There was a time when getting children to read voluntarily might have been right up there with getting them to eat all their vegetables.
Jason Rearick / The Citizen
Nathan Swanberg, left, visiting from Herndon, Va., cuts out a paper visor as librarian Lisa Carr, right, helps Ellie Fraher with her visor during the Summer Reading Kickoff Party on the front lawn of Seymour Library Tuesday morning.
Nathan Swanberg, left, visiting from Herndon, Va., cuts out a paper visor as librarian Lisa Carr, right, helps Ellie Fraher with her visor during the Summer Reading Kickoff Party on the front lawn of Seymour Library Tuesday morning.
But at Seymour Library things are a little different.
Tuesday morning on the front lawn of the library several dozen children and their parents gathered for the summer reading kickoff party.
Children's librarian Danette Davis said that this event has been going on for the past few years as a way to draw attention to the numerous events geared toward children that the library hosts every summer.
“It's just a way to keep kids excited about reading,” Davis said. “Mostly it's a way to encourage kids to read and have fun with it.”
This kind of encouragement has been shown to be highly beneficial.
“A lot of research has been done,” library director Sheila Anderson said. “Kids who read during the summer have been shown to do better in school in the fall. So we think it is pretty good to encourage these kids to want to read.”
During the kickoff party the focus is on making this fun.
Every year New York has established a theme to encourage kids to read, to make it fun and exciting. This year the theme has been taken on on a national level with Get A Clue @ Your Library.
“This is the first year we've joined with other states,” Anderson said. “We are working across the country for the theme this year.”
To kick things off children were given a reading log to keep track of their summer reading and made library detective badges.
“This is just another way to get kids excited about reading,” Davis said. “The reading log lets them keep track of what they read. Younger kids can read with their parents and older kids can fill this out themselves, it just makes things a little more fun when they can see how much they've read and at the end of the summer they can enter raffles for prizes after they've filled in their reading log.”
This is an idea that parents and children alike were very supportive of.
“I think it is great they are doing this,” Terry Strawbridge said. “She (daughter Emma) is an avid reader. I think it is really cool that they are doing something like this for the kids.”
Emma, 6, said that she particularly liked books about animals, influenced by the television character Diego.
“I really like all my books at home,” Emma said. “I like animal books and fiction books too. I think I can fill up this (the reading log).”
Among the other attractions for the day were things like face painting, making visors, mini-golf, tic-tac-toe games and magician Aaron Isaacs.
“I really like the magician,” said Scott Corey Jr, 6. “He is really good and a lot of fun.”
Throughout July and August the library will be hosting numerous events to keep up the energy created by the summer reading kickoff party with craft days, American Girl Lawn parties, live music and puppet shows and a Harry Potter Scavenger Hunt.
“We hope to see a lot of kids down at the library this summer,” Davis said. “Most summers we have a lot of kids from preschool all the way up to middle school and we have a lot going on this summer so we hope to see a lot of kids stop by and join in on what we are doing.”
Tuesday morning on the front lawn of the library several dozen children and their parents gathered for the summer reading kickoff party.
Children's librarian Danette Davis said that this event has been going on for the past few years as a way to draw attention to the numerous events geared toward children that the library hosts every summer.
“It's just a way to keep kids excited about reading,” Davis said. “Mostly it's a way to encourage kids to read and have fun with it.”
This kind of encouragement has been shown to be highly beneficial.
“A lot of research has been done,” library director Sheila Anderson said. “Kids who read during the summer have been shown to do better in school in the fall. So we think it is pretty good to encourage these kids to want to read.”
During the kickoff party the focus is on making this fun.
Every year New York has established a theme to encourage kids to read, to make it fun and exciting. This year the theme has been taken on on a national level with Get A Clue @ Your Library.
“This is the first year we've joined with other states,” Anderson said. “We are working across the country for the theme this year.”
To kick things off children were given a reading log to keep track of their summer reading and made library detective badges.
“This is just another way to get kids excited about reading,” Davis said. “The reading log lets them keep track of what they read. Younger kids can read with their parents and older kids can fill this out themselves, it just makes things a little more fun when they can see how much they've read and at the end of the summer they can enter raffles for prizes after they've filled in their reading log.”
This is an idea that parents and children alike were very supportive of.
“I think it is great they are doing this,” Terry Strawbridge said. “She (daughter Emma) is an avid reader. I think it is really cool that they are doing something like this for the kids.”
Emma, 6, said that she particularly liked books about animals, influenced by the television character Diego.
“I really like all my books at home,” Emma said. “I like animal books and fiction books too. I think I can fill up this (the reading log).”
Among the other attractions for the day were things like face painting, making visors, mini-golf, tic-tac-toe games and magician Aaron Isaacs.
“I really like the magician,” said Scott Corey Jr, 6. “He is really good and a lot of fun.”
Throughout July and August the library will be hosting numerous events to keep up the energy created by the summer reading kickoff party with craft days, American Girl Lawn parties, live music and puppet shows and a Harry Potter Scavenger Hunt.
“We hope to see a lot of kids down at the library this summer,” Davis said. “Most summers we have a lot of kids from preschool all the way up to middle school and we have a lot going on this summer so we hope to see a lot of kids stop by and join in on what we are doing.”
