More than 4,200 Tri-City kids spent their summer engrossed in stories as part of the reading programs at local libraries.
And, last Saturday, the first couple hundred participants who wrapped up their 50 days of reading — equal to 16.3 hours — received a medal and a handshake from officials for a job well done.
Barbara Weston, the Coquitlam Public Library (CPL) youth service co-ordinator, told the afternoon crowd packed at the City Centre branch room that it had a record number of registrants for this year’s Summer Reading Club that launched in mid-June for preschoolers to students in Grade 5.
A total of 2,058 children signed up at the City Centre or Poirier branches compared with 1,740 last year, with a chance to win an iPad Air.
CPL board chairperson Jack Trumley gave extra praise to the parents and grandparents for their commitment; the extra edge in literacy allows the kids to get ahead
in life, he said. “We know that leaders are readers,” he said while library director Todd Gnissios also gave kudos to the adults for their persistence in education.
In Port Coquitlam and Port Moody, the Summer Reading Club numbers were also high this year. At the Terry Fox Library in PoCo, 715 kids in kindergarten to Grade 6 were part of the program versus 734 last year. Port Moody saw 1,508 children enrolled compared with 1,204 last year.
Across B.C., youth kept track of their reading in a special passport designed by illustrator and animator Shayne Letain on the theme “Build It!” The summer reading clubs are sponsored by the BC Library Association with funding from Libraries Branch, Ministry of Education and the RBC Foundation.
Meanwhile, Coquitlam is hosting another SRC medal ceremony on Saturday, Sept. 12 (10:30 a.m. and 11:30 a.m.). PoCo has its medal event on Aug. 26 at 11 a.m. at the Leigh Square Community Arts Village bandshell (beside PoCo city hall) and Port Moody’s is on Aug. 29 at the library (100 Newport Dr.).
