READING: LIBRARIES AID SCHOOLS WITH SUMMER FUN

Summer means a vacation from school for children, but it doesn't have to mean a vacation from learning.

Area libraries offer summer reading programs to help children keep up the skills they learned in school.

Terry Risko, director of the Cape Girardeau Public Library, said children lose reading skills over the summer if they don't continue to practice. He added that children need all the help they can get when it comes to reading skills.

"Kids who read do succeed," he said. "We're finding out that being able to read is so important in society. If kids don't get a head start onreading, they are behind the eight ball in our society.

"I think not only children, but adults lose those skills. When they don't read, they lose the ability to be well informed and to communicate effectively. That's why we encourage kids and adults to keep reading and learning through the summer. It also gives the community a sense of the library as an educational ~institution."

Risko said the library is a partner in education, although it's not always recognized as such.

"Where would all those teachers and schools be without the library?" he asked. "We need to work together."

Cape Girardeau's library reading club is under way for the summer. Many activities start this week.

Children involved in the reading club will contract to read a specific number of books and will receive a free paperback book upon fulfillment of the contract requirements. Adults and older children may read to preschoolers.

Children ages 3-6 are invited to a story time each week. The program is presented on Tuesday and repeated Wednesday from 10-10:30 a.m. Children will see puppets, films, and make a take-home craft.

It begins this week and continues for six weeks.

On Thursday afternoons, the library is inviting children to play board games, beginning this week.

On Fridays, from 1-2 p.m., special activities are planned.

This Friday, the Horizons group from Southeast Missouri State University will present a play. On June 21, a first aid course for pets will be taught by a local veterinarian. On June 28, children are invited to bring their pets and join a pet parade. On July 12, a karate demonstration is planned, and on July 19, a Tae Kwon Do demonstration is planned. On July 26, a bicycle and skateboard safety program will be presented by the Cape Girardeau Police Department.

Films are also scheduled for Monday afternoons at the library. The film will be shown again Wednesday afternoons.

The Jackson Public Library, 225 S. High Street, offers a two-part summer reading program reading books and participating in library activities.

The Jackson Public Library is participating in the state "Undercover Readers" program, which is free for children preschool through fifth grade.

Awards will be given for each five books read, up to 15. Preschool children may participate if parents will read to them.

Children who participate in the reading program receive an "Undercover Readers" book marker, a 1991 membership card, a 14-page activity booklet, a "Mr. Sleuth Turtle" T-shirt transfer, and an opportunity to join the library's circus.

A series of special activities are planned in conjunction with the reading program. Due to limited space, only children enrolled in the reading program may participate.

The first activity is planned Wednesday, a live fish demonstration. Other activities are live exotic animals, June 19; a ventriloquist, June 26; a plant demonstration, July 10; a live alligator and iguana, July 17; and a Hopi Indian Kachina doll, July 24.

The Riverside Regional Library also offers the "Undercover Readers" program this summer. The program operates the same here as at the Jackson Public Library. Children can earn bookmarks and other prizes through the program.

In addition, story time is scheduled each Tuesday at 10 a.m. for children preschool through third grade. Activities and stories are planned at each meeting. The first story time this Tuesday will feature Smokey the Bear.

Other activities include pet care workshop, a pot-bellied pig, a puppet show and a turtle race.

For older children, the library has planned three weeks of movies Tuesdays at 2:30 p.m. Movies are scheduled July 30, Aug. 6 and Aug. 13.