July

SUMMER READING ADVENTURE MONTH 2

MAIN BOOK  1- 5 Year Olds

About:

The story is about a mermaid named Tatiana who was born without a tail. The other mermaids make fun of her and won't play with her because they think you need tail fins to be a real mermaid. Tatiana is adopted by two kind sea turtles who love her exactly how she is. Tatiana dreams of competing in the Mermaid Games, which is the biggest swimming race in the ocean. The other racers tell her she can't win without a tail, but Tatiana is determined to try. She gets an old shark named Phelpsy to be her coach. He teaches her to swim really fast by using the strength in her arms instead of a tail. Tatiana trains super hard, keeps a great attitude, and ends up winning the whole race.

Review

"The coral and turquoise tones of Airin O'Callaghan's accompanying illustrations add further touches of cheer and warmth to this story about overcoming obstacles through patience, persistence, and belief one's own potential. When her coach, an old shark named Phelpsy, shows up, we see Tatiana's fearlessness even more clearly, since he's about a hundred times her size. He tells her, "Think about what you do have instead of worrying about what you don't have" — and she realizes the strength in her arms."(Carlson,n.d).

Main Book 6-12 Year Olds

About: The story is a true biography about Jessica Long's real life. She was born in Siberia with a condition that caused her lower legs to be amputated when she was a baby, and she lived in an orphanage before being adopted by an American family. Even though she faced a lot of challenges growing up with prosthetic legs, she discovered a huge passion for swimming. She trained super hard and made the U.S. Paralympic Team when she was only twelve years old, winning three gold medals. The book uses real family photos and personal stories to show how she overcame tough times to become one of the most famous swimming champions in the world.

Book Quote: More than anything, I love being surrounded by water. Fully immersed in that relentless, 

translucent 

beautiful element, I feel... a sense of freedom, of not feeling limited or disabled.... That's why I took to swimming 

with such ease. All my life I have had to fight to catch up with people. But not in the water. That's the one place 

where everyone else is trying to keep up with me! 

Review: "Jessica's first-person narrative of her life to age 25 is open, honest, and always inspiring, a memoir which offers young readers a glimpse into a young life that has been definitely extraordinary. Along with accounts of chilly 6 A.M practices, fun with friends missed, and an emotional reunion with her birth mother and several Russian siblings, there are also glitzy photo shoots and gossipy glimpses of celebrities, hairdos, glamorous gowns, and the red-carpet ESPY awards for readers to experience, as well as details about what it took to arrive at those high points in her life. Long's memoir, organized in a series of the momentous "moments," give middle and teen readers a window into a different world, written from a moment of retrospection by someone who knows it intimately" (Book for Kids Blog, 2018).

INSPIRATIONAL PICTURE BOOK BASED ON PARALYMPIAN JESSICA LONG.

Summer Reading Program: July Specials (Continued)

Week 5, Special Event 9: Ocean Movie Melody Night & Family Dance Party (Family Event / All Ages)

Description: 

A high-energy evening program where families gather to sing and dance to iconic, ocean-themed songs from children's animated movie adaptations. The library sets up a large projection screen displaying lyrics and clips from movies like Moana, The Little Mermaid, and Shark Tale. Families participate in guided dance-alongs, musical freeze games, and rhythmic instrument play to connect cinematic soundtracks directly with musical expression.

Developmental Value: 

Drastically strengthens gross motor coordination, rhythm, and physical endurance through dancing. Participating in a multi-generational musical event reduces stress and assists with family connection and bonding.

Resources & EDI:

Connects directly to the library's movie soundtrack collections and digital streaming databases like Hoopla. Inclusion is supported by providing large-print, high-contrast lyric subtitles on screen for deaf or hard-of-hearing guests, and establishing a "cool-down" low-sensory seating area away from the main speakers for neurodivergent children.

Staffing Requirements: 1 Children’s Librarian (to lead the dances and music cues) and 1 Children’s Assistant (to manage the media equipment and check-in table).

Week 5, Special Event 10: Deep-Sea Dough Dynamics & Clay Sculpting (Ages 5–10)

Description: 

A hands-on tactile art studio where children bring their favorite ocean characters and marine animals to life. Using non-hardening modeling clay and colorful playdough, kids learn basic sculpting techniques like rolling coils and molding spheres. Kids can craft classic movie characters like Nemo or design original deep-sea creatures based on the library's illustrated ocean guides. Every participant receives a small ocean-themed treat (like a fruit snack or a Goldfish pack) to enjoy while crafting at their stations.

