JACKSON LIBRARY SPONSORS SUMMER READING PROGRAM

Rock your way into the Jackson Public Library this summer and right into the Missouri Summer Reading Program, sponsored by libraries all across the state in cooperation with the Missouri State library.

The Jackson Public Library's "Rock Your World -- Read!" begins on June 1 and ends Aug. 5 at 1 p.m. It is open for children who were in preschool or in grades kindergarten through the sixth grade during the 1994-95 school year and who live within the Jackson School District. Non-readers and preschoolers can participate by having parents, babysitters, older brothers and sisters or grandparents read to them. Registration begins on May 23 at 9 a.m. and can be done in person or by phone through the end of June.

Reading for fun and prizes during the summer months strengthens reading skills that carry over into the next school year. Younger children can earn incentives for each five books, up to 15, that they read themselves or have read to them. Older children can earn incentives based upon the number of pages read.

Some of the incentives include bookmarkers, stickers, earth balls and kazoos. Each child completing the reading requirements will receive a reading certificate, a free paperback book of the child's choice and will be eligible for participation in other prize drawings. A list of the prizes can be found at the library. A drawing for all prizes will be held Aug. 9.

Children may participate in either the reading or the activities program. However, we do ask that all children who participate in the activities portion of the program also participate in the reading portion as well. In addition, the Jackson Public Library also asks that all books be checked out from the library.

Due to the generous donations from the Noon and Evening Optimist Clubs of Jackson, the library will also offer three bicycles as grand prizes. We will have three categories of readers for these bicycles -- preschoolers, children in kindergarten through the second grade and for those grades three though six.

All activities are offered free-of-charge and will be held on Wednesday afternoons from 1:30 p.m. to 2:30 p.m. Among the planned activities: kaleidoscopes and teleidoscopes, June 14; flying lizards, June 21; unusual old-time instruments, June 28; a storyteller, July 12; exploring aviation with Air Bear, July 19; and fossils and old bones, July 26.

The Jackson Public Library is located at 225 S. High St. and is open Monday through Friday from 9 a.m. to 8 p.m. and from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Saturday. For more information about the summer reading program, call 243-5150.