Classes are out, and summer reading is in for Fairfax County students.
Fairfax County Public Library (FCPL) officially kicked off its annual Summer Reading Program on Wednesday (June 12), encouraging youngsters and adults alike to dig into books and tackle various literary activities to earn prizes.
The launch will be celebrated tomorrow (Saturday) with the return of the Children’s Summer Reading Festival, which will take place from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. at Woodrow Wilson Library (6101 Knollwood Drive) in Bailey’s Crossroads.
Organized by the Fairfax Library Foundation, the nonprofit that supports the county library system, the festival was first held last June at Lorton Library and in August at Chantilly Regional Library. This year’s festival will return to Chantilly Regional Library (4000 Springfield Road) with a second event on Aug. 18 — the last day of the summer reading program.
The festival is intended to “encourage summer reading among preschool- and school-age children to prevent learning loss over summer break,” according to a Fairfax Library Foundation press release.
“The festival, designed in partnership with Fairfax County Public Library (FCPL), will feature a wide variety of fun activities for children of all ages, including facepainting, bounce houses, balloon and caricature artists, games and crafts, live entertainment, food trucks, and a photobooth,” the foundation said.
According to the foundation, the festival attracted more than 2,500 kids and families, and FCPL got more total participants in its Summer Reading Program than in any previous year.
Program participants can receive prizes by reading or listening to books and completing other activities to earn either 10 or 15 badges, depending on their age. There are different goals for youth and adults.
Participants can register either in-person at any library branch or online through Beanstack. Anyone who registers in the next couple of weeks will be entered into a drawing for gift cards from Reston’s Scrawl Books.
“The Fairfax Library Foundation wants to encourage recreational reading, and they have given the library 80 e-gift cards that we will award to 20 preschoolers, 20 school-age children, 20 teens and 20 adults,” FCPL says on the program webpage. “Winners will be notified by Wednesday, June 26.”
This summer, FCPL is also encouraging teens to get in the kitchen with a Teen Chopped Challenge, where they can create their own recipe using an ingredient kit provided by select library branches. A limited number of kits is available at Chantilly Regional, Dolley Madison, John Marshall, Kings Park, Patrick Henry and Sherwood Regional libraries.
The challenge is open to people aged 12 to 18, and entries will be accepted through Aug. 16.
The county library’s other planned summer activities include its second annual World We Write Story Contest, which invites youth and adults to submit 250-word stories inspired by one of five writing prompts. The contest will be open throughout July.
Additional summer activities and events can be found on FCPL’s website.
