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Suncoast Summer Reading Challenge

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Who can be a part of the Suncoast Summer Reading Challenge?

Any rising pre-K or elementary school student from Charlotte, DeSoto, Manatee, and Sarasota counties can join through their summer program provider. SCGLR will also directly accept registrations for children who will each receive twenty books for their home libraries!

The Suncoast Summer Reading Challenge is promoted through local summer camps and businesses to encourage children to read, reducing the “summer slide.”
Want to explore the possibilities? Email Beth Duda, director of the Suncoast Campaign for Grade-Level Reading, at bduda@thepattersonfoundation.org.

More Information

To avoid the “summer slide,” SCGLR engaged our four-county region and partnered with 80 summer camp providers and summer learning academies to encourage a love for reading.

Why? Because nationwide, children from asset-limited families can lose an average of 2 to 2.5 months of reading skills each summer!

  • In 2023, 7,489 children participated in the Suncoast Summer Reading Challenge

  • 6,643 completed the challenge by reading at least six books

How many books did 7,489 kids actually read? Drumroll please…

  • 159,858 books!

For folks who did not register in time but still want to participate, we encourage you to check out these books from your local library and follow along here. Activity guides are located in each grade level and are connected to their corresponding webisode.