By Carol South
Special to the Record-Eagle
June 24, 2008 12:00 am TRAVERSE CITY -- Bored kids, tight budgets and truncated travel plans on tap for the summer? Area libraries may have just the answer thanks to an abundance of programs for kids. Ranging from stories, songs and other live performances to movies, book clubs to parties, something's always happening at one of the Traverse Area District Libraries. Summer reading programs are back at the Traverse Area District Library main facility on Woodmere as well as branch libraries in East Bay and Kingsley and member libraries in Fife Lake, Interlochen and Peninsula Township. Following the state-wide theme for 2008, all these programs will revolve around bugs. At the main library, the Catch the Reading Bug program will keep between 400-450 children and teens tuned into books. The upshot is to read a book independently and then tell a librarian or volunteer about it to receive a nominal prize. The reading programs at other libraries in the TADL system are similar but each with its own schedule, format and completion party. Sustaining or improving reading skills is the goal of a summer reading club, noted Bernadette Groppuso, youth services coordinator at the main library. "Like any other skill, the more you practice the better you are at it," she said. "If you stop for two and a half months, you lose a little ground that you have to make up -- continuing the arc can be very valuable especially to new readers." Kicking off their summer reading program June 30 at 7 p.m. with a showing of "A Bug's Life," the Peninsula Community Library is also offering a reading club just for grades six and up. Called Metamorphosis @ Your Library, the program invites students to read four books at the library and write short reviews, which will be posted on the new library Web site. Participants who complete the program may attend a scavenger hunt on August 1 and also play the library's new Wii. "They're a hard group to get in, we've had some enthusiasm for it -- I'm already getting book reviews," said Victoria Shurley, director of the Peninsula Community Library. Movies weigh in on the summer entertainment calendar at the TADL main library as well as at the Peninsula Community Library and the East Bay Branch Library. Free bug-related movies include are new this year at the main library. Open to anyone, "MicroCosmos" is scheduled for Wednesday, July 2, at 12:30 p.m. Peninsula Community Library's Summer Film Festival will be held at 7 p.m. with the PG-13 movies geared more to adults. Free films include "Chocolat" on July 10 and "About a Boy" on July 24 with two more dates in August. East Bay offers "National Treasure: Book of Secrets" on July 5 at 1 p.m. At the main library, Summer Stories and Songs will be held weekly at 11 a.m. except for July 5 and 12. This program kicked off Saturday when the Acting Up Theater Company presenting "Stop Buggin' Me, I'm Reading!" and future events include presentations on science, drumming, and more bug programs. Ongoing TADL-BATL multi-player gaming tournaments and the Manga Book Club will also be held during the summer. Interlochen, Fife Lake and Kingsley libraries will present an ongoing series of fun and educational programs during the summer, also relating to their reading clubs' bug theme. The Traverse Area District Library Web site, www.tadl.org, lists upcoming events at the main library and also includes links to their member and branch libraries.
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Libraries throughout the region offer a range of summer stories and reading programs for children to keep them engaged in reading while enjoying free entertainment. The Traverse Area District Library's main branch welcomed the Acting Up Theater Company Saturday, who presented "Stop Buggin' Me, I'm Reading!" Special to the Record-Eagle