COLUMBUS, Ohio – Lots of kids in the Columbus Metropolitan Area are getting the help they need to stay on track so they don't experience the summer slide. That’s when kids lose knowledge and reading skills over the summer that they've gained throughout the school year if they haven't done anything to build on those skills. But the Columbus Metropolitan Library is helping to close that gap.

"We are surrrr...this is a big one...surrounded.

In a 20 minute session at the Columbus Metropolitan Library, Reading Buddy Ben Brown helps kids like 6-year-old Sairam get words down pat.

"Surrounded by monsters...said the hedgehog."

It's this soon to be first grader's, first time taking part in this library's summer reading challenge. His job is to learn as much as he can and improve his accent while building his reading skills, so he doesn't hit the summer slide. 

"We, we, we can all go together."

But Sairam isn't just learning to read, he's reading to understand. And he's doing it by making things like lanterns which is part of what his book is about. Originally from India, his dad Murealikrashnean Kuleandaivel says, his son struggled initially when they came to the United States in 2016. 

"Two years before we went to some school like a gifted program, he didn't get selected. After that one year, we put him in these library sessions and different learning processes." 

And since that one year span of time, "Particularly, I'm very happy to see him and some kind of improvement he's getting...this kind of...all these other opportunities like this other than the school.” "Now he got selected in the gifted school."

It's these kinds of stories that keep former teacher and Reading Buddy, Ben Brown coming back. "Well the neatest thing for me is like reading with a kid who when you find something that they're able to read like at their correct level and then they get excited about it and they're figuring out words and are able to sound them out and excited about the story that they're reading. 

Children's Division Manager, Abby Kiracofe says, taking the time now build reading skills is so important these days.  "Up to 3rd-grade kids are learning how to read and third grade and beyond you're reading to learn. And so vocabulary development is critically important for kids in early elementary." "Kids are struggling with reading on grade level. You can look back at the statistics and the report cards for 10 plus years or so and kids are struggling."

But if they can stay ahead of the curve like Sairam, Kiracofe says, it can change a kid's future.

"We need to support kids to read on grade level. We know that if kids are reading on grade level, it will positively impact their educational outcomes and future career paths." 

With a bright future ahead, Sairam's dad looked on proudly at the progress his son continues to make. "I'm really, really happy to see him reading fluently and sometimes he's correcting me...and sometimes he's telling...hey this is not the way to sound. You're telling wrongly." 

While that correction leaves him at a loss for words sometimes, he says it's great quality time spent here with Sairam's Reading Buddy Ben.  

More than 20,000 Reading Buddy sessions have taken place since its start back in June of this year. The library is still encouraging parents to read aloud at home to help kids progress along, but also to come to the library. If you're interested in learning more about the Reading Buddies program, simply log on to http://columbuslibrary.readsquared.com/.