Summer Reading - Plus Mike Miller of SGPA

It’s summer reading time again and on this episode, Marcy, Eliza, Kacie and Danielle explain how it all works. After we hear from them, Hannah has an announcement about a special project she’s been working on with the Connecticut State Library. 

And since this is a great time of year to get out and enjoy your local parks, Hannah talks with Mike Miller of the Sleeping Giant Park Association about the trail clean up crew. More info is available here: https://sgpa.org/trail-maintenance/

Transcript

Michael Pierry: Welcome to the Hamden Library Podcast. I am your host, Michael Pierry. It's summer reading time again, and on this episode, Eliza, Kacie, and Danielle will explain how it all works. After we hear from them, Hannah has an announcement about a special project she's been working on with the Connecticut State Library.

And since this is a great time of year to get out and enjoy your local parks, Hannah talks with Mike Miller of the Sleeping Giant Park Association about his work with the trail cleanup crew. And now, please enjoy the episode 

Eliza Moyer: Hello, library land. I'm Eliza, an LTA with the Hamden Public Library, and today we are here to talk about summer reading.

Woo-hoo. Are you as excited as we are? So we put together a fun little roundtable today. I have some awesome, library crew here with me. I have Marcy, who is our head children's librarian. 

Marcy Goldman: Hello. 

Eliza Moyer: I have Kacie, who is also a children's librarian, as well as our marketing social media guru. 

Kacie Meixell: Hi, everybody. 

Eliza Moyer: And I would like to formally welcome and introduce our amazing new teen librarian, Danielle.

Danielle Sekas: Hi. 

Eliza Moyer: How are you today? 

Danielle Sekas: Doing great. 

Eliza Moyer: So this is Danielle's first podcast with us, and it's her first podcast ever, so please be nice to her. We're gonna take a minute and just introduce Danielle and have her tell you a little bit about herself, where she's from, why she's doing what she's doing, and she's just awesome at it.

Danielle Sekas: Hi. I'm so excited to be here. I abs- I've just been loving this job so much. I started in December, and every day I come here, I'm just excited to be here. Before this, I was a middle school teacher for about six years, and while I was teaching, I was also a library assistant. And it... I loved my work, and it really inspired me to go back to school to become a librarian, whether it was a school librarian or a public librarian.

I wanted to see where the road was gonna take me, and the road led me to Hamden, and I'm so happy it did. I have been working with the teens, and in the teen center it's been amazing because I'm able to be a resource for them, which was my favorite part about being a teacher, was just being able to be there for them.

And I could hear about the books that they like and just be there for them to talk with and be another person that they can come to if they need anything. And it has been absolutely wonderful. 

Eliza Moyer: Oh, we're so excited you're here. Thank you. You've done such an amazing job, so yay. So first we're gonna talk about what counts as summer reading.

Let's get into the nitty-gritty of what counts. So is it books only? 

Kacie Meixell: Absolutely not. Of course, reading a book counts. Reading a graphic novel counts. Reading manga counts. Reading an e-book on your Kindle or tablet counts. 

Eliza Moyer: What about listening to a book? Does that count? 

Kacie Meixell: Of course. Audiobooks 100% count. 

Eliza Moyer: What if I read a magazine?

Kacie Meixell: Magazines count. 

Eliza Moyer: Mm. 

Kacie Meixell: Newspapers count. Reading fan fiction counts. Reading- Reading the back of a cereal box counts.

Eliza Moyer: Nice 

Kacie Meixell: Literally, if you're reading it, it counts as reading 

Eliza Moyer: Okay.

Kacie Meixell: Or any format, any subject.

Eliza Moyer: Does it need to be... do I have to read five minutes a day? Do I have to read an hour a day? Do I have to read- how- what are- what is the construct?

What do I have to read? 

Kacie Meixell: We're only tracking the days that people read. So whatever you think counts as reading within a day. Maybe in your family that's reading one picture book at bedtime. Maybe in your family it's an hour of reading. We don't really care as long as you're reading, checking off the days that you read something.

Eliza Moyer: And what am I checking off? Where do I get what I check off? How do I track my summer reading, you guys? 

Kacie Meixell: So summer reading trackers will be available at all Hamden Library branches starting on June 22nd. They contain a game board, which is for reading specifically, for each age group. So kids, teens, and adults, they all work the same way.

