The Derry Public Library recently held its first graduation ceremony for children who completed the 1000 Books Before Kindergarten program by the end of August 2016. Considering the program launched in October, finishing in this short amount of time is quite the feat! Eight children finished within less than a year and the Children’s Department wanted to celebrate this special achievement with the children and their families. We plan to have a yearly celebration for all of the children who finish prior to the end of August, so that the graduation ceremony coincides with the start of the school year. That way, children who are beginning Kindergarten can receive their certificate prior to (or at least quite near) their first day!

With such a small group this year, we decided to have a short ceremony where each child was presented with an achievement certificate, a small literacy-related gift, a coupon for a free ice cream cone, and a sense of pride in their reading future. We designed a set of alphabet cards that we printed on cardstock and laminated. Each child was given a set of these, some Play-Doh, and a card with instructions on how to use the cards with Play-Doh to encourage playing with letters. Children can roll the Play-Doh into logs and then trace the letters to create words, giving a nice tactile experience with the alphabet! We also laminated each child’s die cut crayon that was used to mark their progress on our Milestone Wall. After removing their crayons, we made a “Class of 2016” sign with all of their names on to hang under the 1000 Milestone Marker. The families were very thankful for our efforts!

In July 2016, Nancy Lang, who worked at the Dunbarton Public Library as the Children’s and Teen Librarian, passed away after a battle with cancer. Probably no one in the NH library community had a longer tenure on the CHILIS Board than Nancy. Nancy joined the Board more than 15 years ago, and served in various roles including Newsletter Chair, Treasurer, conference photographer and CHILIS webmaster. Nancy’s “institutional memory” was invaluable, and she helped the Board grow as a governing body. Nancy gave countless hours toward the work of CHILIS and shared her wisdom and sense of humor with all of us. She welcomed new members to the organization, donated many items to conference raffles, and offered her technical expertise to many of our projects. She will be greatly missed, both by those of us who served with her over the years as well as by many children’s librarians around the state.