DALTON, Ga. — Every fall, third-grade teacher Marian Pinson tests students’ reading levels to determine whether their skills have declined over the summer.

“You can tell who has been reading and who hasn’t,” she said.

Education research has shown that children’s reading levels often drop during the languid summer months, officials said.

On Tuesday, the Dalton-Whitfield Public Library kicked off its annual Summer Reading Program to combat that so-called “summer setback.” The program uses storytellers, music and nature activities to engage children in learning.

“Summer reading clubs have been a regular part of libraries for as long as everybody remembers,” said Joe Forsee, director of the Northwest Georgia Regional Library System. But, he added, “It really is more than books now.”

Mr. Forsee strummed musical interludes on his guitar Tuesday, including “The Ugliest Bug.”

“It sort of wakes them up,” he said about the songs, “and, then they enjoy the next story.”

One of the main storytellers Tuesday was Dalton Mayor David Pennington, who read “The Wolf.”

He said he wants to encourage young people to read to ensure that Dalton will have an educated work force in the future.

“We have got to improve the educational level in this community,” said Mr. Pennington.

Mr. Pennington, who said he hopes to be a role model, added, “I’m an avid reader — even with serious attention deficit disorder.”

The mayor praised the library’s summer program, but he said he wants to extend reading groups to more of the city’s lower-income children.

Many children don’t have rides to the library, he said. So he plans eventually to bring summer reading programs to the Dalton Community Center, in the city’s lower-income East Side.

“A lot of them could walk to the community center, but they’re not involved in the library,” Mr. Pennington said.

The Center for Summer Learning at Johns Hopkins University has found that low-income children often fall further behind than their higher-income peers during the summer.

“More than half of the achievement gap between lower- and higher-income youth can be explained by unequal access to summer learning opportunities,” according to the Center’s Web site, referring to a 2007 study.

Ms. Pinson, who teaches at Westwood Elementary, said the school tries to fill these gaps. Students receive a summer packet with worksheets and books to prepare them for the following grade level.

These books could sustain children stuck at home, she said. “Some of them can get to the library,” she said. “Some cannot.”