The 2011 “One World, Many Stories” Summer Reading Program set new attendance records for the Macksville City Library!

73 kids signed up, and we had six story-hours, plus prizes and a pool party to top it all off.  Over the course of the program, 42 was our lowest attendance and 56 kids was our high!  We know how to fill the building!

Three wonderful guest speakers shared a ‘world’ of information with our kids. Leona Breeden, from Smoky Hills Public Television, brought along books & crafts for all the kids & showed an Arthur video that matched our theme.  Pam Martin, from the Kansas Wetlands Education Center, introduced us to the world of snakes, and Byoung Lee, taught us about his native country, Korea.  He brought Korean clothes and wrote each child’s name in Korean on a bookmark.

Many others helped make our program a success.  Girl Scout Troop 12 donated $100. The Pratt Walmart donated $60.  Assistant librarian, Debbie Susoeff decorated the library and helped lead crafts.  Dependable volunteers: Eileen Loomis, Karissa Langlois, Stefany Ortiz, Kristina Murphy, and Deisy Carillo, gave of their time,  helped kids with crafts, and re-shelved mountains of books week after week.  And, much appreciated snacks were provided by our library board members: Eileen Loomis, Jessica Brown, Audrey Wright, Kathy Harvey, Audrey Austin, & Karen Spencer.

Finally, we are so thankful to Dollar General for the summer reading grant.  We received $1,352.79, and were able to purchase: a book cart, fun craft materials, inflatable globes for each child, and MANY amazing biography books!  Each child was encouraged to read a biography & draw a ‘paper doll’ of that person.  They improved their reading skills AND learned how even ordinary people (like us!) can do great things!

Keep reading!  Keep Dreaming!   And, keep checking out our NEWLY updated  Biography section at the library!  Hope to see you next summer (and all year long!)!