Dear Editor:
The summer season is now over, and I am so pleased to announce again that we had a successful Summer Reading Program at the Jersey City Free Public Library. The themes are established by the Collaborative Summer Library Program, and this year’s summer reading theme was Fizz, Boom, Read for children in grades K-5, and Spark a Reaction for young adults in grades 6-8 and up.
This year, 1,202 children of different ages participated in all programs, with 572 of them reading a total of 13,017 books during the SPR 2014 period, which ran from June 23 to August 15. During this period, participants enjoyed hundreds of sessions of reading, computer activities, crafts, and games. In addition, children watched selected movies at the Bonetti Children’s Room of the Main Library and in all nine branches.
Two performers entertained the children and their parents. One show included live animals, Snakes-N-Scales, and the other, Presley & Melody, combined music and video. Both were educational, inspiring, interactive, and lots of fun. To entertain as many attendees as possible, each show was held in six different locations throughout the library system. In addition, we took children and young adults on two field trips. Since our trip to Funplex in East Hanover, NJ, was so popular last year, we returned there again this year with 47 young adults, for a full day of different recreational activities and games. We also took 49 youngsters to both the Staten Island Museum and the Staten Island Zoo.
I would like to thank Freeholder Bill O’Dea for his continuing support and assistance. He helped us last year and again this year. With his assistance, Hudson County provided two free buses for each trip. This allowed us to allocate some of our limited budget to pay for performers. Also, I would like to thank the Library SRP committee members for their persistent caring and hard work. Some members are involved in the summer programs year after year, using their skills and knowledge to enrich the lives of our children in the Jersey City community.
Sincerely yours,
Hussein Odeh,
Chief Librarian