Author to share children's stories in Laconia

LACONIA – The Children’s Literacy Foundation's Summer Readers program brings author Marv Klassen-Landis to the Naturally Curious Summer Learning Program in Laconia on Thursday, Aug. 1 at 9:30 a.m. Klassen-Landis will share stories with kids to get them excited about reading and writing. Each child will then get to choose two new books out of a wide range of brand-new books.

CLiF’s Summer Readers program brings storytelling and new books to places where low-income kids spend time in the summer – from summer camps and recreation programs to homeless shelters and affordable housing developments. This summer, CLiF will serve more than 10,000 kids across Vermont and New Hampshire. The program is designed to help combat the “summer slide” learning loss many low-income children experience when not engaged in learning activities in the summer. The program ensures that children of all backgrounds have access to high-quality reading materials over summer break.

CLiF will be back in Laconia for the 2019-2020 school year. Its school year-long $25,000 literacy grant, the Year of the Book, has been awarded to Laconia Middle School. The grant will bring many authors to visit the school and conduct writing workshops, family literacy events, special programming, new books for classrooms, the school library, and the local public library, and ten new books for each child to choose. The Year of the Book will kick off with storytelling and the first book giveaway at the school on Sept. 11 at 9:30 a.m.