Rent is a popular Broadway rock musical with music, lyrics, and book by Jonathan Larson. Loosely based on the 1896 opera La bohème by Giacomo Puccini, Luigi Illica, and Giuseppe Giacosa, it tells the story of a group of impoverished young artists struggling to survive and create a life in Lower Manhattan’s East Village, in the thriving days of the bohemian culture of Alphabet City.

One of the musical’s most popular songs is Seasons of Love, which begs the question, “How do you measure a year?” It’s measured in daylights/ in sunsets /in midnights/ in cups of coffee/ in inches/ in miles/ in laughter/ in strife. Five hundred twenty-five thousand, six hundred minutes. That’s how.

Time, as we all know, is fluid, how easy it is to recall events from the week before or years past or think forward into the future of what may be. For some of us, time is diligently waiting for your teenage son – Daddy misses you very much Fernando but is glad you’re having a Jack London Summer in Alaska – to return home from his summer working abroad.

For some of our patrons, and yes, librarians; time can be measured by how many books were read by them this summer during the library’s annual Summer Reading Program. It’s been a great start to the program with patrons having read over 190 books versus staff’s 85. Now granted…there are more patrons than staff. And some librarians thought it would be fun to try and start a new book series that’s first book came in at a thousand pages. Some of us are just going to try and close the gap by reading a ton of Hardy Boys books. Those are about a hundred eighty pages a book. We fact checked. We’re librarians after all.

The Adult Summer Reading program (SRP) is pretty straight forward, any adult can participate! Any form of book reading counts, whether an e-book, physical book, or even yes Gioia, an audiobook! And though you don’t get to go to a book fair you do have the chance to wins some awesome prizes. No personal pan pizzas though. Adult SRP will end on July 31 so you have a few more days left to read and enter to win prizes.

By the numbers it was a pretty impressive SRP 2026 and that’s all because of our dedicated adult and family patrons! Over 349 kiddos registered with 153 of the young bibliophiles completing reading logs which equaled over 153,000 minutes. That doesn’t count logs that aren’t finished yet! On Beanstack, there were 31 youth readers, reading about 56,000 minutes. Beanstack is an online platform, available as both a website and a mobile app which promotes reading through interactive challenges, gamification, and personalized recommendations. It’s used by libraries and schools to motivate readers of all ages, offering tools for tracking reading progress, earning badges, and participating in various reading programs according to a library information site.

All this summer reading doesn’t go unnoticed by the way. We’re wrapping up a fantastic summer of reading with a celebration! Stop by for a magical, treat-filled day—you’ve earned it! On Wednesday, July 30, a celebration for all the Youth Summer Reading Participants will take place in the Commons at 4:30pm featuring:

Magic Show by Magician Jolly Roger – Prepare to be amazed! 4:30 – 5:15pm

Balloon Animals with Cody the Master Balloon Artist – Twists, turns, and tons of fun! 5 – 6:30pm

Face Painting with Gioia for kids of all ages 5 – 6:30pm

Sweet Treat by Cottontails Organic Cotton Candy 5 – 6:30pm

And Summer Reading Prizes ready for pick-up by our awesome readers 5 – 6:30pm

For our Adult SRP readers, around Monday, August 4 we will get to celebrate your accomplishments and yes, pick up those cool prizes. If anyone needs a plus one for the railroad, let me know. I’m a great conversationalist. Yes, the end of the Summer Reading Program in its own way signals the end of Summer. And although it’s time to trade swim trunks for book bags, it doesn’t mean that you have to stop reading. Keep reading, keep challenging yourself, and keep exploring strange new worlds with your imagination. The library is always here to help you with that. Congrats again to all those who participated this Summer and we hope you do it again next year.

Community Library Sedona is also a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization. Your gifts and support, just like the Friends’ contributions, allow us to provide a plethora of services and programs for the community, for free, all year long. Visit communitylibrarysedona.org/donate to make an online gift today.

As published by Red Rock News

Library News Column for July 25, 2025, by Jan Marc Quisumbing, Scheduling Coordinator