It Takes A Community

Kids laughed. Lots. Cheered. Hugged their favorite literary characters. Oohed and aahed over real life princesses (the Daffodil variety). Happily made one-of-a-kind buttons. Ran from zoo exhibit to exhibit petting stingrays, grooming goats, and getting up close with bugs! It was another wonderful Summer Reading Celebration at the Point Defiance Zoo and Aquarium, opens a new window for Tacoma’s young readers. It didn’t rain for the 15^th year in a row, and everybody had fun.

Tacoma Public Library’s nine-week reading challenge program may begin in early June, but preparations for the 2016 summer program began 10 months earlier, in September 2015. Key among the preparations is reaching out to the Tacoma community for support and with this, Tacoma Library has been happily successful.  We are delighted and very grateful to have had the following companies join us this summer as partners in our summer reading challenge:

• Auntie Anne’s Pretzels, opens a new window
• Narrows Plaza Bowl, opens a new window
• Puyallup Fair & Events Center, opens a new window
• Metro Parks Tacoma, opens a new window

It’s difficult to imagine 2,750 pretzels, but that’s precisely the amount Auntie Ann’s Pretzels donated this year, and last year, and the year before that. Narrows Plaza Bowl provided summer readers with two free games of bowling and free shoes for every reporting visit to Tacoma Library. They have been supporting Tacoma Library’s summer program for over six years. Summer readers have been ‘Doing  the Puyallup’ with free family passes pretty much since pigs danced and chickens sang, and splish-splashing in Metro Parks pools for just about as long.  Yes, reading every day is its own reward, but sometimes small incentives can provide encouragement to readers at just the right time.

• Point Defiance Zoo & Aquarium
  For over 15 years, Tacoma’s beautiful Point Defiance Zoo & Aquarium has provided a spectacular home to our annual celebration. Each year, we fill the zoo and aquarium with record-breaking crowds. PDZA is a terrific partner in making this celebration a reality!

• 2016 Daffodil Festival
  The Daffodil Princesses are the real angels of our yearly celebration. Regardless of the heat and humidity, the princesses dutifully dress up as bears and bunnies, tugboats, pigs, wild things, and even a very hungry caterpillar. While the costumes may be hot, the hugs from the excited children are heartwarming.

And, most importantly, Y O U!

• You. How? Every time you donate a used book to Tacoma Library, or buy a used book from our book sales, you are supporting the annual Summer Reading Celebration. It is very clear that Tacoma is truly a city of readers given the amount of books that come through our doors, only to leave again to their new (and temporary) home.