As I've alluded to in other posts, I don't exclusively do Young Adult Librarian stuff at the Hayden Library. When the Youth Services department needs a hand, I'm one of the go-to guys. During this summer, I get to go to Ramsey Elementary and do some crafts with the School Plus kids and the Summer Meals kids. This is my third time coming down during the summer, and right now I'm waiting to see if my afternoon group is going to show up. Sometimes they do, sometimes they don't. So I figured that I would write up a quick Book Blurt while I was waiting. American Born Chinese is our title for this week. Last time that I came to Ramsey Elementary, I started reading this graphic novel by Gene Luen Yang in the down time, and today I got a chance to finish it. This title has come across a few of the magazines and reviews that I look at because it received the Michael Printz Award for Excellence in Young Adult Literature. It caught my eye on the bookmobile shelf, so I decided I'd see what it was like.
The book starts with three distinct stories being told. One story is started, and then the novel jumps to another story line and then the other, and then starts the cycle over again. At the beginning of the novel, these stories don't appear to have anything to do with each other. One tells the story of a young boy who is a first generation Chinese-American. Although he has lived in America his entire life, he still has Chinese traditions, and has a hard time fitting in. The book opens with the young boy, Jin Wang, meeting another Chinese-American boy, Wei-Chen Sun. They soon become friends because they can understand where the other is coming from. Another story line tells of a monkey king who strives to become one of the gods. After he is thrown out of gods' dinner party, he decides to master the art of Kung-Fu. After years of discipline he masters the art and is now invincible to almost everything and can also change his form. The third story line is an American teenager, Danny, who has to put up with the visits of his weird Chinese cousin once a year. His cousin is so bad that he has had to transfer to another school every time his cousin leaves because no one will associate with him. At the very end of the book, we find out that these three story lines are actually one story line after all. The author just hadn't told us what the connections were yet.
I found this book very interesting to read. The book opens with the story of the monkey king and then jumps into the real life events of the two boys. The contrast between the supernatural and natural is rather strange the first time you read the book. You wonder what the supernatural events of a monkey god are doing in the story. Although its a little bit confusing, knowing how the stories were entangled would take away from the effectiveness of the story. The main theme in the book is being content with who you are. Several of the characters try to change their physical appearance in an effort to change themselves and avoid their problems. By the end of the novel, the characters have learned that its better to be yourself than to be something that you are not. Although the tale of accepting who you are has been written several times, American Born Chinese is definitely its own work, and is an interesting way to approach this topic. On a side note, I don't mind graphic novels at all. Although I wouldn't read them exclusively, I think there is literary value in the pages of this book, and I'm looking forward to looking at some other graphic novels.
Wednesday, July 28, 2010
Friday, July 23, 2010
Another Post about Flying Time?
Another fine Friday, wouldn’t you say? I once again find it so amusing to think that another week is already over. What did I do this week? Turns out a whole bunch. Not only at work, but at my church and at my school. If I’m not at work, I’m doing homework, planning some things as the Chairperson of the Student Body Government at Lewis Clark State College-CDA, or helping with a new program at my church. Needless to say, keeping myself this busy makes the weeks pass very quickly.
Not only do I find it amazing that the weeks are passing so quickly, I’m also finding it amazing that the summer has passed so quickly. We are already to the 23rd of July. That’s weird. In about a month I’ll be starting the fall semester of my senior year at LCSC-CDA. How am I already a month away from the end of summer? Even though we’re almost through July, we have some fun things still coming up before we kiss the summer of 2010 goodbye.
This week is the end of most of our Tween programs. I had my last Open Game Friday this morning, and our last Ka-Boom Science Experiments is this Monday. While these two programs are ending, we still have two more weeks of Tween Summer Reading. This week, we are doing Art Cards. You’re probably thinking that Art Cards could mean a lot of things. For our purposes, Art Cards are small collages that we will be making using stamps, markers, magazine clippings, and anything else we can find. A week after Art Cards, we are going to be ending our Tween Summer Reading program with a Beach Party. That means having some cooky games and some hot dogs and having a great time.
A week from today we are having our Free Concert with the CDA Rock School. If you enjoy listening to rock music in the slightest, you should be at the Hayden Library from 7pm to 9pm next Friday. Karen and I attended a CDA Rock School concert just before school ended, and it was amazing. There are some very talented young people playing classic rock tunes. Makes for a great time!
Just a couple weeks after the CDA Rock School, Whilce Portacio is coming up. I still think it is crazy that a major Marvel Comics illustrator is coming to the Hayden Library, but it is happening. Whilce will be doing a Q & A session, as well as offering some tips on getting into the comics business. You can also bring in your comic books and graphic novels for Whilce to autograph.
For the last couple of weeks, we have had a few teens come in having read 25 hours. This summer, we have been giving away prizes for reading. I knew what my prizes were for 5, 10, and 15 hours, but I have just figured out our prize for 25 hours this week. So basically this is how it works. If you read 25 hours, you get another free book, some prizes from our prize stash, and 1 ticket for our Borders Gift Card drawing.
For every five hours read over 25 hours you will get another ticket for our gift card drawing. So another ticket at 30 hours, another ticket at 35 hours, and so on. The more hours you read, the more chances you have to win. There is no limit to how many hours you can read, or how many tickets you can have in the gift card drawing.
So, there you have it. Summer might be 2/3 over, but there is still plenty of fun to have at the Hayden Library.
