Turn the page: Youth honored for reading so much this summer

Rose Zimmerman, left, and Emma Zimmerman talk about something Emma found to be humorous in a book she's holding during the Thursday night 1,000 Minute Club end-of-summer party. Wendy Nugent/ HC Now

By Wendy Nugent, Harvey County Now

NEWTON—At least a couple of Zimmerman sisters went above and beyond the goal for the 1,000 Minute Club through Newton Public Library this summer.

Instead of just reading for 1,000 minutes, Emma Zimmerman, 14, and Rose Zimmerman, 10, read for more than 2,000 minutes each this summer.

That’s at least 33.33 hours of traveling to other places and learning new things through the power of print.

The first thing the Zimmerman sisters did after eating pizza during the club’s end-of-summer party was not playing the game Connect 4 or go make a pillow in the craft area. Nope. They went over to a bookrack in the room and started opening books.

This club came out of the library’s summer reading program. The part of the program to which these kids belong is for the 10- to 18-year-old age group, or tweens and teens.

Also during the party, the movie “Homeward Bound” was played in the background to go along with the animal theme of the reading program.

“We actually had 34 reach that goal,” said Sharon Cepeda, young adult coordinator with NPL.

The reading program ended July 31, Cepeda said, and 1,000 Minute Club members earned $10 gift cards.

Emma Zimmerman recalled a couple of books she read.

“I read one called, ‘The Boy in the Striped Pajamas,'” she said, adding it’s set in World War II. “I thought it was really interesting. I don’t want to spoil it, but there’s a twist at the end. It was kind of surprising.”

She said she likes to read historical fiction and she also read a book called, “Stolen Girl.”

Through that book, Emma Zimmerman said she learned Jewish girls and boys were taken from their families and put into Nazi families to be examples. She said she learned about the war and concentration camps.

She doesn’t have a favorite genre to read.

“Honestly, I just like to read everything,” she said. “Usually I read fiction fantasy books.”

She and her sister, Rose, enjoy reading.

“We just love to read just for fun,” Emma Zimmerman said. “We share books sometimes.”

Rose Zimmerman, who will be in the fifth grade this school year, said she read “Bud, Not Buddy” and “Ghost of Graylock” this summer.

The ghost book was scary and interesting, she said.

“Someone I like turned out to be bad,” she said. “That was disappointing.”

She liked the Buddy book for at least one reason.

“I liked the way they talk ’cause they talk different, like in a country-like accent and it was fun,” she said.

David Tieszen, 11, said he read for a couple thousand minutes this summer, as well. One book series he liked was “Spy School 1-3.”

“Most everything,” he said about what he liked about it.

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