It's all by days read. Each time you get to a picture on the game board, you can come in and get a prize. The other thing it contains is a bingo board because summer reading is more than just reading. So the bingo board contains tons of fun challenges and things to get you out and moving and into the community or experiencing different things around town.

Like- 

Eliza Moyer: For example, if you're listening to us right now, you've just crossed off a box on your adult- 

Kacie Meixell: Woo-hoo 

Eliza Moyer: ... extra adventures, because listen to an episode of the Hamden Library Podcast is one of them. So look at you. Look at y- you're already ahead of the game. Look at that. Well done. 

Kacie Meixell: So the extra adventures are a bingo board. So every five in a row, up to three times, three bingos, you get an extra raffle ticket. 

Eliza Moyer: Awesome. And how else can we track? Did you talk about on- 

Kacie Meixell: No, you sh- you talk about it. 

Marcy Goldman: Do you want me to talk about ReadSquared? 

Eliza Moyer: Oh, yeah. Yeah. Go ahead. 

Danielle Sekas: You talk about ReadSquared. 

Marcy Goldman: So if you'd like to join in the summer reading program, but you can't make it into the library at all, that's no problem.

You can go to our website and find the link for ReadSquared, sign up for an account there, and track your reading right in ReadSquared the same way you would do on the paper tracker. You'll have a bingo board, and you'll have a game board. And when you reach the time to come in and get a prize, you will get a notification right there on the screen that says you're eligible to come to the library for a prize.

Eliza Moyer: Nice. Very cool. So you can pick up your tracker at any of our branches, Whitneyville, Brundage, or Miller. You can go online to get your tracker as well. So when does summer reading run through? When does it end? 

Marcy Goldman: So summer reading will end on August 17th, and on August 17th, we will be having another really fun event.

We will have bingo and ice cream, again, for all ages, and that will be at 6:00, also in Thornton Wilder Hall And we'll just be hanging out and playing bingo and enjoying some, ice cream Yeah. 

Eliza Moyer: Who doesn't like ice cream? 

Marcy Goldman: Right? 

Eliza Moyer: Like, can't go wrong with ice cream in the middle of summer, so. 

Kacie Meixell: And we usually get some friends from the, our Friends of the Hamden Library come in and help out with that event.

So it's really nice for them to get to meet some of the folks that come to the great programming that they supply the funding and support for. 

Eliza Moyer: You too can be a Friend of the Hamden Public Library. For only $10 a year, you can also come and volunteer and get to do these amazing things. Just gonna throw that in there.

Kacie Meixell: You also don't have to volunteer. You can just pay $10 and support our programming. 

Eliza Moyer: Yes, that's- 

Kacie Meixell: Either way. 

Eliza Moyer: That works. All right, so we talked a little bit about prizes. So when did we say that they could come get a prize? After they do what? 

Kacie Meixell: Once they reach a picture on their game board. So the game boards are numbered, and it's every seven days that you read, you get a prize.

Marcy Goldman: Right. So beginning on June 22nd, you can start marking off the days that you spend reading.

Eliza Moyer: So then we shouldn't see anybody in here to get a prize until what? 22nd, 23rd, 24th, 25th, 26th, 27th, 20- nobody should be here until the 28th trying to get a prize. That's all I'm saying. I counted it out. We know if you're cheating.

Just kidding. Just read. That's all we want you to do really. What else?

So prizes, we're not gonna tell you specific prizes, 'cause we want you to come in and be surprised and wowed and excited, and spin the wheel or roll the dice or whatever we're gonna have you do. You have to find out. You have to come in.

We also wanna highlight some of our awesome summer events that we have going on for kids, families, teens, adults. Let's start with Danielle, our teen librarian, and if you wanna tell us a little bit about what you have lined up for the teens this summer, 'cause you have a lot of great programming- 

Danielle Sekas: Yeah, absolutely.

Okay. So for this summer, each week is going to be a different type of event, and it's going to repeat for each of the months. So for example, on the first Monday of the month, it's always going to be a Monday movie, where teens are able to come in. We just watched Bad Guys, which is... I absolutely recommend.

It was such a fun movie. And even the teens, they absolutely love it, and they voted for these movies. So teen voice was really heard, and they picked and then they voted. For July, we're gonna be watching Guardians of the Galaxy, and for August, we'll be watching The Maze Runner. Then in the second week of the month, on the second Tuesday, we'll be having cooking classes.

