'Book Mobile' program gets kids reading in summer

Children in Greenport are spending their summer months reading while school is out. The Book Mobile is a book-filled bus that picks up children five days a week. Kids can hop on board and search for

News 12 Staff

Aug 2, 2016, 3:45 AM

Updated 2,995 days ago

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Children in Greenport are spending their summer months reading while school is out.
The Book Mobile is a book-filled bus that picks up children five days a week. Kids can hop on board and search for their favorite books to read.
The program is the brainchild of Joseph Tsaveras, the principal of Greenport Elementary School. He says he wants to make sure children read during their summer vacations.
"It really is to promote literacy and for students to have the opportunity to read and have a love for reading," Tsaveras says. "Our goal as educators is to have children become lifelong readers."
Tsaveras says the bus has been seeing between 40 to 50 students per week.
Toward the end of the school year, word got out that books were needed for the Book Mobile. Now it is home to around 600 books, and teacher Amy Gammon keeps control of which books go onto and off of the bus.
"There's a big difference for kids that read in the summer. Their comprehension increases," she says.
Tsaveras says he is also challenging other schools to create programs similar to the Book Mobile.