A Midsummer Knight's Read

Some of our favs from this summer

That was the theme of this summer's reading program at our library on base.  It was all things castles, dragons, ladies-in-waiting, and knights.  We enjoy reading with the kids regularly anyways, but the kids had fun seeing their reading time translate into library "castle cash".  They spent it on stickers, pens, foam swords, crowns and the like.  I had no idea until the end how serious some people get over the prizes!  Apparently the library was "releasing" new prizes for the week each Sunday and families would line-up Sunday morning before open to be the first to spend their reading dollars on new prizes.  We were blissfully ignorant of the "better" prizes and just enjoyed what we got.

More of our favorites

The weekly program was on Wednesday mornings where the kids would hear a few stories and get to do a craft and pick a new book or two to borrow.  We did not get to go every week, but the kids really enjoyed the times we went.  They enjoy discovering new books.  Like this summer we discovered the "How Do Dinosaurs..." series by Jane Yolen & Mark Teague which Masami loves.  We also found a new installment of the "Ladybug Girl" books (one of Alethia's favorite series) that we had never read.  And Anthony really liked it when I picked out "Where Did Daddy's Hair Go?" as a stab at his own balding head.  We all giggled as we read it. 

This week was the grand finale celebration of the library reading program where the kids got to spend the last of their cash and eat ice cream sundaes and were awarded with certificates.  We still have a basketful of library books that the kids look at daily and it is nice not have to keep track of their reading minutes any more.  I'm glad we did the reading program but, in the end, I'm most glad that my kids love books!