And we run those once a month. The teens then come in, and we do all these different types of no- or low-bake-and-cook recipes. Next week we're gonna be doing s'mores cheesecake cups. We'll be doing some edible cookie dough in July, and then veggie spring rolls in August. 

Eliza Moyer: I'm just drooling. It's fine. 

Danielle Sekas: It's been very fun- It's fine

to be able to put all these together, because then I'm also like, "Oh, I get to try all these foods." Yes. It's great. And the library just then smells like amazing things, which the cooking programs are my absolute favorite to be able to run. 

Eliza Moyer: I think they're ours too, 'cause we sometimes get leftovers. Just saying.

We had some leftover salsa, and it was amazing. So- Sorry, go ahead ...

Danielle Sekas: and the library did smell like salsa, like cilantro, for about a week. 

Eliza Moyer: It was delicious. 

Danielle Sekas: For the third or fourth Wednesday of the month, it depends on where it falls, we're gonna be having a games and challenges day. So that'll be the last day of school.

There'll be an Oreo challenge. You gotta come out and see that. In July, we'll be doing a Dungeons and Dragons and Magic The Gathering meetup. And then in August, we'll be doing a Mario Kart tournament before everyone heads back to school. And then last, to go along with Plant a Seed, Read, our summer reading theme. The fourth- 

Eliza Moyer: Thank you for bringing that up, Danielle.

By the way- ... our theme of summer reading- 

Danielle Sekas: Oh, God ... 

Eliza Moyer: is Plant a Seed, Read. Not sure how we got this far into the podcast without mentioning that, but thank you, Danielle. 

Marcy Goldman: Well, there it is. 

Danielle Sekas: No. 

Marcy Goldman: There it is.

Eliza Moyer: Surprise. 

Danielle Sekas: I was like, "Did I just break a national security secret or something?" 

Kacie Meixell: No, you were just smart. 

Eliza Moyer: You said it.

Danielle Sekas: Just for all the listeners, the look of absolute wide-eye horror around the room. I don't know if I can ever do a podcast again. 

Kacie Meixell: Stop. It was good. That was good. 

Danielle Sekas: Okay. Yeah, so Plant a Seed Read, that is our theme for this year. And so to go along with that, on the last Thursday of the month we're gonna be doing different nature crafts.

It's like making seed paper, making pinch pots, and then also plant and painting a little garden. So lots of activities to be able to do, and you can ... Every time, here's a fun little thing for the teens. So every time you do come to a program, you do get an extra raffle ticket for the big grand prizes.

So make sure you show up. And every time you just stop by the library and come say hi to me, you also get another raffle prize. So I love to see you over the summer. Please make sure you come by and just still say hi. 

Eliza Moyer: Yay. 

Danielle Sekas: 'Cause I do miss you guys when you're out of school. 

Eliza Moyer: Aw. I love that Kacie, do you wanna tell us a little bit about what's gonna be happening at Miller?

Kacie Meixell: Sure, I would love to. Specifically for children at Miller, we have a couple fun craft and art activities. We have a paint and plant. Again, plant a seed read. That will be on July 9th. That's for all ages. We have an everlasting succulent craft on July 15th. That's for ages seven and up. We also have...

We're bringing back, any of my friends who came to my Mill- for very first Miller Art Lab, we're bringing back UV resin, which is such a fun material to work with. We're gonna do UV resin bookmarks in August, and that's for ages 10 and up 'cause it's kind of a tricky material. We also have a very special author event this summer.

The creators of Punk Taco, which is a super fun graphic novel series, are coming to do Draw Your Own Punk Taco. That's for kids ages eight and up on July 27th. And then for all my preschool friends, or really anyone who loves listening to me sing and dance around the room and read stories- 

Eliza Moyer: I'll be there.

Kacie Meixell: Yeah. Miss Eliza and I are doing some all ages story times. There will be one in the afternoon, so like a post-camp or post-nap situation, and that will be on July 13th. And then on July 23rd and August 13th, they'll be at our regular 10:45 preschool story time. So any family, any kids of any age are welcome.

We will run it the same way I run my preschool story time with songs and stories and a craft. And the projects this summer are extra special. 

