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VIDEO: Reading splashes into Agassiz’s Ferny Coombe Pool

The Agassiz Library held its annual Reading in the Pool event Friday, June 14

It was a little overcast overhead, but there was nothing but sunshine in the Ferny Coombe Pool when librarian Terrill Scott opened one of her books for a special, and wet, storytime.

On Friday, June 14, eight kids and their families joined Scott and her “best bird friend” Crackle for the annual Reading in the Pool event. Organized each year by the Agassiz Library, and held for free in the Ferny Coombe Pool, the event gives kids a chance to listen to stories in a bit of a different setting.

“Libraries have to be a little bit different,” Scott said. “First of all, we have to take it to the families and to the children, and they’re in the pool.”

She also noted that is was important for libraries to be creative and diverse in its programming.

“When (kids are) doing another thing that’s fun, they associate books and reading with fun, and it just builds on that whole fun pillar,” she added.

“I like to do things that are a little different with reading, so that it attaches.”

SEE ALSO: Wizards, bards, fighters wanted for Agassiz library role-playing games

Reading in the Pool was certainly that. Scott had brought several waterproof books to the pool — the kind that are generally read during bath-time and can handle a dunking — and read aloud from them during the event, sometimes even letting them float away while she acted out the scenes.

Scott also brought a bit of music into the afternoon, letting the kids swim and sing along to songs like “You are my sunshine” and the popular “Baby Shark.”

At the end of the event, each kid got the opportunity to take a waterproof book home, so they could continue their own splashing literary adventures.

The one-time event finished around 12:30 p.m. on Friday, and it won’t be back until next summer.

“I wish I could do lots,” Scott said. “But, us libraries, we have to get everywhere. We have to get to all the fun places.”



grace.kennedy@ahobserver.com

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Librarian Terrill Scott takes reading into the water with the annual Reading in the Pool event on Friday, June 14. (Grace Kennedy/The Observer)
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Young kids with their families enjoyed some time in the water, and got a bit of reading done too during Reading in the Pool with the Agassiz Library. (Grace Kennedy/The Observer)
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Young kids with their families enjoyed some time in the water, and got a bit of reading done too during Reading in the Pool with the Agassiz Library. (Grace Kennedy/The Observer)
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Reading was the only activity during Reading in the Pool. Terrill Scott also lead the group in some songs, including the popular “Baby Shark.” (Grace Kennedy/The Observer)