NORWAY — Children in the Oxford Hills area are being encouraged to read this summer through the use of a bookmobile and brochures listing public libraries, their locations, hours and contact information.

The bookmobile began its tour Tuesday morning as part of the Norway Memorial Library’s summer reading program for elementary school children. On Tuesdays and Thursdays, except the week of July 2, it will visit places, including beaches and preschool programs in Norway, Oxford and Hebron. For a schedule of stops call the library at 743-5309.

Each week there will be a different theme; this week it’s stars and constellations, Allison Rosenblatt, a volunteer for the summer reading program, said.

The bookmobile visited Club Rowe, a reading program for 5- and 6-year-olds at the Guy E. Rowe Elementary School annex Tuesday. Rosenblatt read them a book about Indian legends.

“Cool because I like wolves,” club participant Mason Laflamme said.

At some locations volunteers will do crafts with the children, Rosenblatt said.

Norway Memorial Library Director Beth Kane said a brochure titled “Dream Big and Read, Your Passport to a Summer Reading Road Trip in the Oxford Hills 2012” was distributed to students in prekindergarten through grade five in the Oxford Hills School District in early June.

The brochure lists the eight public libraries in the Oxford Hills: Bolsters Mills Village Library, Otisfield; Freeland Holmes Library, Oxford; Hamlin Memorial Library, Paris Hill; Harrison Village Library, Norway Memorial Library, Paris Public Library, Waterford Library and West Paris Public Library. It has a map of their locations, hours of operation, addresses, websites and phone numbers.

“In addition to offering opportunities for reading, the brochure provides suggestions to parents and kids for having fun, keeping busy, being creative, sharing activities, having conversations and enjoying family and community life,” Kane said in an email about the program.

“While being engaged with each other in daily life, parents are helping their children maintain reading, writing, and language skills over the summer. These activities help students maintain the academic achievements made in the previous school year and prepare them for success in the school year to come,” she said.

Oxford Hills School District Curriculum Director Kathy Elkins said the district does not have a required summer reading book list, except some high school students in advanced placement classes, but the goal every summer is to encourage students to read as a way to keep up their reading skills.

“We just want them to enjoy reading,” she said.

Kane said the brochure was created as a result of a series of advisory panel meetings at the Norway library. The meetings were preparation for applying for a Maine Reads Community Literacy Project Grant.

The brochure was produced using contributions from Maine Reads, Norway Memorial Library, and Oxford Hills/Buckfield Adult Education.

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