Kasi Welborn, teen coordinator at the Mexico-Audrain County Library, knows that reading is a part of everyday life no matter how you look at it. Whether you’re checking a receipt, reading a facebook post, or even looking at a road sign, you’re reading.

Welborn is a reading enthusiast from Novinger but moved to town in 2016 happening upon her job at the library almost completely by accident.

“I had a pile of books to donate and I brought them in and asked if they were hiring and put in my application,” remembers Welborn. “A couple months later I had an interview.”

The start of her library career was a bit of a “deer in headlights” moment for Welborn.

“It is completely different from working any other job,” says Welborn.

Despite the small learning curve, Welborn is truly passionate about her job and quickly realized she had found her place.

“It’s so nice to work somewhere where people actually care about you, especially upper management,” says Welborn.

In 2021, after the height of the pandemic, she noticed some gaps in the reading programs hosted by the library.

“The summer programs go up to age 12 and didn’t start again after the age of 18 and that left an entire group of kids left out,” Welborn explains.

Having children herself, Welborn understood that summer reading may be a hard sell for that age group so she made the decision to offer a book club instead.

“The first couple months were just, ‘Okay let’s try this out, let’s see what we want to do.’ and I was so surprised,” says Welborn.

Although one of them was her own, Welborn was amazed to see that six kids came to their very first meeting.

“They voted on what to call it; we had several names: Novel Nation, Bookworm Warriors and they chose Book Dragon Domain,” says Welborn.

Book Dragon Domain has a unique set-up designed to keep members of all ages engaged and actively consuming literature.

“You can read whatever you want. It can be an audio book, graphic novel, it can be news articles for all I care,” says Welborn. “As long as you’re reading, I am happy.”

For every minute spent reading, whether it’s for a school assignment or pleasure, club members receive a point.

“We had one kid who only read magazines or mechanic articles and I was like, ‘That counts!’,” says Welborn.

Book club members are competing for first prize, which is a goodie bag full of novelties, books and even gift cards all funded by the library’s budget. This budget also helps fund the book club's special activities.

“I try to do activities the kids would really enjoy,” says Welborn. “They really enjoy the little scavenger hunts I do around the library.”

These scavenger hunts are designed to get participants to explore parts of the library they may not seek out on their own, get to know the library staff and to use the library resources such as the catalogue computer.

The 12-19 year age range is a complicated one to accommodate but as teen coordinator, Welborn knows just how to keep everyone happy.

“The sillier the better because at that age range, it’s like they’re preschoolers again,” Welborn jokes. “Well, the 12-year-olds probably don’t appreciate that but the 16-year olds are like, ‘Yeah! Stickers!’”

Welborn is passionate about keeping kids, and adults for that matter, reading, whatever that may look like for them and she is ready to challenge anyone who says they don’t like reading.

“You just haven't found the right book yet,” says Welborn. “You haven’t found the right platform.”

Book Dragon Domain book club meets on the fourth Tuesday of every month. Anyone is welcome, no sign up required. The first meeting of 2025 will be Jan. 28 at 3:30 p.m. at the Mexico Middle School library.