads, they scratch the next circle on their card. No stickers, stamps, or extra tracking sheets, just one card that lasts all summer.

One of my favorite moments has been watching patrons scratch off their very first circle before they even leave the library. Children are eager to see what’s hiding underneath. Teens enjoy discovering the artwork and messages. Adults have embraced the experience just as enthusiastically as younger readers.

In fact, our adult scratch-off cards were so popular that we underestimated demand. We gave out 400 cards in 10 days! We ended up having to order more, a wonderful problem to have during Summer Reading!

The cards also created unexpected conversations at the desk. Patrons shared their favorite hidden messages, compared illustrations, and looked forward to uncovering the next day’s surprise.

Thinking About Making Your Own?

If you’re considering creating scratch-off reading logs for your own library, here are a few things I’d recommend:

• Keep the directions clear and simple.
• Include encouraging messages throughout the card, not just artwork.
• Create separate versions if different age groups earn different prizes.
• If you’re able to partner with local schools, distribute the cards before summer begins so families can start reading right away.
• Order more than you think you’ll need, especially if you’re introducing something new.

Sometimes the smallest design changes can make a familiar activity feel fresh. Our scratch-off cards didn’t change the goal of Summer Reading, they simply added a little anticipation, encouragement, and fun to the journey. By combining our Summer Reading promotion and reading log into one card, families had everything they needed before summer even began, and each day of reading ended with a small surprise waiting to be discovered.

For more info about Summer Reading, check out some of these posts: Stress Relief in Time for Summer Reading, On Your Marks…Get Set…Summer Reading Program, or Smile! Here Comes Summer Reading!

(Photo credit for above pictures: Katie Hom)

Our guest blogger today is Renee Kitson. Renee is a Youth Services Librarian at Mountain View Public Library in California. She enjoys creating playful, hands-on library experiences that encourage children, teens, and families to connect, create, and learn together.

Please note that as a guest post, the views expressed here do not represent the official position of ALA or ALSC.

If you are interested in submitting a guest post, please read and fill out our Guest Blogging Interest Form. We would love to hear from you!

The post Scratch, Read, Repeat: Bringing a Little Extra Joy to Summer Reading with Scratch-off Cards appeared first on ALSC Blog.