Posts by Vanessa Hicks

The 2024 Summer Reading Program at The Vinita Public Library has wrapped up another successful year of youth literacy programming. With a total of 118,144 minutes read (or 1,969 hours) this has been one of our biggest achieving programs to date despite the mid-program move back to our renovated library.

A total of 173 readers of all ages participated in various reading challenges centered on the nationwide theme of “Adventure Begins at Your Library.” This theme, set by the Collaborative Summer Library Program, can be built upon or customized to cater to each community’s specific needs. We chose to craft our program to feature three adventure-centered themes of Pirates, Exploration and Ancient Egypt. We hoped this variation would offer a fun spin to keep young readers imagining and engaged throughout the whole summer.

Our program kicked off in May with a sign up party where readers could register, receive a reading passport, play games, craft an explorer hat and enjoy a complimentary snow cone. Throughout the following weeks the library was undergoing a move back into our original, fully renovated library. To cope with this upheaval and still offer the summer reading program, the library offered “reading passports” that included various independent activities for kids, a stamp collection hunt, a hieroglyph challenge that took them to multiple local businesses. We also had a treasure hunt in park and a variety of other independent events for readers while we closed for our move.

In July we were able to resume our typical in-person programming. For each week we had themed events or crafts; a Pirate Ship Battle using recycled materials, an adventure themed performance from Finer Arts Oklahoma and a Mummy Fashion Show to name a few. Readers could submit their reading logs all program long for small prizes, their minutes tallied up at the end of the summer.

Our end of summer movie party featured an awards and prize ceremony for the top readers and a certificate and prize pack for all participants.

Our top readers for the 0-5 age group were Kaden Smith in 1^st  place with 2,607 minutes, Martha Parman with 2,118 minutes was 2^nd and Chett & Cole Nail in 3^rd  with 2,074 minutes. In the 6-12 age group Bentley Roberts came in 1^st  place with an impressive 34,085 minutes! Our top reader for the entire program! Kallay Thiems was  in 2^nd with 4,947 minutes and Okie Shelton in 3^rd place with 4,569 minutes. Our teen winners were Amaya Partain in 1^st with 6,775 minutes, Reagan Rudd in 2^nd  at 6,220 minutes and Ayden Partain in 3^rd with 1,750 minutes.

Our adult reading program winners were Sofia Smolina and Denise True who received reading-themed goodie bags and gift certificates to local businesses.  

The library appreciates all the support received from the City of Vinita, Cherokee Nation Youth Worker Program, volunteer workers and donations from the following local organizations and businesses: Vinita Lions Club, Vinita Rotary Club, Cherokee Nation, Verdigris Wind, Eastside Coffee, All Booked Up, Eastern Trails Museum, Shout & Sack, Scooters Coffee, Pizza Hut, Route 66 Apparel, and Austin Brown of State Farm.
This program is made possible by a grant from the US Institute of Museum and Library Services as well as The Oklahoma Department of Libraries.

For more information on the summer reading program and other library programs, call the library at 918-256-2115. Follow the library on Facebook and Instagram.