A couple of years back, the library staff created teen and adult clubs to augment existing efforts to keep the eyes of Coastside kids moving over the page. So far, a few adults are playing along and Library Assistant Susan Morris-Rankins said she hopes that trickle becomes a torrent as the summer moves along.
The countywide program is called “Transform Your World at the Library.” At the Half Moon Bay branch on Correas Street, there is a display just inside the door, asking readers to give a short review of whatever they are reading.
 La Honda resident and reader Rachel Borich, who works at the campus library while attending Whittier College in Southern California, fills out a summer reading suggestion card at the Half Moon Bay Library last week. |
The goal for the younger set is 20-minutes each night — 600 minutes over the course of the summer. At the end, kids who complete the program receive a certificate for a free pizza and a book.
Fewer teens play along, but there is something in it for them, too. Teens are asked to turn in four book reviews over the summer, and that can include summer reading lists that are required or advised by area schools. Once submitted, teen readers are in the running for a countywide drawing for a new Apple iPod.
Adults are swayed by prizes too, of course. Library staff has solicited raffle prizes from area businesses — Ocean Shore Hardware, Starbucks, Longs Drugs, Blue Sky Farms, Safeway, Peet’s and Curves — as well as passes to Filoli, California State Parks and the California Academy of Sciences. Each Friday they draw a lucky winner — someone like Georgia Dunn.
Dunn has been using the Half Moon Bay Library for 32 years. She says she filled out six entries recently. When her name was drawn, she won a month’s worth of free workouts at Curves in Half Moon Bay.
“That was great,” she said, enthusiastically.
Dunn says the local library is a lifesaver. For instance, she was recently on the jury for a murder trial over the hill. The judge instructed the jury not to read the newspapers or watch television. That was no problem for Dunn, who said she looks forward to the twice-monthly Bookmobile stops near her home in Moss Beach.
“I got a book on tape to listen to on the drive over there and I read four books over the course of the trial,” she said. “They’re even bringing my Curves certificate on the Bookmobile.”
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