Leif David, a Kelowna magician, will be back at the Osoyoos library branch on Aug. 5 as the finale for the children’s Summer Reading Club. Activities run every Wednesday evening starting July 8 on the theme of “Build It!” (Richard McGuire file photo)
The Summer Reading Club for children gets underway July 8 at the Osoyoos branch of Okanagan Regional Library (ORL) with the theme “Build It!”
The program runs on Wednesday evenings throughout July and is followed by a performance on Aug. 5 by Okanagan-based magician Leif David, also known as Ali K. Zam.
David has been a regular children’s favourite during the library’s Summer Reading Club in the past.
Diana Rawlings, children’s librarian, who oversees the Summer Reading Club, said activities for children will also continue informally through August after the reading club program ends.
The Summer Reading Club is open to children aged five to 12 and free registration at the library is required. People can drop by the library to register and pick up a package for the children.
The evening sessions are Wednesdays from 6:30 to 8 p.m.
Rawlings said this is the first year that the library has offered the program in the evening instead of during the day.
“We’ve always been competing with different programs during the day and then we haven’t got the kids,” said Rawlings. “Oliver does it in the evening and it works for them, so we thought we would give it a try.”
Among planned activities are “reach for the sky with Lego” on July 8; “let’s build a desert garden” on July 15; “recycle creations with Liza” on July 22; and “if I could build a house” on July 29.
Rawlings said there will also be a robot made from silver-painted boxes in the children’s section that kids can add pieces to when they come to read.
All nine ORL locations throughout the South Okanagan offer similar programs on the “Build It!” theme, though activities and schedules differ.
Each summer a province-wide theme for the reading club is chosen with activities and booklists relating to the theme. For 2015, illustrator, animator and game designer Shayne Letain created the “Build It!” theme to encourage active participation and creativity, ORL said in a news release.
Games, reading lists, colouring pages and construction projects that can be done at home can be found on the B.C. Summer Reading Club website at www.kidssrc.ca.
The Osoyoos library branch can be reached at 250-495-7637.
RICHARD McGUIRE
Osoyoos Times