Eliza Moyer: Should we give them a hint of what to expect, or you wanna keep it like a s- 

Kacie Meixell: It's on the cal. 

Eliza Moyer: Ooh, you gotta look. 

Kacie Meixell: The clues are available to you, if you want to know what we'll be doing this summer.

Marcy Goldman: It's going to be super. 

Eliza Moyer: Mm. Mm. And magical. Yes. 

Danielle Sekas: And out of this world. 

Eliza Moyer: Yes. Ba-dum-bum. 

Kacie Meixell: Let's see. Other things for kids happening at other branches. So at Brundage on July 9th, there's a teddy bear picnic, which will be super cute. There's also a tween crafternoon making beaded plants on July 13th. That's for kids ages nine to 11.

The Connecticut Wildlife Encounter will be happening on July 22nd. That's with our friends from the Roaring Brook Nature Center. That is a night program on July 22nd at 5:00 PM, for all ages. So anyone can go and enjoy the wildlife at the Brundage branch. And at Whitneyville there will be a STEAM Fairy Tale Problem Solving series as well as Stay and Play story times.

So check out our LibCal, our calendar, for more information on those. Do you wanna mention what's going on for adults? 'Cause we didn't forget about you grown-ups. 

Eliza Moyer: No, we didn't. 

Kacie Meixell: There's things happening for you, too. 

Eliza Moyer: We didn't. So adults, we're gonna be doing... Each of the branches have some different grab-and-gos going over the summer.

I know here at Miller we're gonna be doing, like, a grab-and-go bracelet in July. We have our various book clubs will be running throughout the summer. So the Pros and Cons book club at Whitneyville is running. Their next meetup is June 25th, and then after that, July 23rd and August 27th.

We have the Shelf Care book club. We're gonna be taking a hiatus in July, but we'll be back in August. And we also have our regular Miller book club, too, that's gonna be running throughout the month. So this is a great time to join a book club, meet some other people. And here at the library, we still have some other great things that you could do over the summer, whether you wanna come grab some museum passes, whether you wanna access our Library of Things.

We have large outdoor games, like lawn games. We have a pizza oven. What else fun things do we have outside? 

Marcy Goldman: We have a giant Connect 4. We have giant Jenga. 

Eliza Moyer: Tumbling blocks. 

Marcy Goldman: And we have- 

Eliza Moyer: Yeah. 

Kacie Meixell: There, there's a pickleball set, I think. 

Danielle Sekas: Oh, is there? 

Kacie Meixell: Yes. The pickleball has been-

Marcy Goldman: I think it's been replaced. Yeah.

Danielle Sekas: Very cool.

Kacie Meixell: Yeah, there was something. I think it had to be repaired, I think, TJ said. 

Eliza Moyer: Yeah, there's a hiking kit. There's all sorts of great outdoor fun activity, and indoor things, too, for adults. 

Kacie Meixell: Yes, there's tons of cool board games. So if we end up having a horrible, rainy summer, there will be things to do inside, too.

Eliza Moyer: Yes. 

Kacie Meixell: Hopefully we don't, but. 

Eliza Moyer: Yeah. Movies are coming back to Miller over the summer, and Whitneyville actually has Spielberg Summer, which sounds amazing. Their movie series starts July 2nd. I know they're gonna be showing Jaws. I don't know if I remember what else they're showing, but definitely check out their summer series, too.

What else? Anything else you guys can think of that I'm forgetting right now? 

Marcy Goldman: We can always- 

Eliza Moyer: Did I mention ... 

Marcy Goldman: download audiobooks and e-books from Hoopla or Libby. z

If you can't make it into the library and you're looking for something to read.

Kacie Meixell: Yeah. Or you're traveling and you finish your book, that's a disaster.

But- ... we got you. We got you. 

Danielle Sekas: Or if you're a movie buff, you can download things from Hoopla and Kanopy for any of those rainy days that you might need a fun movie to watch. 

Marcy Goldman: Absolutely. 

Eliza Moyer: And I actually recommend, we haven't talked about it a whole lot, but Palace Project is another app that we have access to that the state of Connecticut, like the different libraries, everybody puts their information into and you, with your credit card...

Your credit card. Your library card. 

Kacie Meixell: This is free. 

