Submitted by the San Juan Island Library.

The San Juan Island Library is pleased to announce that funding has been secured for another year of Youth Book Groups. Two book groups will be offered for youth over the 2022-23 school year. Based on the Book, the long-running middle school book group, will provide free copies of a monthly book to 25 students and culminate in a movie viewing for participants. Newly added to the calendar will be the Upper Elementary Book Group for youth in grades 3-5. Each participant will receive a free copy of the monthly book and take part in crafts, activities, and discussion at each meeting.

Book Groups are essential library offerings that facilitate the growth of literacy and social skills. Participants are encouraged to converse openly and learn to navigate civil discourse in a non-school setting, while simultaneously exploring a variety of literature for recreational reading. The Library would like to thank the San Juan Island Community Foundation for collecting contributions from the Healthy Community Fund and the Thistledown Fund, a fund of David Skinner and Catherine Eaton Skinner. The funds go directly to the purchase of paperback books that participants keep as their own.

For more information and to find the schedule for each book group, please visit www.sjlib.org or call 360-378-2798.