WAIMEA — “Llama Llama Loves to Read,” but does it have a tail?
Hawai‘i’s First Lady Dawn Amano-Ige covered those bases Tuesday when she visited Kaua‘i to promote literacy, primarily the ‘Ohana Readers Kaua‘i, and the Hawai‘i State Public Library System’s Tails and Tales Summer Reading Program.
Westside keiki, including those participating in the county’s Summer Fun program at the Waimea Neighborhood Center, enjoyed Ige’s rendering of two sagas containing “tails,” getting help from Waimea Public Library Manager Michelle Young, who masterfully wiggled the shakes out of the young spectators between tales.
”Llama Llama Loves to Read” by Anna Dewdney is one of the titles from Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library that is shipped to ‘Ohana Readers.
The state’s public library system is one of the partners of the ‘Ohana Readers Kaua‘i that was formed in partnership with Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library, the state Department of Human Services, Friends of Library Hawai‘i, Read to Me International, Kaua‘i Island Utility Cooperative Charitable Foundation and Amano-Ige.
“Research shows that children are ready to learn in their earliest years,” Amano-Ige said.
“This ‘Ohana Readers Kaua‘i program provides no-cost opportunities for learning from birth through age 4. ‘Ohana Readers encourage family read-aloud time, an activity that increases the vocabulary and language skills of our children and contributes to their growing knowledge of the world.”
‘Ohana Readers will offer high-quality, age-appropriate, Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library books each month through the postal service to children in Waimea and Kekaha — the mailing address must contain either Kekaha 96752 or Waimea 96796 ZIP codes — who are 4 years old and younger.
Children who register for the program at the Waimea Public Library will start receiving their first books approximately eight to 10 weeks after the form is submitted.
“Before he passed away, my daddy told me the Imagination Library was probably the most important thing I had ever done,” said Dolly Patron in her Imagination Library flier.
“I can’t tell you how much that meant to me, because I created the Imagination Library as a tribute to my daddy. He was the smartest man I have ever known, but I know in my heart that his inability to read probably kept him from fulfilling all of his dreams.”
Register in person at the Waimea Public Library, call 808-338-6848, or email kwacirc@librarieshawaii.org.
Tails and Tales is the HSPLS Summer Reading Program that launched June 1 and will continue through July 31.
The Summer Reading Program is for everyone, and registration can be done at any public library, or online at librarieshawaii.org.beanstack.org.
This year’s program partners with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration to offer weekly online video and crafts to children, opening with a focus on the Hawaiian green sea turtle.
This year, for every 100 minutes logged online, the reader receives an entry to the grand-prize drawing for four roundtrip tickets to anywhere Alaska Airlines flies.
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Dennis Fujimoto, staff writer and photographer, can be reached at 245-0453 or dfujimoto@thegardenisland.com.
