MOOSE JAW — The Moose Jaw Public Library (MJPL) celebrated the start of its annual Summer Reading Club in style this year, hosting a lively and culturally rich launch party outside its front doors recently.
Held in Crescent Park, the event marked the library’s first-ever public kickoff celebration for the club — and it drew a crowd eager to embrace the theme, “Around the World.”
“So today was the launch of our annual Summer Reading Club, and this year's theme was ‘Around the World,’” said Naomi Setter, acting community outreach librarian at the MJPL. “We really wanted to focus on the cultural diversity that our community has.”
To highlight that diversity, the launch featured live performances from several cultural traditions, including an Indigenous jingle dancer, Chinese and Spanish dancers, a Ukrainian musician, and Romani-style dancing. One of the performers, Marcela Borrero Cruz of the Moose Jaw Salsa Club, even invited children from the audience to learn a few dance steps of their own.
“They had a little bit of dance instruction from (Cruz), and so they got a chance to try out a new form of dance as well,” Setter said. “It was really great to have everybody come together and just have that experience.”
In addition to performances, the event also welcomed a range of community partners who shared information about their summer learning programs. Children and families enjoyed games, hands-on activities, and the chance to sign up for the reading club on the spot.
“We usually do a little bit of a launch for the Summer Reading Club, but this is the biggest that we've done so far, and it's something that we hope to continue to do each year,” Setter said. “It's just nice to get the different cultures (represented in Moose Jaw) together in the community, and celebrate literacy, culture, and community — and everything that comes along with it.”
While the launch itself was held outdoors, the Summer Reading Club continues indoors throughout the season and offers three distinct programs — one each for children, youth, and adults.
“Summer Reading Club is something that you can join all summer long,” said Setter. “We host it to help prevent the ‘summer slide’ for the kids especially, and then also to promote lifelong learning for adults.” This "summer slide" refers to the learning loss that can occur when children and youth are out of school and not regularly engaged in reading.
“People can come to the library anytime throughout the summer and pick up an information package, read some books, list some books — audio books count — and you log your minutes,” Setter said. “With adults, we ask for book reviews, and you can enter to win some pretty cool prizes every week.”
The Moose Jaw Public Library is located at 461 Langdon Crescent. To learn more about the Summer Reading Club and how to participate, the library can be reached online at MooseJawLibrary.ca, by calling 306-692-2787, or by emailing [email protected].
