Summer Reading Program

Summer Reading Program 
June 3 - July 27

Adventure Begins At Your Library

Join the branches of the Northeast Regional Library this summer as we celebrate the 2024 Summer Reading Program theme – “Adventure Begins at Your Library”.

The fun will began in June and will continue through the end of July.


We are excited to welcome back in-house programs with lots of special visitors lined up this year!  Yearly favorite Debora Waz from the Mississippi Museum of Natural Science in Jackson will be visiting the Belmont, Booneville, Burnsville, Iuka, and Ripley libraries to talk about animal friends found throughout Mississippi.  In Corinth, a presenter with a service dog will present a program about how to interact with them.  Participants will also make sock dog toys. 

Branches in Belmont, Booneville, Ripley, and Tishomingo will have visits from community helpers, such as those from our fire departments, police departments, ambulance services, and more.  In Burnsville, Master Gardner Lena Mitchell will discuss plants and flowers grown in our area and provide small pots and seeds for participants to plant something to take home.  

Participants at the Random Acts of Kindness program at the Anne Spencer Cox Library in Baldwyn will write letters to people in their community, while at the Blue Mountain Library, a program will take participants outside to create kindness messages on the sidewalks with chalk.

For those who cannot get to the library during daytime hours, several branches will host events at night and on Saturdays, including Family Togetherness game nights and Saturday basic sign language programs at the George E. Allen Library in Booneville and puzzle and Story Time events at Corinth.  The Iuka Library will even hold a Saturday Pokemon Adventure Day.

Rock painting activities will be held at the Tishomingo and Rienzi libraries.  Several branches, such as Booneville and Corinth, will have special programing for teen participants where they will do fun craft projects. 

Those unable to attend a program can still stop by our branches for lots of fun activities they can do on their own.  Branches will have coloring and activity sheets, craft projects, in-house Scavenger Hunts, puzzles to put together, and other things to do at any time while visiting the library.  All branches will be conducting a Community Art Project where participants decorate a paper square and return it to the library for an art gallery.  And of course, all our branches will have reading logs to record books read during the summer, with incentives for meeting each week’s goal.   

On our website, you’ll find daily suggestions for fun family activities that fit into our Summer Reading Program theme on the Suggested Family Activities page.   Daily recorded stories will continue on our YouTube channel and Story Walks® will be returning to many of our community walking trails. 

To see a full list of events at all NERL branches, check out the list below:

Baldwyn

All program times will be from 11:00 a.m - 2:00 p.m.
The recommended age range for these programs are for children ages 5 – 12.

Date
Program
June 7
Team Building Activities 🤼
June 14
Team Scavenger Hunt 🔍
June 21
Random Acts of Kindness 😊 Writing letters to people in the community
June 26
Awards Day 🥇

Belmont

All program times will begin at 10:00 a.m.
The recommended age range for these programs are for children ages 5 – 10.

Date
Program
June 6
Visit by the Community Ambulance and a Seahorse Craft Project 🚑
June 13
The Fire Department and You 🚒
June 20
Animals are our Friends: Debora Waz, the Mississippi Museum of Natural Science 🐍
June 27
Lena Mitchell 👩‍🌾 Master Gardener

Blue Mountain

All programs begin at 4:00 p.m.
The recommended age range for these programs are for children ages 5 – 7.

Date
Program
June 8
Sharing Story Time and Butterfly Origami 🦋
June 15
Family Story Time and Work on a Puzzle 🧩
June 22
Friendship Story Time and Bug Craft Project 🐛
June 29
Kindness Story Time, Sidewalk Chalk Fun, and a Favorite Things Craft Project 📚

Booneville

Children 5 and under will meet in the Children’s Area of the library to
hear stories read to them during the program on June 6, 13, 20 and 27.

Activities for ages 5 and under: :
Date
Time
Program
June 9
10 AM
🏀 Learning Together – Basketball basics and educational activities
June 30
10 AM
🏀 Learning Together – Basketball basics and educational activities
July 14
10 AM
🏀 Learning Together – Basketball basics and educational activities
July 15
10 AM
💃 Mommy and Me Sing and Dance
July 28
10 AM
🏀 Learning Together – Basketball basics and educational activities
Booneville Programs for ages 6-11:
Date
Time
Program
June 6
10 AM
🏀 Team Visit: Booneville Fire Dept, Ambulance Service High School Basketball Team
June 13
10 AM
🐍 Sharing Our World – Debora Waz, Mississippi Museum of Natural Science
June 20
10 AM
♻ Friendship and Recycling – Puppet show, Recycled Art Demo and a Leaf Art Project
June 27
10 AM
🐄 Learn about 4-H Activities and Farm Animal Petting Zoo
July 12
4 PM
🦅 Craft Time: Make a Foam Uncle Sam
Booneville Teen Programs:
Date
Time
Program
June 28
2 PM
💵 Beginning Banking
Booneville Family/All Ages Programs:
Date
Time
Program
June 5
6 PM
♟ Chess Club – Learn How to Play Chess or Brush up on Your Skills
June 8
6 PM
🎲 Family Togetherness with Games
June 19
6 PM
♟ Chess Club – Learn How to Play Chess or Brush up on Your Skills
July 10
6 PM
♟ Chess Club – Learn How to Play Chess or Brush up on Your Skills
July 20
6 PM
🎲 Family Togetherness with Games
July 24
6 PM
♟ Chess Club – Learn How to Play Chess or Brush up on Your Skills
July 25
6 PM
🔢 Bingo Night
Booneville Adult Programs:
Date
Time
Program
June 12
6 PM
🎨 Paint and Sip: Independent Painting
June 24
10 AM
🖖 Communication is Key - Basic Sign Language
June 29
6 PM
📚 Open Book Club - Discuss Current Reads and Trending Titles
July 17
6 PM
♟ Chess Club – Learn How to Play Chess or Brush up on Your Skills
July 22
1 PM
🖖 Communication is Key - Basic Sign Language
July 27
6 PM
📚 Open Book Club - Discuss Current Reads and Trending Titles

Burnsville

The recommended age range for these programs are for children ages 6 – and up.

