Editor, Times-Union:
Akron Carnegie Public Library had a stellar Summer Reading Program. Our Adventure Begins At Your Library set record numbers in registration, programming attendance, passive programs completed, number of books read and loads of prizes awarded.
What a joy to plan these activities for our young patrons. We expanded on the theme by taking different adventures each week and tracking our travels across the U.S. We traveled close to 13,000 miles and were able to get to 40 states in seven weeks. We handed out over 175 passports for our weekly passive program challenges.
Our Adventures on the Road started with Route 66 where kids made their own adventure books to keep mementos of their summer fun. We then traveled to Florida to the space center where we learned about the space program and made our own rocket craft with Adventures in Space.
Heading up the east coast to Nantucket we made our Volkswagen van and surf board for Adventures Begin at the Beach. Hitting the Mohave Desert, kids loved making sand art and learning about what type of animals you might see there. Making our way to Mount Rainier, Washington, for Camping 101, kids were introduced to safety and fitness where they put that knowledge into practice by going on a scavenger hunt for Adventure Begins Outdoors. Our Adventures in History took a look at the Lewis and Clark trail with special guest storyteller Sacagawea. Young patrons and their families headed to Pike Memorial Park for our Storywalk®.
Every adventure has to come to an end and, Adventure Begins in your Backyard, took us home. We had a blast with our backyard obstacle course. Kids brought their competitive spirit as they found themselves fully immersed in the need to be the first to cross the finish line after making their way through a variety of obstacles.
For teens, adventure came with origami maps, flip flop canvas painting with Brenda Ramseier, and making their own adventure diamond coasters. Teens finished their program with a blindfolded obstacle course. They had to rely on a partner for directions to maneuver through the obstacles of crawling, climbing, weaving, pulling, tossing, and finding buried treasures.
To celebrate our successful 2024 SRP, we met at Pike Memorial Park on July 23rd to enjoy our Slides & Such, BBQ & Games program. We had approximately 150 kids, teens and adults attend our celebration event.
While we get to see the fruits of our labor in person, we can’t do it without the following and would like to give a big shout out to Pizza Hut, Dairy Queen, The Igloo, the Tin Caps and the Indiana State Fair, who, through their generosity provide great reading incentives. Thank you parents for bringing your children to our programs. Thank you Smith, Sawyer & Smith Insurance, Brenda Ramseier, George Graham, Mark Hawley, Micheala Hawley and Jay Cole for supporting us in ways that were much needed.
It takes a team and I work with some pretty amazing people. Thank you, Janet, Nicole, Vickie, Carol, Kim, Alana & April for the hours you gave to make a memorable 2024 Summer Reading Program.
Julie Canada
Program Director/SRP Coordinator
Akron Carnegie Public Library