The most sure fired way to make summer go by really fast is to be involved with Summer Reading! The program officially ended on July 6 when reading logs were due. On July 13, high readers were rewarded for their hard work with the chance to solve a mini mystery set up in the library's basement.

Three hundred children and teens were signed up for summer reading this year, with an additional 100 plus children coming as part of the summer school program at Washington Elementary. Those 154 children and teens turning in reading logs accumulated 3,116 hours of reading.

Our summer reading covered getting a clue about a lot of subjects. One that turned out to be rather impressive was our final week "Get a Clue About You". Materials from the National Dairy Council were secured. For the older children was "Arianna's Nutrition Expedition", which was set up as a mystery. And for the younger ones, "Little D's Nutrition Expedition which featured a cute little dragon. Each of these is actually a series of lessons, but there was only time to do one lesson during summer reading. It was pretty amazing how much youngsters already know about food groups and what is good for them to eat. Most of the groups finished up their session with a food relay. Fruits and vegetables were heaped into a pile and two relay lines were formed. One group was instructed to pick up only fruits while the other got the veggies. Teachers who think these materials might be helpful in their classrooms can call the library about borrowing them.

In line with the desire to share information about healthy lifestyles with our young patrons, the Wichita Eagle printed an Associated Press article on July 8 by Martha Mendoza which covered the difficulties inherent in teaching nutrition to youngsters. The article listed three obstacles to success. The first one was parents and it stated: ".parents have the greatest influence, even a biological influence over what their children will eat. Zeitler (Philip Zeitler, a pediatric endocrinologist and researcher) says when children slim down it's because 'their families get religion about this and figure out what needs to happen.'

The second obstacle is poverty in which Mendoza states that "poorer kids are especially at risk, because unhealthy food is cheaper and more easily available than healthy food. Parents are often working, leaving children unsupervised to get their own snacks." She goes on to say "it's harder for children to exercise on their own. Parks often aren't considered safe and sports teams cost money."

The final obstacle is advertising in which she relates that "children between 8 and 12 see an average of 21 television ads each day for candy, snacks, cereal, and fast food-more than 7,600 a year, according to a recent Kaiser Family Foundation study. Not one of the 8, 854 ads reviewed promoted fruits and vegetables."

These obstacles are not insurmountable. Getting the whole family involved in establishing healthy lifestyles as a high priority would certainly be a great way to start.

Though we did the lesson materials for the story time portion of each summer reading session that final week, we also took a look at some recent library purchases on the subject of health and nutrition.

The Gulps by Rosemary Wells is the story of an unfit family that, against the odds, has a small child with quite a bit of nutrition savvy. When the family's vacation dead ends them in a rural area largely without fast food and brimming with possibilities for exercise, changes take place for the remaining family members.

Burger Boy by Allan Durant features a child so single minded in his eating habits and he turns into what he loves-a burger. A chase ensues involving local dogs and boys, and some cattle as well. Will Burger Boy survive the chase? Will he learn anything from the experience? Better check out Burger Boy and find out!

Oh the Things You Can Do That are Good for You by Tish Rabe features the Cat in the Hat who uses that nonsense rhyming he is known for to create several lessons on taking care of yourself. This book has great appeal.

Sports Science by Shar Levine and Leslie Johnstone is geared to older kids. Its introduction tells parents that the book gives kids a great opportunity to see the connection between science, math, and sports while having fun. The book shows interesting and weird scientific facts behind various activities. The book is formatted for ease of reading and has information boxes, lots of illustrations, and easy to follow directions and explanations.

All of these books would be good springboards to discussions of healthy lifestyles.

Before we draw this year's summer reading to a close, be sure to mark your calendar for Saturday, August 18, at 2:30 p.m. when Thad Beach will be bringing "The Mixed Up Mystery of Song City" to Memorial Library. Come on down and enjoy the show. If you successfully completed summer reading, you may pick up your tee shirt and certificate at that time. See you at Memorial Library