Young readers get to ‘pie' program leader

COLUMBUS - Young readers were up for the challenge.

More than 650 youth taking part in the Columbus Public Library's summer reading program went beyond the goal of 1,700 hours of reading.

The grand total of 1,853 hours was revealed Tuesday at a gathering held at Frankfort Square. The program's participants at the park were treated to raffled off books and ice-cream sandwiches while Brad Hruska, children's librarian, read the Shel Silverstein book, “Giraffe and a Half.”

The reading program, titled “Get a Clue at Your Library,” was open to any child and started the first full week of June. The children were to record the number of hours they read each week by writing it down in reading logs. Participants were also treated to activities throughout the week such as presentations, movie days and story time.

Although it was obvious the children liked their cool ice-cream treats, they seemed to enjoy what came up after it was revealed they meet their reading goal. At the start of the program in June, Hruska told the participants if they met the goal that he would take a pie in the face.

And that is exactly what happened.

“You guys did a fantastic job. There was a time during the summer reading challenge that I thought it wouldn't happen, but in the end, you guys pulled through,” Hruska told the children.

Then he tried to squirm his way out of keeping his promise.

“Do you really want to see the pie thing?” he asked the kids. “You really want to do it?”

After a resounding “yes” from the crowd, Hruska gave in and slipped on a garbage-bag-turned-poncho to protect his clothing from the messy whipped cream pies.

Three kids chosen at random - Michael Boeding, Logan Bennett and Jacob Weyers - got to toss pies at him. All three were near or direct hits to the face.

The reading program concludes this week with a showing of Charlotte's Web today, and story time on Thursday, both at the library.