The Knoxville Public Library will kick off their summer reading program next week.

The theme for this year is “Read, Renew, Repeat” and will have a strong focus on the outdoors. The program will officially start on Tuesday, May 30th with an Iowa State University bug zoo being held at the library to kick off the program. Throughout the summer, the library will hold several programs and activities that are free for kids of all ages and their families. To participate in the summer reading program, you need to fill out a reading log available at the library as kids are encouraged to read for 20 minutes a day. However, you don’t need to be a part of the summer reading program to attend the library summer programs. IThose who complete a whole reading log will be eligible for prizes at the end of the summer. Knoxville Public Library Children’s Librarian Holly Shelford says this program wouldn’t be possible without community support.

“We can’t do our summer reading program if it wasn’t for the Knoxville community. We get a lot of businesses, and organizations, and private donations that help us fund this so we can make this as large as we can. We are so thankful for our Knoxville community.”

For a complete list of library summer programming you can follow this link. Hear more from Shelford on an upcoming Let’s Talk Knoxville.