We are excited to say that our summer reading program, "Unearth a Story" was a great success. There is a new nationwide theme every year, as set by the Collaborative Summer Library Program. It concluded with an awards party held on July 23rd.

If you would have visited the library in the last few months, the theme Unearth a Story was all about dinosaurs. It gave us a lot to work with and the kids really enjoyed it. The artist DB Waltrip held a paint-on-canvas class that taught the kids so much about different painting styles! Our 6-teen group also did insects in amber (slime), dino scavenger hunt and clay dinos. Our littles group (ages 0-5) had weekly story time and craft events that included fossil sculpting, dino track painting and cardboard cars!

Of the 212 kids who signed up, 105 turned in reading logs, totaling 110,117 minutes read. Among the 42 adults who signed up, 21 turned in their logs. We held 15 programs for kids of all ages, each with a great turnout, including the awards party, which had 44 kids and 21 adults in attendance. 

The library appreciates all the kind support received from the City of Vinita, Cherokee Nation, volunteer workers and donations from the following local organizations and businesses: Vinita Rotary Club, Welch State Bank, Banc First, RCB Bank, Austin Brown of State Farm and Shout & Sack. Local businesses that were involved in our passport stops were East side Coffee, All Booked up, Eastern Trails Museum, Route 66 Apparal and Cherokee Cultural Center.

For each of our programs we provided engaging activities and a variety of snacks and water, mainly donated by Toni Stanley on behalf of PASS. Without these donations, we wouldn't have been able to execute the program so well. We also received generous donations of BookIt tokens from Pizza Hut again this year and a new program called Happy McReaders from McDonald's, which kept the kids interested and provided free food programs for kids through the summer.

We're thrilled with this year's turnout and are already planning next year's program, Mysteries Await at Your Library! This program is made possible by a grant from the US Institute of Museum and Library Services as well as The Oklahoma Department of Libraries. For more information on the summer reading program and other library programs, call the library at 918-256-2115 or follow the library on Facebook, Instagram and TikTok.