Let the Summer Begin: Read and Be a Winner

Summer reading 2019, “A Universe of Stories,” celebrates the 50th anniversary of the 1969 Apollo Moon Landing. This is not the first year the library has had a space theme. In 1956, the summer reading theme was the Rocketeer Reading Club. This was the year of Sputnik, the first satellite launch beginning the United States’ entry into the space race and climaxing with the Apollo mission and Neil Armstrong’s first steps for mankind onto the moon.

As schools end the academic year, public libraries are on a fast space ship moving toward summer reading programs. In summer, the children are back in full force and the library staff have big smiles of welcome.

The library’s summer reading program isn’t just for children. We have many programs for adults who have a little more leisure in the summer. Parents, grandparents, and caregivers come with the children and they use this time to borrow books, videos, and other library materials. Adults can join in the fun of summer reading with their younger library users.

1956 Summer Rocketeer material

New this year is a teen summer reading program. Along with the Teen Nook, teens have more time to reserve the recording studio, creating videos and music for all to enjoy. They can invite their friends to record their own musical or video performances or invite the family to record family memories.

Growing up, I lived in the county and my family believed a library card and reading were important. Beginning in 1960, my mother paid the non-resident fee of $10 per year ($82 in today’s money) for our family to have the privilege of checking out library books. This enabled me to participate in the summer reading programs. In 1965, I participated in the library’s Paul Bunyan Summer Reading Club. Reading enough books was not a problem but reaping the reward of the summer reading program—going to see the movie, “The Three Lives of Tomasina” was. It was Aug. 20, 1965, and I was already in school at that time. My mother who worked in Poplar Bluff took time off from work, drove from town, and took me to the library so I might walk to the Rodgers with my fellow readers to see the movie. After the movie, mother reversed her steps to get me back to school taking vacation time to make it possible for me to participate in the movie experience. This is a memory I cherish. It was not until I was an adult with children of my own that I understood the reading gift she gave to me..

Today, the Library with its giving partners makes it possible for everyone, children to adults, to reap the rewards of reading. Reading is adventurous pleasure. The benefit is to society and the reader. Children who read over the summer do not experience the learning losses of those who don’t. Reading children come back to school with exercised minds ready for classes in math, science, social studies, and the arts. A 2016 study confirms “…that students who read for pleasure averaged higher scores than their non-reading counterparts in the subject areas measured.” (Whitten, Labby, Sullivan. “The impact of Pleasure Reading on Academic Success.” The Journal of Multidisciplinary Graduate Research 2016, Volume 2, Article 4, pp. 48-64.

Reading makes our communities stronger.

“Investing in culture makes sense not only because it results in jobs and regeneration but also growth which results in the kind of places we want to live in, and the fully realized lives we want everyone to live.” <https://readingagency.org.uk/news/blog/culture-reading-and-economic-growth.html>

Bring the children. Bring the teens. Come with them. Please reap the rewards of reading while earning prizes and entering to win gift cards, Kindles, an American Girl astronaut, and book bundles for children. Teens enter to win an off-to-college bundle of mini fridge and microwave, movie bundles, and a bike. Adults earn rewards to win an Echo dot, gift cards, and a bike. Sign up at your library or online < https://www.poplarbluff.org/read > beginning June 3.

The library staff is excited to have you in the library and enjoying all there is to read. Remember, your library card is free.

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Sue Crites Szostak has been the director of the Poplar Bluff Municipal Library since 2013. She got her first library card at the Poplar Bluff library and did her internship there as well. She has worked in libraries for 43 years. Contact her at: szostak@poplarbluff.org