The 1998 Summer Reading Program, offered through the Provincial Library Service, has sparked the interest of Island children and businesses. In Summerside, local merchants and the Rotary Regional Library have teamed up to reward participants of the Summer Reading Program. They are having a closing party for Summerside participants on Friday, August 14 at the Knights of Columbus, 193 Arnett Ave., Summerside.
Summerside merchants have donated food and prizes to reward the children for reading during the summer and the Summerside COOP has donated 100 children's books to the program participants.
"It is very encouraging to see Island communities getting involved in the Summer Reading Program," says Chester Gillan, Minister of Education. "It demonstrates that promoting literacy initiatives and a love for learning is a goal shared by many Islanders."
The program theme, A Good Knight's Read/ Chevaliers de la lecture, encourages children to use their imagination by submitting tales for the Doomsday book, located on the Department of Education's webpage: www.library.pe.ca. The Doomsday book contains stories about things such as; knights, dragons, castles and princesses.
The Rotary Regional Library has also developed a medieval scavenger hunt on the Internet. The hunt helps children learn more about knights, castles and more.
The goal of the Summer Reading Program is to encourage Island children to read during the summer vacation. At the beginning of the program, each child set a personal reading goal and they received a log book to record the number of books they have read. As part of the program, readers have been collecting stickers and tokens as they get closer to reaching their personal reading goal.
In order to motivate children to read, each Island library has planned activities revolving around the program theme, A Good Knight's Read/ Chevaliers de la lecture. For information on activities happening in your community, contact your local library.