Developmental Value:

Refines fine motor precision, bilateral hand coordination, and finger grasp strength through kneading, shaping, and cutting clay. Translating flat book illustrations into three-dimensional shapes builds advanced spatial reasoning, geometric understanding, and creative confidence.

Resources & EDI: 

Promotes the library’s physical collection of marine biology picture books and character graphic novels as visual mentors. Equity is supported by providing free access to premium sculpting tools and dough rollers. For children with sensory preferences or hand differences, we offer super-soft foam dough alternatives and adaptive chunky mold stamps. Alternative non-food treats (like ocean stickers) are strictly provided for children with severe food allergies.

Staffing Requirements: 1 Children’s Assistant (to stock dough tables) and 2 Library Volunteers (1 teen, 1 adult to help manage supply distribution and tidy up clay remnants).

Week 6, Special Event 11: Bilingual Ocean Bio-Expedition / Bio-Expedición Marina Bilingüe (Family Event / All Ages)

Description:
A vibrant, dual-language interactive workshop presented completely in both English and Spanish to celebrate linguistic diversity. Families explore the world's oceans through an immersive read-aloud of an award-winning bilingual marine life picture book. Afterward, children create a "Bilingual Sea-Map" by labeling cutouts of diverse marine animals (like la ballena / the whale, el tiburón / the shark) in multiple languages. The program wraps up with a fun musical language game using classic global ocean rhythms.

Developmental Value: 

Drastically boosts early literacy, vocabulary acquisition, and phonological awareness in multiple languages. Sorting and labeling animal cutouts refines fine motor precision and spatial text mapping, while family-wide bilingual reading promotes cross-cultural empathy and cognitive flexibility.

Resources & EDI:

Showcases the library’s physical bilingual picture book and international non-fiction collections. This program directly champions EDI by validating native Spanish speakers, supporting English Language Learners (ELL), and providing dual-language text logs. Pre-printed icon labels with visual symbols are provided for children still developing physical writing skills.

Staffing Requirements: 1 Bilingual Children’s Librarian (to lead the dual-language reading and games) and 1 Library Volunteer (to distribute craft materials and map labels).

Week 6, Special Event 12: 

Deep-Sea Puppeteers: A Performance for Parents (Ages 5–12)

Description:

An interactive theater workshop where kids become the creators, writers, and stars of their own show. Children use a variety of craft supplies—like felt, brown paper bags, googly eyes, and yarn—to build original deep-sea puppet characters inspired by books and movies like The Wild Robot.  Working in small peer teams, kids draft a simple 3-line ocean story script. The workshop culminates in a live theater performance where children take the library's mini-stage to perform their original puppet shows for a crowd of cheering parents and families.

Developmental Value:

Enhances public speaking confidence, oral communication, and emotional literacy through dramatic play. Crafting the puppets refines fine motor grip control and bilateral construction skills, while writing and performing the script builds sequential narrative logic and massive collaborative teamwork skills.

Resources & EDI: 

Utilizes the library's physical theater scripts and animated film graphic novels for plot inspiration. Inclusion is deeply built in by offering pre-assembled puppet bases for younger children, and allowing non-verbal participants to use sound effect instruments or library tablets to play background audio cues during their group's performance.

Staffing Requirements: 2 Children’s Department employees (one to coordinate the puppet-building tables, one to manage the stage queues and seating) and 2 Library Volunteers (1 teen, 1 adult to assist teams with script ideas).

Week 7, Special Event 13:

The Abyssal Tabletop Tournament & Game Lab (Ages 7–12)

Description: 

Children become deep-sea explorers navigating ever-shifting underwater passages in a library board game challenge. The event features two main game zones. At Station A, kids compete in Ocean Labyrinth, sliding corridor tiles to rearrange a shifting maze floor and hunt down hidden marine treasures. At Station B, kids play Dive, peering through layered, clear transparent ocean cards to spot helpful sea creatures while avoiding hidden sharks. Every player receives a custom library game tracker to log their tournament matches, and small participation prizes are awarded to all attendees.

Developmental Value:

Enhances advanced spatial layout reasoning, geometry skills, and strategic predictive thinking through moving maze mechanics. Playing transparent card layers refines visual scanning and deep focus under unique design constraints, while group gaming cultivates sportsmanship, communication, and rule-following logic.

Resources & EDI: 

Connects the active gaming experience directly to the library's physical board game shelves and non-fiction oceanography books. This program naturally supports inclusion by utilizing Dive’s text-free, purely visual design, making it an exceptional, low-barrier option for English Language Learners (ELL) or struggling readers. Game tables are fully accessible, and peer-buddy teams are established to support youth with processing differences.

Staffing Requirements: 1 Children’s Librarian (coordinates tournament grids and explains rules) and 2 Library Volunteers (1 teen, 1 adult to supervise individual game tables and help count score tokens).

