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Take me to your reader

Torus Tammer

What started in 1986 as a fund-raising event for the new children’s

wing of the Huntington Beach Library has evolved into an annual event.

The Festival of Folktales, which took place Tuesday to kick off the

library’s summer reading club program was themed “Books and Beyond . . .

Take me to your Reader.” The event was sponsored by the Friends of the

Children’s Library.

“The Festival of Folktales unofficially celebrates the beginning of

summer,” said Lyn Scott, president of the Friends of the Children’s

Library. “What it’s about is encouraging children between the ages of 2

and 13 to come into the library and read books.”

Scott added that the books fly off the shelves during the summer --

largely due to the success of this event. There are also incentives where

children, who are required to read at least eight age-appropriate books,

enjoy the challenge of trying to read many more books than required.

Nanci Williams, the children’s and media services coordinator for the

library, said that a lot of local establishments such as McDonalds and

Norms Restaurant, have donated vouchers as reading incentives for the

kids.

“The children will have a reading log which they will have to get

stamped,” Williams said. “Each week, as the kids come in, they get a

little prize or incentive accordingly.”

Williams, who steers the wheel for this event, says that the Friends

of the Childrens Library, which she works with very closely, consider

this their major event for the year and judging by the numbers, it shows.

Getting ready for the Festival of Folktales is a lot of work, Williams

adds, but it’s worth it because it is all done to entice kids to continue

reading throughout the summer. It also serves to introduce parents and

children to the majestic art of traditional folk tale storytelling.

“We want to encourage parents to read good children’s literature out

loud to their kids,” Williams said. “Throughout the summer last year, we

checked out 40,000 books from the children’s section in only one month.

That exceeded all records and currently, the children’s book circulation

is exceeding the adult circulation.”

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