Bee Bee keeps things light at the Pine Plains Free Library


 

PINE PLAINS — Bee Bee the Clown kicked off the Pine Plains Free Library’s summer reading program Saturday morning, July 12, at the park next to the library building.

Bee Bee, as played by Jackie Reynolds, held a magic show at the park’s gazebo and spoke to an enraptured audience of children about reading.

"Opening up a book is like a present," Bee Bee said in the middle of her act, which included balloon toys and a magic show. "You go back to the book and you want to open it again and again. It’s like Christmas every single time."

This summer’s program includes a weekly story hour open to children ages 4 to 8, which will be held every Saturday from 9:30 to 10:30 a.m. at the library. Library volunteers will read stories about bugs, which goes along with the library’s "Catch the Reading Bug" summer program theme.

Story hour will continue until Saturday, Aug. 23.

On Friday, July 18, at 2 p.m., The Rainbow’s End Butterfly Farm will present "All About Butterflies" at the Lions Club Pavilion.

On Friday, July 25, at 2 p.m., Greta Garbage will perform "The Bug Boogie Woogie Worm Show" at the Lions Club Pavilion.

Reading record logs will also be available at the library for children to keep track of their reading habits. A special award and ice cream party will be held for children who keep reading records on Saturday, Sept. 6, at 2 p.m.

Library volunteer Jean Osofsky said she hopes children will come out for the events.

"It has been researched and proven that kids reading over the summer will lose less of the skills that they’ve learned in school," Osofsky said. "We want kids to keep reading to keep their skill up, and it is fun. We got 72 new books thanks to a grant from the Libri Foundation, and we’re anxious for them to be read."

Volunteer Nancy Ward, who is a reading teacher, also emphasized the importance of reading over the summer.

"If you can read, you can do anything," Ward said. "Reading is just essential to anything. To get kids to read over the summer is very important."

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