Mike Thompson has been serving in the U.S. Congress since 1999 and representing Benicia since 2013. He will be at the JFK Library on Thursday to promote the district’s Summer Reading Challenge. (File photo)

Rep. Mike Thompson (D-Napa) will be visiting the John F. Kennedy Library in Vallejo to encourage children to read as many books as they can as part of California’s 5th District’s Summer Reading Challenge.

This is the first year that Thompson– who represents Benicia as part of California’s 5th District– has hosted the Summer Reading Challenge, which encourages students to read books from the Library of Congress’ Summer Reading List. The program is intended for students ranging from kindergartners to eighth-graders and is broken off into three categories: grades K-2, grades 3-5 and grades 6-8. The Library of Congress encourages students to read a wide variety of recent books, including Anna Staniszewski’s “Power Down, Little Robot” on the K-2 list, Max Brallier’s “The Last Kids on Earth” on the 3-5 list, and Hal Johnson’s “Fearsome Creatures of the Lumberwoods” on the 6-8 list.

“The congressman sees the Summer Reading Challenge as an opportunity to promote the Library of Congress’s Summer Reading Lists which encourages students to read throughout this year’s summer vacation and to hopefully instill a love for books in our young readers,” Thompson’s spokeswoman Megan Rabbitt said.

To participate in the Summer Reading Challenge, students will need to send an email to SummerReading.CA05@mail.house.gov with the following information: the student’s name, the student’s grade, the student’s school, the parent’s name and the parent’s email.

“Students who participate will be invited to attend a recognition event at the end of summer, with special recognition for those students who read all of the books on their list,” Rabbitt said.

In addition, Thompson will be at JFK Library on Thursday as part of the Afternoon Adventures program. For approximately 45 minutes, the congressman will be reading a selection of books from the Summer Reading List. Rabbitt said Thompson would likely be reading from the K-2 and 3-5 lists.

The event will begin at 4 p.m., Thursday, July 21, at JFK Library, located at 505 Santa Clara St. in Vallejo. The event is free and open to the public. Children and families are welcome to attend. For the Summer Reading List, visit ala.org/alsc/2016-summer-reading-list. For more information on the event, call the library at (866) 572-7587.

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