Tom Henihan
Express Staff
Book AutoMobile (BAM) is a High Prairie School Division (HPSD) project designed to encourage children to read and to promote literacy.
The program, which runs throughout the summer beginning on July 3 and ending on August 18, visits 14 locations within the HPSD from Slave Lake to Falher and also includes Donnelly and McLennan.
The project operates 6 days a week during the months of July and August, providing a fun, educational alternative activity for children, families and friends during the summer.
Literacy assistants Mikayla Young and Jessica Smith are presenting the program that functions in a number of ways, including reading to kids, games and the “give a book take a book,” library exchange, where kids can swap books they have read or outgrown for something different.
Parents and all adults can also participate in BAM, which is essentially a mobile literacy centre that also provides activities and materials suitable for more mature tastes.
Weather permitting BAM programs are usually held outdoors, making it an excellent way to enjoy the summer weather. If the weather fails to cooperate the program is held inside.
The Falher, Donnelly and McLennan BAM sessions are held on Thursdays beginning at the Centre Chevaliers in Falher from 9.30am to 11am – from 11.45 to 1.30 at the Village Office in Donnelly and from 2.15pm to 3.45pm at the Kimiwan Birdwalk and Railway Museum in McLennan.
The last sessions of the summer in the Smoky River Region are on July 16.
The July and August Book AutoMobile schedule and all communities and locations where the program takes place is posted on the HPSD website.