Still Summer
By Pat Rutkowski | New Britain Public Library Director at July 31, 2024 | 8:30 am | Print
It’s that time of year. School sales, heralding the end of summer, have started. At the library, we are still thinking summer with our summer reading clubs.
So why reading clubs? Well, libraries are about reading. The clubs are a great way to celebrate, promote and encourage reading for all the good things reading can do. Reading in the summer helps kids keep up their reading skills when they are out of school. We have all heard about the summer slide. If you don’t practice, you slip backwards. Here’s a fun way for the kids to practice along with a simple and enjoyable way for you to spend time with your kids. Read together. The clubs get people to the library, giving them the opportunity to find out all the other exciting services we have. Reading is relaxing and has proven to reduce stress. It’s entertaining. It improves the memory and stimulates imagination. Reading gives your brain a workout and makes you smarter. How about this one? It keeps you young. It can take years off your mind, according to a study reported by Prevention magazine. Adults who spent their downtime doing creative or intellectual activities (like reading) had a 32 percent slower rate of cognitive decline later in life than those who did not. And you thought you were just reading for fun! So in a nutshell, that’s why we have summer reading clubs.
So what are you waiting for? There is still time to join but don’t wait too long. The children’s club, Every Hero Has a Story, ends on August 21. Little treasures are received along the way for reading 20 minutes every day with chances to win prizes at the end. It counts if your parents read to you. Only a few weeks left for the adults’ summer reading club, We All Need Heroes, We All Can be Heroes, as August 15 is the last day to enter what you read. Weekly drawings are held for a book of your choice or a gift certificate at a local restaurant. The teens’ summer reading club, Unmask, will end on August 20 with a pizza party and a drawing for the grand prize, a Kindle Fire HD. Record the books you read and get earbuds, a mood pencil, free books, a backpack and tickets to enter for gift cards or the grand prize, Kindle Fire. What do you have to do? Just read.
In June, we kicked off our summer reading clubs with our 2nd annual Summer Reading Bash – all around the theme of heroes. It was a great summer day to be out on the lawn. We had lots of fun applying tattoos. Tales, the clown, made animal balloons. Kids dressed up as super heroes. There was watermelon, freeze pops and popcorn. Books and stuffed animals, as donated by Kohl’s Department Store, were given out. At the craft tables, kids made super hero cuffs, shields, masks and bookmarks. Local celebrities read stories all day at our readathon to audiences of attentive listeners. Mayor Erin Stewart, Senator Theresa Gerratana, Aldermen, librarians, Greater New Britain Arts Alliance Director, author Akintunde Sogunro, Marley the police dog came with Officer Sloate and Chief James Wardwell and even Bat Girl, a.ka. Marlo of HRA came to read. Kids and adults were thrilled when Spiderman, the Hulk and Iron Man arrived– thanks to Adrian Baron and the Polonia Business Association. It was a huge success with a good time had by all and lots of hard work by the staff. It was so much fun; the library crew is already planning next year’s summer reading bash.
