By MARGI SIGLER, For The Capital

The county's librarians will soon be throwing open the doors for an onslaught of enthusiastic young readers looking for more than air-conditioned relief.

Registration begins tomorrow at all branches for the Summer Reading Club program aimed at keeping students reading when school isn't in session. More than 16,600 participated last year.

This year the theme is "Wild About Reading" and the activities for all grades, preschool through 12th grade, feature a jungle motif.

It kicks off on June 20, and performers including puppeteers, jugglers, storytellers and musicians will appear once a week at each of the library's branches.

Throughout the six-week schedule prizes, coupons and various incentives will be given away to participating children.

On Thursday Laura Lieberman, a librarian at the Annapolis branch, wore her bright lime green T-shirt emblazoned with the library's mascot, a cat named Sneaks, in a leopard-skin loincloth swinging on a vine to promote the Summer Reading Club with visiting schoolchildren.

"I love helping children learn to read and enjoy the pleasure of having a book," said Mrs. Lieberman, 11-year coordinator for the summer programs at that branch. "We want to encourage children of all ages to keep reading during the summer."

According to Laurie Hayes, manager for public relations and marketing for the library system, the summer reading program has been in operation for as long as anyone can remember.

At first, individual branches had their own summer programs. By the mid-1980s the program had become a systemwide effort centered around a single theme. It was about this time that the library system began to hire performers for weekly events.

Then in the early 1990s libraries entered into a partnership with the school system. Schools supplied reading lists for their students and encouraged children to attend the library's program. In return, the library supplied individual schools with names of students who participated.

In 1998 the Chesapeake Cup competition began. The library awards Chesapeake Cup trophies to the public and private schools with the highest percentage of participation. Last year Mayo Elementary School and Aleph Bet Jewish Day School won the awards.

"We're delighted that so many of our students participate in this program," said Nan Jarashow, head of Aleph Bet. "It's wonderful that Aleph Bet has won it three times. Parents create the enthusiasm for reading within the home, and they make a point of getting their children to the library to take part in the program. Our teachers nurture the children's love of reading, too. They read to the children daily and give children many opportunities to read."

This year the library system is adding a new feature to the program. "Where's Sneaks?" is a contest in which children will have to use word and picture clues to figure out where the mascot is hiding in Anne Arundel County.

T-shirts featuring the jungle version of Sneaks will go on sale tomorrow.

Margi Sigler is a freelance writer in south county.