Children's Storytimes have returned to the Library Wednesday evenings and Thursday afternoons. Kelly Thakur, the Library's new Children's Coordinator, reads two or three books each session as well as presenting a song or a rhyme about the books. The Storytimes are based on a different theme each week. Past themes have included "Fractured Fairytales," stories and food from India, and life in Colonial America.

Pre-school Storytime is presented each Thursday afternoon at 1 p.m. Storytime geared for elementary school children begins at 6:30 p.m. each Wednesday evening; pre-schoolers are also welcome at this Storytime. Children can visit the Library's Civil War Museum, for no charge, following the Wednesday evening session.

The Library's ever-popular Summer Reading Program will run from the last week in June through the first week in August. Pittsburgh Pirates tickets, coupons for local restaurants, and tickets to the Pittsburgh Zoo and area museums are some of the prizes students can win, for full participation in

"Readers 2000 = Masters of the Millennium."

Three age divisions comprise the Program. The "Read to Me Club" is for pre-schoolers; parents read to their children and report the books read on a simple form. In the "I Can Read " Program, young readers, in grades 1through 5, read ten juvenile books and provide a short oral book report to a member of the Library staff. In the "Teen Read" Program, students, in grades 6 and higher, read 5 young adult or adult books; they answer a library staff member's questions about each book. All young people who complete the Summer Reading Program will win a prize!

The Summer Reading Program is free-of-charge to all students living in Allegheny County. Although registration will be accepted anytime during the Summer Reading Program, young people should register as soon as possible, after school ends, to take advantage of all of the Program's activities.