Nearly 1,000 people participate in Blackfoot Public Library summer reading challenge

Blackfoot Public Library’s summer reading program has ended, and thirteen super readers are claiming the “Super Camper Coolers” they earned.

Another 776 summer readers have been picking prizes during the summer from the Library Camp Cooler after reaching individualized reading goals.

In all, there were 990 participants in this year’s “Adventure Begins @ Your Library” summer program, a statewide theme. The Blackfoot Library narrowed those adventures to camping, with all employees becoming “Forest Rangers” to guide the children — and adults — in their summer reading adventures.

Each child had a tent reading log where they recorded each reading unit they earned. A unit was a parent’s choice of a reading challenge that would fit their child. It might be reading 15 minutes or reading a picture book, a chapter, or a whole book. After eight reading units, the child could pick a prize from the “Library Cooler.” But, they could only do so five times during the program.

For those children that completed more than 40 reading units, they earned a bonus ticket for each extra reading unit — up to 18 tickets. Then they went shopping. On display were 13 Super Camper Coolers. They could decide which one they wanted to put their ticket on in hopes of winning it at the end of the program. Those happy winners are now picking up their coolers.

Library Director and “Super Ranger” Lisa Harral said they had 102,982 reading units completed by the 789 children, aka campers, this summer.

Not to be forgotten, the 201 adults, or those 14 years or older, that joined the summer program had an Idaho Hiking Challenge. This involved six “mile markers” on an Idaho state map. The map was mostly symbolic of possibilities rather than required destinations. To earn a mile maker, the teen or adult picked a place they wanted to visit, near or far, and took a picture, a video or wrote a brief paragraph of their adventure.

That was step one. Step two for earning their mile marker involved checking out a book about something they saw on their adventure. After completing a marker the “Library Park Rangers” officially awarded them the marker from their Trail Marker Booklet. To help on their adventures, each “hiker” was given a Trail Marker Booklet, a pack, hiking fuel, and an Adventure Log map.

While the nearly 1000 children, teens and adults achieved their reading goals this summer, the library also achieved their goals of making reading fun and encouraging life-long reading habits — all part of what Harral calls the “Art of Reading.”