CENTER - Jenna Bubel could be a poster child for an addict - a book addict, that is.

She's 16, now, but ever since she can remember, she's had her nose in a book virtually every single day.

It's an addiction that will serve her well, broadening, enriching and illuminating her mind far beyond the borders of her everyday life.

Now she is reading "Night," written by Holocaust survivor Elie Wiesel. It is a book about the darkest of experiences. By reading it, Bubel adds light to her knowledge of humanity.

No high school junior begins her reading life with such a book. To get there is a progression of maturity and intellect.

Bubel is a perfect poster child for the nearly 75 Center kids who will explode into the school library every morning this week. The doors burst open and in they come, ready to rock and read.

The kids bring that vibrant energy to an annual weeklong summer reading program, this year called "Paws, Claws, Scales and Tails." They'll begin their reading lives with books like "Click, Clack, Splish, Splash," and "Wet Dog," and "Snakes - Long, Longer, Longest." They may progress to "Moby Dick," or "Treasure Island," because the love of reading stuck.

Once it sticks, there's nothing for it but more books.

Miranda Hetzring, a fourth- grader, is a Jenna Bubel in the making. The love of reading is already sticking. The little girl estimates she reads "hundreds of books" a year.

"When I read, it feels like I'm actually there," she said. "With movies, it doesn't always feel like that."

Milissa Meckle is the Center librarian for the combined city and school library. She's been running the annual summer reading program for six years.

She started that first year with a dozen kids. The 75 preschool through sixth-graders who showed up this year blew the roof off those early numbers.

She had about $4,000 to spend this year with library, Center city and Oliver County funds. She used it to buy prizes for kids, T-shirts, books and snacks. The children also get incentive prizes if they read, or are read to, every night during the program.

Tuesday's puppy chow snack fits the theme. So do the pets and animals, like chickens, people have been bringing in to show the kids. The children keep their hands, minds and mouths busy the whole time from 10 a.m. to noon.

Bubel is one of Meckle's volunteers, her fourth year now. She gives her time because she loves kids as much as she loves books.

"They're, like, so off the wall, talking all the time," she says.

Moms like the program, too.

Dana LaVallie, of Center, has two boys in the program, ages 6 and 4. She's among moms with infants and toddlers, who wait and visit in the school hallway.

"My kids love it," LaVallie said. "They do awesome crafts and interact with other kids."

Meckle said the summer reading is a welcome tradition in Center. It's timed for after school ends for the year and before most other summer activities begin.

Judging by the kids and moms who flock to it, it's timed just right.

Meckle gives some credit to the program's popularity to the city and county officials who donate money to help.

"Everything else to do costs money," she said. "This is fun and free."

The same program will be conducted at public libraries across North Dakota and 17 other states this summer.