When I was a little girl living in North Hampton, NH, summer meant lots of things… the town beach with its icy cold water and big waves, Hampton Beach boardwalk and arcade, cotton candy, back yard BBQs with my family, riding my bike just about everywhere imaginable, adventure treks through the woods to the pond with the tadpoles and frogs, jump rope and tree houses and everything a kid could wish for.
But most of all, summer meant the Library Summer Reading Club. Each week, my Mom would pile my brothers and me into our car and make the 10-minute or so trip to the North Hampton Town Library.
It was the Library that held every wonder. I always wanted to take every book from the children’s department, the goal being to read about everything imaginable while filling in my very own Summer Reading Club’s giant caterpillar with colorful dots representing each book read.
ONE WORLD, MANY STORIES!
I read well into every night, often times with a flashlight… for the effect, of course.
When I grew up and became a Mom (and a Reading Teacher, to boot!), I took my own kids to our local library, each week, making the journey with kids excited to be part of the Barrington, RI Library Summer Reading Club. My kids also read well into each night, with the token flashlight, of course.
Today, Audrey invited me to head to our local library to register 6-year old William and 5-year old Alex for the East Greenwich, RI Library Summer Reading Program (4-year old Ben and 3-year old Henry came along too, of course).
I was thrilled beyond words to see the excitement in their eyes as they became part of this special “club” and picked out their books to bring home…
I felt like a kid all over again… the WONDERS inside the walls of a Library never cease to amaze me!
(I think I need to buy a few flashlights!)
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I remember the summer reading club in my local library when I was younger. I always reached the goal by the 2nd week for whatever my age group was. I loved the library with such a passion. I met friends there – like Ramona and Beezus, and Encyclopedia Brown and his best friend Sally. As I got older I met Shakespeare and Janet Evanovich and tons of other people
I don’t go to the library anymore, but I still read at least 3 books at a time.
I can’t wait to take Samara to get her first library card. It’s still one of my favorite places to hang out.
Rachel… we are of the same mind! Samara’s trip to the library for her first library card will be a perfect day! xo!
At some point later in life I must have realized I missed out on these special things as a child because now one of my favorite places in the world is a library and/or bookstore! I love, love, love just hanging out to read or just peruse books. I think it’s so important for parents, if they can, to take advantage of these programs for their kids or at the least, take them to a library now and then. It’s obvious from these photos that it gets them excited about reading – yeah!