Librarian April Heath helps Megan Cook, 4, daughter of Samantha Carter and Richard Cook, paint using kool-aid and an ice cube.

By Mike Donahue

Moapa Valley Progress

Nearly 150 kids attended the first of Moapa Valley Library’s 2011 Summer Reading Program activities on Friday and Saturday kicking off the season with an exciting story and ice cream sundae.

The basic theme of this year’s reading program, “One World, Many Stories,” is based on stories from different continents and countries. Each week the library will use a special story and activity to explore a different part of the world. Over the two-day Summer Reading Program start, the Moapa Valley Library signed up 83 kids to participate.

The event last week was entitled “Antarctic Ice Cream Kickoff” and the story, “Whiteblack the Penguin Sees the World,” by Margret and H.A. Rey, fit the theme of the program exactly, according to librarian April Heath, who is celebrating her one-year anniversary at the library this month.

“Everyone – kids, parents, grandparents, guardians, whoever – seemed to really enjoy the story which is about a little penguin who travels the world and then goes home and tells his friends about it,” she said.

After hearing the story, kids got to create posters using colorful kool-aid flavors for paint applied with ice cubes.

“The kids were really creative and the resulting posters were very imaginative,” Heath said.

The library has scheduled activities every weekend for the nine-week Summer Reading Program.

“Our goal is getting kids to read,” Heath explained. “Summer reading programs encourage children and teens to continue reading during the summer months. It’s been shown that kids who continue reading throughout the summer will maintain or even surpass their current reading level.

“We want kids to read or if they’re too small, to be read to for 20 minutes a day,” she continued. “We want them to read for fun, not because they have too.”

As part of the program, kids sign up and then keep a log of all they’ve read throughout the summer, Heath said. Kids will earn prizes based on their logs including books and toys.

New library hours are scheduled to take effect Saturday, June 25. The new hours at the Moapa Valley library are from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. Monday through Thursday; 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Friday and Saturday, and closed on Sunday.

The hours for the Moapa Town Library are closed Mondays; 1-6 p.m. Tuesdays; 10 a.m.-3 p.m. Wednesdays; 1-6 p.m. Thursdays; closed Fridays, and from 10 a.m.-3 p.m. Saturdays.

The Moapa Town Library has scheduled a “Wee One’s Wednesday” story time each week. The story time for infants to toddlers is at 10:30 a.m. every Wednesday and for kids from 2-4 years old it’s at 11:15 a.m.

The program planned at the Moapa Valley Library, all of which are free, include:

• A World of Puppets at 10:30 a.m., Friday, June 17.

• African Safari at 10:30 a.m. Saturday, June 18, and Friday June 24.

• Fratello Marionettes at 10:30 a.m. Saturday, June 25.

• Taste of Europe at 10 a.m. Friday and Saturday, July 1 & 2.

• Craft Buffet at 10:30 a.m. Friday and Saturday, July 8-9.

• Magic Show at 10:30 a.m. Friday, July 15.

• Asian Vacation at 10:30 a.m. Saturday, July 16.

• Australian Art and Music at 10:30 a.m. Friday and Saturday, July 22 and 23.

• DJ Tony at 10:30 a.m. Friday, July 29.

• Last Stop; South America at 10:30 a.m. Saturday, July 30.

• Movie Matinee Wrap-up at 10:30 a.m. Friday and Saturday, Aug. 5 and 6.