Cookie BOOKie Club A Sweet Success

Courtesy photo A group of youngsters enjoy their success in completing a Cookie BOOKie Club program. The readers finished Stone Fox and celebrated with a book worm party.
Courtesy photo A group of youngsters enjoy their success in completing a Cookie BOOKie Club program. The readers finished Stone Fox and celebrated with a book worm party.

It's a kid's dream -- reading a book while eating some cookies.

And it's made a solid impact, encouraging youngsters to read chapter books and promoting fellowship between peers to propel each other to succeed.

McDonald County Library director Amy Wallain calls the new program -- Cookie BOOKie Club -- a sweet success.

The new program at the McDonald County Library, which featured crafts, games, reading and enjoying some cookies, recently ended with a bang.

A former elementary teacher, Wallain designed the program to inspire children to read chapter books. With assigned reading, crafts, games, discussion -- and cookies -- the program was launched on Wednesday afternoons and aimed at home-schoolers.

The library has a long-standing commitment to helping home-schoolers with Monday Meet-Up, which is held on the first Monday of each month.

But Wallain felt the need to launch a slightly different program when she heard from home-school moms that their children were afraid to move ahead into chapter books.

"I said, 'Well, we're going to have fun together,'" she said. "I guess it was my instinct as a former elementary teacher."

So she designed the program after her son's first-grade Cookie Bookie program at his school in Anderson. She knew the cookies would appeal to the children, and she designed the program with related activities, crafts and discussion in mind.

"It's about giving them confidence, something to extend their learning. We want to give them a jumping off place."

Every child received a book. Participants played games, made a take-home craft, discussed the book, socialized and enjoyed cookies and milk.

The book selected -- Stone Fox -- is a third-grade level book about a boy who enters a dog sled race. But the book can be molded to fit other elementary reading levels, she said.

The first take-home craft featured making a bookmark, so the children could mark their place in the book as they read.

The children also had the opportunity to make a dog sled out of Popsicle sticks and view a video about dog sledding.

The library's summer reading program, which kicks off on June 2, will be the major emphasis this summer, but Wallain is considering relaunching the Cookie BOOKie Club again this fall.

For information, contact the library at 417-223-4489.

General News on 05/24/2018