LEWISTON – The Lewiston Public Library will begin registering children for its summer reading game on Monday, June 18. Children sign a contract to read for two hours or more each week and, if they do the reading, they win a prize. All children from birth through age 12 can play. Prereaders play by being read to.

David Sparks will present “Sparks Ark,” an animal rehabilitation program, at 10 a.m. Thursday, June 21.

He will bring live animals and speak about his work nursing injured animals back to health, with an eye to reintroducing them into the wild. Sparks also takes in exotic pets that people can no longer take care of and tries to find them new homes. Tickets are free but people must visit to the Library to get them. Martha Dana and her giant puppets will return to the library at 10 a.m. Monday, July 16, and Mad Science, a science enrichment program, will perform at 10 a.m. Thursday, July 26. Tickets will be available two weeks before each performance.

The library’s summer reading programs are designed to encourage steady reading throughout the summer. Educators have found that children who do not read during the summer sometimes lose as much as six months’ progress in reading skills. Just a small amount of reading each day can ensure that they enter the next grade with a leg up.

The Children’s Room is looking for volunteers, ages 13 to 17, to help with the summer activities. No experience is necessary.

For more information about library programs, call the Children’s Room of the Lewiston Public Library at 784-0135, ext. 4, or go to lplonline.org.