This summer's film season brings a pair of well-known literary characters to the silver screen — Harry Potter and Nancy Drew.
But rather than watching some actors on the big screen, why not spend more quality time getting to know the characters that inspired the films?
Here's a suggestion — get involved with the Pima County Public Library's 2007 summer reading programs — and pick up a few books featuring those characters and discover some new ones.
The "Get a Clue@your Library" and "007 . . . Licensed to Read" programs are aimed at children, teens and adults.
"Our short-term goal is to help people over the summer find good books to read," said Lisa Bunker, a children's librarian at the Columbus Library, 4350 E. 22nd St. "Our long-term goal is to promote lifelong literacy."
People are also reading…
The programs, which start Thursday and continue through July 21, are available at all Pima County library branches across the Tucson metro region.
To get younger readers to pick up books, the libraries are offering incentives to join the reading programs.
Readers in the children's and teen programs have to log between six and 30 hours of reading time to get a range of prizes, from school supplies and food coupons to FM radios and passes to the Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum.
Larger incentives include tickets to Breakers Water Park and a Tucson Sidewinders baseball game in July.
Returning for the summer is an adult reading club, back after several years, Bunker said.
"We wanted to include grown-ups and make it inter-generational to involve the whole family," she said.
Mysteries are the focus for the Adult Summer Reading Program, which is open to anyone 16 and older.
"Summer is a traditional time for adults to pick up books that are lighter than their normal reading," Bunker said. "But leisure reading is an important part of people's lives. It's important we celebrate it."
With the library's focus on the mystery theme, local sleuth lovers are excited.
"Mysteries are a good way to get kids and adults hooked on reading because they have strong narratives," said Christine Acevedo, a co-owner of Clues Unlimited, 123 S. Eastbourne Ave., a mystery bookstore at Broadway Village shopping center.
"Given the way things are in the world, mysteries are a great choice because they give a sense of justice," she said. "They have a way of affirming the values of our civilization. They provide us with that sense of justice, of order from disorder. And that's something we really need in the world."
The programs
Here's the lowdown on the reading programs. For more information, call your local library branch or 791-4010. Also go to www.library.pima.gov/.
• "Get a Clue@your Library" is for young children up to the fifth grade, and "007 . . . Licensed to Read" is open to teens 12 to 18 or grades six to 12. Both programs have incentives. Children must read at least six hours to start earning prizes, while teens must read at least 10 hours to start earning more incentives. Registration begins Thursday at any library branch. The programs end July 21.
• Adult Summer Reading Program is open to anyone 16 and older. The program will focus on mysteries and will have special events designed for the mystery lover, including upcoming sessions about clue gathering from forensic scientists and archaeologists and author sit-downs with Arizona mystery writers. Also planned is an Alfred Hitchcock film fest.
— Levi J. Long
