Nathan Wibbenmeyer, 9, read "Away Is So Far" byu Toby Talbot at the Cape Girardeau Public Library. he said he hopes to read 10 books this summer.

Ian Fitzgerald, 6, right, and Valkyrie Helderman, 4, learned math with a Millie's Math House compact disc computer program.

Christine Maire, 12, read "The Genie in the Bottle" by Jim Razzi during the Summer Reading program.

Three years ago, Pat Stokes enrolled her 8-year-old daughter, Christine, into the summer reading program at the Cape Girardeau Public Library for the first time.

Stokes had read to Christine ever since she was born and wanted to instill in her daughter a love for reading.

Another motive was to keep her daughter from vegetating in front of the television during the summer. Stokes could only spend so much time driving her daughter to friends' houses and taking her swimming.

Stokes got her wish. Christine still participates in the reading programs and spends an hour to 1 1/2 hours reading a day.

"What's really fulfilling for me is that after years of reading to her, Christine can read on her own," she said. "Some weeks we'll walk out of the library with 15 to 20 books and by next week we'll have read them all."

Christine will agree she likes reading, especially books about animals, but she also admits she enjoys the summer reading program because of the activities.

One of her favorites is Tuesday craft days, Christine said as she tied a red and pink bead on a mauve string. Today's activity was making leather wrist bracelets.

Each day the library offers a different activity, said Ann Randolph, the youth services coordinator. Mondays are board games, Tuesdays and Wednesdays are crafts, Thursdays are films and Fridays are Fantastic Fridays, which feature special presentations.

"Book a Trip Around the World," which runs through Saturday, was the theme for this year's reading program.

Randolph selected educational activities that reflected a multicultural attitude.

For example, one craft was stenciling. Before beginning the activity, she explained that stenciling was invented by the Chinese and showed the students other books they could read on the topic.

"Some of the activities are a far reach, but we try to tie them all into the multicultural theme," Randolph said.

Although activities are one aspect of the library's summer program, the focus remains on reading.

The library has three reading programs for newborns to 18 year olds. All three use a log sheet, or a reading passport, so the library can keep track of the books each person reads.

The Eager Listener Program is for infants to preschoolers. Parents or other relatives have to read a minimum of 15 books to them.

The Summer Reading Club is for readers up to fourth grade. Children pick a goal between five and 30 books to read.

"We try to get them to pick a goal that's reachable," Randolph said. "This is for fun, not a contest. A contest would be stressful and the children would feel bad if they didn't win."

Once readers in these two programs reach their goals, they receive a certificate of accomplishment, a free food coupon to a local fast food restaurant and a book.

The Young Adult Reading Is Fundamental program, sponsored by YELL, which supports Youth, Education, Literacy and Learning, is for children in fifth grade and up. Children receive a RIF book for every four books read in a two-week period.

Each program also offers a grand prize drawing. The Rotary Club donated two Big Wheels for the Eager Listeners. United Commercial Travelers donated two bikes for the Summer Readers. The Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 4848 and the ladies auxiliary donated another two bikes for the RIF readers.

More than 1,300 children are signed-up for the three reading programs, and more sign up everyday, Randolph said.

This is no surprise because she estimates more than 200 children visit the library daily. In a way, the library becomes conducive to the social development of children.

"It's a way children can come to a place and meet new friends," Randolph said.

Besides being socially rewarding, Stokes recognizes the educational benefits of reading programs.

"Reading keeps Christine's vocabulary up over the summer," she said. "It also helps her memory and retention. She can read a story one day and spit the entire thing back to me days later."

RIF reader Rachel Morse, 10, also points out the educational high points of summer reading programs like the one at the Cape library.

Even if children read weird and unexplainable books like "Secrets of the Shopping Mall," which Morse is reading about dummies that come to life, it is better than sitting around and watching television, she said.

"Books, even if they are fiction, have a lot of things in them that kids can learn about and learn from," Morse said.

Whether they are learning specific facts or just reading a story, the point remains that reading is learning. Any program that promotes reading, promotes learning.

"If you make reading fun now, children will become lifelong readers and learners," she said.