by Beth Cronk, Litchfield head librarian
Our summer reading program, Reading by Design, is coming to
a close. The last day to turn in reading
game sheets for prizes is Thursday, August 31.
This year 315 kids signed up for the program at Litchfield
Library. They spent the summer earning
prizes for reading, being active, and trying out new books.
At Grove City Library, 45 kids participated in the summer
reading program. Dassel Library had 161
kids signed up this year, twenty more than last year. Cosmos Library had the first summer reading
program in the new building, with 29 kids signed up.
We’d like to give a big thank you to the local businesses
that donated prizes for the kids. For
all four libraries, that included Pizza Hut, Pizza Ranch, McDonald’s, KLFD, and
Taco John’s.
Litchfield Subway, Jimmy’s Pizza of Litchfield, and Dairy
Queen of Litchfield all donated prizes for the Litchfield, Grove City, and
Cosmos libraries.
The Dorothy Olson Aquatic Center and the Willmar YMCA
donated prizes for the summer reading programs in Grove City and Cosmos.
Casey’s donated prizes for the Cosmos and the Dassel
programs.
For the Dassel summer reading program, Cokato Subway, Cokato
Dairy Queen, Red Rooster Foods, and Jimmy’s Pizza of Dassel all donated prizes.
In addition to prizes such as gift certificates for food
items or pool passes, some organizations gave monetary donations to the summer
reading programs. The Friends of the
Litchfield Public Library sponsored the books that Litchfield kids could choose
as prizes, plus some of the other prize choices. Donations from the Dassel Community Chest and
the Dassel Friends of the Library funded the books given to kids who signed up
at the Dassel Library, and the Friends funded their fines read-down for kids. The First State Bank of Grove City gave a
donation that helped to fund summer reading prizes and programs at the Grove
City Library.
The kids were very excited to choose from all of the great
prizes, and many pushed themselves to keep completing reading game sheets so
they could earn more.
Thank you to all of these businesses and organizations for
supporting reading and kids in our communities!
