One of the biggest undertakings and most popular programs we offer at the Delaware County District Library is our summer reading club.

While it only lasts eight weeks out of the year, our librarians are busy working behind the scenes to plan for it about six months of the year. We are not alone in this planning, with nearly 95 percent of all libraries in the nation participating in some kind of a summer reading program.

So why all the fuss about something that seems like just a fun summer activity? You won’t want to let the kids in on the secret, but it’s all about enriching reading achievement and promoting literacy.

If a student left school in May and didn’t pick up a book again until August, they’ve experienced something called “summer reading loss.” This refers to the decline in children’s reading development that can occur when they are not participating in a classroom setting or formal literacy programs. Students who do not read over a summer vacation, compared to students who do, could start the following school year with as much as a three-month achievement gap in their proficiency levels.

Summer reading programs were developed as a national initiative to help students with retention and development, all while having fun and visiting their local library. The DCDL summer reading program, called “Ready. Set. Read!,” encourages kids ages birth through 18 to read up to 12 hours between May 28 and July 23. Twelve hours over eight weeks averages out to about 15 minutes a day, which is enough to prevent summer reading loss. In addition, the program features more than 150 programs for all ages – and that’s not including our 20 storytimes that happen weekly.

Pre-register your children at www.delawarelibrary.org/src2016 and use the new online tool this year to track reading electronically. Prizes are still awarded at six and 12 hours, and books are again donated through our Friends of the Delaware County District Library group.

Who invented the Heimlich maneuver?

The Heimlich maneuver, a technique of abdominal thrusts for stopping choking, is credited to Henry Heimlich, of Cincinnati, Ohio. A surgeon, Dr. Heimlich first described the procedure in a journal article published in 1974. Soon after, the journal was flooded with life-saving stories and the term “Heimlich maneuver” was born. More information can be read in Heimlich’s autobiography, “Heimlich’s Maneuvers: My Seventy Years of Lifesaving Innovation.”