Man’s furry, four-legged best friend has a new job at The Library. For the first time during the school year, Dauphin County Library System’s East Shore area location welcomes children to attend Paws2Read, a special program encouraging youth to build reading confidence while sharing stories with certified therapy dogs. The program is held at 6 p.m., the second Monday of each month.

Led by Maureen Mashas, a certified speech pathologist for Rutherford and Paxtang elementary schools, Paws2Read began after Mashas saw the positive effects that reading to dogs had on her students. During the sessions, children select books of interest and then take turns reading to the dogs. Incorporating a dog as part of storytime also encourages students to talk about emotional themes discussed in the book. The dogs serve as theoretical puppets on which to place emotions, opening the dialogue to difficult conversations such as bullying, winning and losing and developing stronger social skills.

For more information or to schedule a session, call 717-566-0949, ext. 217 or visit dcls.org.