At the Hutchinson Public Library, this year’s Dream Big, READ!
children’s summer reading program ended on August 4, with a grand total
of 1,147 children and young adults enrolled. Of those signed up, 703
completed the program requirements by reading 10 books, spending at
least 10 hours reading, or a combination of both. Children who finished
the program earned prizes for their efforts, but the best reward was
maintaining reading skills, and enjoying books during summer vacation.
Summer
reading isn’t limited to children and teens either. One-hundred-two
adults 18 and older signed up for the Between the Covers summer
reading program. There weren’t any prizes awarded for reading a certain
number of books, but more than 300 book ratings and reviews were
submitted in June and July. Ratings slips were entered into a weekly
drawing for a chance to win prizes. The reviews were posted on the
library web site and used to create a reader’s choice book shelf.
Reading wasn't the only thing going on this summer here either. Our 32 story time programs were attended by 1,555 children. That's nearly 50 per program! Our evening family-time programs went over nearly as well with an average of 40 per night. It's no wonder that our Children's Department staff look so tired - that's a lot of puppet plays and singing and crafts.
Summer
reading for children has been happening at the Hutchinson Public
Library for more than 60 years. The program has been responsible for
check out of millions of books, thousands of story times, close to 30
years of summer celebrations, and tons of paper, crayons and glue used
for craft classes. We hope this effort has accomplished the same goal as
Read Kansas Read: to inspire a love of reading for life, and to keep
the children of Hutchinson and Reno County reading throughout the summer
so they are ready to start school each fall.
