You Scream… I Scream…

We all scream for ice cream.!  Shhh, you’re in the library!

This upcoming Monday, June 8th, marks the kickoff of our summer reading program, and we are celebrating with a magic show at 6:30  pm and an ice cream social at 7:30 pm.  The magician, Rick Eugene, will amaze kids and adults alike with his magic act and balloon creations.  Afterwards, everyone can perform magic of their own by making several pails of ice cream disappear, along with numerous toppings.

Since Monday is the kickoff, anyone who wants to participate in the reading program can stop by to sign up and receive all the materials starting in the morning.  Be sure to stop by and pick up the reading program information soon if you can’t get in on Monday.  We are excited to begin counting minutes and keeping track of the leading teams. If you are interested in how your reading team is doing compared to the rest, stop by the library and look at our display behind the counter or ask one of  our summer reading program assistants to show you the  minute by minute up-to-date graph.

We hope to see you soon!

Oh, and by the way, we still need people to bring in candy wrappers and cereal boxes (both clean please) so we can have one of our summer activities.  Your help is appreciated!

Summer Reading Program

Heat, wind, dust, odor, and allergies – summer must be arriving in our corner of Iowa.  In fact, with two days already over ninety-degrees, it seemed odd to many of the library staff that we weren’t helping children and young adults turn in their summer reading minutes to collect prizes.  However, the rising temperatures have been increasing our anticipation for another season of reading.  This summer’s program with the theme “Be Creative at Your Library” will be unique, eventful, and exciting!

 The changing theme from year to year lends to the program’s uniqueness, but this year is especially different because all participants will be randomly assigned to one of four teams. In the past, we had age groups compete against one another to read the most minutes, but the third through fifth graders consistently shamed all other age groups.  So we broke up that dream team by putting all ages together into the blue, yellow, green, and purple teams. The winning team will receive this year’s reading title with all the bragging rights that go with it. If you win, feel free to let people know you were on the team that read the most– maybe they’ll be impressed or maybe they won’t.  In any case, you can experience the self-satisfaction of winning or at least letting the third through fifth graders carry you.

An important thing to remember is that the reading program is open to all ages.  Our motto is: If you can breathe, you can participate. We would especially like to see more adult participation this summer as it sets a good example for children and it will help contribute to the library goal of reaching 8,000 minutes. If participants achieve 8,000 minutes (everybody’s totals combined), the library, assisted by local businesses, will purchase a Wii for all ages to use. So everyone, but adults especially, need to be reading hard this summer to win the Wii and to help their team win the reading title! In order to keep a close running total we ask that adult participants try to turn in their reading minutes on a bi-weekly basis. It would be nice to see this reading competition come right down to the wire.

In addition to the reading, all ages can be entertained throughout the summer by attending our numerous events. Along with the usual kick-off ice cream social and the rocket launch later in June, we will be hosting a magic show, the Spoon Man, IPTV’s Dan Wardell, the Noise Guy, the whittler Rich Ahrenholtz, and Gary Harbo, who will be offering an instructional class on how to draw. With these activities and programs, the library will surely live up to its summer reading theme.

Be sure to stop in June 8 (opening day) to pick up your reading logs, or if you wait until that evening, you can check out the magic show at 6:30 and consume some ice cream afterwards.  For more information about the summer reading program and exact details, please go here.

Another GREAT Benefit to being OUR Library Patron!

I am just SO excited to share this with you.  We were granted a license from Sylvan Dell Publishers for all of our card-holding patrons to access their books online.  As parents, this is fun – you can pull up their titles and read the books right online with your children.  As teachers – you can make your screen full-size and read them with your entire class, or set them up individually to read the stories.  Sylvan Dell is known for it’s strong emphasis on Science and Math titles AND many are also in Spanish.  There are also links for more ideas to do with each title.  I am just so excited about this service we can offer you.  To acces it from anywhere you need to click HERE.  Now, you will also need a code to access it – to get that code either call or email us here at the library.  We will confirm you are a card-holding patron and then give you the access code.  Enjoy!!

At the Library…

In these tough economic times – it is good to be reminded that books are free at the library!!!  And if for nothing else – it’s a catchy tune!

Adult and Young Adult Winter Reading Program

It’s that time of year again!!  We don’t want your winter to be too cold and lonely so we are holding our annual Adult Winter Reading Program – except this year we threw in Young Adults for good measure!  It will run Feb. 2 through April 4.  And, for new excitement this year, we are having you keep track of what you read – BINGO-style.  So, stop in and pick up a BINGO sheet or download one HERE.  Once you’ve completed a BINGO – bring in your sheet for a prize AND an entry in our Grand Prize Drawing!!  So what are you waiting for – START READING!!

