“The nature ones, magic shows, definitely draw
the most,” Leckband said.
The time right after the Thursday shows is when
the most Moville area children will check out
books, although they still come in on other days,
Leckband said.
The Sioux City summer program has run in
recent years on a $10,000 budget, from money
raised in a spring book sale. That money is
turned into programming, plus prizes for
participants, including free book bags for
children who begin the program and a book
for those who follow through by visiting a city
library four times by August.
The Sioux City library reading program for
children from pre-kindergarten through fifth
grade includes a green card where they track
reading in 15-minute chunks, for a total of three
hours. Those aren’t added up to track leaders
over the weeks, but each completed three-
hour card earns a kid one entry in the random
drawing to win a telescope, Dunn said.
“It puts them over the edge (to participate), ‘I
want that,’” Dunn said.
A total of 1,593 cards were returned in
2018, equaling 4,779 hours, which was 132
more hours than 2017. Dunn said the 2018
participants in the summer challenge made a
combined 5,587 visits to the city libraries over
three months.
Dunn said the participation among children
begins to wane after sixth grade, as they near
teen years with jobs, sports camps and perhaps
feeling they get enough required reading in the
school months.