Patch Blog: Eagle Rock's Teen Summer Reading Club

At the , avid readers meet every Tuesday to make crafts, play games, eat, and have fun. They are part of the teen summer reading club, which participates in raffles and weekly meetings and whose members are encouraged to read to win prizes.

Each member is given a game card to fill out, with three rows and five columns. Among other things, the members participate in such activities as reading for 30 minutes, checking out up to two books and a magazine and asking about volunteering at the library.

Every time an activity is completed, the relevant space on the game card is stamped. For every row filled out, a button and raffle ticket is awarded to the reader. When the entire playing card is complete, the reader is awarded a grand prize ticket and a brand new book of their choosing.

The drawings for raffle tickets are held at the end of July and August, with prizes such as MP3 players, certain tickets, gift certificates, mystery bags, notebooks, and body lotion. The three grand prizes are a colored Nook, a Sony e-reader, and a VANs gift certificate good for a pair of Vans shoes.

Every week, an in-house prize drawing is also held. (For every three titles checked out, a special raffle ticket is given to members.) Prizes include flash drives, movie tickets, a mystery gift, and more. And at every meeting of the summer reading club, a special event is organized by our very own library, run solely by volunteers and funded by donations.

This past Tuesday, those who showed up for the reading club learned how to create simple stringed lanyards. There were an assortment of colored plastics, hooks and bells to choose from.

The last—and first—time I made a lanyard was in sixth grade, so I had almost forgotten how to do it. But the volunteering librarian, armed with a pile of papers with instructions, was very helpful. Before I knew it, I was lacing over and under strands while trying to talk over everyone else.

Only handful of people attended, but they were party animals! Strawberry Fruit Roll-ups, Swedish Fish, and Nature Valley granola bars were available to anyone who was hungry, which happened to be just about everyone, so of course I had to have a few.

Since we only had an hour or so to make the lanyards, everyone brought home something to finish. Now mine is about half a foot long, and dangles on my keychain. I definitely had a good time that day. And by the look of it, everyone else did, too.

If you or someone you know would like to participate in the summer reading club, there's no need to make an appointment—just walk right in on Tuesdays from 3-4 p.m., and sign right up. You'll be given a game card, schedule, in-house raffle instructions, and a craft to work on.

You can show up for as many or as few of the meetings as you want, but the important thing is to have fun and enjoy yourself in a good book—all for free! But if you don't play, you definitely won't win.

The teen summer reading club is only for teens aged 12 to 17 years. Children under 12 can join the kids’ reading club, and adults can come but are not eligible to participate unless they want to volunteer for the Eagle Rock Public Library.