HOULTON, Maine — For more than 60 years, the Cary Memorial Library in Houlton has held its summer reading program, enticing children from throughout southern Aroostook to enhance their reading skills during the long break from school.
The growing popularity of video games, however, has given children more reasons to put down books and pick up game controllers. Despite the growth in that industry, the summer reading program remains as popular as ever, according to Shelley Murchie, children’s librarian at the Houlton facility.
“I have been children’s librarian here for 10 years, and I believe that participation has stayed the same or even grown a little bit,” she said. “We have 137 children taking part this year. Our participation this year is up four or five people over last year. That is certainly nice to see.”
Cary Library is one of a number of libraries across the state that offer a five-week-long summer reading program. A specific theme for the program is chosen each year for the participating libraries, but does not have to be followed, according to Murchie. This year’s theme, which Houlton is using, is “Ready, Set, Read.”
Participants set a goal regarding the number of books they plan to read during the summer and can read books they own or have picked from the library. After reading the books, the participants have to come into the library and be questioned about them.
“We usually ask them what they liked most about the book, or to tell us about what part of the book was their favorite part,” said Murchie. “If they have read a number of books, we ask them to pick one and tell us about it. With the teenagers, we make sure to dig a little deeper. We ask them how they would have written the book differently, or if there was a character that they would have changed. Some teenagers have even written poems about the books.”
The ages of participants range from 2 to 18, according to Murchie, and some participants set a goal to read as many as 165 books.
“And they usually meet that goal,” she said. “We have had children really focus hard on reading hundreds of books and they are so excited when they meet their goal. That is something that makes a librarian so excited, to see children excited to read.”
Every Wednesday, Murchie said, the library puts on presentations and activities based on themes of the programs. Those have included kids going through an obstacle course and making model rockets. Throughout the program, children who meet their goals win gift certificates to McDonald’s or Pizza Hut, free tickets to the Portland Sea Dogs, money from TD Bank, and other prizes.
The program began on July 5 and will end on Aug. 12 with a party where participants will each get to take home a free book.
Faith Schools, 7, who is taking part in the program, said Wednesday that she has read 16 books so far this summer.
“I really like the activities that we do each week,” she said as she and a group of other children at the library took part in one such weekly activity geared toward the theme, which was building and launching rocket ships outside.
Nevaeh Williams, another participant, agreed, saying that she also liked the activities. The 8-year-old has read 73 books this summer.
Lydia Han, 6 and her brother, Abe Han, 5, both were readying to launch their rockets on Wednesday. Lydia Han said she has read 42 books this summer and while her brother could not remember his total, he said that he enjoyed reading books about “dinosaurs.”
Murchie said it was gratifying to see the children enjoying the program so much.
“This is one of the library’s most popular programs, and it really helps because children tend to lose their reading skills over the summer if all they are doing is sitting in front of a television or a video game,” she said. “When children are taking part in this and continuing to read, they are also continuing to learn.”
