The Big Sandy Mountaineer -

This last week, our Choteau County Library threw a get together for all the children in our community who have read a thousand books. Libraries across the county are trying to get young children to start reading early, by making it a challenge to read a thousand books before kindergarten. It's easy to register, and its fun for parents and their kids.

1,000 books may seem like quite a number, but did you know that if you read a book every night for the next three years, you will have read 1,095 books! The point of this program is to get the kids to read a thousand books before kindergarten. This is such a great opportunity for toddlers to gain literacy and understanding of words before they start school. Plus, it's a great chance to bond with your child.

For every book read, each child will get to color in a seed on the form the parents are given. There are one-hundred seeds on each form. As of this last week, we had 17 local kids who have read a thousand books, each under six years old. These included Katelyn Robertson, Alyssa Robertson, Kiki Overbay, Elliot Overbay, Kayson Archey, Holly Baumgarn, Holden Janssen, Riley Echols, Georgia Silvan, Noah Simpson, Knox Simpson, Jace Bachoco, Waylon Myers, Jaxon Kulbeck, and Luke Weaver. Of the 17, only eight children were able to make it to the party.

The party began by singing some songs and reading some more books. "It Ain't Easy Being a Bunny" and "Bear Can't Sleep" were some of the stories that were read. The event ended with St. Patrick's Day arts and crafts. It was a fun event, and the kids all received glow-in-the-dark tee-shirts for participating.