Sunshine State Readers Program

The Sunshine State Young Reader’s Award Program (SSYRA) is a statewide reading motivation program for students in grades 3-8. The School Library Media Services Office of the Florida Department of Education and the Florida Association for Media in Education (FAME) cosponsors the program. Over 1,000 Florida schools participated in the program during the last school year.
The purposes of the SSYRA program :

• To encourage students to read for personal satisfaction.
• To help students in understanding, relating to, and enjoying life through experiences with literature.
• To help students become discriminating readers in their personal selection of books.
• To develop an awareness of good current literature for children and young people.
  

Orange County Public School Library Media Specialists support and promote the Sunshine State Young Reader’s Award Program by making the books available in the school library/media center and encouraging students to read the titles on the SSYRA list. Library Media Specialists recognize the students at their schools that participate in the Sunshine State Program through various activities. The middle school students that read all 15 titles have the opportunity to tryout for their school Book Battle Team. The Annual Middle School Battle of the Books takes place during National Library Week at the Orlando Science Center.
At a designated time in the spring, students that have read or heard at least three of the titles from the master list for their grade level will be eligible to vote on their favorite book. Votes from the statewide balloting are compiled to determine the winners of the Sunshine State Young Reader’s Award. This is a very prestigious award for the authors who write books for children and young people.