New London’s summer library program exceeded expectations

NEW LONDON — HJ Nugen Public Library supplied summer fun for the New London community in droves.

The library hosted 46 different programs throughout the summer for various age groups with a grand total of 2,288 participants.

“The summer program is always really fun for us on a day-to-day basis, especially with the kids, as they are so excited to read and proud of what the achieve, which isn't always seen throughout the rest of the year, but of course is still seen, just not as frequently as during the summer,” library Director Taelor Donnolly said.

According to Donnolly, the top three best attended events included the Cold Blooded Readhead with 120 participants, the Foam Blaster party with 100, and the Family Fun Night at the park with 75.

“Overall the program went amazingly well, I can't recall any specific challenges, other than not having enough seating for our visit from the Cold Blooded Redhead,” Donnolly said.

In addition to the fun events, the library encouraged reading throughout the summer with a reading program.

“This year we had 233 people out of the 315 who signed up complete the program,” Donnolly said. “For perspective, we had 153 people out of 211 who signed up complete the program last year.”

The program participants collectively read a total of 775,348 pages with a total 84,000 minutes (1,400 hours).

The overall top readers were Emily Miller with 31,190 pages and Angelia Manning with 16,800 minutes.

Top Readers by Age Group:

By Pages:

Preschool – Jersey Donnolly (5,679 pages)

Kindergarten- second grade – Tyler Roth (10,302 pages)

Third grade – Fifth grade – Emily Miller (31,190 pages)

Sixth grade – 12th grade – Bethany Miller (30,507 pages)

Adults – Julie Miller (27,372 pages)

By Minutes:

Preschool – Miles Windfelder (255 minutes)

Kindergarten — second grade – Brinley Lair (1,200 minutes)

Third grade – fifth grade – Job Reighard (9,675 minutes)

Sixth grade – 12th grade – Zoe Long (7,080 minutes)

Adults – Angelia Manning (16,800 minutes)

“Some of our popular books this summer include the Kids & the Teens All Iowa Reads 2022 selections,” Donnolly said. “The Lonely Heart of Maybelle Lane by Kate O'Shaughnessy and What I Carry by Jennifer Longo.”

“Our Wonderbook selection has also been very popular this summer,” she said. “Wonderbooks are books with preloaded audio content bound into the cover. Our graphic novel collection and new manga additions have also been very popular.”

More than 75 sponsors donated to the summer program, and Donnolly attributes much of the success of the program to their generosity.

After all that work, the library will take a short break until school starts next week.

The regular weekly after school programming, The A.W.E. Club (Angelia's Wednesday Entertainment), which runs every Wednesday during the school year.

The program runs 2:30-4 p.m. and resumes Aug. 24 and with a movie showing of Sonic 2.

Comments: AnnaMarie.Ward@southeastiowaunion.com