When Tuesday's guest canceled a few hours before the Family Fun Night program, Jennie Beck pulled out some favorite stories and as many animal puppets as she could find.

The children's librarian at the Aiken County Public Library enlisted the help of the children attending the program to take the hand puppets and make story time more fun.

The puppets were part of two tales during the 30-minute program.

During June and July, a number of programs are held at the library as part of the summer reading program, but most are in the mornings and afternoons.

"A lot of parents work during the day," so a weekly evening program was added, Ms. Beck said.

At the Aiken branch, the summer reading program has been a success so far.

"It's been going great. We have 400 signed up so far," she said.

The library has a wide array of programs for various age groups, and there's usually something happening on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays.

The summer reading program "is a great way to keep your child's reading skills up during the summer," Ms. Beck said.

Members of the Aiken Community Playhouse Youth Wing will present Rapunzel at the next Family Fun Night at 7 p.m. Tuesday.

Other special programs include Bugfest at 2 and 3 p.m. Wednesday for first- through sixth-graders and a self-defense workshop at 4 p.m. Thursday.

Also, the last day for entries in the annual photography contest is Friday. Photographs should be at least 5 inches by 7 inches.

The contest is open to sixth- through 12th-graders. A maximum of three black-and-white or color photographs is allowed.

Library patrons will vote on the photographs July 1-19. Winners will be announced July 21.

First-and second-place winners will receive gift certificates from Book Lover's Bookstore.

For more information, call (803) 642-2022.

Reach Charmain Brackett at czbrackett@hotmail.com.