60.0°,
Overcast The ‘Monstah Lobstah’ comes to Lawrence
Peninsula Public Library readers win countywide contest
The long tractor-trailer truck took up several spaces on Central Avenue in Lawrence and the monster truck “Crushstation” also known as the “Monstah Lobstah” grabbed center stage outside Peninsula Public Library on Jan. 26.
PPL was the recipient of the outsized vehicle thanks to the young readers, aged 4-12, who took part in the countywide Reading with Monsters program and contest. From Dec. 12 to Jan. 13, youthful readers from Nassau’s libraries read books with the prize being a visit from a monster truck that is part of Feld Entertainment’s Monster Truck show, which sponsored the contest.
Lawrence public school and library district private school students — 425 in total — combined to read more than 4,000 books to win the contest. The children read books from a suggested pre-determined list. A half dozen levels were set and each time a child reached another level, they received a Monster Jam-themed prize. In all, 24 of the county’s 54 libraries participated and 2,200 children read more than 20,000 books, said Renee McGrath, manager of Youth Services for Nassau’s library system.
“It’s an event, it’s really exciting,” said PPL Director Arleen Reo about having the monster truck at the library. “We are very proud of the whole district’s efforts. We had no idea we’d get the response we did.
Reo said, once the children received the goodie bags they “jumped on the bandwagon.” She gave credit to the reading teachers in Number Five and Two schools for promoting the contest. That includes Polly Van Raalte, Vicki Loweree and Theresa Deegen at Number Five School and Laurie Diamond, Lauren Becker-Burns and Marisa Schwam at Number Two School.
Only having seen a monster truck on television, Number Two School third-grader Joseph Grimando’s motivation to read a lot of books was to view one up close and personal. “I wanted to see the monster truck,” he said as he was prompted by his mother Eleanor, who said her son read books about animals and mysteries for the contest and reads about 20 minutes a day.
