Children from Century School listen to a storytime during a commercial the Lawrence Public Library had filmed for its summer reading program, which begins Tuesday.

Children from Century School listen to storytime as Linda Clay, library assistant, reads aloud. Clay helped kick off the 2010 summer reading program at Lawrence Public Library.

Free food? Check. Prizes? Check. Street performers? Check. A three-month-long event, the library’s summer-reading program launches Tuesday and will be crammed with fun activities, including a yo-yo master, a dance group and loads of prizes for participants.

“There will be something different every week,” says Maria Butler, community relations coordinator.

This year’s celebration will take place in honor of Joyce Steiner, former Youth Services Coordinator, who died in September. Steiner was known for shuttling to every grade school every year to point out the value of books to students. She was the person at the library most associated with summer reading.

“It was just a huge blow to the library community and to Lawrence as a whole,” says Kathleen Morgan, library development director, of Steiner’s death. “She touched the lives of so many kids in this community.”

The library fetched a large grant from the Kansas Health Foundation to fund the program. A recognition award, the grant is only given twice a year, and the amount was $23,800. It was only after Steiner’s death, in hopes of doing something in her honor, that employees at the library decided to apply.

Festivities

To launch things off, the library will host the Big Splash Bash, which starts at 10:30 a.m. Saturday on Vermont Street, by the library. The Marching Cobras, a dance team from Kansas City, will hit the streets first. Then, two-time world champion Brent Dellinger will slip a yo-yo on and show off his moves at 11:30 a.m. There will also be games, crafts and food — popcorn and snow cones.

But all of the fun activities are designed to draw attention to a more important one: reading.

“There’s a lot of excitement around here in the summertime, and we’re really busy and that’s great,” Butler says. “There’s something different every week, on top of all of our regular storytimes. Anything we can do to encourage kids to keep reading.”

All ages can participate. Even those too young to read can complete the program as “lap readers.”

Divisions

The theme this year is water, and each age group has a different tagline. For children the tagline is Make a Splash. To take part, children up to 13 years old must complete 12 books by Aug. 16. If they do, they will earn a stack of coupons to some local stores and a new book of their choice.

Aligning with the water theme, the teen tagline is Make Waves. Teenagers who complete the program will also get to pick out a book. And they’ll fetch some vouchers to local businesses and a free T-shirt.

This year, adults are encouraged to take part, too. Water Your Mind is the tagline for grown-ups. And people 18 and older only have to read six books, and they’ll get a rainbow-colored mesh bag, a stack of coupons and a chance to win a night’s stay at The Oread if they finish.

Morgan and her daughter, Grace, 14, plan to read along this summer, something Morgan thinks everyone should try to do.

“It’s a neat, kind of fun community activity,” Morgan says. “There’s so many things to do, and to do it in Joyce’s honor just makes it all the more special, I think.”