Now that August is here, it is time for our Oceans of Possibilities summer reading challenge to sail off into the sunset. We would like to thank each and every one of you who participated this summer! It has been an incredible eight weeks of reading, activities, and celebration of community. When we all come together, there is truly an ocean’s worth of possibilities.

Altogether, we had 468 summer reading participants with a total of 399,932 minutes read. Wow!

Here are some highlights and pictures from our summer.

Reed Fest

We kicked off our summer reading challenge with Reed Fest, in collaboration with Ravenna Parks & Rec. Crafts, yard games, balloon animals, temporary tattoos, and a dunk tank were some of the activities.

Under the Sea Craft Club

Every Wednesday, the Youth Services department hosted an afternoon craft club. We are constantly in awe of our younger patrons’ wonderful imagination. Here are some of their creations:

Under the Sea Craft Club was just one of the many amazing children and youth programs we offered this summer. We also had fun hosting preschool storytime, teen crafts, Animal Crossing island hops, Pokémon Club, marine biology science camp, watercolor paint night with Blue Tree Designs, an author night with I Love You with all of my Hearts‘ Lindsay Bonilla, an I Spy discovery bottle craft, and more. If you missed out on any of these, fear not! Take a look at some of the awesome activities we have happening this month on our website.

Adult Crafts and Programs

The library has something to offer all ages! This summer, we offered a walking tour of Ravenna sea captains and the “Nantucket Colony” of Portage County, mermaid art, Tech Tuesday classes, monthly puzzle exchanges, container gardening, Spice Club, Mid-day Reads Book Club, and Knit, Crochet, and Needlecraft Club. The fun isn’t over yet, though–make sure to check out what we have to offer coming up this month on our website.

Food Truck Fridays

One Friday of each month this summer is Food Truck Friday! (Our final Food Truck Friday is Friday, August 19.) For June’s event, we hosted the Akron ZooMobile in addition to yard games and other activities, which had a huge turnout. In July, local artist Lora Gray drew caricatures on the lawn. At August’s event, we will be offering free face paintings. Don’t miss it!

Summer Reading Challenge Activities

In addition to logging the minutes spent reading this summer, patrons were also prompted to complete activities and share their pictures with us, including watercolor painting, chalk drawing, attending programs, and creating mermaid food.

Reading Challenge Grand Prize Winners

Congratulations to our grand prize winners!

Our winners for the children’s age group are Noah, Alana, Scarlett, and Charles.

Our winners for the youth age group are Emma, Tycho, Savannah, and Alex.

Our winners for the adult age group are Meghan, Colleen, Alyssa, and Lyndsey.

If you haven’t had the chance to redeem any milestone prizes, you have until August 27 to visit us and grab them. Awesome job, everyone!