LEWISTON — The Lewiston Public Library has announced the winners of its first teen summer reading program, “Make Waves @ Lewiston Public Library.” The grand prize, an iPod Touch, was awarded to Jess Soucy, 13, for logging the most time spent reading during the six-week program: 217 hours.

Maurice Jennison, 13, and Mohamed Mohamed, 14, were winners of the raffle drawings: a Ripstik Caster Board for Jennison and an iPod Nano for Mohamed. Smaller prizes also went to Justin LeClair, Elizabeth Clement, Timothy Dube and Tyler Gutshall for reading the most minutes each week.

Participants in the program logged time spent reading each day and were awarded points for every 30 minutes of reading time. Bonus points were awarded for time spent reading inside the library, finishing books, writing book reviews and attending teen programs at the library. Readers reported their totals weekly, winning either pizza certificates or extra raffle tickets towards the iPod Nano and Ripstik prizes for every five points earned.

“Summer reading programs are fun,” said AmeriCorps*VISTA volunteer Molly Ladd. “They promote education through reading and supplemental programming, yet have a completely different feel from ‘school’ learning. Reading programs are also great opportunities for youth to try out a new reading format, like a graphic novel or an audiobook. For me, the best part is seeing the teens each week and listening to them talk excitedly about the latest book they are reading.”

The teen summer reading program is part of Lewiston Public Library’s recent effort to increase programming opportunities and services for teenagers and young adults. Ladd, who was hired by the library last year to build capacity in LPL’s teen services, ran the program with the assistance of the Reference Desk staff.

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