Library summer program readers put in 3,313 hours, win prizes

Celebrating the conclusion of the Maricopa Library’s Summer Reading Program,
participants gathered Saturday morning for the grand prize drawing.

Readers in four age groups were awarded prizes at the ten, twenty and thirty-hour levels for their summer reading.

Ten-hour level participants won a $5 gift card to Wal-mart. Those reading 20 hours were awarded a Friends of the Library book bag. The 30-hour prize for all age groups was having their names entered in the grand prize drawing.

“With 216 participants total, you read 3,313 hours in about eight weeks. That’s about 138 days of nothing but straight reading. That’s a whole lot of reading,” Library assistant Stephannie Spencer said. “Multiple participants have read beyond the 30 hours and had their names entered again for every ten hours beyond that. That’s a lot of reading in a very short amount of time in order to win some of the fabulous prizes.”

Before the drawing began, Spencer added, “I want to really quickly recognize one person, Eden Castellanos, who read over 12,000 minutes. That’s 200 hours.” Castellanos was in the age 8-12 category for prizes; she won three of the six prizes for her age group.

Winners from the grand prize drawing will also be recognized at Tuesday’s city council meeting at the Global Water Center at 7 p.m. Mayor Anthony Smith would like to personally meet and congratulate winners from the program. Interested winners should contact Spencer, who organized the summer reading program.

“I wanted to say a special thank you to the ladies in the red shirts, the Friends of the Library; they provided support, all of the prizes and dealt with the public and businesses,” said Spencer.

The Friends purchased prizes totaling $924.35 and donated 25 book bags, valued at $110, for a total donation of $1,034.35, according to board member Brenda Campbell.

“We are going to have a winter reading program for all ages, just like the summer reading,” Spencer explained. “It’ll be a little bit more condensed, but we will have another chance for you to win more fabulous prizes.”

Prize winners by age group:

Ages 5-7:
$5 Wal-mart gift card: Zachary Crawford
Beach Ball Sprinkler: Lamarri White and Nathan Fielding
Slip N Slide: Ryan Casey
Leap Frog Diji Learning Game System: Zachary Crawford

Ages 8-12:
$5 Wal-mart gift card: Diana Jimenez and Eden Castellanos
American Idol Game: Eden Castellanos
Cranium Whoonu Game: Dylan Hill and Jessica Robinson
Nintendo DS game system: Eden Castellanos

Ages 13-17:
$5 Wal-mart gift card: Gibran Aguilar and Aaron Tamaddon
Twilight Board Game: Gibran Aguilar
Quelf Board Game: Gibran Aguilar
iPod Shuffle: Charlotte Randall

Adult:
$5 Wal-mart gift card: Suzanne Jones and Rebecca Huffaker
$25 Quik-Trip gift card: Fatima Fielding and Amanda Gabriel
$50 The Duke gift certificate: Lioba Casey
Garmin GPS Navigation System: McKay Jones

Spencer can be reached at 520-568-2926 or via email at [email protected]

Photo by Brandi Stange