Sturgis library hosting ‘Library at the Lawn’ event
STURGIS — Sturgis District Library invites the community to share their love of reading at Oaklawn Terrace Park with an outdoor reading event scheduled for Friday, Aug. 4.
“Library on the Lawn” is a free event and is open to the public, set for 6 to 7:30 p.m. at the park on South Nottawa Street, library officials said Tuesday.
Participants are encouraged to bring their favorite book, lawn chairs, and picnic blankets to enjoy reading together in the park. The event will feature guest readers from the community, food trucks, games, raffle prizes and free books for infants through 12th grade.
Sturgis District Library and its children’s librarian, Michelle Baker, have been steadily increasing access to books for children of all ages — from babies to teens — throughout the annual summer reading program season. More than 2,000 books have been handed out in 2023 alone, Baker said. Baker has taken the library outreach van to multiple “Meet-Up and Eat-Up” locations over the summer, as well as Sturgis Public Schools’ Summer Academic Camp to give away free books.
“Our goal is to get books into the hands of kids with the hope that they will discover that reading is fun,” Baker said.
Low-income children have fewer books at home than their higher-income peers, with 61% of America’s low-income children growing up in homes without books, according to Baker. Books in the home are the single biggest indicator of academic success, surpassing income, parent’s education, family composition and other factors.
“We want families to see how important literacy is for their children and the library wants to fill in the gap,” Baker said. “It confirms for me that our ‘Library On The Lawn’ event is a crucial piece to the puzzle to show our youth that reading can be fun.”
A recent study done by the Michigan Department of Education reports students who say they “never” or “hardly ever” read for fun jumped by 9 points, to 31%.
Scheduled guest speakers as of press time for the Library on the Lawn event include Baker, Sturgis Public Schools Superintendent Art Ebert, SPS Board of Education President Emily Halling, WBET news director Mike Stiles, and Sturgis Mayor Jeff Mullins.
For more information or those with questions may call the Sturgis District Library at 269-659-7224 or email research@sturgis-library.org.
This article originally appeared on Port Huron Times Herald: Sturgis library hosting ‘Library at the Lawn’ event
