Library Summer Reading Program ends

The Library of Graham’s Summer Reading finale was at North Central Texas College on Wednesday, July 24, celebrating another successful summer of reading.

The program, which began on May 28, was for children who were incoming eighth graders and down through age 3. For every two hours read and logged, the child received six “book bucks” and a free book from the library. In total 6,966 book bucks were earned by the children.

The program is funded through an outside donation from the estate of Virginia Street, Library of Graham Director Sherrie Gibson said in a previous interview.

At the event, the 82 children who completed the program by reading 10 hours received a certificate from the library, a swim pass to the pool and coupons from sponsors. Children also received prizes like books, movies, coupons and more, if one of their book bucks was pulled from one of the barrels containing the thousands of book bucks, as long as they were present.

Last year, the program had 186 children registered and they logged 2,173 total reading hours. The previous program had some big readers with the top 12 readers contributing a combined total of 595 hours, Gibson said.

The top six readers for this years program were Kutter Gough, 100 hours read; Mariana Gaspar, 54 hours read, Ella Buse, 52 hours read; and Alex Gaspar, Yahir Gaspar and Kash Madsen, who all read 46 hours each. For the first time, the top six readers were rewarded with the opportunity to ride in a firetruck with the Graham Fire Department.

The top 10 readers read a combined total of 496 hours and the 190 registered children read a combined 2,322 hours.

For the rest of the story, see the Wednesday, July 31 edition of The Graham Leader.