At KDL’s Summer Wonder series, literacy appears disguised as dinosaurs, bubbles, and, most of all, discovery

On a Wednesday morning, with the summer sun overhead at Caledonia’s Community Green Park adjacent to the Kent District Library’s Caledonia Township Branch, people strolled into an event where the distant age of the dinosaurs did not feel quite so far away.

Children gathered for the Outdoor Discovery Center’s “Dinosaurs of Today,” a hands-on program connecting the prehistoric world to living creatures, including feathered raptors, reptiles, and ancient insects whose ancestors lived long before dinosaurs appeared. The July 15 event was one of dozens of free experiences offered through KDL branches during Summer Wonder.

As we talked to folks attending this event, it became clear that the real payoff usually shows up later, after the animals are gone.

“For about an hour to an hour and a half after a program like this, we get a giant rush of patrons at our library,” says Leigh Verburg, KDL branch outreach and programming specialist. “We get a lot of questions. It’s not even necessarily topically related. It’s, ‘Where can I find a good book?’ or ‘I’m looking for this graphic novel.'”

Some children do head directly for the dinosaur shelves, she says. Others leave the program curious about something entirely different. Either way, Verburg says that the library has to bring in an extra front-desk librarian to handle the many requests from visitors whose ages span the entire spectrum, as these events stimulate the curiosity of everyone who attends. 

“What I like about programs like this is that it’s literacy disguised,” Verburg says. “They’re bringing vocabulary words to children that they might not necessarily hear. If they come across that word in a book, they’re more likely to be able to read it.”

More reading, increased curiosity

KDL’s 2026 Summer Wonder program runs from June 1 through Aug. 7 and is open to children, teens and adults. It doesn’t just track pages read. Participants can also write, attend events, explore parks, participate in STEAM activities, or simply try something new.

Participants sign up at the library to complete activities for at least 20 minutes a day on any 30 days during the program’s run. Children and teens who finish may choose a free book, while adults receive a KDL hat. Those who complete the program are also entered into drawings for additional prizes.

Summer Wonder evolved from KDL’s longtime summer reading initiative into what Verburg describes as a learning challenge, built to flex around different interests, abilities, and ways of engaging with the world.

For young participants Jack and Lucy, that’s meant searching through foam bubbles for hidden rubber ducks and earning candy afterward. Jack remembered choosing a book about lava as a prize during a previous summer and telling his family that he hoped to visit a volcano someday. Having fun and the reading aren’t two separate things here, as the fun is usually how the reading gets in the door.

When curiosity follows a family home

Brittany Thomas says her young children have visited the Caledonia branch since they were infants. The library introduced her children to books and activities, but it also connected Thomas with other mothers navigating the same season of life.

“We love Summer Wonder because it really makes my kids excited to read,” Thomas says. “They wake up every day asking, ‘What’s going on at the library today?'”

Her daughter’s growing interest in fossils led the family to the library’s geology books. After reading about lightning stones and discovering that one type of fossil can be found along Lake Michigan, the family traveled to South Haven to search for them.

“She had her book right there, and we were reading about how they were formed and how many years ago,” Thomas says. “Then she was asking, ‘What other things can we find?'”

That question led to more books, more rock hunting, and an expanding interest in science and geology. For Thomas, that’s the library at its best: giving kids a place to ask why, then helping the family go find out, in this case together.

Brynn Curtis has seen the same thing play out with her daughter.

“She has lots of questions for me,” Curtis says. “She has to tell her dad every day about what she learned, and we usually have to go to the library afterward and get books on what we learned. We have lots of good conversations at the dinner table as a result.”

Curtis, who lives between Caledonia and Middleville, says her family checks the branch’s calendar each Monday and usually attends at least one program a week.

“It’s fun to meet other parents, and she has other kids to play with,” Curtis says. “They don’t cost money, they get us out of the house, and a lot of times we’re outside and learning. It’s nice to have something free and local.”

A resource for parents—and grandparents

Free matters. For families juggling work, transportation, and rising household expenses, not having to buy a ticket or commit to a multi-day class is often the reason they attend a Summer Wonder session.

“The cost of living is so high, but knowing that we can come to the library at no cost makes it a weight lifted off a parent,” Thomas says. “The kids still have fun. They have no idea whether it’s free or costs money, but they can come here as many times as they want.”

Grandparents have found uses for it, too.

Gaines Township resident Kathy Roos says the variety of programming keeps her grandchildren interested while reinforcing the reading skills they developed during the school year.

“Just from kindergarten to first grade, we see how much their reading has changed,” Roos says. “Keeping them reading is important.”

Whether it be scavenger hunts, raptor presentations, or the popular foam bubble parties, she likes that families can visit different branches and stumble into something new each time.

“KDL has so many different events,” Roos says about the range of STEAM education-based offerings. “There are all kinds of things that grandparents can do with their grandkids.”

Caledonia resident Ruth Callahan discovered Summer Wonder this year while searching for activities for her two young grandchildren.

“We were looking for fun activities to do with them—activities that would help educate, but also be fun,” Callahan says. “I’ve been amazed at what KDL has to offer.”

For Callahan, the programs give her and her grandchildren something to talk about between visits.

“It’s a good conversation starter,” Callahan says about the dialogue she engages with in the car after an event. “If we only get them a couple of days a week, it gives me something to talk to them about.”

At a recent live animal-centered program, one of her grandchildren was able to approach and touch a snake and then, with the help of a handler, wear it across his shoulders.

“He was just beaming all day long,” she says. “He was so excited.”

A place to belong … without having to buy something

Talk to enough families and another pattern turns up: Summer Wonder gives people a reason to leave the house, run into each other, make new friends/connections, and spend time together somewhere that doesn’t ask for money in return.

“The community needs a space to gather,” Verburg says. “We want to be a safe place for everybody where they can meet their community.”

Summer Wonder may be KDL’s largest annual program, but that same idea runs through the rest of the year. Branches offer everything from storytimes, homeschool gatherings, adult challenges, and educational programming tailored to whatever a branch’s community needs.

Verburg says staff members watch relationships form among patrons who keep running into each other at library events. Some children even send in letters and drawings. Other times, families bring cookies or make donations because, at some point, the library stopped being just a building they visit. 

“They feel part of something and want to contribute somehow,” she says. “My favorite is the letters from the kids where it’s like, ‘I love the li-berry.'”

After our visit and conversation with folks attending, it was clear that hands-on educational experiences at Summer Wonder are truly worthwhile. 

A child touches a reptile and later reaches for a book about it. A parent, helping a beginning reader pick something out, ends up reading more themselves. A grandparent finds a fresh way to connect with a grandchild. It’s what people keep coming back for, because learning can be addicting once you give your mind up to exploration.

After attending a Summer Wonder bubble-themed program, Callahan went home and searched for new tools and ideas to add to a bubble kit she keeps for her grandchildren.

Callahan admits she has “a lot of inner child” still within her as she shares how much fun she had at the foam party. There was something magical about watching the bubbles float through the air and watching the kids react. Such events, she says, awaken the childlike wonder in all of us that drives learning.

“And that’s something worth trying to hold on to,” she says.

Photos by Tommy Allen

Literacy Matters is a series focused on the importance of knowledge, community resources seeking to remove barriers to access, and the value of our library systems to society. Literacy Matters is supported by Kent District Library.