Summer Plans by DL Larson

My Library's Summer Reading Program for kids will start next week. We're taking registrations this week and so far the children from preschool age through fifth grade are plodding in. Some are enthusiastic, some not so and I feel the challenge to excite these kids toward the enjoyment of reading.

The state theme this year is: SCARE UP A GOOD BOOK. Our registration room is done up like a haunted house. So far the kids have thought that pretty cool and spooky. They especially like digging in the goody caldron for fang teeth, spider rings and other ghoulish treats. The next room is all Harry Potter with posters, Hogwarts robes, a dementer swoping over the room, plus dragons and magical wands that I hope will make it through the summer without breaking or I will have some explaining to do when I return said Harry Potter paraphernalia to my granddaughters.

To enter our main room one must step over a line of rocks. The monsters can't pass past the rocks, just like in the Spiderwick Chronicles. We have fairies flying across the ceiling and flowers blooming with fairies coming out of the blossoms. It's our safest room and so far the kids have enjoyed talking about the movie and think the pile of rocks is pretty funny. I mean clever!

Our last room has a winter theme and one must pass through the fur coats to enter it. This is our Narnia room where evergreen trees are laden with snow and snowflakes hang all about. A fan blows cool air and so far the kids like that room for no other reason than to enjoy an escape from the heat outside!

Our hopes this summer is to excite kids to read. We have Wednesday Book Trivia Contests each week featuring one of our rooms: Harry Potter, Spiderwick Chronicles and The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe, plus trivia on Disney Royalty ~ Cinderella, Aladdin and then Beauty and the Beast. We've turned a scary short story into a skit for the older kids with hopes of performing it at our closing program.

So I'm back to writing my own work in short intervals and that's okay. I'm still thinking, still tweaking ideas and sifting the process of what happens when in my head. I learned a long time ago letting my plot ferment awhile is not a bad thing. It makes rewrites shorter because more of the story has filtered into my thoughts.

I'll have to be sure my story doesn't take a detour to include dementers or witches who like winter, or circles of rock around my characters for protection. I will keep to my own story and squeeze in my writing time when I can.

For now, I'm busy reading scary stuff to children.

Til next time ~

DL Larson