Summer Reading Program At Scarsdale Library Reaps Rewards for Kids

Scarsdale kids like to read. In fact, more children were reading more books this past summer in the Scarsdale Library's Summer Reading Program than in 2012, which was an impressive year. The Summer Reading Game encourages children from infants through 4th grade to read or be read to during the summer months.

From late June to late August, 317 children participated in the program. They read a total of 6,899 books, just shy of 22 per child. In 2012, 267 children read 4,799 books, or about 18 per child.

In addition, the library's Children's Department reported that in July and August 1,546 patrons attended 26 programs organized by the library. The most attended were the four sessions of Drop-in-Crafts, which had 227 participants. The single most popular program was Animal Antics' from Green Meadow Farm with 178 attendees, followed closely by the Caps for Sale puppet show with 150 wide-eyed children and adults. The programs included science, music, art, architecture and chess.

"We did it all this summer," said Karen Zielinski, Children's Services Manager. "The participation, energy and enthusiasm of the children, and their parents, were terrific. It has to rank as our most successful summer ever."

Popular books in the Summer Reading program were Rick Riordan's Percy Jackson and the Olympians series as well as the Heroes of Olympus series. Also, as in past summers, Harry Potter was in high demand, along with Cupcake Diaries by Coco Simon, Rainbow Magic Fairies by Daisy Meadows, and Wonder by Patricia Polacco.

The library employs Reading Game Listeners who encourage participants to keep reading. "The children are quite proud of what they are doing and they like to come in to talk to the librarians and listeners about the books they are reading," Zielinski said. "Many of the children set goals for the summer and we also see some competition in families among siblings to see who can read the most books."

Children receive rewards based on the number of books read or listened to. After two books, the participating children receive a sticker, after five books they can dig into the "Treasure Chest" for a fun prize and after 20 books they receive a free book to keep. To encourage the children to come to the library, each receives a raffle ticket every time for a drawing for a $5 certificate at Haagen Daz, donated by Steve Mandani the owner of the local store. In addition, two book baskets were raffled off containing, books, crafts, and games.