Usborne Book Fair

Did you know we are having a book fair!?!?  We are!!!  It started Nov. 7 and runs through Nov. 21.  This is an awesome way to purchase Christmas gifts AND support your library.  We have MANY books available to purchase right here OR you can also order from the catalog.  ALL orders are NO TAX AND NO SHIPPING.  AND, the best part is that all orders will be here in a few weeks – so IN TIME FOR CHRISTMAS!!  Stop in – the library benefits by receiving free books for the percentage of sales.  You can also purchase books from the library’s wish list if you’d like to give the library a gift this Christmas.  Hope to see you in for the book fair!

Digging to America

The All Iowa Reads book for this year has been Digging to America by Anne Tyler.  I read this years ago and found it to be a good read so I was thrilled when it was chosen for this year’s book.  It does have that adoptive thread, which interests me, but it has some other great issues we can discuss as a group as well.  So, to take part in our next Let’s Talk About It, all you need to do is just stop in and pick up a copy – they books are here and READY!!  We will have two upcoming discussions:

Tuesday, November 18 at 2 pm at Landsmeer Ridge OR Tuesday, November 18 at 7 pm at our library.  Choose the best time for you – but do plan to join us – it should be a good discussion!

Dewey (not Melville) comes to the Library

 

Back during the farm crisis of the 1980’s someone unceremoniously dumped a kitten, on a cold winter day mind you, in the book drop of the Spencer, Iowa public Library.  The Library decided to adopt the cat.  For 19 years the cat, named Dewey Readmore Books, called the Library his home, and its patrons his family.  Not only did he survive his dumping, he helped give some small comfort to the patrons of the Spencer Library during its worst farm crisis since the depression.  Author, and former librarian, Vicki Myron tells Dewey’s story with a sense of humor and amazement at all the attention and honors that one alley cat collected over the years.  If you live in Iowa, or know an Iowan, and added to that you are an animal lover, this is a nice warm read about a small yellow cat, and the librarians and patrons who loved him.  We have the book in large print. Animal lover? Check this one out!

A Walk in the Woods

This month’s “Let’s Talk About it” book is A Walk in the Woods by Iowa Author Bill Bryson.  The story is mostly about rediscovering America on the Appalachian trail.  That trail stretches 2,100 miles from Georgia to Maine and walking the whole thing will prove to be not only a physical feat of endurance, but one that puts an odd assortment of characters in the author’s path.  It’s at once a travel book and an adventure story;  A comedy and a piece on the glories of nature. It’s also a trail of self discovery and greater self awareness.  The discussion of this book is sure to be lively and lots of fun. We invite you to join us on Tuesday evening at 7 pm at the Orange City Library for Let’s talk about it!

Moscow Rules

                                                     
Author Daniel Silva has just delivered a new Gabriel Allon Spy thriller-Moscow Rules.  It seems that real life Moscow rules were developed during the Cold War by the CIA and provide guidelines for the way to conduct “business” in Russia. This provides the framework for the story.  Recent decades have seen an emergence of billionaires rising from the ashes of old Russia. Many of the privileged few flock to the beaches of southern France, vacationing in the warmth of the St. Tropez sun while the masses at home in Moscow are wiping icicles from their noses. One ruthless man to emerge with embarrassing riches is Ivan Kharkov, who enjoys his power and flaunts his success, which he buttresses with just about any kind of illegal activity as long as it’s profitable. He has no scruples about selling banned weapons to hostile buyers, if they have the money.

A Russian reporter who sets up a meeting would have told Gabriel all he needed to know to intercept an upcoming sale, a sale of terrifying proportions to a group with sinister intentions. He would have, that is, if he had lived. Gabriel has learned just enough to realize that he must find out more. His digging leads him to Karkhov’s doorstep. Someone inside is trying to get the word out, but the Russian’s security is maddeningly tight. By the time Gabriel tracks down the source of Karkhov’s leak, it may be too late. But he has to try.

It was a great read, one filled with altogether too many intrigues that could indeed be entirely possible in today’s scary world of terrorists, warlords, and general a-moral rich dudes running around not caring one whit about anything but increasing their wealth and power in the world.  There were a few stretches into unbelivability, but I was willing to go along for the sake of Israeli spy Allon and his many friends in London and Washington.

This is a book I give an A+ to, and highly recommend!