Nearly 30 teens and tweens gathered for the Summer Reading Club Finale Party at the North Bellmore Public Library on Thursday afternoon.
Young Adult Librarian Jessica Tymecki welcomed the crowd to the community room with pizza, ice cream, cupcakes, crafts and games.
"I am thrilled at the turn out. We had a kickoff party in June, and to be invited here today, each person had to read at least three books and write book reviews," Tymecki said.
The two top readers for the summer, who each read more than 50 books, were awarded $25 Barnes & Noble gift cards, along with an autographed copy of "Reality Check" by Jen Calonita.
Nimra Hameed, entering eighth grade, and Nina Soriano, entering 10th grade, both love reading and have more time in the summer to enjoy it.
"I'm taking journalism and creative writing, and I'm in English honors. I'd love to be an English teacher," said Soriano.
Terrence C., who is entering Chaminade in the fall, said he has always enjoyed reading. He prefers fantasy tales such as "Lord of the Rings" and the Harry Potter series. His math skills were also up to the test, as Terrence guessed there were 560 Starburst candies in the jar. His guess was closest to the correct number, 585, so he took them all home.
Other raffles included gift cards to Borders, TGIFridays, iTunes, Game Stop and Bellmore Playhouse. Mets tickets were also up for grabs.
"The program is open to kids entering sixth grade and up," said Tymecki. "We really have a range of ages, and it's great we have boys as well as girls."
Everyone was having fun celebrating by playing Band Hero, decorating picture frames and just hanging out.
Two 11-year-old friends, entering sixth grade at Park Avenue Elementary School, recommended "The Dollhouse Murders" and "Devil's Kiss." Each girl had read about 20 or 25 books this summer.
Tymecki said, "Students entering seventh grade and up have to read one book for school, so I aimed for two more, and the program was a great success."
