This summer the ocean is as close as the Superior Public Library. The theme of the summer reading program is "Seas the Day with a Good Book." Each Wednesday at 2 p.m., youth from two-years-old through fifth graders participate in activities related to the ocean and the life within the seas. For the first week, participants created their own shadow box aquariums using cake boxes.

Week two they learned about pollution and how pollution in Superior eventually ends up in the ocean. One example was cigarette butts which are the single greatest source of ocean trash. As many as two-thirds of those filters are dumped irresponsibly each year. When people throw them into the gutter or street, they eventually make it into the waterway which ends up in the ocean. The filters of cigarettes are made of cellulose acetate, a form of plastic that can take a decade or more to decompose. Activities correlated with pollution. Participants looked at ocean scenes, made rivers and put trash in them watching how the trash flows down waterways to larger bodies of water.

Books and sharks were the topic of week three. Each participant received a book. Then they each made a shark on the library's new 3-D printer.

Participants had four outdoor activities on week four. The children had water races where two teams each soaked up a sponge from a bucket of water and ran to the opposite side to squeeze water into another bucket. The team who filled their second bucket first was the winner.

Bubble tubes was a fun activity. The children saw who could form the longest bubble and set it free.

Another activity was a timed scavenger hunt. A box of Orbeez held 36 plastic sea creatures. The goal was to find all 36 creatures in 12 minutes.

One of the favorite activities was the minnow races. Children chose one of four minnows to win a race. Each minnow had its own race tube. When the chute opened, they raced to the other end like a horse race. The participant who picked the winning minnow got a treat.

This week participants will paint kites.

Jack Ray runs his leg of a relay to fill a bucket with water from a sponge of water at Superior Public Library's summer activities last Wednesday afternoon.

The final week, Ethan Boggs, an eighth grader from Seward, Neb., will be the presenter. When Ethan was 10-years-old, he taught himself how to make balloon animals using instructions he found in a balloon twisting book at the public library.

To encourage children to read and to show how much they are reading this summer, a bulletin board in the main room of the library is dedicated to a growing octopus. Each ring on the octopus' leg is equal to one hour of reading. To date the octopus has 316 rings!

Vicki Perrie, library director, planned the summer reading program and activities. Library staff, parents and grandparents have volunteered to help with all the activities. Her grandson, Owen Perrie, a senior at Superior High School, helps Vicki organize the activities.