PHOENIX – Kids in the Valley have fallen in love with reading again, thanks to a dinosaur-themed reading program.
“I just like them getting exposed to reading,” said Astra Pfeiffer, a regular at Mesa Public Library. “It enhances their minds and furthers their educational potential.”
For years, Pfeiffer’s kids have been enrolled in the Summer Reading Game, hosted by the Maricopa County Library District. This year’s dinosaur-themed game, “Unearth a Story,” is designed for players of any age who can earn one point for every minute they read. They also can earn points for attending library events.
Recently, Pfeiffer’s family attended an event where a library staff member dressed up as a dinosaur, parading around the library. Kids laughed and followed the dinosaur around — a lighthearted introduction to the program.
Stacey Akahoshi, a librarian at the Mesa Public Library, has seen programs like this rising in popularity. She believes the participation rates are more about the experience than the reading itself.
“The way their faces lit up and got excited was so cool to see,” Akahoshi said of the dinosaur event. “We’re here to provide that extra entertainment that might get you to stay in the library and get some more air conditioning a little bit longer, but then also check out some books, find some books, ask questions,”
Akahoshi said rates have been rising significantly since the pandemic. In the Mesa district, there are already 12,376 registered summer reading participants — a 3% increase from last year.
The game, which has been based online since 2013, is available to all ages — but kids are a target demographic as parents use prizes to incentivize their children’s reading.
Parents have a reason to search for incentives.
The National Literacy Trust declared an official literary crisis in 2024. According to the National Center for Education Statistics, 37% of 9-year-olds read for pleasure almost every day, compared to 53% in 1984.
Still, libraries across the Phoenix metropolitan area stay busy.
Kiyoshi Parke, a branch manager at Glendale Public Library, also said that she’s seen Summer Reading Games participation go up since she started her position in 2021.
“Even though people think the written word may be dead or it’s dying … our book circulation is just as strong as it’s ever been, and we get requests for new books all the time,” Parke said.
Parke thinks it might be because of the prize incentive, which is based on location and can include anything from free books to zoo tickets.
“We also buy additional things to go with the county prizes, so I think you have a nice offering of incentive to do it,” Parke said. “We do have highly excited staff about it, and they are constantly talking about it and promoting it. So, I would like to think that word of mouth is getting out there.”
Players redeem prizes in person at their local library based on points. Readers sign up online under an individual or family account and log points. They can win up to 1,000 points for reading books and participating in library events.
Glendale and Mesa aren’t the only locations getting attention. Brittany Parkhouse, a youth services librarian at Chandler Public Library, also noticed an uptick in library traffic.
“I see a lot of kids like checking books out,” Parkhouse said. “You see the excitement on their face when they come in to get their coupons, and they’re seeing the importance of their work paying off.”
The reading program gives kids less rules, and more reasons to read. At Mesa Public Library, Akahoshi said one of her program participants initially had no interest in reading. By the end of the summer, she found a love for graphic novels and Choose Your Own Adventure series— books that are different from traditional school reading catalogs, but helped her fall in love with reading nevertheless.
“I had (her) tell me recently that reading was better than Minecraft,” Akahoshi said.
Republish our articles for free, online or in print, under a Creative Commons license.
