Libraries Today

Monthly Book Boxes

by Tara Montoney

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Youth Services Coordinator Seneca Falls Library

Tara Montoney is the Youth Services

Coordinator at the Seneca

Falls Library in Seneca Falls, NY. She has been enjoying this position for nearly 10 years and absolutely loves reading with children, creating all kinds of engaging programs for kids, and doing whatever she can to develop a lifelong love of books in children! Here at the Seneca Falls Library, we are extremely proud of the variety of programs we offer to our patrons! Recently, we have had to be more creative and resourceful in order to continue providing meaningful programming to families.

One of the new programs we’re offering is our Monthly Book Boxes. We have two types of boxes: a Teen Book Box for kids in middle & high school and a Lazy Day Box for kids in grades 3-5.

Each box contains 1-2 library books, pre-packaged snacks, kid-friendly recipes, and a variety of activities (word searches, rebus puzzles, even 3D-printed items). Kids must register each month for a box, and we try to prioritize kids who have not yet received one. When kids are finished, they simply return the empty box, the library books, and a short survey that tells us more about what kinds of books they’d like to read. We also created bookmarks that we put in each book that have a QR code so the kids/parents can easily scan in a book review!

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