Date
Time
Program
June 1
10 AM
🐍 Debora Waz, Mississippi Museum of Natural Science
June 7
10 AM
💰 Story Time & Financial Literacy, Piggy Bank Craft
June 8
12:30 PM
👨‍🌾 Master Gardener Discussion About Local Plants and Flowers. Pots and Seeds Provided
July 31
12:30 PM
😊 Kindness for Everyone: Learn about Self-affirmations, Make a Craft Jar. Ages 9+
Activities for ages 5 and under:
Date
Time
Program
Every Tuesday
2 PM
Storytime for Preschoolers
June 20
3 PM
Prepare with Pedro the Penguin: Fire Safety in the Home
June 27
3 PM
Storytime in Spanish: Make musical instruments and march around the library
June 28
3 PM
Sensory Friendly Storytime
July 13
3 PM
Stellar Storytime: Stories by Eric Carle & Crafts
Corinth Programs for ages 6-11:
Date
Time
Program
June 13
3 PM
Helping Hounds: Learn about service dogs, Make a Dog Toy, Alcorn County Animal Shelter Donations
June 15
3 PM
Buddy Bracelets: Telling stories about friendship and making bracelets
June 21
10 AM
Legos! Building projects and playing with Legos. Registration required.
June 22
3 PM
The Pillowcase Project: Fire Safety in the Home
June 28
10 AM
Legos! Part 2: Continued
July 10
10 AM
Legos! Part 3: Continued
July 11
3 PM
Backyard Beasts: Learn about local mammals
July 15
10 AM
Storytelling Saturday: listen and move to lively stories and poems
Corinth Teen Programs:
Date
Time
Program
June 29
6 PM
Kindness Counts: Make a Kindness Jar
July 8
3 PM
Jigsaw Jamboree: Teams Compete to Complete a Puzzle the Fastest

Iuka

The recommended age range for these programs are for children ages 6 – and up.

Date
Time
Program
June 7
2 PM
💃 Line Dancing with Emily Cox 🎲 Games and a Craft Project
June 17
10 AM
🎴 Pokemon Adventure Day: Create your own Pokemon, Pokemon Battle Academy Board Game
June 21
10 AM
🐍 Debora Waz, Mississippi Museum of Natural Science
June 28
2 PM
🎲 Games and Crafts
July 15
11 AM & 2 PM
🐢 MS Turtle Rescue Group teaches about rescuing turtles
July 19
10 AM
🐶 Puppet Workshop: Design and make your puppet
Every Wednesday
2 PM
📚 Pre-School Story Time
Programs for ages 5 and under:
Date
Time
Program
June 13
1 PM
📚 Bilingual Story Time
June 27
1 PM
📚 Community Story Time
July 18
1 PM
⭐ You are Special: Star Craft
Rienzi Programs for Families/All Ages:
Date
Time
Program
June 6
All Day
All Day 🎨 Rock Painting
June 20
1 PM
🎶 Local Music with Joel Hales
July 11
1 PM
😊 Kindness is Key: Making Kindness Cards
July 25
4 PM
🏃‍♂️ Outdoor Exercise with Field Day Games

Ripley

All programs being at 11:00 a.m.

Programs for ages 6-and up:
Date
Time
Program
July 13
11 AM
🧪 Visit from Mississippi State Ext. Service to talk about jobs in Science and Technology
Ripley Teen Programs:
Date
Time
Program
July 20
11 AM
📚 Teen Book Club Organizer
Ripley Programs for Families/All Ages:
Date
Time
Program
June 1
11 AM
🚒 Visit from Fire Department and Dalmatian Craft
June 8
11 AM
⚡ Visit from Electrician Linemen with a Bucket Truck, Learn about electrical power safety
June 15
11 AM
🚔 Visit from Police Department and a Police Car Handprint Craft
July 22
11 AM
🚑 Visit from Nurses and EMT First Responders
June 29
11 AM
🛠 Visit from Construction Professionals
Ripley Adult Programs:
Date
Time
Program
July 27
11 AM
📚 Adult Book Club Organizer

Tishomingo

All programs begin at 10:30. Except where noted, programs are for all ages.

Date
Time
Program
June 5
10:30 AM
📚 Building Friendships StoryTime and Friendship Bracelet Craft
June 12
10:30 AM
🎨 Rock Painting
June 21
10:30 AM
🚶‍♀️ A Walk Around Town Community Field Trip and Eric Carle Program
June 26
10:30 AM
🐛 Deborah Waz, Mississippi Museum of Natural Science and a Caterpillar Craft
July 10
10:30 AM
🎲 Summer Games and Sidewalk Chalk Drawing

Tishomingo Programs for Teens:
Date
Time
Program
July 17
10:30 AM
💸 Financial Literacy and The Jellybean Game

If You Give A Mouse A Brownie

Join us everyday in June and July
for a new Online Story Time

Story Walks® are returning...

to many of our community walking trails.  Story Walks® are outdoor reading experiences where a children’s book is presented via plastic signs at various points along a walking trail.  Participants walk the trail, stopping at each sign to read the pages of the story.  We are proud to partner with our local communities and their Parks and Recreation departments to present Story Walks® in the following areas:

Corinth Belmont Blue Mountain Booneville Iuka Ripley

Our Story Walk® Schedule is available here.

Read Along Stories