The Scarborough Public Library’s Reading Buddies program, which pairs teen volunteers and children to read together, is hitting its stride once again this summer.

The summer program began in 2018 and is intended to help combat a reading “summer slide” over summer breaks.

“The idea is to combat the summer slide that educators and parents talk about, where kids’ reading slips back,” Connie Burns, youth services assistant at the library, told the Leader on Wednesday. “This is a way to keep kids engaged and also keep teens engaged.”

Reading Buddies was put on hold from 2020 to 2022 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. When it returned in the summer of 2023, Burns said, there was a greater need.

“After COVID, we heard increasingly that kids’ reading skills had slid,” she said. “It seemed even more important to bring the program back than before.”

From 3:30 to 4:30 p.m. on Mondays and Wednesdays through Aug. 7 at the library, teen volunteers and children pair up, find a book, and read together. Nearly 20 teens volunteered as buddies this summer, Burns said, and at least 10 attend each afternoon session.

“We’ve gotten a lot of positive feedback from parents on it,” Burns said. “We find that’s the time people stop by on their way home from picking a kid up from camp, or on their way home from the beach, their errands.”

Elsa Rowe, the community engagement manager at the library, said the Reading Buddies program aligns with the library’s mission of community building.

“One of our goals as a community space is building community and being able to connect people who may not normally connect with each other,” Rowe said. “This gives parents of young children, and the young children themselves, an opportunity to meet a local teenager.”

Rowe said the program is a “win-win” as it helps both parties combat the summer reading slump while the teenagers get experience working with kids and the children are able to practice their skills and gain a positive role model.

“There is absolutely no one cooler to a little kid than a teenager,” Rowe said.

The program helps the library retain some of its after-school crowd, Burns said. They often see over 100 students walk over from the nearby middle school on weekdays when school is in session.

“They’re right next door to us, but in the summer they’re not,” Burns said. “It’s a nice way to engage some of the kids during the summer.”

Parents and their children can drop in to participate in the program for free between 3:30 and 4:30 p.m. on Mondays and Wednesdays through Aug. 7. For more information, go to the library’s website at scarboroughlibrary.org or contact the library’s Youth Services Department at 396-6277.