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Sheffield library encouraging student reading with gift cards

SHEFFIELD — The Sheffield Township Library is offering students in kindergarten through 12th grades a chance to win gift cards through November.

The library has been updating the collection for children and teens throughout the past year and has added many fiction and non-fiction titles.

Books about animals, insects, energy and people have been included. The fiction chapter book section has been expanded to include fantasy, adventure and realistic fiction. Students can enter the drawing by stopping into the library and checking out a book. Kindergarten through fifth grade students can enter for a $10 card, sixth- through ninth-graders can enter for a $15 card and 10th- through 12th-grades can enter for a $25 card.

The middle and high schools of the Warren County School District have sent teams to the Battle of the Books competition for the past several years. The teams are challenged to read 24 books from a preselected list. The Sheffield Township Library has all of the titles for the 2019-20 and 2020-21 school years available. These are available to all patrons, not just team members.

During the summer of 2020, the library provided a “grab and go” type of summer reading program. The objective was to encourage reading over the summer by providing new books for the participants to keep. Pre-registration was required and more than 45 children in preschool through eighth grades signed up. The readers completed the program at their own pace. A packet was prepared with a book and a response page based on that book.

For the younger children it was reacting to the book through a drawing or action activity. The older readers wrote responses to questions about the books. Each time a response page was returned to the library another packet was prepared for the reader with another book on their level and another response page and a coupon for a free ice cream cone at Frosty Chalet Restaurant in Tiona. Packets were placed in the lobby for pick-up. Readers completing all six weeks of the program received a coupon for a free sundae at Frosty Chalet. More than 200 books were given out over the summer. The books were purchased through library funds, donations and a grant through the Library Services and Technology Act. The ice cream cones and sundaes were donated by the Frosty Chalet Restaurant. Pictures of several of the readers are on the library Facebook page www.facebook.com/Sheffield-Township.

The library is facing an economic shortfall as a result of the pandemic. State aid for the Sheffield Township Library as well as the other public libraries for the 2021 fiscal year has been cut by seven-twelfths of its usual funding.

This is about $3,000.00 for Sheffield. Planning for the 2021 year is being done right now.

Monetary donations are appreciated and can be sent to the Sheffield Township Library at PO Box 607, 20 Leather Street, Sheffield, PA 16347.

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