Editor,
The kids are back in school at last, and we in the Children’s Room of New Canaan Library would like to take a moment to thank the community for its tremendous support and participation in our summer programs.
Cheryl Capitani at New Canaan Library. Credit: Michael Dinan
People always say New Canaan empties out in the summer but that was definitely not our experience this year. On average, we had over 500 visitors a day in the Children’s Room. Our summer reading program, which we revamped this year, saw a 250 percent increase in participation, and an incredibly rewarding level of engagement and excitement among our youngest members, who read more than 13,000 books this summer—more than 10,000 more books than were recorded last year.
A big thank you goes to the elementary schools for supporting our summer program; inviting our librarians to speak to the students in June really generated excitement about participating. We also thank The Toy Chest and Sky Zone Norwalk for providing exciting summer reading incentives, and United Methodist Preschool for supporting our Family Mini Golf finale celebration. Many thanks to our wonderful teen volunteers who helped make badges and award prizes for our readers, assisted with setup and staffing at various programs, and kept us laughing all summer long.
Most of all, thank you to all the families who shared their summer learning with us. We so enjoyed being part of your children’s journeys to push their reading limits, to explore new places and ideas, and to try new things. We enjoyed all the homemade treats too. This was our most successful summer program in documented history, and we thank all for making it so. We’re excited to start planning for next year.
Cheryl Capitani
Manager of Services to Families
New Canaan Library
We are grateful to the the New Canaan Library and their warm, helpful, knowledgeable and kind staff. My child and I both enjoyed the summer reading program and I was thrilled to see all the new and interesting activities suggested for badges. We read poetry and riddles, we read auto biographies and compared a classic book to its movie, we cooked together and even explored an art gallery- all in the name of earning activity badges. All these activiires we would not have done without the push of this amazing program. Thank you!