Summer reading program kicks off with family sleepover

On Saturday night, about 100 children and their families held their first campout of summer vacation at a unique location.

It wasn't the Oregon Coast, nor the Cascades. Instead they set up camp among the shelves of the

Corvallis-Benton County Public Library for the 16th annual Summer Reading Sleepover.

The event ran from 7 p.m. Saturday to 7 a.m. Sunday and included crafts, snacks, movies and a magician.

Families arrived early to stake claims with cots and sleeping bags. Some pulled together the library's comfy chairs and couches to make beds.

"We didn't get here until about 7:30 p.m., so we didn't get a corner spot. We're sleeping in the aisles," said Nanette Dupuy, of Corvallis who was there with her 81/2-year-old daughter Natalie and nephew Gordon Copeland, also 81/2, who was visiting from Falls Church, Va.

Copeland, who woke up on the East Coast at about 2 a.m. PDT, was still going strong at about 10 p.m. Saturday night. He sat on the floor in the Main Meeting Room, watching magician Jay Frasier with a large group of children decked out in pajamas and wearing slippers or bare feet.

"They just seem to be having a good time, and I'm just trying to stay awake," said Dupuy, who was watching from the back with other parents.

Frasier, a magician from Creswell, has been a professional trickster for about 20 years and had the audience in stitches for more than an hour.

"Do you know how magic works?," asked Fraiser on Saturday night before performing a trick with a coloring book that showed the audience blank outlines, then colored pages, then blank pages all-together.

The children answered by yelling out "Wingardium Leviosa," a spell from the popular Harry Potter series, "peanut butter and jelly," "Al Kazazz," "have a banana" and "Abracadabra," to which Frasier shook his head.

"The special magic words are 'Catch the Reading Bug,'" said Fraiser.

According to library staff, about 400 people have taken those "magic words" to heart already by signing up for the library's summer reading program.

Participants in the program get "book bucks" for each book they read, that can be used to purchase items at a store set up by library staff or be donated to the "Read to Feed" program, which benefits Benton County Food Share through matching donations.

This weekend's sleepover was the official start to the summer reading program, which is sponsored by the Friends of the Library.

"The great thing about the sleepover, is that it really gives kids a buy-in to the library," said Curtis Kiefer, manager of the library's youth services department.

The library also hosts an overnight event for teenagers each year. Sign-ups for this year's July 26 event will open July 1.

"With the teens we call it an all-nighter instead of a sleepover because they never go to sleep," said librarian Heidi Weisel.

Catch the Reading Bug

Upcoming reading events for children ages 5-12 years at the Corvallis-Benton County Public Library, 645 N.W. Monroe Ave.:

Angel Ocasio Comedy Show, 3:30 and 7 p.m. Thursday.

Third-grade book clubs, 11 a.m. to noon, Mondays, July 7-28.

Teddy Bear Picnic with guest Curious George, 10 a.m. June 26, Central Park.

Cwerks' "The Grasshopper and the Ants," 3:30 and 7 p.m., June 26.

The R.E.A.D. Dogs, 3:30 to 4:30 p.m. Tuesdays and Wednesdays, July 1-30.

Charlie Brown Comedy Juggling, 3:30 and 7 p.m., July 3.

Story time, 10 a.m. Tuesdays-Fridays and 7 p.m. Mondays, all summer.

Information: 766-6794 or see www.thebestlibrary.net.