CPL celebrates summer reading kickoff

CONNEAUT – Stepping into the Conneaut Public Library isn’t quite the same as walking down Main Street, USA, at Disneyland, but it might be the next-best thing.
Conneaut Public Library kicked off its Summer Reading Program and has fully entered into the Disney realm with its theme, “Where every page is magic.”
“This is our first event that, so it was very exciting,” Amanda Friday, CPL youth programming director, said. “The weather did not keep us down with everything indoors and everything worked out. We had two wonderful performers. We’ve had Kona Ice and Head Start was here visiting as well as our concession stand run by our Friends of the Conneaut Public Library.”
The Summer Reading Program at Conneaut Public Library began with the Kickoff Party on Thursday, June 11, and will continue through Friday, July 24.
While other libraries in the area have embraced a more Jurassic theme for their summer reading programs, the Conneaut Public Library staff decided a road less traveled was the path for them.
“I personally was very nervous that I was going to mispronounce names of dinosaurs and kids were going to correct me all summer, so just to save myself that horror, we all, as a team, decided let’s do Disney, because who doesn’t love and represent? Then what’s wonderful about it is that kids get to visit more libraries and they’re all different,” Friday said. “We kind of liked being off the beaten path a little bit with a really popular theme. We’re learning into Toy Story, which is coming out this summer. Who doesn’t love Disney?”
With “Every page is magic,” Conneaut Public Library has been transformed into a form of Disneyland.
“It’s really exciting because it’s so easy to tap into because there’s so much you can do with it without even reading those stories that they know. It’s like, ‘This author also wrote this thing.’ Disney is bright and colorful and it talks about all the emotions and cultures, so it’s just an open book for us,” Friday said.
The Summer Reading Program Kickoff Party included Jolly Roger, the Pirate Magician; bracelet making; Face Painting by Tina; Flower Entertainment’s Chuck Fink; music; games; photo opportunities; door prizes; concessions; and Kona Ice.
Of course, there was a heavy tilt toward Disney as Mickey Mouse ears were spotted during the event.
“Any time we get an opportunity to dress up in some kind of garb, we’re all in,” Friday said. “I went crazy with the (Mickey Mouse) ears, so I’ve got, I don’t know, 10 pairs personally. Then, a lot of us bought pins, so we’re attaching them to the name tag, so we all have those as well. It’s kind of like we work at Disney except it’s here in Conneaut, Ohio.”
Highlights of the Summer Reading Program at Conneaut Public Library include Royalty Fest, the Villains Party, and the Toy Story Escape Room.
“Royalty Fest is celebrating all of the princes, princesses, the good guys, as we would like to say, and then in July, we’re celebrating the bad guys at the Villains Party. Royalty Fest I’m dressing as Cinderella, and the Villains Party I’m dressing like Yzma from “The Emperor’s New Groove.” It just gives us a gambit. It gets us to express our favorite Disney characters. I hope the kids know the obscure ones that we also like. It’s really exciting. The adults are into it, too. I don’t just want to speak about the kids, teens and adults also really like Disney.”
Regular library programs during the summer will take on a Disney tilt, as well.
“We have a six-week program where we’ll have weekly story times,” Friday said. “There’s after schools for teens. Adult programs go sporadically throughout the daytime just to kind of make more flexibility. We have adult scrapbooking. We’re also doing kids’ scrapbooking to see if they like that. We’re trying to hit different Disney aspects, so each thing is themed towards a different movie or character. We have a spicy book club that we have started for the adults. That one is Disney retellings that are adult content. We’re trying to cover all the bases.”
The Summer Reading Program at Conneaut Public Library will end on July 24, but there will be one last hurrah before the magic disappears.
“Then, the escape room begins,” Friday said. “That’s like an additional week, July 26-Aug. 1. The escape room would be an additional week, but everything else is done. That’s like a bonus week.”
There is no reading list for the Summer Reading Program as the goal is to simply get kids to read while on break from school.
“We’re very open on what our kids read,” Molly Theil, CPL assistant youth programming director, said. “They could read a comic a book, a magazine, just as long as they’re reading and they’re coming to programs.”
“On they’re reading log, there’s different icons they can color in and that’s how they’re going to chart their 20 hours,” Theil continued. “We want everybody to read for 20 hours. If you complete that goal, you’ll be entered to win different prizes based on your age group.”