Continued WOAH!!!

So our first week of Open Library was not a fluke!!! Last week, we had 32 families (a gain of two), and this week, we had 36 families!! It is very exciting to see the same faces week to week and also new ones who've heard about the library program through neighbors and friends.

I've taken lots of photos, but this is probably the only one I can post (privacy concerns):

Oh, and I can post this one of our spread. I make hotdogs and then we have lots of snacks out for the families:

A reporter from our local newspaper came yesterday to interview families and me for an article to appear in next week's "Neighbors" section. I'll let you know if it sees print or not...

All in all, a successful, if not expensive, program to run. Imagine how much it would cost if I actually were getting paid to do it!!

Woah!

It was awesome!! Our first Summer Family Literacy event was AWESOME!!! Just awesome. It all started around 8 this morning, when the summer school classes started coming in for 15 minutes of checkout each. From 8 am to 12 noon, we had nine families come in. Then from 12-2, I ran over to Bloom to buy food for the afternoon/evening session, and then the rains came. Man oh man did it pour!! It thundered, it lightninged, it was raining cats and dogs. And the library was empty. But by 2:45, people started coming in. And they stayed!! Some of them for hours and hours. And they ate!! We went through 50 hotdogs and all kinds of snacks. Woah. We had 21 families from 2 until 7 pm, and at 7, I had to kick out about 10 people who were still hanging out. It was just fabulous. Just like I pictured--families looking at books together, sitting on the floor reading together, playing puzzles and games together. It was just wonderful. And the principal and assistant principal both came by during particularly busy times and were VERY impressed. Excellent! I could not be happier about today.