The heroes and villains of the Summer Reading Club not only achieved their mission – they shattered it by reading more than double the amount of books.
The 230 members of the Parkes Shire Library’s Summer Reading Club were set the task to read 888 books over the summer. Last Thursday they were invited to a Heroes and Villains graduation party to celebrate the total of 1,787 books read by children from across the Shire.
The party was a big celebration of reading, but also a fun event for the kids to see the library staff doing some crazy activities. Debbie Gould, Library Officer, said when a member returned a completed reading record to the library they were asked to vote for a wacky challenge the library team would perform at the party.
“The Library team anxiously watched the voting, wondering what the kids wanted us to do.” The top three crazy challenges voted for were spraying their hair different colours, being wrapped as a mummy in toilet paper and catching balls with a bucket on their heads.
There were lots of smiles and shrieks of joy as the kids transformed four staff members into mummies with toilet rolls. There were even more excitement when they could unwrap the mummies with toilet paper flying everywhere.
Super awards were also given to members who significantly contributed to the reading total. They were Brendan Bates, Harrison and Matilda Smede, Annabelle Border, Chloe Mudiman and Hareem Ak- mal from Parkes; Freya Berry from Trundle; Kayliah and Shanae Alvey from Tullamore and John and Peter Thomas from Peak Hill.
Club members could read anything – books, magazines, newspapers, comics and listen to stories on CD or online. All the participants received a certificate for successfully completing the challenge.
By Maggi Barnard