Summer Lost: Episode 1 - The Slide
It’s a sweltering summer afternoon in Philadelphia and Dion Jones is reading to his two sons, Jayven and Cameron, on a bench in Smith Memorial Playground.
It’s July 1 — one of the first weeks of summer vacation — and Jones just received a handful of free children’s books from the Philadelphia Eagles Youth Partnership.
“Which one do you want me to read?” Jones asks his boys. “‘More Bears!’?” he suggests, motioning at a book with a blue cover — a whacky poem by children’s author Kenn Nesbitt.
“Yeah!” shouts six-year-old Jayven with a big grin. Cameron, who is two, climbs on his dad’s lap as Jones begins reading rhymes from the book about a family of hibernating mammals.
The books "will help keep them active and keep them learning,” said Jones, who is also a single father and correctional officer who said he finds it difficult to ensure his kids stay engaged with learning activities during the summer.
After turning the last page, Jones scurries out of the park with his children so he can make it to work on time.
“It’s great that these programs exist,” Jones added. “It’s very hard to get my kids out be active with them and their learning, and it’s very nice that they’re free because some things don’t fit the budget.”
The Eagles Youth Partnership book drive gave away oodles of books at Smith Playground earlier this week to hundreds of parents like Jones. The event also featured cameos by the Eagles’ superhero mascot Storybook Man, who arrived in his patented green Bookmobile Summer Lost: Episode 1 - The Slide | Philadelphia Public School Notebook: