Reading programs offered for all this summer

Lynn Atkins/The Weekly Vista Preschool storytime began with an interactive song last week. It goes on year-round at 10 a.m. on Fridays. Older kids, teens and adults can also participate in summer reading programs at the library.
Lynn Atkins/The Weekly Vista Preschool storytime began with an interactive song last week. It goes on year-round at 10 a.m. on Fridays. Older kids, teens and adults can also participate in summer reading programs at the library.

Summer gets busy at the Bella Vista Public Library, with magicians, musicians and science projects. The summer reading program called A Universe of Stories kicks off on Thursday, June 13, with an event that includes a bounce house, a science project with the Amazeum staff and free snow cones. While the kickoff will attract many young readers, the summer reading program is for everyone.

Readers don't have to be at the kickoff to participate, Children's librarian Ellen Farwell said. In fact, they don't have to come to the library. The program is online at bvpl.beanstack.org and sign-ups go on through most of the six-week program.

"People said they couldn't do the program because of summer travel," Farwell explained. "Now they can log their reading anywhere and come in and pick up what they earn anytime."

The program runs for six weeks and serves five different age groups. First, there's the "Read to Me" program for children as young as newborns. Parent do the reading and track the number of books read. Any child under 11 who still enjoys being read to, is eligible for that program. The "Count Books" program is for children who read picture books. Slightly older kids who read chapter books may want to join the "Count Pages" program. Teens also count the pages they read, and so do adults who have their own program.

There will be prizes every week, Farwell said. Most of the prizes come from local donors, including free ice cream from Dairy Queen and free pizza from Gusano's. Grand prizes include an Escape House visit for teens and a gift certificate for Dave and Busters. Participants earn virtual tickets for reading and, towards the end of the program, they can go online and decide the grand prize for which they would like to be in the running. Participants deposit their virtual tickets for their favorite prizes, and a drawing is held after the program ends. The drawing will take place on July 21 and winners will be notified via email. That leaves everyone free to enjoy the end of the program pizza party on July 18.

Farwell said the drawings will be more fun since the participants get choices.

Each week during the summer reading program, guests are invited to entertain. Most of the programs for young readers are at 10 a.m. on Thursdays, beginning with Marty the Magician. On June 27, it's Science with Mr. Jeff. Later in the summer, Opera in the Ozarks will visit, and so will Tommy Terrific and the University of Arkansas NASA robotics team. Some of the programs have special times.

There are also programs for teens on Friday evenings beginning at 6:30. Since the programs are after hours, the teens can make as much noise as they want, Farwell said. There are movies, the Chocolate Olympics, jugglers and a field trip to the fire station that may end with some wet fun, she said. The library website has a full schedule.

Adult programs are on Monday evenings and the summer lineup includes speakers from the Sugar Creek Astronomical Society, the Shiloh Museum, the Pea Ridge National Battlefield and the Mutual UFO network.

Preschool story time, at 10 a.m. on Fridays, continues through the summer months. as do many of the adult groups. The full calendar is on the library web site at www.bvpl.org/events.

General News on 06/12/2019