The Lake County Public Library's Summer Reading Program runs June 1 - July 31st each year, as a way of encouraging kids and teens to keep reading during the summer months, to prevent the "summer slide" of knowledge. We open the program to adults as well so that they can help model the desired behavior for youth. Although our library is headquartered in our Merrillville branch, this program spans across the county in eight other branches. In 2019, we had 6,519 participants take part in the summer reading program, reading nearly 7 million pages. We hold special programs for kids and teens to get them involved in the library and to encourage them to keep reading.

In an effort to motivate our patrons to read for this program, every 300 pages they record with us, they earn a raffle ticket that they can put toward one of several awesome prizes. Our theme this year is "Imagine Your Story," an exploration of fairy tales, fables, castles, royalty, knights, and dragons. We're currently looking for awesome donations for these prizes, and are extremely appreciative of any offers that we get - our whole aim is to get our patrons reading and to help them see the library as a place where they can come for quality information.