By: Alyssa Ochss | St. Clair Shores Sentinel | Published June 7, 2025
ST. CLAIR SHORES — Patrons are invited to paint their world full of color during this year’s summer reading program at the St. Clair Shores Public Library.
Summer reading lasts from June 16 to Aug. 8 this year with a kickoff party for the youth on the evening of June 16.
Kathleen Harville, a St. Clair Shores Public Library online resource and reference librarian, said the theme this year is “Color Our World” and adults can come in and register at the library. There will be weekly drawings on Mondays. Harville said for adults, for every adult book or young adult book they read or listen to, they earn an entry form for the raffles. They can also get an entry form for every five books they read to a child.
“We’re going to have jugs on the display table by the information desk, and they can put those entry forms inside whatever prize jug they want to win,” Harville said.
The prizes change every week. If a patron wins, the library will contact them. Book bingo is also available this year for adults to enjoy. One winner will be chosen from all the book bingos. Programming is also available for adults though Harville did not have information about it at the time of the interview.
Liz Drewek, a St. Clair Shores Public Library youth services librarian, said young readers get the same program window, beginning on June 16 and running through Aug. 8. Youth services cover birth to 18 years old and the children are separated into four different age groups.
The kickoff party will be from 6 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. on June 16 where they can register for the summer reading program, get raffle tickets, enjoy activities such as magnet making and more.
“All of that’s pretty similar to what we have traditionally done,” Drewek said.
Programming with no required registration for the youth lasts for six weeks while the whole summer reading program lasts eight weeks. On Thursdays, projects will be available for children in grades three through six.
“They’re very hands-on projects usually with multiple steps involved so they need the fine motor skills and the ability to follow all those steps and work mostly independently,” Drewek said.
Registration for the program is required due to the hands-on nature of the activities.
Drewek said due to the theme, they will lean heavily into the art aspect, but there will also be music, nature, slime making and more.
Registration for the summer reading program must be done in person while reading and some of the programs can be done at home.
There will be an after-hours teen program with nerf games and more.
“We haven’t done a teen after-hours program before since I’ve been here,” Drewek said. “We’ve done a couple adult ones. It’s fun for even us to be here with patrons after hours when no one else is allowed in.”
The nerf program will be from 4:30 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. on July 11 and a tie dye party will be from 6:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. Both of these events are for kids in grades seven through 12.
The library’s tiny art program will also run during the programming. It’s for patrons 5 and older with canvas pick up on June 23 to June 30.
“And we’re going to have a big reveal event. We haven’t done that before,” Drewek said.
Canvases must be returned to the library July 21 through July 25, and the reveal will be from 6:30 p.m. to 7:45 p.m. on July 31.
The youth program will end with the touch-a-truck event from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m. on Aug. 12 with multiple departments within the city bringing their vehicles for children to see. Patrons don’t have to be a part of the programming to take part in that.
Drewek and Harville watch patrons as they go through the program, from children to teens to adults.
“It’s nice to see that continuance,” Drewek said.
Drewek said once she gets over the initial panic of the amount of programming, she’s very excited for the summer. She said it’s a constantly changing program with new ideas popping up multiple different times during the process. Harville said some themes are easier to work with than others.
The summer reading program takes months to create. The librarians start work in the winter months and by February or March, patrons are eager to know what the theme is. Drewek said it gives her the boost to keep going.
For more information about summer programming, visit the library at 22500 11 Mile Road or go to its website at scslibrary.org.