Eliza Moyer: With your library card, it is free. You can access it. And I went on the other day to look for a particular audiobook, and it was there, and I was so surprised, so it's- 

Danielle Sekas: And it's a no-wait thing too. 

Eliza Moyer: Oh, yeah. 

Danielle Sekas: A lot of them. I think there's some that might have a wait, but there are some that are just ready for you right away, and there's not limits that you can only check out a certain amount.

So thank you to our friends at the State Library who do that- 

Eliza Moyer: Yes ... 

Danielle Sekas: because we love it. 

Kacie Meixell: Yeah. So I wanna just mention for some of my friends out there who are like, "I want to read this summer, but I have no idea what to read." 

Danielle Sekas: Mm. 

Kacie Meixell: For our kiddos, I created a bunch of lists in StoryGraph. So my Page-Turners Book Club just did an incredible book tasting event where they sampled lots of different titles and all, of all different vibes.

We go by vibe here. 

Eliza Moyer: Ooh. 

Kacie Meixell: And that list is available to everyone on StoryGraph. So if you're like, "I'm looking for a book that's kind of mysterious," there's a whole category of books waiting for you. If you're looking for extra challenges this summer, this year's Nutmeg books were just announced, and Danielle had this fabulous idea to make it into a year-long reading challenge for kids and teens.

So there are trackers available at each branch, and basically every time you read and rate one of the Nutmeg books, you come in and get a prize. And then if you read all of them in a certain category, so If you're a third or fourth or fifth grader and you read all the intermediate books, you get a very special royal treatment. You become Nutmeg royalty. 

And if you're a teen you get to literally leave your mark in the teen center 

Danielle Sekas: Yes. You are going to be part of our Nutmeg Royal Court. Sign the banner, get your crown. Make sure you take a picture with our fancy royal scepter in frame, which I will be honest, I have been holding a bit more than- Actually recent- It's just so nice.

Once you get a scepter? Ugh, I am the queen that I always wanted to be.

Eliza Moyer: Everyone should have a scepter. 

Danielle Sekas: Oh, it's amazing. When it got delivered to me too, it was like, "Yes." "I have been called to the royal court. I'm ready."

Eliza Moyer: Love it. 

Danielle Sekas: So please, come by and try it, and there's a lot of different books that are out there, and if we don't have the book in person, you can put a hold on it.

You could check out the audiobook, check out the e-book, and just give it a try. Doing the Nutmeg Challenge really opens up your reading to a lot of different styles and genres that you might not have tried before, and that's how you're gonna find your next niche. And honestly, I'm so happy that those kind of things exist, 'cause if it wasn't for people like the people at this lovely table here who are telling me about books that I have to read-

then I wouldn't find these amazing ones. So challenge yourself. 

Eliza Moyer: Yes. 

Kacie Meixell: Yeah. I will say, I will add on to that, that some of my patron or kiddos, and I also have done book tastings in classrooms before. The kids, if they keep an open mind, are often surprised by the books that they're most excited to read.

I was in a fifth grade classroom recently, and I was surprised that many of the kids were gravitating toward a category called "Emotional Damage". 

Which is full of fantastic books that are powerful and wonderful, but I, as a librarian, I often hesitate to hand to kids because they can be a little intense.

But these fifth graders were like, "No, these sound so good." So now I know I can hand kids a really intense book, and they might really love it. 

Eliza Moyer: Mm-hmm. 

Kacie Meixell: For adults, though, we have our ongoing Overdue Reading Challenge. If you're not already participating or even if you don't wanna participate in the challenge, the Overdue display when you first walk into Miller-- or there's also displays at both branches-- is always full of excellent recommendations and usually un-put-down-able books that, you know, like a lot of us are reading and discussing at the library. But if none of those feel like it's right for you, please talk to a librarian. We're literally obsessed with finding you exactly the right thing to read, whether that's a magazine article or a manual for your lawnmower that broke or- or a really good book. 

Eliza Moyer: Yeah. 

Danielle Sekas: It's truly my favorite part of my job. Come in, tell me about the books that you're reading, tell me about the authors you like, and let's try and find you something, a new world. 

Eliza Moyer: I just love that. I have a question about that. So if I'm doing the Overdue Reading Challenge right now, can I use the days that I'm reading as part of the Summer Reading Challenge?

Kacie Meixell: Of course. 

Eliza Moyer: Cool. I like that. 

