SE Valley Times

What do butterflies, a happy cactus, and colorful geometric shapes have in common?

According to the creative minds of Mesa’s youth - bikes! The City of Mesa’s Bicycle and Pedestrian Program and Mesa Public Library are pleased to announce the winners of Mesa’s first Bike to Books Design Contest. Young local artists impressed us with their creativity submitting over 90 unique designs to the contest.
City of Mesa Transportation Department and Mesa Public Library staff reviewed and voted on all the entries. Three winners were selected from each of the three age categories: Pre-K to 2nd grade, 3rd to 6th grade, and 7th to 12th grade.

Grand prize winners will have their art installed on a Mesa Shared Use Path. The City of Mesa Transportation Department’s striping crew will do all the installations using thermoplastic and propane torches.

Second and third place winners received bicycle safety gear and bike themed gift bag and all nine finalists received recognition and a certificate signed by City of Mesa officials during the City Council Meeting on Monday, Sept. 19. Congratulations to all of the winners, Nora Jaeger, Burns Sabey, Violet Swenson, Holly Hom, Kailee Killingsworth, Gwen Swenson, Josephine Smeets, Claire Bachrach, and Venise Wang.

Be sure to check out the list of book recommendations inspired by each of the winning designs picked by Mesa Public Library’s librarians to enhance your biking and reading experiences.

First Place, Pre-K to 2nd Grade – “Fairy Lane” by Nora Jaeger.
Check out the book recommendations!

First Place, 3rd to 6th Grade – “Readers Are Leaders” by Holly Hom.
Check out the book recommendations!

First Place, 7th to 12th Grade – “Like Flying” by Josephine Smeets.
Check out the book recommendations!

To get a better look at all the winning designs, visit
mesalibrary.org/biketobooks. 

Original source can be found here.