As a way to reach children in town who don’t have access to the library, the Smithville Public Library has started an early literacy program called Little Bookworms in the Park.

According to librarian Judy Bergeron, she and some other people from the library set up camp at two different locations in town to hold a story and craft time for children who don’t have a way to get to or even know about the library.

The children also have a chance to pick out used and donated books that they can read and exchange each week.

The program is especially interested in children who have not yet started school, according to Bergeron.

“The idea originally started about a year ago when Sheila Tamble of the MLK Beautification Committee wanted to use MLK Park more and asked the library what we thought about a mobile story time,” Bergeron said. “We and several others thought it sounded like a great idea, factoring in the reality that kids who live near the park are the least likely to participate in Little Bookworms or other library programs, in large part due to transportation issues.”

Bergeron said she thought it might be beneficial to kick off the program during the Smithville Independent School District’s Summer Nutrition Program, which met at three different locations, MLK Park being one of them.

According to Bergeron, Candy Biehle, SISD’s director of food services, told her that Bluebonnet Circle (one of the summer nutrition locations) always has a good turnout and that she should try meeting there as well.

“Candy said the kids were in the trees waiting for her there,” Bergeron said.

As a result, the library added Bluebonnet Circle to the program’s locations, meeting there every Thursday at 11:30 a.m. and MLK Park every Wednesday at noon.

Bergeron said Little Bookworms in the Park didn’t start until the last three or so weeks before summer was over and that she was concerned not many kids would come the week before school started, when the Summer Nutrition Program had stopped due to staff in-service.

However, she said 11 kids showed up at Bluebonnet Circle that week.

“Smithville ISD donated fruit and we read back-to-school stories and made backpack tags,” Bergeron said. “Smithville ISD also gave us recipes for nutritious breakfasts and we spoke to the kids about the importance of eating nutritious meals.”

Spreading the word

One obstacle Bergeron said the program has been facing is that the majority of kids who showed up each week during the summer were school-age kids and now that school has started again, the turnout has been pretty low.

While there is no age limit for who can participate in the program, Bergeron said it is designed for children who have not entered school yet.

“We want more children reading early,” Bergeron said. “Early literacy is crucial to success in school.”

Bergeron said the library has posted fliers at MLK Park and has placed flier strips in each kid’s book during the past meetings, but they are still in need of support.

“I have spoken with the public housing authority and they said they would try to talk to the kids’ parents and get them more involved,” Bergeron said.

Getting support

While Bergeron said the library has received verbal support from several people in town, she would like to see more involvement – in the form of volunteering, donating books or donating money.

An example of volunteering came from the Smithville Police Department, whose off-duty officers have committed to coming by and visiting with the kids.

She also said that Literacy Volunteers of America and Friends of the Library, which is supported by the Union Pacific Foundation, have donated books for the program.

“We have some donated books so that the kids can take a book home with them and keep reading at home,” Bergeron said. “We are hoping they will bring the book back to exchange for a new one each week.”

However, Bergeron said one of the biggest issues the library is having is funding.

“We are hoping to secure funding to provide transportation from the parks to the library a couple of times each month, either by Ann Powell Express, also known as The Reading Express, or a bus system, but cost is a factor there,” Bergeron said. “We are asking everyone in the community for their support in making this program work.”