Wild summer reading at the local library

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Wild summer reading at the local library

Details: Published on Tuesday, July 12, 2016

Photo by Tony Eu. The main display for the summer reading program at the Neepawa Public Library.

By Tony Eu

Neepawa Banner/Neepawa Press

The Neepawa Public Library is in the midst of its annual summer reading program. Having started on June 20, the program is well on its way, but it’s not too late to jump in before the 2016 program ends on August 19.

The summer reading program, officially the TD Summer Reading Club, is a program sponsored by TD bank that is available to any and all public libraries across Canada. “The goal [of the summer reading program] is to encourage literacy and help children maintain their reading levels through the summer,” said Debbie Unger, the branch supervisor for the Neepawa Public Library. Each year, TD chooses a theme, this year “wild”, and supplies incentive prizes for the younger kids and a tracking booklet for program participants to keep track of their reading. From there, the local libraries take over, managing tracking for the younger groups, purchasing prizes for a draw and creating daily activities based on the theme for the pre-readers. These activities include games, arts and crafts and group readings, all of which started on Monday, July 11. And while the program itself officially ends on August 19, the final activity, a wrap up event, is on August 25. These activities are designed with the pre-readers in mind. As one of the activities, made possible with the help of the Town of Neepawa as well as the local Youth Advisory Committee, the library is bringing in magician Ryan Price. Price has developed a magic show specifically for the reading program, its wild theme and the younger audience. He will be performing it on August 12.

The program is open to all ages and is broken down into three sections, each designed for their respective age group. The youngest group is the Read-To-Me program, which consists of pre-readers, children who haven’t yet learned to read, and typically includes children up to the age of seven. This group has books read to them. Their progress is tracked by the number of books they have listened to, with progress cards hung up on left wall of the library in the children’s corner. Once they have had 15 books read to them, they receive an incentive prize, but only after they colour in a picture of an elephant, chosen to fit the wild theme. Once they have completed 45 books, their program is complete. Everyone signed up for this program has their name entered into the draws for the major prizes.

The next group is called the Reading Program. With kids ages eight to 12, this group reads independently and rather than their progress being tracked by the number of books they have read, it is instead tracked by the minute, with their progress being displayed on the wall of the library just to the right of the progress cards of the Read-To-Me group. For every 100 minutes they read, they get one draw entry for the major prizes, up to 600 minutes, at which point they have completed their program.

While the final group of readers is referred to as the Teens program, it actually includes anyone ages 13 and up. This group is completely independent, both reading on their own as well as keeping track of their progress themselves. For every 150 pages this group reads, they get one entry into the major prize draws. Once they have reached 1,500 pages, their program is done.

Upon completion of their respective program, each group is awarded a paperback as a prize. For the major prize draws, each group has different prizes available to be won. What these prizes are has yet to be decided, as the library is still looking around for the perfect prizes for their dedicated readers. There are two draws during the program, one at the end of July and one at the end of August.

For more information on the program and how to get started, contact the Neepawa Public Library by visiting their location at 280 Davidson St. in Neepawa, calling 204-476-5648, emailing This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. , or visit tdsummerreadingclub.ca.