Collin Cornelison
Editorial Intern

 The Kansas City Public Library’s (KCPL) annual summer reading program makes its return this June with a new theme: Read, Score, Roar! To celebrate, KCPL’s North-East branch, located at 6000 Wilson Avenue, Kansas City, MO 64123 will be hosting a party on Saturday, June 13 from 12 pm to 2 pm. 

 This event will feature crafts and activities inside of the library, with something fun for readers of all ages. Mattie Rhodes Center, Kanbe’s Markets, and Show Me KC Schools will have booths set up inside for residents to connect with, and the La Mexicanita food truck will be serving food in the parking lot. 

 Attendees can sign up for the Summer Reading Program online and log their progress using the  mobile phone app, Beanstack. Library staff will also be doing in-person sign ups during the event. Readers will get to choose a free book for signing up.  

 KCPL collaborated with seven other metro area libraries to develop a Summer Reading theme that combines the soccer-related festivities happening around the city with something everybody loves: Dinosaurs. 

“This year, as visitors from around the world are coming to experience all that Kansas City has to offer, metro libraries are thrilled to team up for the first time ever with the same Summer Reading theme,” KCPL Chief Executive Abby Yellman said in a press release.

 Each library system is free to decide how it tracks reading milestones. KCPL will award a prize to any program participant who reads five books between June 1 and August 15.

 To help get things started, KCPL created five personified dinosaurs, each with a reading list tailored to their favorite library events and activities, so readers will have a diverse selection of stories to choose from.

 “Each dinosaur has library services it likes, so the reading lists are tied to those.” said KCPL’s North-East Branch Manager, Becca Rendall. “Pablo the Triceratops likes arts and crafts, so if you’re interested in those kinds of books, you can check out Pablo’s reading list.”

 This year’s reading lists were designed to offer readers of different age groups and backgrounds a wide selection of material to choose from. 

“There’s lots of things we take into account when we’re making reading lists. We look at different mediums, so e-books, physical books, and audiobooks,” said Rendall. “We’re also looking for representation of different types of stories, so there’s not just one narrative being told all the time.” 

 These reading lists also reflect the diverse populations that KCPL serves. For Rendall, this is an important consideration at KCPL’s North-East Branch. “We’re always taking the community we serve into account, that’s why we have an adult Spanish collection, and a youth world language collection that has over 20 languages in it,” Rendall said. 

 The Summer Reading program has grown steadily since its inception in 2017. Last year alone, KCPL’s North-East branch signed up over 600 people for the program. 

 “Our goal every summer is to do better than the year before. Last summer, we registered between 6 and 700 here at North-East, so we would love to get over that 600 number again,” Rendall said. 

 This year KCPL hopes to boost adult participation in the Summer Reading Program. In that spirit, KCPL partnered with Vine Street Brewing to host an adult Summer Reading Party. The event, titled: ‘Read, Score, Pour!,’ took place this past Friday, June 6th, and featured live music by saxophonist Adam Larson. Area book lovers had the chance to connect over food and drinks,  and get signed up for the Summer Reading Program. Adult participants who complete the five book challenge by August 15 will win a commemorative pint glass. 

 “We’d love to see more adults participating. We know a lot of people are reading in our community, so we want to encourage that however we can,” Rendall said. 

 KCPL’s North-East Branch will continue hosting events throughout the summer. Upcoming activities include a weekly art camp, Nanobot Soccer on June 17, and a Teen Mirror Engraving workshop on June 27. More information about the Summer Reading Program and other upcoming events can be found by visiting kclibrary.org.