19 Jan 08 - Children’s Reading Club Party at Coffs Library the Biggest Ever

A record number of local children have taken part in Coffs Harbour City Library's Children's Summer Reading Club these school holidays, with close to 200 of them planning to attend a celebration at the Library on Wednesday 21 January.

The Summer Reading Club, which is a state-wide initiative to encourage reading among children during the summer school holidays, ran from early December 2008 to 21 January 2009. 

"We were thrilled to see no fewer than 250 children signing up at our libraries in Coffs Harbour, Woolgoolga and Toormina this summer," said Judy Atkinson, Library Programs Officer. "This is almost 100 more than last year, which already was a great success."

"The children, aged between 4 and 14, with most of them aged 8-10, each received a Summer Reading Club Kit containing a bag of goodies and a reading sheet on which to record all the books they've read over the summer. 

"The party to celebrate the end of the Summer Reading Club will be huge this year. We had 80 people come along to last year's event, but this time around, 190 children have said they would be attending," she said.

Various games will be played at the party, the reading sheets with the lists of books that were read will be displayed on the library walls, and the children will each receive a certificate. There will also be giveaways and lucky draw prizes for the participants. 

The Library's regular Storytime for preschoolers and their parents also continues to be a great success. Storytime is held weekly at 11am on Tuesday at Woolgoolga, on Wednesday at Coffs Harbour and on Thursday at Toormina.

The Library's next special event, also for preschoolers, is "Science Play" presented by Questacon. It will take place on Monday 9 and Tuesday 10 February with sessions at 10am, 11.30am and 1.30pm. Bookings are essential and should be made at the Library or by calling 6648 4905.