It was a surprisingly quiet group of youngsters in the library on Jan. 26. The “cookies and bookies” day held at the TNRD Clearwater Library was a definite hit.
There were 26 pre-schoolers and 14 adults in the program. They included the children from the Building Blocks Daycare, operated by Yellowhead Community Services, who were bussed to the library.
The children had an opportunity to look through books, read or be read to, and make their own bookmarks. They also were treated to milk and cookies, which they had fun decorating with some icing, raisins, sprinkles and Smarties.
Additionally, each child took home some free age-appropriate books to keep. The books were selected from those donated to the Bright Red Bookshelf program.
Kerry Milner-Cairns, the literacy outreach coordinator for the Clearwater and Area literacy program, put on the activity as part of BC Literacy Week. Every year she tries to do something different, and this was the first time she had tried this activity.
Kerry heads the Clearwater and area literacy committee, which covers the area from Little Fort to Blue River. There are seven other members on the committee including childcare workers, a teacher and other resource people. It is part of the Kamloops-Thompson School District Community Literacy Plan.
For the past nine years, the province of British Columbia had proclaimed Jan. 27 as Family Literacy Day. This day concluded a week of activities intended to raise awareness of the literacy services available to B.C. families, and to publicize the important issues that are leading to the development of family literacy programs.