Brown Library will be rockin’ all summer long.

“Libraries Rock” is this year’s theme for the library’s Summer Library Program, an event-packed itinerary that combines fun, education and the challenge to kids to read all summer long.

There’s a reason for that, according to children’s librarian Terry Rollins.

“First and foremost would be the proven record that children who read during the summer are already that much more ahead when they go back to school in the fall,” Rollins said. “Secondly, it’s a lot of fun. For a lot of children, during the school year they’re having to read assigned books or from assigned booklists, and during the summer, they have a lot more freedom to read what they want to read.”

Program registration launches today at the library. On June 22, the program officially begins with a kick-off event at First United Methodist Church Fellowship Hall, along with a visit from some frogs.

“We’ve had Rhana Paris, from the North Carolina Aquarium at Roanoke, come for a number of years, and she does an excellent program. This year she’s focusing on amphibians, so I’m sure she’s going to bring some frogs with her,” Rollins laughed. “For us, it’s a good tie-in with science and science books.”

Along with crafts and activity days, other featured guests throughout the summer include storytellers and musicians, and with “Libraries Rock” as the theme, music will feature strongly in this year’s program: hip-hop rapper and storyteller Scooter Hayes is slated for a June 29 performance; a music jam session will be a part of the program’s grand finale July 27. In between, a “build your own guitar” with a cardboard cutout activity day, complete with an air guitar rock concert, is on the schedule of events.

Those events, however, play second fiddle to the true purpose: to keep children reading through the summer, according to Rollins. Children enrolled in the program receive a log book, in which they keep track of how many books they read. With every 10 books, they receive a prize, he said.

“We have great prizes. Some prizes are from local businesses like Hardee’s, McDonald’s, putt-putt golf, and we also have prizes like bookbags, pencils, bookmarkers and things like that,” Rollins said.

Special recognition and prizes will be presented at the end of the program to one girl and one boy who read the most books, and one boy and one girl who read the most pages.

For more information, visit the library online at www.washington-nc.libguides.com, in person at 122 Van Norden St., Washington, or call 252-946-4300.