We had 93 readers in our 2024 Adventure Begins at Your Library Summer Reading Program. We had 25 Early Readers, 41 Children, 7 Teens, and 19 Adults. For the challenges that tracked minutes, we had 31,864 minutes read total - almost 532 hours! (Up 95% from last year! WOW!) 940 books were read total and 626 badges were earned - badges could be earned by attending programs at the library and by reaching milestones for minutes or books read. We had 10 different special Summer Reading events each week throughout June and July including:

• Kickoff Program with Science Heroes and the Adventure of the Lost Treasure
• Nature Play Day - The kids “chalked the walk” outside the library, made crafts with sticks, leaves, pinecones, and other things we found outdoors; and went on a nature scavenger hunt.
• Bird Watch Quest - patrons hunted for hidden pictures of different kinds of birds all around the library and used our iPads to listen to their sounds and read more about them. Upon completing the quest, each patron received a bird feeder prize that they could take home and decorate.
• Fun at the Fair - During the Vermillion County Fair, we did a program at the fairgrounds where we went on a tour and got to see all the animals, made a cow craft, and did a scavenger hunt.
• River City Puppets came and did a wonderful puppet show called “The Hungry Hungry Bookworm” - Dylan Shelton (the creator and performer) did a fantastic Q&A after the show, telling the kids all about how he created the puppets and let them see each one in more detail.
• Craft Day - Patrons used crafting supplies and notebooks to make Adventure Journals with prompts to write or draw about places they wanted to travel to, adventures they had already been on, or things they wanted to do in the future.
• Traveling Lantern Theatre Company - performed a show called “The Caterpillar Hunter - Quest for the Kakapo” that was fun and also educated us about endangered wildlife.
• Passport to Adventure - each patron received a “Passport” that they could decorate and then went on a hunt through the library for missing letters hidden throughout the library. Once they found all the letters and decoded the mystery word, they received a prize pack with snacks, stickers, and other goodies.
• "Wands at the Ready" - "Magic Man Rusty" Ammerman performed a show set in the Harry Potter universe. Lots of our kiddos got to participate in his various magic/illusion acts and everyone said they really enjoyed his performance.
• Finale GLOW PARTY - Our finale party was full of fun! Black lights, glow in the dark games, neon decorations, glow sticks, glow in the dark jewlery...a fun time was had by all! Rockstar Entertainment provided music and lots of interactive fun. Son Shine Airbrush Tattoos and Zesty Besties provided amazing temporary airbrush tattoos for the children and delicious custom lemonade. We ordered pizza from Caseys and had a variety of other snacks available. Also in attendance were Valley Professionals Community Health Center, Headstart, American Senior Benefits and the Girls Scouts. Pictures are shown below: