THIS BOOK IS COOL! is a series of 100 webisodes to encourage a love of reading. It premiered on June 1, 2020, and since then, thousands of children from across the Suncoast region have qualified to receive free books thanks to the generosity of The Patterson Foundation. In 2023, 4,012 kiddos participated. Two thousand six hundred seven completed the challenge, with a total of 100,695 books read!
Participating children receive:
20 free books
An activity guide with activities and word puzzles that correspond to the books
Regular contact with a Suncoast Campaign for Grade-Level Reading Engagement Team member
Invitations to family engagement events throughout the summer
SCGLR will distribute books and hand out rewards to qualifying children (grades PreK–3) who are registered and fully participating in THIS BOOK IS COOL!
To maintain an active status in THIS BOOK IS COOL!, parents must submit the total number of books their child has read biweekly.
*To qualify for THIS BOOK IS COOL!, you must be:
A resident of Charlotte, DeSoto, Manatee, or Sarasota counties
Entering PreK-3rd grade
Enrolled at a Title I school, eligible for free/reduced lunch, or have other demonstrable need
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.
We all know THIS BOOK IS COOL!, but have you seen how cool the kiddos are?! BIG THANKS to all the families who have sent in photos.
Why THIS BOOK IS COOL!?
Research spanning 100 years has proven that students experience academic learning loss when they are out of school for the summer and do not engage in educational activities. With an average loss of more than two months in reading achievement during the summer, progress toward third-grade reading proficiency for children from asset-limited families is greatly slowed, and the achievement gap with their middle-class peers is exacerbated. Summer learning loss is also cumulative, making it nearly impossible to catch up year after year. The summer learning initiative focuses on creating opportunities to stop the “summer slide” and help close the achievement gap.