KICS and Bookmart promote teen reading

KICS reviews by Blú, a new online teen book club, is partnering with The Bookmart at Brown & Co in the hopes of promoting teen reading across the island.

The book club will feature aspects such as book reviews and ranking systems and is geared towards giving avid readers a new outlet. Membership is free and The Bookmart is offering a 10 per cent discount on books to all registered members. 

“It’s just a fantastic initiative to support teenagers,” Bookmart manager Martin Buckley told the Bermuda Sun. “You quite often find with children that the parents spend quite a lot of time with them initially to help develop their reading skills, but then as they get older they’re often left to their own devices. I think a review scheme like this will help point teenagers in the right direction.”

Buckley stressed the importance of keeping teen readers engaged and reading through the transitional stage in their life.

“Once they get out of the habit, they go through adulthood without having books in their life. If you can continue that link through the teen years then you’ve got a reader for life.”

“Bookmart is thrilled to join iAspirations Limited in bring this exciting initiative to the community,” said Brown & Co general manager Nicole Warren in a press release. 

“What I’m looking for is working with those teens who have a passion for reading and love books and giving them a fun exciting outlet, because right now there’s really nothing out there available to them. Because we are online and interactive it should be exciting for them,” added Angela Young, president of iAspirations Limited.

Membership is open to teen readers from M1 and up island wide and can be initiated by starting an account at www.kicssystems.com. Membership allows readers to interact with Blú’s Blog Tour, where Blú will be posting her daily reactions to the summer’s “good read” pick: The Testing by Joelle Charbonneau. There will also be an “Oprah-style” book club review of the book on August 21 at The Bookmart.