The Muskogee Public Library is going buggy trying to get people to read this summer.

“The Nature Hut from Greenleaf State Park is coming to talk about native bugs, we’ve got an entomologist coming, people talking about gardening, crafts about bugs,” said Children’s Librarian Liz Hanley. “Our younger readers, ages 0 to 4, will be the Caterpillars.”

Such focus on the insect world is part of a statewide library summer reading program, Catch the Reading Bug, she said. As in the past, kids who read 25 books get a patch and a coupon for food from Sonic Drive-In.

Muskogee librarians hope the bug spreads to adults and have come up with their own suggestions for an adult reading program.

“I don’t know if people read like to read more in the summer, but they do read more,” said Jan Bryant, chief librarian at Muskogee Public Library. “People try to pick up books for when they are on vacation, like teachers.”

To keep adults reading, the library came up with its own adult summer reading program, featuring 24 books recommended by the library staff.

“We have them read a minimum of three books,” she said. “They don’t get prizes, just a party.”

Bryant said the library had participated in a statewide “Oklahoma Reads Oklahoma” program from 2003 to its conclusion in 2007. The program focused on nonfiction books and novels about Oklahoma.

This year’s reading program features favorite titles from library staff. Some, such as Ernest Hemingway’s “The Old Man and the Sea,” and Maya Angelou’s “I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings,” are considered classics.

“A lot of people do keep up with best sellers but might have missed some of these titles,” she said.

Women checking out books Friday at the library said they are year-round readers.

“I just read when the mood strikes,” said Dixie Bandy of Fort Gibson, who had four books stacked on a fiction shelf as she skimmed through a fifth book. She said she likes Danielle Steele and Barbara Taylor Bradford.

“I like Nora Roberts, when you can find her, mystery and suspense,” she said.

Lou Readdy of Muskogee said she reads all the time, “not just in summer.”