The Steamboat Pilot & Today

Oak Creek — Young South Routt readers are snapping up books in Yampa and Oak Creek this summer — with a little help from some six-legged friends in the South Routt Li­­brary District’s Summer Reading Program.

“Usually, kids are fascinated by bugs — they’re small, they’re right at their eye level as they’re walking around,” Yampatika lead naturalist Elaine Sturges said.

“They’re closer to them than the adults are.”

Sturges will lead South Routt children on a bug hunt Monday, in conjunction with the South Routt Library District’s Summer Reading Program, which this year is called “Catch the Reading Bug.”

Young readers can earn prize tickets and incentives for every two books they read during the program, director Carol Coleman said.

As this week’s summer reading program activity, Yampatika will lead children on a bug hunt at the Oak Creek and Yampa public libraries, play predator-prey games, as well as participate in insect-themed story time with Eric Carle classics “The Very Hungry Caterpillar” and “The Very Quiet Cricket.”

“We’re going to collect bugs in each location and see if we can identify them,” Sturges said. “We’ll want to look at the habitats we find them in, too.”

Insects likely to be found at the Yampa and Oak Creek libraries include praying mantises, grasshoppers, beetles and ladybugs, Sturges said.

Last Monday’s storytime was the first summer reading program event, with Lasso the Cowgirl visiting both Yampa and Oak Creek.

About 13 children attended in Yampa, and fewer in Oak Creek, though Coleman said she is hoping attendance will climb as the program continues.

— To reach Melinda Dudley, call 871-4203

or e-mail mdudley@steamboatpilot.com