Kacie Meixell: All reading counts- 

Eliza Moyer: Nice ... 

Kacie Meixell: for challenges or not challenges- 

Eliza Moyer: Awesome. 

Kacie Meixell: ... Of any format. 

Marcy Goldman: Absolutely. So with one of the Nutmeg Challenge books, you can mark that on your game board as time spent reading, and get a prize for reading that book.

Eliza Moyer: Yeah. I love it. Double-dipping. Sweet.

Marcy Goldman: And it's a great way, like Danielle said, to find books that you might normally not have read. And the Page Turner's book displays are always up and have wonderful selections with a wide variety of reading levels and interests. Definitely. And you can mark off on your bingo board that you've asked a librarian for a recommendation. 

Eliza Moyer: We love that. We like that. 

Kacie Meixell: I think that's on every age group, actually.

Marcy Goldman: It could be. 

Eliza Moyer: Nice. So why are we talking about summer reading, period? Why is it important? Why are we such advocates for reading over summer? 

Marcy Goldman: Well, as a children's librarian, we know that if kids stop reading over the summer, they can not only fall behind in their grade-level reading when they return to school in the fall, but they can also lose the interest, and the brain gets a little lazy.

And it's good to keep reading, finding new things that you wanna read. It builds strong reading habits. It develops a love for reading for pleasure. You can read whatever you want over the summer. No one is telling you have to read this book to get a prize, or you should read regardless of the prizes.

And hopefully that this develops that love of reading, and maybe you're out there and reading isn't your thing. You think it isn't your thing, but you just haven't found that right book yet. So come on in and walk around with us. Browse the shelves with us. Let's find you some great books for the summer.

Eliza Moyer: Definitely. 

Kacie Meixell: Yeah. Can I tell you guys a story about my favorite class from college? 

Eliza Moyer: Absolutely. 

Kacie Meixell: Okay. So it was called "Wines of the World", and it was a highly sought after class because it was on Wednesday afternoons, and you just had to taste a bunch of wines. So you couldn't get into it until you were a senior.

And our very first day of class, we sat down, and the professor said to us "How do you know if a wine is a good wine?" And we were like, "I don't know, lady. Aren't you supposed to tell us that?" And she said, "A good wine is a wine you enjoy drinking." And I think the same thing applies to books. A good book is a book you enjoy reading.

Danielle Sekas: I love that. 

Eliza Moyer: Me too. Yes. In any format. Whatever format fits for you, right? You like listening? Listen to a book. 

Danielle Sekas: And if you're an adult and you still wanna check out one of our Teen and Young Adult collection, please come and talk to me about them, and we are going to get you that perfect book.

Kacie Meixell: Same with The Nutmegs. Can't guarantee you'll earn a prize, but you are welcome to read The Nutmeg selections. 

Danielle Sekas: Absolutely. 

Eliza Moyer: So I did forget to mention before, as we said, Plant a Seed Read is the theme of summer reading. And another thing that you get to do if you're one of the kids coming in, when you come in to get your prize, we're gonna actually give you a cute little hand print that you get to put your name on, and you get to add it to our tree, our reading tree.

So we get to watch our tree grow and blossom over the summertime as everybody's reading their books. And I just wanted to throw something out that I'm doing with my family this summer too. We're actually gonna do a family book club to try and get us all, reading together, so maybe some of the classics.

I do have a teenager who's a little older, but we decided we're gonna try and read a different classic every month together, and then sit down and have dinner and kind of talk about it. So think outside of the box too for how to engage your family, engage your teenagers, engage your kids, how to get them reading.

Just FYI too, you do not need a library card to participate in any of these challenges, the Nutmeg, the summer reading, the, 

Kacie Meixell: Overdue ... 

Eliza Moyer: Overdue, any of those things. But we can help you get one if you want. Just come on into the library and we'll get you signed up. 

Kacie Meixell: Yeah. You don't need one to attend our programs, to use our computers, to use our...

The only reason you would need a library card is if you were checking out an item 

Eliza Moyer: Yeah. 

Kacie Meixell: I also want to say, piggybacking off what Eliza said, if your family is for some reason having a '90s summer- as is going viral all over the internet, we've got Bailey School Kids. We've got Goosebumps.

We've got all kinds of old '90s movies, The Sandlot perhaps- 

Eliza Moyer: Mm-hmm.

