LYNN — Literacy rates for local children have continued to drop following COVID-19, but the library has implemented a summer reading program to boost the love of reading.
Since 2021, average reading scores for grades three through eight in Lynn Public Schools have consistently decreased. Average test scores and trends from 2022 to 2025 show that Lynn averages 1.96 below the national average, while the whole of Massachusetts averages above the national average with a 0.47 score, according to a Stanford Education Data Archive (SEDA).
In 2025, Lynn dropped more than two points below the national average, according to SEDA, with the district’s grade three through eight reading scores sitting in the 13th percentile, 37 below the national percentile, and ethnicities such as Asian and Hispanics have continued to struggle well below the national average for at least three years.
The Lynn Public Library has noticed this drop in literacy and hopes to bring the love of reading to more children this summer with its program “Plant a Seed, Read.” The program started in the spring, inviting participants to plant a sunflower, which they like to do every year, Director of Lynn Public Library Theresa Hurley said.
Summer reading helps combat a well-known struggle for children and families, which is a decline in reading proficiency during an extended vacation break, Hurley said.
“We don’t want our children to forget about reading,” Hurley said. “You know, there is that thing called the summer slide. So it’s to give families something to do.”
One thing the library has added to give children more of an incentive to read has been using their budget to provide toys and prizes for them to get with a book, Head of Children’s Department Susan Cronin said.
“The majority of them are just small crafts, and we also have toys,” Cronin said. “There are some stuffed animals, but the kids get to choose what they would like to take home.”
Allowing the children to make a happy connection to reading by growing flowers and receiving new toys ensures a happy association with reading, as rates continue to drop in the district.
What the library hopes for is to solidify the love for reading within the youth community, Hurley said.
“Reading is everything,” Hurley said. “It gets you through life. It builds your imaginations, and we need literacy.”
During the summer, the library will be extending its hours to allow even more time in the space to enjoy a good book, Cronin said.
“Usually in the summer, we scale back on our hours. But this year, we’re going to make sure the library is open from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. Monday through Thursday,” Cronin said. “That is to give families an opportunity to come to the library in the summer, especially if the child is not at summer camp.”
When it comes to the boom of technology, more than 81% of Massachusetts households with children ages 3 to 18 have access to a computer or tablet, according to a 2019 Institute of Education Sciences National Center for Education Statistics report.
“I know that technology is the way of the world,” Hurley said. “It’s the way of the future, but I don’t think anything can beat reading a physical book. Nothing beats it … It opens your mind into your imagination … and it doesn’t hurt your eyes the same way a screen does.”
In a 2023 NIH study, reading success was significantly lower when reading from screens compared to physical paper. The study references a higher theta-beta ratio for screen-based reading, which equates to lower attention rates and poorer understanding.
This means children have an easier time paying attention when reading a physical book, which can be even more difficult for the more than 22% of children ages 3 to 17 in Massachusetts who have attention disorders.
“I call it the old-fashioned way,” Hurley said. “You need to know how to use a book from cover to cover because what do you do when the power goes out, and you can’t charge that tablet?”
