On Monday, June 13, at 7 p.m., we'll kick off this year's Summer Quest reading program. All are welcome, and no registration is required. This year's theme is Summer Quest Goes Down the Drain.
Each year, we're the only library in Maryland to create our own summer reading program, which is funded by the Friends of the Takoma Park Maryland Library. Dave Burbank, library assistant and artist extraordinare, writes the story and creates the art for Summer Quest, a read to play summer reading game. To start, kids pick a character from the many we have available; they color it in, give it a name, and then hand it to us. In return, we'll give them a copy of the Summer Quest story and a gameboard to take home. Each time kids complete one of the 10 reading challenges, we'll move their character along the giant gameboard in our Children's Room. The only rule is that the books must be checked out of our library to count towards a challenge.
UPDATE: Register here
What's great about our Summer Quest program is that each child decides how he or she will win. Some kids like to read lots of books for each challenge. Others like to read thick books, while still others like to finish as quickly as possible. It doesn't matter, as long as they are reading! Books that are read to children, as well as audiobooks, work fine in the program.
If you can't make it to the June 13th gala kick-off, don't worry. Kids can sign up for the program throughout the summer. We'll conclude our Summer Quest in early September, when we'll have a party -- complete with cupcakes and lemonade -- and everyone will go home with free new books. So come on in, and give our Summer Quest program a try! Even very young children can complete the challenges with their parents, and grown-ups might want to use the challenges to structure their own reading in the adult section this summer!
Posted by at June 9, 2011 11:20 AM