By Daniel J. Bird
Looking to instill a love of reading, youngsters find fun and education in Aramco LIFE Book Club Initiative.
Amira Hamdy (the Storyteller) responds to questions from young participants in the recent Aramco LIFE Book Club session held in Dhahran.
A book event to inspire children to take up reading was recently held over three evenings at the Dhahran Recreation Library.
The Aramco LIFE Book Club Initiative was held on Aug. 14, 15, and 16. The first and last evenings were for children aged from six to nine years old, while the second night was targeted at kids aged 10 to 12 years old.
Each session started with a reading from a famous children’s book, followed by an open discussion about the story and crafts related to the chosen material.
Books covered included Elephants Can’t Jump! by Jeanne Willis, and The Pigeon Will Ride the Roller Coaster! by Mo Willems. And for older children, Infinity and Me by Kate Hosford.
Colored pencils and crayons are just some of the tools to engage youngsters in Aramco LIFE's Book Club Initiative to encourage reading, especially over the summer months.
Event Strives To Inspire Kids
Noora A. Kaabi, senior librarian in the Central Community Services Department, said that she hopes the event will inspire kids to read more.
She said: “This event will hopefully encourage children to read, and highlight the importance of reading. That’s the most important thing.
“We hope the children will be engaged by the event and come away inspired to use the library in the future.”
— Noora A. Kaabi
Sumaya S. Basudan, librarian in the Central Community Services Department, added: “I hope that the children come away from this event with a love for reading, because there are lots of people who don’t read. We hope that if we establish this love from a very young age they will grow with it.”
‘It Will Give Them Confidence’
As well as encouraging children to read more, the event organizers also hope the initiative will inspire children to make full use of the library’s facilities. The goal of the event was to also boost the skills of the kids attending — with reading enhancing the knowledge and education of children and helping to build their vocabulary.
“These events help enhance the skills of children — when communicating and interacting with others. It gives them confidence,” Basudan said.
Kaabi added: “If any of the children come back to the library wanting to read or asking to borrow a book or attend an event, that would be a great achievement for us. We hope that after this event, people will start looking at what events are going on at the library. We want more people to come and visit.”
Reading is often considered a solitary experience, but Aramco LIFE's Book Club Initiative looked to break down those perceptions.
“We wanted to highlight the important work that the Dhahran Recreation Library does, while also encouraging young children to engage with books and read more,” said Adnan M. Alothman, supervisor of Aramco LIFE.
“The feedback we’ve had from families after these events has been hugely positive. There is a real appetite from parents in the Dhahran community for us to do more of these events — with children coming away from the events highly engaged,” he added.
— The Arabian Sun: August 30, 2023