The Palmerton Area Library received a $1,000 grant from the PPL Foundation through its Cover-to-Cover Program. The funds will help to support the Summer Reading Program and the Reading Chain Contest.

"This grant money will go a long way in providing the books needed for the students to complete their summer reading goals," said Diane Danielson, the director of the library.Danielson said the public and private schools in the area give their summer reading lists to the library. She compares it with what the library has in stock and purchases additional new books for the children."We need to have a large selection of books for readers to pick from to encourage all ages to read," she said.One genre Danielson has some difficulty finding are biographies written for first-grade and second-grade readers. There just aren't that many of them, she said."We'd prefer if they read about Thomas Jefferson, but they want to read about Taylor Swift," Danielson said.This summer, the library has more than 300 people from children to adult registered to compete in the Reading Chain Contest. So far, the participants have read nearly 2,000 books. Links in five different colors are looped together making a long chain, and then hung from the mezzanine railing. For each book read, a link is added to the chain. Links will continue to be added now until Sept. 1.Each of the five age categories has a designated color. At the end of the contest, three winners from each category will be selected randomly to receive a prize."The more books you read, the better your chances of winning," Danielson said.In addition to the Reading Chain Contest, the Summer Reading Program is designed for children in preschool to sixth grade. The program offers activities twice a week for six weeks in June and July including: Circle Time for preschoolers; puppet shows, stories and crafts for children in kindergarten and first grade; and special activities for the older children. Sometimes the library brings in a guest speaker, and sometimes there are games, contests or art projects.Carol Obando-Derstine, a regional affairs director for PPL Electric Utilities, said, "Organizations like the Palmerton Area Library do so much to improve the quality of life in our region, and we are pleased to be able to provide support for such an important initiative that is helping area children."PPL is headquartered in Allentown and is one of the largest companies in the utility sector in the nation. It provides electricity to 10 million customers in the United States and United Kingdom, and has 13,000 employees.