Efforts to prevent the “summer slide” are in full effect, as the Lexington County Public Library kicks off its Summer Reading Program.

Registration for the program opened June 1, with all 10 branches participating through Aug. 14. This year's theme is “All Together Now” and highlights kindness, friendship and unity.

Ashley Hutto, youth services librarian for the Cayce-West Columbia branch, emphasized the role the program has in trying to prevent kids from letting their reading skills fall off during the summer break. 

“It's really important to get kids into the library to prevent the ‘summer slide,’ as they call it,” she said. “We just kind of try to focus on making it exciting for them to be reading and by having all of these programs and the incentives and the prizes and making it a fun environment.”

“We hope that that kind of inspires them and brings them in to read,” she said.

This year’s theme can be interpreted many different ways, with Hutto mentioning that a lot of libraries are using it as an opportunity to focus on community.

“It’s time to foster harmony throughout our community, starting with a smile and a friendly hello. This summer, challenge yourself to make a new friend and choose kindness even when it’s hard. Discover the power of unity by celebrating our differences and embracing our unique qualities,” the library website states, summing up the theme. “Let’s create a brighter future by building stronger communities, one page at a time.”

The theme itself comes from the Collaborative Summer Library Program, a nonprofit that supports literacy, education, and science through summer reading events, according to the nonprofit’s website.

Hutto said each of the 10 branches hold their own kick-off events with different activities. The Cayce-West Columbia branch had a bubble machine, a balloon artist, snow cones, popcorn and lemonade, which were all free to the public.

The branches host a variety of different events on different schedules, with offerings over the summer including storytime for babies and toddlers and visits by different artists and performers. Dates and info on the events on deck at each branch can be found at lexcolibrary.com/programs.

Those participating in the program will have the opportunity to complete a summer reading game card, which includes activities like reading a book with a yellow cover, writing a letter to someone special, reading a book outside, performing an act of kindness and more.

Upon the completion of 10 activities, participants will receive a prize and a chance to win a to-be-determined grand prize. Those who complete all 25 activities get an additional chance to win the grand prize.

In addition to helping kids keep up with their reading, Hutto said she’s glad to see them taking advantage of the libraries in a way they might not during the school year.

“I love seeing kids I don't see during the school year because they're really busy with sports or school or whatever,” she said. “It's kind of cool to see some of those faces more regularly, and I love our programs. We offer so many diverse programs with different kinds of storytellers and different people coming in and sharing their art or whatever it is with the kids. It's really exciting to have those programs, and we just get to see a lot of people we don't see during the year.”