Two other Summer Reading Programs recently ended with the Jefferson Public Library.

Youth Services Librarian Bailey Mount says this year was the first time she included a High School Summer Reading Program. She tells Raccoon Valley Radio that while the participation numbers were small, with five people, she is eager to improve it next year.

“We kind of anticipated this. We built the program out knowing that our high schoolers are very busy kids, and if they’re not busy it’s younger siblings, transportation, family, who knows what’s going on. All I can say is for some kids it was their last year in the middle school program, so they will be incoming high school freshmen, and that gives me the opportunity to try again next year.”     

As for the Middle School Summer Reading Program, that included 20 people, Mount was happy with lots of engagement from those participants. She points out two teens finished all five of the selected books and Mae Schmidt, who was the grand prize winner, not only read all of the middle school books, but half of the high school selections as well. Mount acknowledges and thanks Home State Bank with their sponsorship that she gave an additional prize to each of the teens.

“This is the first year I’ve been able to give my middle schoolers books as a part of a prize that are relative to their age level. And they were individualized picks which I know meant so much to them. So that’s why even though this program is definitely a smaller section of our middle schoolers, it’s ones that over the summer we develop such like a close relationship with that we can look at our books and go, ‘Oh, that one for that one.’”   

Mount adds another prize winner for the Teen Summer Reading Program was Ava Coil who attended all of the programs.