Lions and Tigers, B-I-N-G-Oh, My!

Over 20 children and their parents gathered at the this past Wednesday for a night of family fun at the 4th annual Summer   The Bingo night was part of a series of events held by the library as part of their summer reading program which rewards young students with prizes for staying committed to reading over summer vacation.

“It’s one of everybody’s favorite events,” said Anna Byrne, the children’s librarian at Hingham Library.

Each child was given a Bingo board that had different animals designated to each square.  At the front of the room, 10-year-old Nicholas Hudanich, aided by library assistant, Katy Connolly, would pull a picture of a cartoon animal (anything from a goldfish to a dinosaur) out of a large bag.  Players would then mark the square with the corresponding animal until someone could rightfully shout out, “Bingo!”

Hudanich has played Bingo at the library in previous years, but now that he is 10, he decided he would help out with the event, instead.  When asked why he chose to do this, he humbly responded, “Well, I like helping out.”

The first BINGO winner of the night, Jack Litchfield, commented on how “It feels really good [to win],” after he was met by a round of applause, cheering him all the way up to the prize table where he was able to choose from a wide selection of children’s books that had been donated to the library.

Parents found the children’s enthusiasm to be contagious as the excitement in the room bubbled over the course of the night.  One of the parents, Andrew Mutschler, who came with his wife and two children, Ryan and Natalie, said his favorite part was watching his children find all the animals and just being together.

The success of this event goes far to reward the efforts of the Hingham Library to promote family unity, fun, and of course, reading.