Summer for Georgia Readers Officially Starts on May 3

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You can read anywhere, anytime, and virtually anything this summer, because Get Georgia Reading partner Renaissance is again delivering thousands of free books—plus engaging daily news articles—to your computer and mobile devices, available 24 hours a day from May 3 through July 31.

With myON, Renaissance’s digital reading platform, all children, parents and guardians, educators, and librarians can search from many different categories and genres, fiction and nonfiction, picture books, graphic novels, chapter books, titles for struggling and reluctant readers, and Spanish and bilingual titles. It’s like having your own personal library right at your fingertips.

Families across the state are already familiar with this amazing resource, thanks to a long-standing partnership with Renaissance—one of many Get Georgia Reading Campaign partners that are committed to ensuring families have access to resources to keep them safe, healthy, and learning during the pandemic.

For healthy growth and reading success, all children and their families need year-round access to educational and supportive services. Renaissance has helped to Get Georgia Reading in a big way by providing summertime access to myON’s digital books and news articles in homes, schools, and libraries for the past six summers.

And when schools shut down across Georgia in March 2020 due to COVID-19, Renaissance met the evolving needs of communities head-on by starting unlimited, free statewide access to myON early. During that seven-week span, children in all 159 counties spent more than 1.7 million minutes reading free digital books—with more participating counties and more books read than the entire previous summer.

“It’s important students have access to high-interest reading materials,” said Alysse Daniels, regional vice president at Renaissance. “We’re thrilled to partner once again with Get Georgia Reading and keep students engaged in daily reading, preventing the summer slide. We’re looking forward to seeing how many books students read this summer.”

More than an electronic reading application, myON tracks the habits of its readers and ensures that each student can find books at the “just right” level, while providing educators more insight into what works for kids—books read from start to finish—and what doesn’t—books rarely opened or opened and not finished.

Books come with features that keep students engaged in both reading and learning, with an optional audio component, word and sentence highlighting, and a sidebar with a built-in dictionary. This suite helps kids connect with the text while reading independently or working on assigned reading and writing projects.

Research shows that students can lose up to three months of reading ability over the summer. By offering a wide array of quality digital titles, myON helps ensure that students don’t fall behind while school is out.

“Renaissance’s long-term commitment has provided much-needed access to high-quality educational opportunities at home that’s available to every family in Georgia,” said Get Georgia Reading Campaign Director Arianne Weldon. “Their support could not have been more meaningful and essential this past year, and we’re so pleased that they continue to feed our children’s hunger for learning and reading.”

Ready, Set, Read

Last summer, Georgia’s children and their families in 139 counties spent 1,196,588 minutes completing 46,757 books. This year, we’re challenging Georgians in all 159 counties to read 60,000 books and spend over 1.5 million minutes reading.

Gwinnett County earned the top spot in 2020 by completing 21,053 books. Clayton County finished in second with 4,585 books, and Fulton County took third with 2,623 books read. Here’s how the top 10 in the state rounded out:

  • Camden County: 1,378
  • DeKalb County: 1,179
  • Cobb City: 1,201
  • Fayette County: 941
  • Henry County: 850
  • Muscogee County: 650
  • Walton County: 854

Humor, realistic fiction, and fantasy books were popular in Georgia. The most-read titles were Because I Stubbed My Toe by Shawn Byous, Max Goes to the Playground by Adria Klein, Max Goes to a Cookout by Adria Klein, Attack of the Mutant Lunch Lady by Scott Nickel, and the Princess Candy series by Michael Dahl.

We’ll keep our eye on who’s reading the most and give shout-outs to the leading counties. Let’s see who turns the most pages this summer.

Getting Started is Quick and Easy

1. Register at renaissance.com/getgeorgiareading from May 3 – July 31.
2. After you register, you will receive your username and password via email.
3. Log in at myON.com/login/index.html and enter your log-in information:
School Name: Get Georgia Reading (Type the first few letters and select your school from the drop-down menu.)
Username: Provided in your login email
Password: Provided in your login email
4. Click on the Sign In button, select a book, and start reading!

Check out some additional tips including recommended system requirements and guidelines on searching for books. Watch this how-to video on accessing and reading books.

We Want to Hear from You

The only thing better than reading a good book is sharing it with others. We encourage all readers—kids, dads and moms, grandparents and caregivers, teachers, and librarians—to send written and video book reviews that we will publish on getgeorgiareading.org.

Get social this summer by sharing book recommendations, snapping selfies with your favorite titles, showing off where you’re reading and the folks reading with you, and telling us how you’re incorporating myON into your everyday life.

Send your reviews, videos, photos, and more to Krystin Dean at krystin@gafcp.org, and be sure to use the hashtags #GetGAReading and #myON with your social media posts.

For more information about myON or Renaissance, visit renaissance.com.

Contact:

Krystin Dean
GaFCP Communications Specialist
404-739-0043
krystin@gafcp.org

Follow us on Twitter: @gafcpnews

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Georgia Family Connection Partnership (GaFCP) is a public-private partnership created by the State of Georgia and investors from the private sector to assist communities in addressing the serious challenges facing children and families. GaFCP also serves as a resource to state agencies across Georgia that work to improve the conditions of children and families. Georgia KIDS COUNT provides policymakers and citizens with current data they need to make informed decisions regarding priorities, services, and resources that impact Georgia’s children, youth, families, and communities.