ALBANY, Ga., June 8, 2009 -
The Summer Reading Program at the Base Library, now underway, has been expanded from last year’s program.
“This year’s program is more activities based,” said Amos Tookes, librarian, Marine and Family Services, Marine Corps Community Services, Marine Corps Logistics Base Albany, Ga. “This program is national. Officials at the Lifelong Learning Program in the Marine Corps decided to have uniform programs in all its libraries. So, what is going on here is going on at all similar libraries.”
The Marine Corps 2009 Collaborative Reading Program involves more than reading. It is geared at getting young people involved in other activities.
“We’ll have arts, crafts, music and dancing so it’s going to be a different program this year than what we had in the past,” explained Tookes.
The program is learning, plus interactive types of reading, according to base officials.
“They’ll read about an activity, then the children will participate in that activity. When they read about art, they’ll do some art. When they read about music, they’ll do some music. So it’s going to be a fun kind of program,” said Tookes.
Activities are geared to age groups ranging from three-five years old, five-twelve years old and teenagers. The Summer Reading Program is open to children of both active duty and civilian employees on the base. There is no charge and registration can be accomplished on a child’s first visit to the library.
“The program runs during normal library hours, which is 9 a.m. through 6 p.m. It’s underway now and concludes on July 31,” said Tookes.
While children and young people are the primary group expected to use the Summer Reading Program, Tookes said parents are also invited to get involved.
“We have one activity called ‘creating a mask’ and parents of the older children are involved in it,” he said.
Children at the library were looking forward to the summer program.
“I like the base and I want to read books about Monster Trucks,” said William Thomas, 7. “It will be fun for me,” he added.
While other activities have been added, the basic reading program is still the main event.
“I like to read dirt bike books. We’ve also gone to the Strawberry patch and seen peaches and strawberries,” said Matthew Wilbanks, 8.
Approximately 60 children participated in last year’s Summer Reading Program at the base and organizers believe this year should see a similar turn-out.
“This will be an interesting year and I’m looking forward to seeing how many kids come out,” said Tookes.
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