DAILY LEADER / KATIE WILLIAMSON / Lucy Cullen, 2 listens to stories at the Brookhaven Library on Tuesday, May 20.

School is finally out for area students, but just because classes have ended doesn’t mean learning has to. The Lincoln County Library will be hosting its annual summer reading program.

The program begins this week, with registration running through June 13. This year’s theme is “Fizz, Boom, Read!”

Donna Kenney, children’s librarian, said summer is a time for children to read whatever they like during the summer, whether it’s comic books, graphic novels, newspapers, magazines, picture books or anything else.

“Kids, reading is FUN!” Kenney said. “The library does provide summer incentives for reading, but the best incentive of all is the reading itself!”

Kenney also said students should be encouraged to read during summer to prevent the “summer slide.”

“Reading 15 to 20 minutes a day can help prevent the dreaded ‘summer slide’ of learning skills which affects many children each fall,” she said. “By sixth grade children can be set back 1-2 years because the ‘summer slide’ effect is cumulative.”

Each year, the library has approximately 500 children participate, working to earn coupons for free treats at local restaurants and small prizes.

Every Tuesday in June and July, the library will host story time from 10 a.m. to 11 a.m. Programs will also be held Tuesday afternoons from 2 to 3 p.m. for kindergarten through second-grade students. Third-graders and up will have activities on Thursdays from 2 to 3 p.m.

DAILY LEADER / KATIE WILLIAMSON / Sa’Kyla Sanders, 4 participates during story time at the library.

The reading program is not the only thing bringing in children to the library this summer. There are also some recent renovations to the children’s room. Henry Ledet, director of the library, said most of the work has been to brighten up the room, including making the room more colorful. The old furniture was all refinished, and new furniture has been added.

“We got some really great chairs,” he said. “They’re really, I think, made for reading to kids.”

The book bins in the room now allow children to see the front instead of just the spine of books.

“It makes it a lot more interesting for the kids,” he said.

The children’s computers have also been moved to the lobby, and the children’s movies are now next to the adult DVDs. The books have been reorganized so the non-fiction is now located on the wall shelves and the chapter books are on the free-standing shelves.

Ledet said the renovations were funded by money raised by the library board in conjunction with the Friends of the Lincoln County Library and other groups.

“We’re really looking forward to the summer program to see how the children like the new space,” he said.

Ledet also said they hope to do a teen area in the future.

“We don’t want to lose them once they leave the children’s room,” he said.

DAILY LEADER / KATIE WILLIAMSON / Audrey Schultz, 2 plays with puzzles at the library.