New York Yankees Celebrate Young Readers at The New York Public Library’s Annual Summer Reading Awards Ceremony
New York, NY — Three children and teen readers of The New York Public Library’s Summer Reading program will be honored at Yankee Stadium August 17, shortly before the Yankees’ game against the Toronto Blue Jays. The three young patrons were selected to represent summer readers across the Library system after competing in a baseball-themed book review contest. The contest winners
- Age 6 – 9: Lyana Garcia, age 9, from the Bronx submitted her entry through the American Sign Language and English Secondary School.
- Ages 10 – 12: Royce Gopaul, age 11, from the Bronx submitted his entry at the Edenwald Library in the Bronx
- Ages 13 – 18: MariaPaz Pauta, age 16, from the Bronx submitted her entry at the Fort Washington Library in Manhattan
“One of the greatest gifts we can give our children is a love of reading. Books offer insight into new worlds and different perspectives and when we motivate young people to read well and more often, we are opening the door to other educational opportunities. The New York Public Library is honored to provide young New Yorkers with the key to unlocking this potential and we applaud everyone – children, teens and their families – for their extraordinary efforts during summer reading this year,” said Christopher Platt, Vice President of Library Services.
The Library’s annual Summer Reading Challenge – themed “Get in the Game: Read” – kicked off on June 9 with an all-day block party featuring renowned children’s author and Newbery Award winner Kwame Alexander at the Edenwald Library. More than 1,000 people attended.
Children, teens, and parents from the Bronx, Manhattan, and Staten Island were encouraged to spend at least 20 minutes each day reading. The initiative was supported by a social media campaign, #Read20 and participants received prizes for accomplishing the task. The most popular children’s book for the summer was Jeff Kinney’s Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Old School and the most popular book for teens was the graphic novel Lumberjanes: Beware the Kitten Holyby Shannon Watters, Grace Ellis, Brooke A. Allen and Noelle Stevenson.
Open to over 1.1 million students in New York City, Summer Reading helps prevent “summer slide,” the effect of school children often falling behind in reading skills during the summer vacation months. It is the New York Public Library’s largest annual program for children and teens, offering extensive programming at library branches throughout the summer. Last year, 82,351 kids and teens participated.
The New York Public Library’s Summer Reading Program is generously funded by Carnegie Corporation of New York; HSBC Bank USA; New York Yankees Foundation; The Rona Jaffe Foundation; HBO®; New York State Library’s Family Literacy Library Services grant program; Pine Tree Foundation of New York, Inc.; May and Samuel Rudin Family Foundation, Inc.; anonymous donors, and the continuing major support of the Andreas C. Dracopoulos Family Endowment for Young Audiences. Special thanks to partner Sesame Street and media sponsor Mommy Poppins.
About The New York Public Library
The New York Public Library is a free provider of education and information for the people of New York and beyond. With 92 locations—including research and branch libraries—throughout the Bronx, Manhattan, and Staten Island, the Library offers free materials, computer access, classes, exhibitions, programming and more to everyone from toddlers to scholars, and has seen record numbers of attendance and circulation in recent years. The New York Public Library serves more than 18 million patrons who come through its doors annually and millions more around the globe who use its resources at www.nypl.org. To offer this wide array of free programming, The New York Public Library relies on both public and private funding. Learn more about how to support the Library at nypl.org/support.
