By Megan Kelley
Staff Writer
ORION TWP. — School is out but reading is still in at the Orion Township Public Library.

The library is gearing up for its annual summer reading festivities starting on June 10 with the Summer Reading Kickoff celebration from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. in the Reading Garden.

The celebration marks the start of the summer-long program, encouraging people all ages to continue reading even as school gets out.

This is a free event that will feature several activities like the climbing wall and inflatables from Oakland Parks and an obstacle course from Flip Spot Gymnastics. There will also be all kinds of goodies like popcorn, cotton candy and ice cream, as well as a performance from the band Miss Paula and the Candy Bandits.

During the celebration, families can register for the summer reading program and receive their bingo cards, which they will fill out for the competition.

The program is very similar to those in recent years, using bingo cards to encourage readers to complete challenges that range from reading a book, to checking out an item from the library’s More Than Books collection.

Completing a bingo gets the reader a prize along the way and filling out the entire sheet gets them entered to win a bigger showcase prize, which can all be redeemed at the library.

One big difference this year, however, is that people can participate in the program either via physical bingo sheet or through BeanStack, an app and website that allows them to track their reading and progress in librarychallenges.

To sign up for BeanStack, visit www.orionlibrary.org/summer-reading and you will be directed to the web browser for BeanStack where you can sign up and register for the summer reading program as well as other programs taking place at the OTPL.

Registration for the summer reading program does not begin until June 10.

This year’s program will follow the theme of “Find Your Voice”, an iREAD (Illinois Reading Enrichment and Development) program that many public libraries throughout the country utilize.

“The theme is ‘Find Your Voice’ so we’re going to be doing a lot of inclusive, equitable, diverse programming,” said James Pugh, community relations specialist for the library. “We’re going to do a lot of cultural programming, a lot of STEM programming.”

The Orion library is also partnering back up with the Clarkston Township Public Library to bring back Neighborhoods of Stories where they will travel around to different parks in both Orion and Clarkston townships to do story times.

The summer reading program is one of many different programs and activities taking place through the library this summer, which has something going on almost every day. For a full calendar of events and activities, visit www.oriontownship.librarycalendar.com.

The library’s programming over the summer seeks to maintain and foster a continued love of reading in the community, as well as help combat the dreaded “summer slide” that impacts school-aged children during the summer months when they’re out of school.

“We want to promote literacy all year round, we don’t want kids to fall into the summer slide — the thing that happens when kids are out of school and they don’t study for those six to nine weeks — they lose a lot of comprehension and stuff they gained over the past school year so to help combat this we offer this for kids but it’s also fun for adults. We foster that love of reading, we foster that love of learning someone else’s story, learning something new from a book,” Pugh said. “That’s part of our mission to serve and engage a community of lifelong learners so summer reading is just our way to kind of keep people excited about reading all year long not just during the school year.”

Recently, the OTPL received a $2,500 grant from The Dollar General Literacy Foundation to support summer literacy and enhance summer programming at the library.

“Our staff at the Orion Township Public Library always put in a great effort to make sure the Summer Reading Program offers something special for all ages,” said Chase McMunn, director of the libary. “This grant will help us develop activities that invite kids and adults alike to continue reading over the summer.”

The summer reading challenge starts on June 10 and goes until Aug. 5 when the Summer Reading Finale celebration will take place.