Summer Reading Mascot announces contest winner

BY ADAM MISCH

Wednesday, July 23, 2008 7:13 PM EDT

Little Pritika Venkatraman, a proud member of the Forest Hills Library, caught the reading bug and won the Summer Reading - Name Our 2008 Mascot - contest for her library.

Her winning submission, named “Readaleena,” will be featured on the Queens Library Web site (www.queenslibrary.org) and on the New York City Summer Reading Web site (www.summerreading.org).

“Catch the Reading Bug,” this year’s theme for the summer reading program invited kids who signed up for the Summer Reading Club to create a name for the 2008 mascot.

Sripriya Venkatraman, Pritika’s excited mother said, “The summer reading bug looked like a “lady bug” to her so she came up with ‘Readaleena.”

Along with naming the mascot, she was awarded a Capsela Bug Builder craft and her family received four tickets to a New York Mets baseball game at Shea Stadium. Also included in the package is an opportunity to throw out the first pitch of the game that she is going to be attending,

“My daughter is always cheerful and loves to read, paint, play computer games and play with her 3-year-old sister Madhurika,” said Sripriya. “She likes making friends and being with other children and to write poems and stories, but her favorite pastime is reading to her little sister,” she added.

As an avid reader, Pritika is prepared and excited to start first grade this fall at P.S. 196 in Forest Hills.

Each library selected local winners, whose suggestions were then entered for the grand prize. All the kids won a sports bottle with the 2008 Summer Reading theme slogan on it.

The Queens Library is an independent, not-for-profit corporation and is not affiliated with any other library system. They serve a population of 2.2 million in the most ethnically diverse county in the United States.

For more information about Library programs, services, locations, events and news, visit the Queens Library Web site at www.queenslibrary.org or phone 718-990-0700.

Cute as the ladybug she named to claim top Queens Library contest prize, Pritika Venkatraman shows off a butterfly costume, a gift from the Library, at the Forest Hills Children’s Room on a recent weekday where she and her family enjoy Summer Reading Club activities.