The importance of stoking children’s enthusiasm for reading and for frequenting their local libraries are among Kate DiCamillo’s passions as a reader, novelist, and literacy advocate. So she is well suited to her role as 2016 National Summer Reading Champion for the Collaborative Summer Library Program, a title she is reprising from 2015, when she was named the first-ever Champion for this annual initiative. Up and running for more than 20 years, CSLP is a nonprofit consortium of librarians from around the country working together to provide a unified summer reading theme and materials to enable member libraries to offer high-quality summer reading programs to their communities at the lowest possible cost.

Offering a nod to the 2016 Summer Olympics, this year’s CSLP theme – “On Your Mark, Get Set... Read!” – will be featured on an array of resources (all available in English and Spanish) for libraries to use in their summer reading programming, including program ideas, booklists, posters, clip art, and activities for four age groups, from babies to adults. CSLP reaches approximately 15,000 member libraries annually across the country.

DiCamillo, two-time Newbery Medalist (for The Tale of Despereaux and Flora & Ulysses), Newbery Honoree for Because of Winn-Dixie, and former National Ambassador for Young People’s Literature, is a “perfect spokesperson” for this summer reading program, noted Sherry Siclair, CSLP’s executive director. “Kate is so sincere about her love for libraries and librarians, and it clearly shows through all of her interactions,” she said. “Kate’s stories are also great in that they connect with a broad age range, from young readers to adults. CSLP is so lucky to have her voice to encourage summer reading, and we are so grateful for her efforts to keep kids reading.”

DiCamillo agreed that this position is an ideal fit for her, given the key role that her local public library played in shaping her as a reader. “It’s hard for me to overestimate how important the library was to me when I was growing up,” she recalled. “I am super lucky that I had a mother who took me to our town library often. It was such a magical place for me as a kid – a place of possibility, safety, and promise. The time I spent at the library made me know I was a reader, and recognizing that opened up a vault for me.”

DiCamillo kicked off the promotion of 2016’s CSLP on May 13 during a live Webcast, which was held at the Edgewood School in Woodridge, Ill., and viewed by more than 50,000 students at 975 schools across the nation. The author has also compiled a list of top 10 reasons to join a library summer reading program and a list of her favorite recommended summer reads for 2016, available on the CSLP Web site. The author is also talking up the joy of reading on her current 20-city tour for her new book, Raymie Nightingale, which Candlewick released in April. The novel, in which three girls form an unlikely friendship during a local summer talent competition, centers on Raymie, who hopes that her winning the contest will bring back her father, who recently abandoned the family.

DiCamillo observed that her new novel is her most autobiographical to date. “Kids always ask me where I am in my novels,” she explained. “Since I wrote Because of Winn-Dixie in the first person, many readers assumed that Opal was me, but I tell them that Opal is much smarter and kinder than I am! As I traveled around the country as National Ambassador for Young People’s Literature, I talked about how I became a writer, and about myself as a kid, and one thing that came up again and again in my mind was the impact of my own father leaving our family, so I worked that into Raymie Nightingale, which I found deeply satisfying.”

As she visits schools and bookstores promoting Raymie Nightingale, DiCamillo is quick to plug the importance of taking advantage of all that local libraries have to offer kids, especially during summer vacation. “For me, being the CSLP’s National Summer Reading Champion is all about hoping that kids and their families will get the chance to feel the same way I do about their own local libraries. Kids and libraries belong together all year long, but the summer is particularly special – a time of freedom and fun in reading. And that freedom is one of the reasons I love reading as much as I do.”