WHAT IS THE SUNCOAST SUMMER READING CHALLENGE?
The Suncoast Campaign for Grade-Level Reading is a community-wide effort serving Charlotte, DeSoto, Manatee, and Sarasota counties focusing on School Readiness, Attendance, Summer Learning, Family Engagement and Health Determinants. Research shows that children who do not read during the summer can lose up to three months of reading progress. In response, the Suncoast Campaign for Grade-Level Reading sponsors the Suncoast Summer Reading Challenge to encourage each participating student to read! The Suncoast Summer Reading Challenge is implemented by SCGLR and promoted through local summer camps and businesses to encourage children to read, reducing the "summer slide". In addition, THIS BOOK IS COOL! is a series of 100 webisodes to encourage a love of reading. This summer, more than 2,500 children from across the Suncoast region qualified to receive free books thanks to the generosity of The Patterson Foundation!
