The fourth annual Wyoming Reads Celebration will be held in Natrona County at the Nicolaysen Art Museum and the Natrona County Public Library today, as every county first grader receives a free hardcover book.

Gov. Dave Freudenthal will join the festivities at the Nic at approximately 12:15 p.m.

Children are given their new books at the library, where celebrity readers take turns reading from the books. Groups of children also rotate to the Nic for a short program and sack lunch.

Because of the large numbers of school buses and tiny children roaming around the event, Beech Street and the library's parking lot will be closed from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. A temporary book drop for the return of library books will be available at the library's Durbin Street entrance. The library's Tech Center will also be closed during the event.

All 23 counties in Wyoming are participating in the program, which expanded statewide in 2006. Casper's "Casper Cares, Casper Reads" began in Natrona County in 1999.

In Natrona County, 1,172 first graders from public, home and private schools will receive books donated by the Sue Jorgensen Library Foundation, and 186 will receive their first library card.

At the Nic, children will see the presentation of a special fairy tale about the Good Queen Sue a tribute to Sue Jorgensen, in whose memory this event was established. Music will be provided by an ensemble from the Wyoming Symphony Orchestra, and Diane VonGunten will perform the celebration theme song, "To Dream the Impossible Dream."

John Jorgensen established the Sue Jorgensen Library Foundation in 1996 and founded the "Casper Cares, Casper Reads" festival to honor his late wife's commitment to literacy and children.

This year, the children chose their books from the following titles - "Once I Ate a Pie," by Patricia MacLachlan and Emily MacLachlan Charest; "My Big Dog," by Janet Stevens & Susan Stevens Crummel; "Gorgonzola, a Very Stinkysaurus," by Margie Palatini; Vulture View," by April Pulley Sayres and Steve Jenkins; "Max's Words," by Kate Banks; and "Friday My Radio Flyer Flew," by Casper-raised Zachary Pullen.