Category: News

Published: 22 September 2022

Read Time: 3 mins

Our September Success Story (also featured in our e-mail newsletter) focuses on Midcoast Literacy’s Summer Books program that this summer reached our highest number of sites ever in the midcoast region.

We're celebrating another successful year of Summer Books, a mostly under-the-radar program that makes a real difference in the lives of underserved kids and families. In summer 2022, MCL's tireless Summer Books Coordinator Robin Buczkowski visited a record 7 sites, serving kids in Harpswell, Brunswick, and Bath at camps, summer schools, and in their neighborhoods. From our table (or Robin’s car serving as a bookmobile), children can select their own books every week. At three of our sites, we once again partnered with the ArtVan mobile art program, letting kids create some art and pick-up new books at the same time.

“When I’m out there, I hear kids say things like ‘I like getting to pick my own books,” said Robin. “It reminds me of how unique our program is." Midcoast Literacy takes books to participating summer school sites, daycamps, and housing developments once or twice a week. Robin invites children to browse through the wide selection of titles and select one or two free books to take home. By giving free books to children during the summer months, they can pick books they want to read, own their own books to re-read at home, and keep reading when they are not in school. Robin gets to know return visitors and finds stories to recommend to them from our library of donated and purchased childrens books.

"This summer we had good weather and a lot of kids coming back week after week," said Robin. "There were two brothers at Maritime apartments in Bath who came many times. I saw them in Shaws with their mom this month, and she was glad to meet me and thanked me. The boys have already finished the last of the books I gave them in August. Moments like that make me happy that we’re making a difference.”