AWESOME FOUNDATION GRANT AWARD WINNER
Red River Valley Kids Read pring may still seem too far away, but our regional libraries are prepping for warmer weather with their favorite winter activity—reading a good book. Not just any good book, but one written and self-published by a regional author, taking place in South Dakota and inspiring a plethora of fun activities and learning opportunities for the community.
River Valley Kids Read was born.
For the second year, staff from the Fargo Public, Moorhead Public, West Fargo Public, Grand Forks Public and Leach (Wahpeton) Public Libraries will be teaming up to host Red River Valley Kids Read—a community-wide reading project for area kids.
Last year’s flood-related activities ranged from author talks, a panel discussion at City Hall, discussions with people whose homes were flooded, open houses with the US Army Corps of Engineers and the Cass County Soil Conservation District and a photo gallery display of images in partnership with The Forum.
Impressed by the local One Book, One Community reading project, which aims to create shared conversations and experiences around the community-wide reading of a single book, Cindy Mason of the Fargo Public Library felt it would be a wonderful program to extend to kids. She reached out to her Youth Services colleagues—Meaghan Cronin (Moorhead Public Library), Lauren Nephew (West Fargo Public Library), Aaron Stefanich (Grand Forks Public Library), and Rachel Kercher (Leach Public Library)—and Red
They kicked off the first year of the program with the book “Storm Warning” by author Elizabeth Raum. “The timing just fell into place,” Cindy said. “The book is set in Ada during the 1997 flood, which is something so many of us adults remember as a shared experience. Last year was the 25th anniversary of the flood, and there were so many opportunities for community collaboration.”
This year the hosts of Red River Valley Kids Read have planned multiple archeology-related events to enhance their selection of the middle-grade novel titled "Summer Ruins" by Deb Watley, about a young girl who joins her archeologist parents on a teaching dig in South Dakota. “The local nature of the book really stood out to us. The author is from South Dakota, it takes place in South Dakota, and the archeological focus
BY Brandi Malarkey, Owner, It’s All Malarkey
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FEBRUARY 2023
created wonderful opportunities for fun programming in collaboration with the book reading,” Meaghan Cronin of the Moorhead Public Library said. To assist with the initiative, Red River Valley Kids Read was named the Cass Clay Chapter of the Awesome Foundation’s December 2022 grantee. The $1000 gift will go toward purchasing copies of “Summer Ruins” to be given for free to area kids. “We have copies of the book at all of our libraries that are available for borrowing,” Lauren Nephew of the West Fargo Public Library said. “The giveaway books are aimed toward expanding our standard reach to those who may not have access to a library card or can’t reliably get to a library. It gives more kids the chance to read the story and be involved.” “Community is what it is all about,” enthuses Meaghan. “It’s also exciting for us to be able to help our local authors with something like this. When they are self-published it can be especially difficult to get and attract marketing. A program like this helps provide a little more advertising for the author. It’s another way to draw our community closer together.”