Issue date: 7/3/08 Section: City

Media Credit: Suleiman, Sara The "Reading Refuge" at the Evanston Public Library provides a space just outside of the kid's section where visitors can sit down and enjoy a book without having to check it out.

Just as Northwestern students placed their books back on the shelves to collect dust during the summer, thousands of young Evanston readers embarked on a summer full of reading with the encouragement of the Evanston Public Library's summer reading game.

The reading game has been a hallmark of the Evanston Public Library and other local libraries' summer programming for years. As a reading incentive program, this summer's theme, "Catch the Reading Bug," is designed to reward young Evanston residents for the time they spend reading during the summer.

"The way we spin it is that they read books they enjoy about subjects they like," said Children's Librarian Brian Wilson. "Graphic novels, comics, newspapers, books on tape, being read to; even reading e-mail counts."

Participants receive bookmarks and sheets on which to record their progress. Once a week, participants come to the library and show one of the librarians their reading achievements. Participants who meet the minimum time of twenty minutes can win weekly prizes that include treats donated by local businesses such as Steak n Shake, Ben & Jerry's and Great Harvest Bread Co. Those who read for nine hours or more by the end of the summer receive a paperback book of their choice.

All three branches of the Evanston Public Library take part in the summer reading game. This year there are about 1,000 registrants at the Main Library, 1703 Orrington Ave., and about 500 registrants between the smaller North and South Branches, 2026 Central Ave. Given the abundance of participants thus far, Wilson believes that this is the biggest year yet. He attributes the success of the game to the atmosphere it engenders. "Kids during the school year are tense, this is loose," Wilson said. "They're enjoying it, excited to reach their goals. The prizes don't even end up mattering a lot of the time."

Although he believes that the best part of the game is indeed "the prizes," eight-year-old Adam Geibel would recommend the program to his friends for another reason. "You can read in the summer and get your brain working for the coming school year," he said. Geibel, a third grader at Lincolnwood Elementary School whose favorite book is "It's Halloween, You 'Fraidy Mouse!" by Geronimo Stilton, has read four hours and forty minutes so far this summer.

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