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Summer Reading Club returns to New West

What's happening Around Town
New Westminster library

Young readers have a chance to earn medals in this year’s re-imagined Summer Reading Club.

The New Westminster Public Library’s doors may be closed but the annual Summer Reading Club will carry on – it will just look a bit different, said Christopher Koth, the library’s manager of programs and community development.  

Due to COVID‐19, the annual reading club designed to support literacy during the out‐of‐school summer months has been retooled and will consist of combination of online and at home activities.

The theme of this year’s Summer Reading club is Explore Our Universe.

Starting Tuesday, June 16, kids aged three to 12 can register online at www.bcsrc.ca and begin tracking their reading. They will also be able to download a printable version of their reading record, or pick up a complete summer reading club kit, including stickers, at the library’s main branch Tuesday to Saturday from 12 to 4 p.m.  

According to a press release from the New Westminster Public Library, reading in any language or format counts, including stories that are read to children by someone else. If a child reads for 15 minutes or more a day, they can mark it down in their print or online reading record, and at the end of seven weeks will be eligible for a Summer Reading Club medal.

“We will be distributing medals at the end of the summer as we always have to recognize and celebrate reading achievements by various children,” Koth said in the press release.

Youth aged 12 and up can also participate in the Teen Summer Reading Club, where they complete reading and creative challenges for a chance to win books, free ice cream and more. More details can be found at www.nwpl.ca/teens.

“Given that all libraries will be closed at the start of summer the NWPL is doing what it can to make library materials as accessible as possible,” Koth added.

More information about the Summer Reading Club is available www.nwpl.ca/summerreading.

Although the uptown and Queensborough branches of the library are currently closed because of COVID-19, residents can check out material through New Westminster Public Library’s takeout system.

For more information about summer reading programs, the library’s takeout service or the New Westminster Public Library contact Chris Koth at ckoth@nwpl.ca or 604‐527‐4678.