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All aboard! Speer Memorial Library's Summer Readers catch a ride on The Reading Express

Monday, August 9th, 2010


Top Readers Back row from left to right: Jennifer De La Fuente, Karla De La Fuente, Leslee Northcutt, John Hernandez, Lisa Rivera (Children's Librarian). Front row from left to right: Danilee Alaniz, Sebastian Foster, Emmanuel Cavazos, Juan Carlos De La Fuente, (Emily Reyna is not pictured).

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With over 300 children signed up for the 2010 Summer Reading Program, this was a busy summer for the children’s staff at the Speer Memorial Library; however, thanks to the help from City, library support staff and our great volunteers, we were able to pull off another successful summer reading program.

The Reading Express 2010 was the title of this year’s summer reading program.  The theme incorporated various locations along which The Reading Express 2010 stopped. The stops included; the desert, the rainforest, the ocean, the safari and Texas wildlife. Animals and plants that represented the various stops decorated the children’s department.

Throughout the summer, we had numerous arts and crafts sessions that allowed the children to make crafts associated with that week’s stop on The Reading Express 2010.

Our invited guest speakers provided presentations in the children’s department from places such as Bentsen State Park and Rancho El Charco. The H-E-Buddy mascot also dropped by for story time and a mixed martial artist gave the kids a presentation on self-defense.

While the crafts and guest speakers were great experiences for the children, the primary focus of the summer reading program was to encourage the children to continue reading throughout the summer. 

Children attend the Summer Reading Program Party provided they had read five books and filled out book reports for each book read. The children attended this year’s party on July 29, 2010 at the Parks and Recreation facility. We had over 200 guests attend this year’s party where they were able to eat, play games, receive their reading certificates and participate in drawings in which they were able to win various prizes including two bicycles.

The Speer Memorial Library would like to recognize the top readers for the 2010 Summer Reading Program. In the toddler-kinder division, the top reader was Sebastian Foster with 52 book reports, followed by Danilee Alaniz with 51 and Emmanuel Cavazos with 25. In the 1st-3rd grade division the top reader was Emily Reyna with 35 book reports, followed by Leslee Northcutt with 33 and Juan Carlos De La Fuente with 32. In the 4th grade and higher division, we had a tie with Karla De La Fuente and John Hernandez each completing 48-book reports, and Jennifer De La Fuente finished with 41.  The library recognized the top readers with medals before their peers.

Speer Memorial Library is located at 12th and Kika De La Garza Loop in Mission.  The library is open (except for Holidays) Monday through Thursday from 8:00 a.m. until 9:00 p.m., Friday and Saturday 8:00 a.m. until 5:00 p.m. and from 12:00 p.m. until 5:00 p.m. on Sunday. 

Patrons can access the Library's homepage for the online catalog, the latest information and library’s activities via the Internet by entering www.mission.lib.tx.us.  Stay up to date with the latest events going on in our neighborhood library by joining MYSPACE page at www.myspace.com/speermemoriallibrary.   All of the activities are free to the public and we encourage everyone to come out and participate. For more information on ongoing activities please contact the children’s department at 956-580-8753.

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