Readers of all ages are invited to explore a 'World of Curiosities' as part of an annual summertime reading club where there will be prizes, activities and weekly performers in Chilliwack.
That's the theme for this year's B.C. Summer Reading Club event, adopted each year by the Fraser Valley Regional Library (FVRL) and various other libraries throughout the province.
In Chilliwack, Summer Reading Club opens for registration on June 21, and the kickoff party is July 4.
People can read anything from books to comic books, magazines to newspapers, and audio books. Even for those kids who are doing schoolwork through the summer, whether they’re reading for an assignment or doing a book project, it all counts towards the recommended reading time of at least 15 minutes a day.
"We just want to encourage reading and, if we also get to encourage the love of reading, that's also fantastic," said Kelli Whitehead, librarian at the Chilliwack Library.
Parents can read to their baby or toddler, and that counts towards the child's reading time.
There are three categories: kids (age 0 to Grade 6), teens (Grades 7 to 12), and adults. Participants track their reading either online or on paper and can enter to win prizes through the FVRL's system-wide draw.
The Chilliwack Library kicks off Summer Reading Club with a party on Thursday, July 4 at Salish Park, behind the library. From 10 a.m. to 12 p.m., there will be outdoor games, a bouncy castle, face painting and more. Then people can head inside to watch Norden the Magician from noon to 12:45 p.m.
Following the party, both libraries will host weekly performers, events and activities throughout the summer. While exploring a world of curiosities, the libraries will bring in a different theme every week – such as magical creatures, outer space and nature – and incorporate them into various story times and activities.
"It's all to excite kids," Whitehead said.
At the Chilliwack Library, weekly events are every Thursday from July 11 to Aug. 22. There will be a story time from 10:30 a.m. to 11 a.m., and then a special guest from 11 a.m. to 11:30 a.m.
Here's the weekly schedule at the Chilliwack Library: July 11 - Chilliwack Gymnastics and Dance; July 18 - Candy Bone Theatre; July 25 - Circus Lab; Aug. 1 - West Coast Exotics; Aug. 8 - Métis jig dancer Fergus Dalton; Aug. 15 - Hiscoe Jiu-Jitsu; Aug. 22 - Greyhaven Exotic Bird Sanctuary.
At the Sardis Library, there will be special-themed story times, most of which are on Thursdays including: July 4 (Sasquatch), July 23 (nature), Aug. 8 (Cubetto space-themed), and Aug. 15 ('think pink' Barbie). They are also hosting several other events coinciding with Summer Reading Club, like a story time at the Great Blue Heron Reserve on July 22, a Harry Potter LEGO competition on July 15, and 'Ink and Imagination: A Youth Journaling Adventure' for teens on July 17 and July 24.
The Summer Reading Club wraps up with a medal ceremony on Tuesday, Aug. 20 from 11 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. at the Sardis Library.
Although the main focus is getting kids to read, the FVRL encourages teens and adults to join as well.
"This year, we boosted our teen and adult engagement. Teens, when they sign up, they get a full-size chocolate bar," Whitehead said, adding that the promotion is just when people sign up at the Chilliwack Library. Also at the downtown library, adults will get reusable beeswax food wrap, and kids get a vinyl sticker.
At both the Chilliwack and Sardis libraries, they are offering their own weekly draws and a grand-prize draw, in addition to the system-wide FVRL Summer Reading Club draws. They are open to kids, teens and adults, and people can only enter these branch-specific draws in-person at each library.
Kids who pop into the Chilliwack Library can also colour and decorate a picture of a jar, which then gets cut out and placed on the cabinet of curiosities found on the wall in the library. It is filled each week with the paper jars, and then the jars are removed so it can be filled up again the following week.
To register for the Summer Reading Club, go to fvrl.bc.ca/summer_reading_clubs.php. For a full list of events happening at the local branches, go to fvrl.bc.ca and click 'events.' Registration is required for some events.