Marcy Goldman: That you're welcome to enjoy with your family, or, just on your own if you're like, "Oh, heck yeah. I wanna read Goosebumps this summer" We've got them. Come get them. '

Danielle Sekas: Cause Halloween will never be here too early. You can always start reading those scary books. 

Kacie Meixell: Yes. Agreed. 

Eliza Moyer: All right. Is there anything else anybody else wants to add to our summer reading roundtable before we close it up?

Marcy Goldman: Just come visit us this summer. We're gonna have a lot of fun, and we love to see you. Yeah. 

Kacie Meixell: Yeah. And tell us what you're reading. Tell us what you like. Tell us if you tried a brand-new-to-you format, if you've never read manga before and you're like, "I picked one of those up, and it was great."

Danielle Sekas: And if you end up trying a book and you're a couple chapters in, you're like, "This isn't for me," drop the book. That's fine. Pick a different one, and that's okay. We're gonna find you the book that's meant for you. 

Kacie Meixell: Oh, yeah. Yeah. That will still count as your day of reading even if you don't finish the book.

Eliza Moyer: Yes. All right, guys. Well, thank you for joining us and we look forward to seeing you this summer during summer reading 

Hannah Tyce: Hi, this is Hannah. Around November of last year, the State Library sent out an offer to participate in a pilot program called the Connecticut Summer Story Project. This would be a short story with illustrations created by workers at participating libraries and the communities they serve or relevant organizations.

The theme would mirror the theme for the summer reading, Plant a Seed, Read. We applied, and our proposal was accepted. The name is Waking Up at Sleeping Giant Park. It follows five sets of characters over five chapters. Two animals weigh in on living in the park, and three groups of humans chronicle their experiences using the park.

The story also divulges into ways human visitors should or should not use the park. We consider ways in which we can learn new things beyond just reading. What are some ways we can engage with nature to learn about our environment? My colleague Brittany completed the illustrations. They were able to use organic material gathered from the park, putting nature visually right into the story.

We were supplied with some of the names of the native and invasive species by board members of the Sleeping Giant Park Association. I was inspired to set the story in this park because the town motto of Hamden is Land of the Sleeping Giant. The Park Association also hosts a weekly volunteer cleanup event from April through November, which was incorporated into the story.

Cleanup is an important part of living with other creatures in the natural world and using their space for our recreation. This story shows how we can apply what we read in books and learn from life experiences to make change in the real world. The State Library will be releasing editions each Monday during the summer reading period, starting on June 22nd.

Hamden's story will be one of the first to be released. We hope you enjoy reading it. 

Hannah Tyce: So why did the trail maintenance program begin? 

Mike Miller: Why did it begin? So in the '50s, Dick Elliott and Ned Grist, and a few other people decided that Sleeping Giant needed a defined and well-laid-out trail system.

So, they came together over probably a eight-year period with the Boy Scouts and others- Yeah ... and came up with the trail system we have now, more or less. 

Hannah Tyce: How many miles of trails is it? 

Mike Miller: There's about 32 miles of hiking trails, plus some other equestrian trails and cross-country ski trails, so quite a bit.

Hannah Tyce: And how many would you say you guys maintain? Do you do all 32 miles?

Mike Miller: In theory, we maintain all of the hiking trails except for the Tower Path, which is 1.6 miles long. But as you can see, we actually have people out maintaining it this morning. So that... We kind of share that with the state. And we also, we don't maintain the picnic area- Yeah ... per se, but there's- Okay ... really no trails here. 

Hannah Tyce: Right. 

Mike Miller: So yeah, you can more or less say all 32 miles of trails. 

Hannah Tyce: Okay. What are some examples of jobs that people complete? 

Mike Miller: I don't know. Examples of jobs. So w- basically whatever it takes to maintain the trail, right?

Yeah. We, we do a lot of re-blazing of the trail, w- re-marking the paint, the markers, right? We we clear brush. We open up the trails where they get grown in. We remove blowdowns. We have a team this morning heading over to the far side of the mountain, and they're gonna take out a large blowdown that was reported.

The water bars. yeah. Thank you. Thank you. Good. We put in water bars to prevent or control erosion on the trails. Okay. We... in certain cases we'll put in stone steps to help give a more permanent and more environmentally friendly treadway on the trail. Okay. We, we'll put in bridges, where we think it helps the hiking experience- 

Hannah Tyce: Mm-hmm.