Week 7, Special Event 14: 

Deep-Sea Stop-Motion Filmstrips (Ages 7–12)

Description: 

An animation studio session where children learn how to translate classic book plots into moving cinematic frames. Using library tablets and user-friendly stop-motion apps, kids build dark-ocean backdrops using black cardstock and neon construction paper. They animate physical cutouts of sea animals swimming past underwater ruins frame-by-frame. Once complete, kids export their clips and print a static paper "filmstrip" row of their five best frames to display on the library's community gallery wall.

Developmental Value

Teaches digital media tech fluency, computational thinking, and frame-rate adjustment logic through hands-on filming. Designing the layout of a five-frame story arc builds strong sequential narrative reasoning, plot comprehension, and vocabulary choices for titles.

Resources & EDI: Showcases the library's physical graphic novel and storyboarding collections as design mentors. Diversity is supported by providing completely free access to high-end photography tech that families might not own at home. For children with physical hand barriers, magnetic character components and simple click-to-shoot camera remotes ensure total creative independence.

Staffing Requirements: 1 Children's Staff Member (assists with app troubleshooting) and 1 Library Volunteer (manages the printing and gallery wall display setup)

Week 8, Special Event 15: 

Brick-Built Aquariums: Lego Ocean Design (Ages 5–12)

Description: 

An engineering challenge where children design and build their own miniature "aquariums" and marine life out of Lego bricks. Kids use transparent blue Lego bricks to build water tanks, and colorful standard bricks to engineer sea creatures like whales, crabs, and sea turtles. Once their aquatic creations are complete, the structures are put on display inside the library's main glass showcase as a massive, collaborative community aquarium exhibit for families to admire.

Developmental Value: 

Builds strong spatial layout design, architectural engineering habits, and structural problem-solving through 3D grid modeling. Sorting, counting, and interlocking small brick pieces refines advanced fine motor control, bilateral coordination, and hand-eye focus.

Resources & EDI: 

Highlights physical non-fiction books on marine life shapes and LEGO design blueprints. Equity and inclusion are supported by providing a completely free, massive supply of building materials so economic status never impacts access to creative STEM projects. For children with physical hand barriers or limited fine motor strength, large-grip Duplo bricks and pre-weighted animal base plates are provided for full independence.

Staffing Requirements: 1 Children’s Assistant (to manage brick tables and organize the showcase entries) and 1 Library Volunteer (to help tidy up the bins).

 Special Event 16:

 The Deep-Blue Cinema Matinee (Family Event / All Ages)

Description:

A relaxing family movie afternoon to unwind before the grand finale. The library transforms the programming room into a cozy theater lounge, screening a beloved ocean adaptation like Finding Nemo or The Wild Robot on the big projection screen. Families can relax on floor mats, enjoy free popcorn packs, and talk about how the movie version compares to the original book pages.

Developmental Value: 

Promotes family-centered social relaxation and community social-emotional bonding. Watching an adaptation encourages comparative narrative analysis and critical visual literacy skills as children notice changes made between the text and screen versions.

Resources & EDI:

Utilizes the library's movie streaming databases (like Kanopy or Hoopla) and projection equipment. Inclusion is supported by showing the film with large-text English and Spanish subtitles for deaf or hard-of-hearing guests, keeping the volume turned down to a comfortable, low-sensory tier, and providing allergen-free snacks for children with food restrictions.

Staffing Requirements: 1 Children’s Librarian (to set up the media equipment and host the movie talk) and 1 Volunteer (to hand out popcorn packs).

 Week 8, Special Event 17 (THE GRAND SRP FINALE): The Gold Carpet Reading Gala (Family Event / All Ages)

Description: 

The ultimate summer celebration! A giant projection screen showcases a photo slideshow of all the crafts, Lego aquariums, and writing projects the children created over the summer. Top-reading milestone champions are announced, certificates are distributed, and every child receives their end-of-summer gift bags filled with their keychains, Original Yogurt Shack passes, and Dave & Buster's rewards! The night wraps up with a festive ice cream social for families.

Developmental Value: 

Solidifies a lifelong positive literacy identity, celebrates public creative output, and maximizes family-wide library community engagement and civic pride.

Resources & EDI:

Projector, screen, awards, and ice cream assets. Certificates feature large-text and high-visibility fonts, physical space is cleared for wide wheelchair access, and non-dairy/allergen-free treats are strictly provided so every single child celebrates equally.

Staffing Requirements: 4 Children's Department Staff and 6 Volunteers to handle large registration queues, prize distribution, and ice cream scooping.