Published: May 30, 2008 11:50 am         

Area children read up on American Indians

DANVILLE — Children from toddlers to teens will have the opportunity this summer to sharpen their reading skills while they celebrate American Indian culture.

Danville Public Library begins Monday its annual summer reading program. Many of this year’s activities tie-in with the return of the National Powwow, which takes place July 9-12 at the Vermilion County Fairgrounds. The library program continues through August.

“Native Americans are a high interest topic,” Vonna Bley, the children’s librarian, said. “Kids comment that they’re like super heroes. They identify with their traditions.”

Natasha Shelton, the Bismarck mother of two young children, thought the summer reading program’s American Indian focus was a great idea.

“I’m one-eighth Native American,” Shelton said, “which makes my children one-sixteenth.

“Caitlin, my daughter, just did a big research assignment on Pocahontas. She’s in second grade.

“My son, Ethan, has a bow and arrows. We’re proud of our heritage,” she said.

Bley and her staff will maximize that pride and interest with books they’ll read aloud to the children, the movies they’ll show and the crafts they’ll make with them.

“We plan on making a variety of things, including totem poles, dream catchers, headbands and tom-toms,” Bley said. “They don’t need to sign up ahead of time. They can just show up.”

The crafts, scheduled for Thursdays throughout the summer program, will be suitable for children from 2- to 16-years-old. Bley also plans to provide American Indian-themed crafts and games for children at the Powwow itself.

Children may also enter a contest in the children’s department where they’ll be rewarded with American Indian-themed prizes if they read five books for the younger children or 200 pages for more advanced readers. Younger children may also have the books read aloud to them.

Lisa Abdelghani, library assistant in the children’s department, happened upon some appropriate prizes for that program during a recent trip to Hannibal, Mo.

She found pencils that appear to have been whittled from logs, beaded rings, jewelry made of “bones” and leather, head-dresses and a coonskin cap.

“I’m attracted to Native American culture myself,” Abdelghani said. “They were respectful of nature. They weren’t wasteful — they used everything.

“We need to emphasize their culture more,” she said.

The environment that American Indians shared with nature will be the focus of a native wetland display that Vermilion County Conservation District will bring to the library. Animals indigenous to this area will be part of the exhibit.

Bley hopes to reach as many young readers as possible this, and every, summer.

“We find that June is the busiest month for us, but we invite children and their families to come all summer,” she said. “If children read throughout the summer, it helps them maintain their reading level for when they return to school in the fall.”



FYI

For more information about Danville Public Library’s summer programs for children, stop in the library’s children’s department or call 477-5225.