The Aubrey Area Library summer reading challenge is in full swing.
The summer reading challenge is open to all ages, with interactive community-based programs offered throughout the summer.
“For us, the Unearth a Story theme, which is the national theme, we wanted to break it down past dinosaurs and focus on different job opportunities that all deal with unearthing a story for the greater good of society and art and things like that,” Public Services Manager Kassandra Gaither said.
She added that the library’s goal is to highlight the “-ists” jobs, such as archaeologists, paleontologists, geologists, archivists and anthropologists.
Some of the weekly themed programs related to the theme include Throwback Thursdays Movies, with future screenings of “Ice Age,” “National Treasure” and “Atlantis.”
“When we're talking about the movies, we wanted to do ‘National Treasure’ because you see a lot of archivists and museum curators that deal with American history, versus ‘Journey to the Center of the Earth,’ you have more anthropologists,” Gaither said.
Other programs include Fun Fridays with special guest performances, such as professional juggler Matt Tardy.
“He came in and he did a really great juggling show for us,” Gaither said. “It was full of tricks and humor, and he himself is a really renowned juggler. He has juggled on CBS. He's juggled at the White House. He has been doing his craft for a very long time. And we had about 10 kiddos stay after and learn the basics of juggling with him in a workshop.”
In a future show, Brett Roberts will put on a dinosaur magic puppet show.
One of the Fun Friday events, Gaither said, is the return of a long-awaited summer classic: ice cream making from scratch in celebration of National Ice Cream Day.
To participate, registration opens on July 17, and the event is on July 24.
For the older patrons, there is a murder mystery night on July 11 for ages 16 and up as well as a multi-generational Christmas in July puzzle contest.
“We aim to create programs that will appeal to a wide variety of ages, and we try to keep our collection as diverse as possible for people from different backgrounds, different cultures [and] different ages,” Gaither said.
The Aubrey Area Library’s reading goal for patrons is Choose Your Own Challenge, in which each person sets their daily reading goal.
It's meant to be challenging but achievable, especially for families with young children, Gaither said.
“We have found that letting them choose their own challenge and breaking it down with the smaller goals to reinforce their reading has proven the most beneficial,” Gaither said. “We have more kids that accomplish their goals throughout the summer and feel really good about achieving a full summer's worth of reading, and they don't get discouraged.”
After completing the daily reading challenge, children can receive a mini prize, a badge and a raffle ticket from the library every six days.
Older teens and adults who complete their reading goal every six days receive a raffle ticket.
The maximum amount of raffle tickets one person can receive for the summer is 10, and the items will be raffled off in August.
In previous years, there was only one winner per raffle, but now, thanks to sponsors, community support and receiving a summer reading grant, Gaither said, the library will have multiple prize winners this year.
Some of the raffle prizes are Squishmallows blind bags, water bottle blind bags, Escape Room tickets, National Geographic science kits, and Barnes and Noble gift cards.
The best way to stay informed about the library’s programming and to learn more about the summer reading challenge is to follow their social media pages @aubreyarealibrary and in person by speaking with a librarian or grabbing a calendar.
“ At the end of the day, we want our library to be a place where anyone in the community can come to work on their literacy skills, gain information and have a place of recreational fun,” Gaither said.
