Ten-year-old Charley Hicks carries the summer reading Olympic torch on the first leg of the Summer Reading Relay on Saturday, June 4. Decked out in his navy Arlington Public Library “Read for the Win” T-shirt, Charley left the Central Library with his 12-year-old brother, Jackson, and his mother, Camilla, at 10:35 a.m. and headed for the Cherrydale Branch library. As they chug up the hill to the parking lot at the end of the first leg of the race, his group is cheered by a small crowd yelling encouragement and waving hand-made signs. He hands over the torch to Stephanie Scott, assistant librarian at Williamsburg Middle School, and Tony Wysocki, a 20-year Marine Marathon runner.

Scott and Wysocki will run the 3.2 miles to the next stop at Westover Branch Library, where other runners will take over running the next lap to Glencarlyn Branch Library, followed by Shirlington Branch Library, Aurora Hills Branch Library, Columbia Pike Branch Library and back to the Central Library by 4 p.m. The pace rider, Theresa Flynn, also supervisor for Library Services for the Arlington Public Schools, will accompany the runners for all of the laps.

Alex Zealand, web editor and new media developer for the library, says this is the first year for this event. It is modeled on the Olympic theme and readers will receive bronze, silver and gold awards depending on age and number of books read. “This is a way to keep people reading and having fun during the summer. For kids, it's not assigned reading like at school but they can read what they want," Zealand said.

She points to the bubbles floating around the parking lot and says every library stop has different activities for kids. Although it is a hot, humid day, the Central Library is offering free popsicles from noon until 4 p.m. — or until they run out. Zealand says residents can sign up online for the summer reading program on the library website.