Summer Reading Illustrator
Children at libraries and schools had the opportunity to meet Henry Cole, the illustrator for the Summer Reading Program, Make a Splash READ. Henry Cole visited 16 libraries and 3 schools in April and June. He told children how he like to draw at age 7 and showed them slides of some pictures he had drawn. He, also, showed some illustrations from his books, A Nest for Celeste and On Meadowview Street.
1,168 children and adults attended the Henry Cole programs at 16 public libraries and 4 schools
The featured books, A Nest for Celeste and On Meadowview Street, have “been flying off the shelf since Henry Cole was in the Arrowhead Library System region. Before he came in April, A Nest for Celeste had circulated 1 time between 2003 and April 19, 2010.
By June 18, 2010 A Nest for Celeste had 24 circulations and 15 holds. On Meadowview Street had circulated 32 times between 2003 and April 19, 2010. By June 18, On Meadowview Street had circulated 48 times and had 1 hold.
Event Dates and Locations:
April 19, 2010-Nettleton School, Duluth
April 19-Cloquet Public Library
April 20-Assumption School, Hibbing
April 20-Calumet Public Library
April 20-Marble Public Library
April 21-Coleraine at the school
April 21-Grand Rapids Public Library
April 22-Parkview School, Virginia
April 22-Babbitt School
June 7-Moose Lake and Two Harbors Public Libraries
June 8-Grand Marais and Silver Bay Public Libraries
June 9-Aurora, Hoyt Lakes, and Eveleth Public Libraries
June 10-Virginia and Chisholm Public Libraries
June 11-International Falls and Baudette Public Libraries
Partner Organization(s) Contribution/Role in the Program: Spotlight on Books paid for Henry Cole's round trip airfare in April as he was coming to Grand Rapids Area for the Conference.
Measurable Outcomes may be collected by survey, anecdotal responses, post-test;End user change in Behavior, Attitude, Skills, Knowledge, Condition and/or Status
- One librarian has reported that "children are still looking for books by Henry Cole and bringing them to me to show me his name."
- Another parent reported, "My daughter's biggest dream is to become a writer. I'm sure she will always remember meeting Henry Cole. This is such a great way to her incentive to follow her dream."
- A teacher brought his class to the public library after the Henry Cole program. The kids were all talking about the Henry Cole books, and the teacher reported that Henry Cole is all they want to talk about.
- Most of the people attending the program learned that drawing takes practice and patience.
- On the written evaluation, 12 attendees reported they learned about his books. 29 attendees learned that it takes a lot of patience to become good at drawing. 20 learned about book illustration. The written evaluations show that the summer reading program sign up should increase by 59% over last year.
- Actual statistics show the highest library showed a 14.9% increase in summer reading sign-ups. 8 libraries reported an increase in the number of children that signed up for the summer reading program. 5 libraries reported a decrease in the number of children that signed up for the summer reading program. 3 libraries did not report.
- As kids were leaving the library, the librarian heard the following conversation:
Boy 1: "We really should write a book." Boy 2: "Yeah-we should write a chapter Book." Boy 3: "Yeah-we should write two."