Mets encourage kids to read

Let’s go Mets! Let’s go Mets! Let’s go Mets!
The Queens Library at Long Island City turned into a mini version of Shea Stadium when about 100 local kids cheered while New York Mets catcher Brian Schneider and relief pitcher Carlos Muniz read to them on Friday, July 25.
Sponsored by the Mets and Citibank, the event was part of the summer reading program at the library, located on 37-44 21st Street.
“It was nice - it was the Mets reading to the children and the children would really listen to them,” said Laneshia Mobley, 13, a Mets fan who regularly comes to the library. “I’m gonna tease my mom.”
“I think I was more excited than my grandson to see the Mets,” said Dianne D’Onofrio, who brings her seven-year-old grandson to the library during the summer so he can be better prepared for school.
The Mets seemed to enjoy the event too. “It was fun - to see the smile in their [children’s] faces,” said Schneider, who after the reading, like Muniz, spent a good amount of time giving autographs and answering baseball-related questions.
The Mets have supported reading programs at city libraries for 14 years by providing posters, game tickets and other reading incentives, said Joanne King, associate director of the marketing and communications department at Queens Library.
This summer, Citibank has donated about 5,000 tickets for Summer Reading Night at Shea Stadium on August 20, King said.
“Children and teens who read during the summer retain more learning and do better when school starts in the autumn,” King explained.