Summer Reading Program comes to end

By PAMELA GRANT
Cove Leader-Press 

To celebrate a job well done, those who completed their Summer Reading logs were rewarded with a pizza party.
The Copperas Cove Public Library concluded their annual Summer Reading Program on Wednesday for the teens and on Thursday for the children. Both groups had their own pizza parties to celebrate with the youngsters also receiving a dough show put on by Domino’s Pizza; all the pizza was donated by Domino’s Pizza.
Children’s librarian Karen Eacrett said that there were 68 children who earned entry into Thursday’s pizza party by completing reading 500 minutes on their reading logs before the deadline. She said that many more earned at least one award. There were 67 teens that signed up for the reading program. Teens were able to receive a small prize for every five hours of reading and were all invited to Wednesday’s pizza party.
Domino’s Pizza wasn’t the only sponsor, various other businesses donated prizes including Cinergy Cinemas, Dairy Queen, Chick-fil-A, Raising Cane’s Chicken Fingers, Whataburger, and Subway.
The Summer Reading Program featured entertainment for toddlers, children, and teens with a variety of fun programs. Some of their big Thursday events included an animal show, reptile show, magic show, and more. The teenagers learned about archaeology, drawing manga, went on a hike, and more.
“Our programs for the teens, I thought, were really great,” said Eacrett. “With this group I try to get programs that…present a portal to the world.”
“We’ve tried to keep them engaged and interested,” said Library Director Kevin Marsh. “I think that we had a stronger program with more outside speakers coming in, not just for the big Thursday shows, but for the elementary level and teen level programs as well.”
Some of the teenagers only attended one or two of the teen programs while others attended nearly all of them. Marsh said that they had a pretty dedicated set of 15 that attended most shows. Marsh said that he was pleased with how it went but plans to work to make next year’s event even bigger and better.
“I thought it was very nice,” said Maryann Sherry about the Summer Reading Program. Sherry brought her son, Michael Sherry (15) to the pizza party. “He enjoyed it. It gave him something to do and encouraged reading.”
“I like that I could get rewards for reading,” said Michael. “I like the pizza and I like the rewards.”