Design yourself a great summer at the Rock Island Library’s Build a Better Summer kickoff carnival on Saturday, June 10. The library’s annual Summer Reading kickoff takes place in the parking lot of the Rock Island Main Library, 401 19th Street, from 11:00 am to 2:00 pm.

Scheduled events at the free kickoff include a, Metro Youth Drill Team performance at 11 am, an appearance by Max Reader Mouse, the library mascot at 11:30 am, a kids’ rocket launch lab from noon to 1 pm, and a Mentos Soda Geyser blast at 1:15 pm. Free hot dogs and water will served. The wide variety of activities for all ages also include opportunities to:

• Register for summer reading challenges for all ages and families, pick up your registration prize and a complimentary building block stress reliever, while supplies last. Participants can take home a paper log, or sign up for the new online summer reading program.
• Enjoy games at the Parks Department table, play over-sized board games and mini-golf, bounce in the Batman house, try some salad spinner or spray bottle art, get your face painted, and take home a balloon figure.
• Meet and greet Rock Island Police and Fire Department officers, see and touch real emergency vehicles, and learn about what they do for the community.

All events are free and open to the public, with most activities offered inside in event of rain. Because all staff are needed at the kickoff, the library’s 30/31 and Southwest Branch locations will be closed Saturday, June 10.

Kickoff activities and hot dogs are sponsored by a grant from Modern Woodmen of America. The Summer Reading program is funded by the library budget with additional support from the Rock Island Public Library Foundation.

Reading by Design summer reading challenges for children, teens, adults, and families run from Saturday, June 10 to July 15, 2017. Reading incentives and more than 70 free events will help children, teens and adults create, learn, and experiment with science, math, and engineering over the summer. Research from Dominican University finds that children who participate in Summer Reading programs and read just six books over the summer score higher in reading and math when they return to school.

Rock Island Library reading and activity programs aim to prevent the "summer slide," the term for learning losses that can occur while children and teens are out of school. More than 110 years of research shows that students who don’t read and learn over the summer score lower on standardized tests at the end of summer vacation than they do on the same tests at the beginning of the summer. (National Summer Learning Association.)