Summer reading ends with magic, balloons

Mr. Twister's balloon artistry will wrap up the Le Mars Public Library's summer reading program Friday.

Mr. Twister's magical balloon show is open to children involved in the library's "Be Creative at Your Library" summer reading program which started June 15.

Friday's fun starts at 10:30 a.m. with a 30-minute show from Mr. Twister and continues with prizes for kids.

"We always have door prizes at the end of our program," said Lisa Vander Sluis, children's librarian.

In addition to reading, part of the summer program included five designated family nights with various topics. The last family night was Wednesday, a Creative Cooking Contest.

During that event children played Jingo a spinoff of Bingo, made their own sundaes and earned prizes for their food sculptures.

Madilyn Brown took home the top title with her cupcake creations -- "pupcakes."

Vander Sluis said Wednesday summer reading program participants had already read 6,200 books. That was the number before this week's total count.

"I would expect there were probably another 1,500 this week," Vander Sluis said.

Even though Mr. Twister's visit is the season finale to the summer reading program, the reading part for participants doesn't end Friday morning.

"For every five books they read they get to collect a prize," Vander Sluis said. "After 5 o'clock on Friday, the prize box will be gone."

Throughout this year's six-week program some of the more popular storytime sessions with the most children included creative cooking, dance, music and drama, Vander Sluis said.

"I think that the dance and the music went over very well," she said.

And overall, participation in the summer reading program with its 11 different storytime sessions was good, Vander Sluis said.

"Our numbers were up as far as people having registered," she said. "We had to add another class."