Mike Miller: and makes it a little safer. 

Hannah Tyce: Would someone need experience differentiating between native and invasive plants before? 

Mike Miller: No. No, no experience necessary. And, you're right, we do, some invasives work also. There's a multitude of things, picking up litter, you know. 

Hannah Tyce: Yeah. 

Mike Miller: the whole gambit.

But nobody needs any experience. All they need is a, kind of a sense of adventure, I guess. Maybe a sense of humor to deal with us. I don't know. 

Hannah Tyce: If I see a problem, who should I tell? 

Mike Miller: If you see a problem, it depends on the nature of the problem, right? An eminent safety issue or something like that, notify the park ranger.

Hannah Tyce: Okay. 

Mike Miller: And, otherwise you can go on our SGPA website and just report it that way. 

Hannah Tyce: And how old do you have to be to volunteer? 

Mike Miller: I don't know. When... How old were you guys when you started? 

SPGA volunteer: Uh, 15, I think. 

Mike Miller: Yeah. When we started. I don't know, we really don't have a minimum age. We've had... You know, it depends.

Children with their parents will show up at 10 years old, and that's fine if you're with your parents.

Hannah Tyce: Great. Yeah. 

Mike Miller: You know, on your own, like when these guys get ejected from the car- ... you know, when they get here, I don't know, 15, 16. 

Hannah Tyce: Okay. Yeah. 

Mike Miller: But there is no formal policy. 

Hannah Tyce: And what's the process to get started?

Do you just show up, or do you have to let someone know? 

Mike Miller: Just show up. 

Hannah Tyce: Just show up. All right. 

Mike Miller: So it's, a very informal process. You show up, and as you can see, like this morning, I kind of gauge the resources. Okay, how many people do we have- versus what we need to do versus the weather and 20 other, things.

And then, we figure out what we're gonna do. But yeah, it just, people show up and there's no commitment. Typically it's for about two, two and a half hours. And, if people need to change that up, we can accommodate that. If they've got something they need to be back for, we'll make sure they are.

Otherwise, people don't have to come every week. Nobody does. You know, Who can, right?

And it's a very open-ended, fun kind of process. We try to make it fun- 

Hannah Tyce: Good. Yeah ... 

Mike Miller: and rewarding. Yeah. And these guys, I don't know, you think it's fun or do you think it's a real pain in the neck? I don't know.

Don't answer. Anyway, we try to... Yeah, we, you know, every- So everybody who comes out to volunteer doesn't have to be here, right? There's a million other things they could be, fun things they could be doing. But, we get... Week after week, we get a really awesome crowd of people that come out, and, and it kind of has its own energy and life in and of itself.

Hannah Tyce: Mm-hmm. 

Mike Miller: So, so I think we have, more or less, we have a good time actually, but we get a lot done. 

Hannah Tyce: And you meet every week? 

Mike Miller: We meet every Sunday. 

Hannah Tyce: Every Sunday. 

Mike Miller: Every Sunday starting early April- 

Hannah Tyce: Mm-hmm ... 

Mike Miller: through, the end of November. 

Hannah Tyce: Okay. Yeah. 

Mike Miller: Yeah. 

Hannah Tyce: And what is your favorite trail? 

Mike Miller: Oh, I don't have one.

Hannah Tyce: You don't have one. 

Mike Miller: It depends. 

It depends on the time of year and the time of day and, my own mood. I, you know, I think it's when you ask me. But I like the east-west trails- more so because they expose you to a wide range of different environments and biomes, and you see different things.

Hannah Tyce: Yeah. 

Mike Miller: You know, from rock ridges to swamps and vernal pools. So it's a broad range of habitats. That's why I like those, the east-west trails. 

Hannah Tyce: Yeah. All right. Well, thank you very much. 

Mike Miller: Oh, that was simple. Oh, here's the boss. 

SPGA volunteer: I like how you came over here and got everybody going. 

Mike Miller: Yeah.

SPGA volunteer: That was what, an hour ago? 

Mike Miller: Yeah. Well, yeah, we're still, we're, working right now. Right? 

Michael Pierry: That's all the time we have on this episode. Thanks for listening. See you next time