To kick off the summer reading program at LaGrange Memorial Library on Wednesday, dozens of children and their parents packed the room to hear Carol Cain tell an out-of-this-world story.

“I am blasting off the program for summer with a story that follows the theme, ‘A Universe of Stories,’” said Cain. “It is going to be the 50^th anniversary of man walking on the moon soon and that day is so special to me. It was the day before my ninth birthday.”

Over the summer the library will host a series of events and story times to help children in the area not fall into what the director of the Troup-Harris Regional Library system Keith Schuermann calls the “summer slide.”

“Summer reading is all about being well-read and it is important for libraries to do this [program] to help stop that,” Schuermann said. “It is all about being well-read during this busy time. For this program, we get upwards of 100 kids and parents each week. They last typically no more than an hour.”

Cain grasped the attention of each child in the audience immediately by having them sing along with her.

“Universe of stories, books of every kind, a place to feed your mind,” Cain sang as the crowd repeated after her.

Cain said that she thinks of the LaGrange Memorial as her home and that she loves being able to tell her stories at the library.

“I love being invited to these events and to share my love of reading,” Cain said. “Today, I am Ms. Universe and adorned in the solar system to tell a ‘Universe of Stories.’”

To learn more about more events happening at the library visit its website, Thrl.org/events/.