Reading isn't rocket science, or maybe it is

If you happen to go by the Vancouver Public Library’s Firehall branch, at 1455 West 10th Avenue, you’ll probably notice that it now has its own rocket ship.

You really can’t miss it—it’s the big silver and orange thing with fins parked right beside the front entrance.

It’s not the outdoor water fountain that I’ve been hoping for but that’s fine. It’s for the kids and I know that it’s important to look after their imagination almost as much as their hydration.

The rocket ship is a big example of one of the things that kids can build as part of the library’s B.C. Summer Reading Club 2015 program.

It's themed “Build It”, around the artwork of Raincoast children’s book illustrator and Georgia Straight contributor Shayne Letain.

The website listed on the posters around the rocket is the “BC Summer Reading Club Maker Guide“. It features Flash-animated illustrations by Letain and step-by-step instructions for building three projects: a paper origami crane, the cardboard rocket ship and a Lego dog named Boing.

There’s also a bit of business about two robots named Bill Dit and Mak-R.

Not to quibble exactly but the BCSRC Maker Guide website, artful though it is, might confuse some people because the only link back to the parent BCSRC site is a tiny text link at the bottom of the site. The BCSRC site, in turn, mentions but doesn’t link to the Maker Guide site.