Did you know? Currently over 50% of Idaho's children are eligible for federally-funded food programs!

During the school year nutritious meals are available through the National School Lunch and School Breakfast Programs. But those programs end when school ends for the summer. The U.S.
Department of Agriculture's Summer Food Service Program helps fill the hunger gap.

Summer Reading Program manuals have been shipped out to every publicly-funded public library in Idaho. Manuals are addressed to the library in general and not a specific person, so please keep an eye out and give your mail processing person a heads-up.

For the 2012 Summer Reading Program, the Collaborative Summer Library Program (CSLP), working through member states, will be soliciting amateur videos produced by teenagers, to serve as the official CSLP sanctioned summer reading teen videos.

It's time to start digging up ideas for the 2013 summer reading theme, “Underground.” Collaborative Summer Library Programs (CSLP) program manual committees would like your suggestions for the following slogans:

All Idaho libraries offering summer reading programs must submit a SRP report to ICfL by August 31, 2011.  You can access the report on our Summer Reading web page.  This report contains 30 questions.

I just found a great site called TOPICS online magazine for learners of English. It is a wonderful resource for this year's Summer Reading theme One World, Many Stories.  It can also assist librarians who are looking for ways to add diversity to their programming.

CSLP apologizes for the following:
An out-of-date map was used for the continent of Africa, and several countries either changed their name or are misspelled. Youth Services Librarian David Cubie (OH) found the following errors on the map of Africa in Chapter 6:

Lorry Hernández, a Garden City Public Library teen, demonstrated how much she values her library with her “You Are Here” video promoting the 2011 Summer Reading program to other teens. Hernández’s video was selected at the state level to be Idaho’s official “You Are Here” Teen Video Challenge winner for 2011.

ICfL offers a great new tool for libraries wanting to include preschoolers in summer reading programs. This downloadable gameboard features 20 early literacy activities that parents and caregivers can do with their children at home. The gameboard is versatile and is designed to fit your library’s needs.

For the 2012 Summer Reading Program, the Collaborative Summer Library Program (CSLP), working through member states, will be soliciting amateur videos produced by teenagers (ages 13-18) to serve as the official CSLP summer reading teen public service announcements (PSAs).