Library’s summer reading program draws 730 participants

“Make a Splash—Read” was the theme of Maricopa Public Library’s very successful Summer Reading Program, which ran from June 1 to Aug. 7.

The program, open to library card holders age five and older, also included adults.

According to numbers provided by library staff, the program had a total of 730 participants; a total of 21,094 hours were spent reading. 447 participants were children, 125 were teens and 158 were adults. 224 participants met the goal of reading at least 30 hours.

“This has been our most successful reading program to date. We had hoped to have 500 people participate in the Summer Reading Program, and we were very happy to see we exceeded our expectations,” said library assistant Heather Kennedy, who organized the program.

Children and young adults received incentive prizes for every 10 hours they read up to 30 hours. Once they read 30 hours, their name was placed in the grand prize drawing. For every 10 hours they read after 30, their name was placed in the drawing an additional time.
 
Adults who read 30 hours had their names placed in the grand prize drawing, and, for every 10 hours they read after 30, their name was placed in the drawing an additional time.

“The Friends of the Maricopa Public Library were kind enough to donate the prizes for the grand prize drawing. This year we had a bicycle for children, a PlayStation 3 for teens and a Kindle for adults,” Kennedy said.
 
The grand prizes were drawn Aug. 21. The winners were:

Adults
Olive Garden gift card – Magdalena Merklin
Barnes and Noble gift card – Gina Wrenn
Restaurant gift card – Liana Horton
Amazon Kindle – Rebecca Huffaker
 
Young Adults
Visa gift card – Joshua Fielding
Visa gift card – Erin Robinson
Visa gift card – Diana Jimenez
PlayStation 3 – Joseph Southard
 
Children
Slip N Slide – Tomas Silva
Twister – Eden Castellanos
Leapster – Maria Jimenez
Guesstures game – Eamon Borst
I Spy game – Zander Sackrider
Cranium game – Spencer Allen
Bicycle – Aaron Hale

The Maricopa Public Library, located at 41600 W. Smith-Enke Rd., is open during the following hours:

Tuesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday:  9 a.m. – 5 p.m.
Monday, Wednesday:  12 p.m. – 8 p.m. (closed Sunday and holidays)

Photo by Joyce Hollis