Summer for Georgia Readers Starts Today


You can continue to read anywhere, anytime, and virtually anything this summer, because Get Georgia Reading partner Renaissance myON will keep delivering thousands of free books—plus engaging daily news articles—to your computer and mobile devices that you can access 24 hours a day through Aug. 21.

All children, parents and guardians, educators, and librarians can search from more than 50 different categories and genres, fiction and nonfiction, picture books, graphic novels, chapter books, titles for struggling and reluctant readers, and Spanish and bilingual titles. It’s like having your own personal library right at your fingertips.

Students Are Already Reading with myON in All 159 Counties in Georgia

In just seven weeks, children in all 159 counties have already spent 1,721,493 minutes reading 131,179 free digital books with Renaissance myON—one of many Get Georgia Reading Campaign partners that are committed to ensuring families have access to resources to keep them safe, healthy, and learning during the coronavirus crisis.

“We’re so thankful to all of our partners who are feeding children’s hunger for learning and reading,” said Get Georgia Reading Campaign Director Arianne Weldon. “These tools and tips are giving parents and caregivers access to high-quality education opportunities at home and building their capacity to expose children to a rich language environment.”

For healthy growth and reading success, all children and their families need year-round access to educational and supportive services. Renaissance myON has helped to get Georgia reading in a big way by providing summertime access to digital books in homes, schools, and libraries for the past five summers.

Weldon inquired about meeting the evolving needs of communities head-on by starting unlimited, free statewide access early this year—and Renaissance myON had the site live two days before Georgia’s schools closed in March.

“The engagement we’ve seen is unprecedented, with more participating counties and more books read than the entire summer of 2019,” said Weldon. “Families are already familiar with this amazing resource, thanks to this long-standing partnership—and our dedicated Cabinet members got the word out quickly to their networks.”

More than an electronic reading application, myON by Renaissance tracks the habits of its readers and generates a list of “just right” books for each student while providing educators more insight into what works for kids—books read from start to finish—and what doesn’t—books rarely opened, or opened and not finished.

Books come with features that create a student-centered, personalized literacy environment, with an optional audio component, word and sentence highlighting, and a sidebar with a built-in dictionary. This suite helps kids connect with the text while reading independently or working on assigned reading and writing projects.

So far this year, chapter books and adventure are the most popular categories in Georgia. The most-read titles include Too Many Tomatoes, John Henry, The Tall Tale of Paul Bunyan: The Graphic Novel, and the Princess Candy series.

“I’m excited to see so many families continuing the learning that’s so essential in kids’ lives,” said Caitlin Dooley, deputy superintendent for curriculum and instruction at Georgia Department of Education. “We’re committed to ensuring families have what they need as the COVID-19 outbreak continues.”

Research shows that students can lose up to three months of reading ability over the summer. By offering a wide array of quality digital titles, myON by Renaissance is aiming to ensure that students don’t fall behind while school is out.

“Continuing with reading is one of the most important things a student can do in order to not fall behind in school,” said myON Account Manager Saralee Parker. “As we move forward, this summer more than ever, our students will need to continue reading and learning to make up not only for the summer slide—but also for the pandemic that has kept us from our classrooms since early March.”

Ready, Set, Read

Gwinnett, Clayton, Camden, Fulton, and DeKalb counties have read the most books so far this year. Let’s keep the momentum from the past seven weeks going this summer and aim for 2 million minutes and 250,000 books in all 159 counties between May 4 and Aug. 21.

Gwinnett County earned the top spot in Georgia last summer by reading 9,804 books. Coweta County finished in second with 8,034 books, and Fulton County took third with 6,707 books read. Here’s how the top 10 in the state rounded out:

•    Carroll County: 6,461
•    Laurens County: 6,212
•    Bibb County: 6,101
•    Marietta City: 4,954
•    Cherokee County: 4,300
•    Brooks County: 4,270
•    DeKalb County: 4,203

We’ll keep our eye on who’s reading the most and give shout outs to the leaders throughout the summer. Let’s see who turns the most pages by Aug. 21.

Getting started is quick and easy!

  1. Register at renaissance.com/getgeorgiareading.
  2. After you register, you will receive your username and password via email.
  3. Log in at myON.com/login/index.html and enter your log-in information.
    School Name: Get Georgia Reading (Type the first few letters and select your school from the drop-down menu.)
    Username: yourcounty (example: cobbcounty)
    Password: read
  4. Click on the Sign In button, select a book, and start reading!

Check out some additional tips including recommended system requirements and guidelines on searching for books. Watch this how-to video on accessing and reading books.

We Want to Hear from You

The only thing better than reading a good book is sharing it with others. We encourage all readers—kids, dads and moms, grandparents and caregivers, teachers, and librarians—to send written and video book reviews that we’ll publish on our social media platforms.

Get social this summer by sharing book recommendations, snapping selfies with your favorite titles, showing off where you’re reading and who you’re reading with, and telling us how you’re incorporating myON by Renaissance into your everyday life.

Send your reviews, videos, photos, and more to Krystin Dean at krystin@gafcp.org, and be sure to use the hashtags #GetGAReading and #myON with your social media posts.

For more information about myON by Renaissance, contact Saralee Parker at sparker@myon.com or at 678-910-6661.