Mommy will you pinch me, because I cannot believe I ever got so lucky to win this telescope, 6-year-old Chloe Henderson of Moran said to her mother Steffany.
Chloe won the telescope in a drawing through the Iola Public Library Summer Reading Program last month.
Youth Services librarian Leah Caldwell ran the summer program, titled A Universe of Stories.
The idea was for children to read the equivalent of minutes as it is miles to the moon. For every minute a child read, they earned a mile.
Over 130 children participated in the program. Together, the kids read around 190,000 minutes or about 48,000 miles short of their destination, but still quite an accomplishment.
When told of Chloes quote, it brought a smile to Caldwells face.
I absolutely love it when kids take an interest in reading. We dont care what level of reader they are, what kind of books they read or what the subject matter of the book they choose. They get points every time they check a book out and when they return it, Caldwell said. A lot of these kids, I only see during the summer. I call them my summer students. Some are only here for the summer visiting family, some go to school, but it is always great to have them take part.
When kids returned a book they were given a chance to spin a wheel and win a small prize.
In fact, Chloes 3-year-old brother Kai won a backpack during a Friday drawing.
Together, Chloe and Kai read 26 books.
When Chloes name was drawn for the grand prize on July 31, Caldwell called Steffany to deliver the news.
We went and picked it up the next day and she posed for pictures with it. She waited all day for it to get dark, because she was so excited. Once it got dark out, she and her daddy set it up outside and looked at the stars and planets, Steffany said. She keeps talking about how much she loves it and is so happy she won it.
If any children are interested in checking out a telescope, the library has one identical to the one that Chloe won that is available for a week at a time.
The library will begin its storytime program on Aug. 28 at 10:30 a.m. The programs will be held on Wednesday mornings throughout the year. The program is designed for children who are toddlers through Pre-K.
