Last week, the Friends of the Pryor Creek Library held their first fundraiser – a murder mystery party where each ticket holder was assigned a character and attended a party in honor of the fictional bed & breakfast, “The Harrison House.” Of course murder ensued and then the guests were tasked with solving the crime. (If you missed this year, they promise to do it again next year, so stay tuned!)
The Friends group has two primary goals: to support the Pryor Public Library and to support increased literacy in Pryor and Mayes County. The Friends group’s primary literacy initiative is enrolling Mayes County children under 5 years old to the Dolly Parton Imagination Library. This program sends age appropriate books through the mail to enrolled children at no cost. It’s a fantastic way to get good books into the homes of children.
Each book is chosen with the child’s age in mind and the inside cover offers suggestions for ways parents and caregivers can interact with their child while reading the book. These suggestions help adults teach young children the vital early literacy skills they need so that they are ready to learn to read when they start school.
When my children were younger, we enrolled them in the Imagination Library. I was pleasantly surprised by the selection of books. I was impressed to see familiar characters (like Llama Llama) and books that were recently published. It was a great program for our family and it seems to be just as beneficial to Mayes County families. In fact, as of this writing, we have 150 readers!
While the program is free for the families enrolled, it does cost the Friends group $25 per child per year (which is an amazing bargain for 12 books). All of the money raised at the murder mystery party will support the Imagination Library program.