THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, August 5, 1994 TAG: 9408040192
SECTION: CHESAPEAKE CLIPPER PAGE: 04 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY ERIC FEBER, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Medium: 83 lines
AUGUST MEANS the end of summer reading programs throughout Chesapeake.
And library officials and volunteers are ending this year's program with several big celebrations for those who participated.
``Our summer library programs for children have done incredibly well,'' said Lynn Bryant, Russell Memorial branch children's librarian. ``I think these programs are critical. They keep the learning skills and love of reading alive throughout the summer. I don't care what they're reading, either, so long as they read. The more you read the more you're ready for learning.''
More than 700 children who joined the Russell Memorial Branch's summer program will be treated to a Midsummer Festival on Aug. 17.
Bryant said the program will include games, stories and a puppet show, ``The Three Little Pigs,'' to be performed by the branch's 10-member volunteer puppet troupe.
``These are children ages 12 and older,'' she said. ``They'll utilize our puppet collection and have made up a script using their own dialogue.''
The carnival-like atmosphere will also feature face painting, carnival games and other surprises.
The rest of Chesapeake's library branches will enjoy an end-of-the-summer-reading-program celebration, ``Libraries Are a Magic Place,'' put on by professional library performer, Ginger Inabinet.
Inabinet, 23, aMathews County resident and Mathews High graduate, has spent the past four summers presenting popular children's programs at libraries throughout Hampton Roads.
Inabinet began at age 18 when she and a group of friends gave programs on Paddington the Bear. Later she decided to go it alone and has been performing at various summer children's reading events for several years.
She graduated last year from Furman University in Greenville, S.C., with a bachelor's degree in voice performance and music education. She now studies opera at the New England Conservatory of Music in Boston. Her usual summer library work has been curtailed this year, though, because of performances with the Opera Theatre of St. Louis in May and June.
Inabinet, whose mother, Sherry, is the children's coordinator for the York County Public Library, said she learns about the themes of each reading program ahead of time so she can create original programs for each one using her vocal and instrumental skills.
She incorporates story-telling, sing-alongs, and puppets she once bought at a craft fair in Tennessee to enliven her programs.
Most summers she performs at 30 to 40 libraries throughout the area including the Chesterfield, West Point, York County, Suffolk, Hampton and Gloucester library systems.
With her St. Louis opera stint over for the summer, Inabinet has been busy at several libraries in Hampton Roads.
Her program in Chesapeake will be entitled ``Reading Is a Magic Trip'' in keeping with the overall ``Libraries are a magic Place'' theme.
Inabinet plans to tell stories, sing while accompanying herself on the omnichord (an instrument similar to an autoharp) and bring along a few of her marionette friends she found in Tennessee.
Bryant said the special events are open to all children who are members of the summer reading program. Those who haven't participated in the program are welcome to enjoy the special event but will not receive certificates. MEMO: More information about the children's programs of the Chesapeake Public
Library system is available by calling your local branch library:
Russell branch, 465-3123; Major Hillard, 485-1543; South Norfolk,
545-2436; Central Library, 547-6562; Indian River, 420-5804; or
Greenbrier, 436-4656.
ILLUSTRATION: PROGRAM FINALE
Tuesday, Aug. 16
10 a.m., Major Hillard Library, 949 N. George Washington
Highway.
2 p.m. - South Norfolk Library, 1100 Poindexter St.
Wednesday, Aug. 17
10 a.m., Russell Memorial, Portsmouth Blvd.
10 a.m., Central Library, 298 Cedar Road.
1:30 p.m. - Greenbrier Library, 1214 Volvo Parkway.
3 p.m. - Indian River Library, 2300 Old Greenbrier Road.
by CNB