Tomorrow kicks off the second annual Kids Summer Reading Program managed by award-winning horse book author Rae Rankin. Rae and I met through the 2022 EQUUS Film and Arts Festival, and fortunately, she invited me to participate this year with my three books in the Believing In Horses series! The program grew from 10 participating authors last year to 25 international authors this year.

According to Rae, “When I was a kid, I absolutely loved going to the library. All the books I could pick from, take home, read, and savor. Our local library was a short walk from my house, and I spent a lot of time among the shelves picking what I would read next. I lived for summers when I would sign up for the annual summer reading program, a perfect excuse to go to the library every day!

“In 2022, after participating in the first Buy a Horse Book Day, I got to thinking about what I could do to encourage kids to read and to connect kids who love horses with horse books. The more I thought about it, the more a summer reading program made sense.”

Horse Canada magazine said, “The goal is to complete the fun suggested reading activities between June 1st and September 1st and keep track on their log, which can then be turned in either via email, uploaded to the website, or shared on social media, tagging the program (with parental permission).”

Children can choose from picture books, middle grade, young adult, and non-fiction books, depending on their age and interests. The program includes reading logs and resources including bookmarks for Dressage, Western, Racing, and Jumping along with a fun form for book reviews.

It is free and easy with details at the Kids Summer Reading Program website here.