Not only do I find it amazing that the weeks are passing so quickly, I’m also finding it amazing that the summer has passed so quickly. We are already to the 23rd of July. That’s weird. In about a month I’ll be starting the fall semester of my senior year at LCSC-CDA. How am I already a month away from the end of summer? Even though we’re almost through July, we have some fun things still coming up before we kiss the summer of 2010 goodbye.
This week is the end of most of our Tween programs. I had my last Open Game Friday this morning, and our last Ka-Boom Science Experiments is this Monday. While these two programs are ending, we still have two more weeks of Tween Summer Reading. This week, we are doing Art Cards. You’re probably thinking that Art Cards could mean a lot of things. For our purposes, Art Cards are small collages that we will be making using stamps, markers, magazine clippings, and anything else we can find. A week after Art Cards, we are going to be ending our Tween Summer Reading program with a Beach Party. That means having some cooky games and some hot dogs and having a great time.
A week from today we are having our Free Concert with the CDA Rock School. If you enjoy listening to rock music in the slightest, you should be at the Hayden Library from 7pm to 9pm next Friday. Karen and I attended a CDA Rock School concert just before school ended, and it was amazing. There are some very talented young people playing classic rock tunes. Makes for a great time!
Just a couple weeks after the CDA Rock School, Whilce Portacio is coming up. I still think it is crazy that a major Marvel Comics illustrator is coming to the Hayden Library, but it is happening. Whilce will be doing a Q & A session, as well as offering some tips on getting into the comics business. You can also bring in your comic books and graphic novels for Whilce to autograph.
For the last couple of weeks, we have had a few teens come in having read 25 hours. This summer, we have been giving away prizes for reading. I knew what my prizes were for 5, 10, and 15 hours, but I have just figured out our prize for 25 hours this week. So basically this is how it works. If you read 25 hours, you get another free book, some prizes from our prize stash, and 1 ticket for our Borders Gift Card drawing.
For every five hours read over 25 hours you will get another ticket for our gift card drawing. So another ticket at 30 hours, another ticket at 35 hours, and so on. The more hours you read, the more chances you have to win. There is no limit to how many hours you can read, or how many tickets you can have in the gift card drawing.
So, there you have it. Summer might be 2/3 over, but there is still plenty of fun to have at the Hayden Library.
Wednesday, July 21, 2010
When Freedom and Safety Run into Each Other
Eventually, I want to be consistent with this blog, which means I’ll post twice a week. Obviously, I’m saying that because I missed a Book Blurt post last Wednesday. As we all know, being consistent often means making times for the things that are important. If they aren’t a priority, they normally won’t get done. So to remain consistent, these blog posts need to become priorities for me. So, here’s to consistency. Rash by Pete Hautman is the topic of this week’s post. My sister read this book a little bit before I did. I was trying to get some YouTube videos on my YouTube channel, so I used Animoto to make a quick video about the book. Turns out that Pete Hautman actually saw my video, and posted it to his personal blog. That obviously made my week. It took me a while to get a chance to read it, but now I have, and can say that it is a good one.
The book follows Bo Marsten, a junior in High School, who lives in the United Safer States of America. The book happens in a time several years in the future, when football, french fries, and drinking are illegal because they are too dangerous. Anyone who does something too unsafe is put into a labor prison camp. As it turns out, the vast majority of work in the USSA is done by inmates in these labor camps. Road rage, instead of just being a personal problem, can now land you five years in a labor camp. That is what happened to Bo’s dad, Bo’s brother, and as the book opens, it is about to happen to Bo as well. Bo lets his jealousy for a girl lead him to punch a guy in the face, and that is enough to put him away. When Bo gets to the Alaskan prison camp with near Siberian conditions, he finds that it is an entirely different world behind bars. Anyone who is good enough plays football for the enjoyment of the manager of the prison camp. Bo is given no pads even though on the outside he had to wear pads to run a race, let alone play football, an illegal sport. After breaking out of the prison camp, Bo obviously has a hard time fitting back into a world that is so regulated and focused on safety even to the point of ridiculousness.
This book is a satire of the ultimate end of the question, “would you give up your freedoms to be safe?” The citizens of the USSA have done just that. They subject themselves to forced labor if they cross the smallest infraction because they want to feel “safe” from “dangerous” things like football and road rage. The satire is completed by the realistic details that Hautman adds to the story. What big organizations would be in charge of these labor camps in the future? What would the pledge of allegiance sound like? The realistic hypothetical future coupled with the questions of freedom versus safety make for a very interesting read.
The book follows Bo Marsten, a junior in High School, who lives in the United Safer States of America. The book happens in a time several years in the future, when football, french fries, and drinking are illegal because they are too dangerous. Anyone who does something too unsafe is put into a labor prison camp. As it turns out, the vast majority of work in the USSA is done by inmates in these labor camps. Road rage, instead of just being a personal problem, can now land you five years in a labor camp. That is what happened to Bo’s dad, Bo’s brother, and as the book opens, it is about to happen to Bo as well. Bo lets his jealousy for a girl lead him to punch a guy in the face, and that is enough to put him away. When Bo gets to the Alaskan prison camp with near Siberian conditions, he finds that it is an entirely different world behind bars. Anyone who is good enough plays football for the enjoyment of the manager of the prison camp. Bo is given no pads even though on the outside he had to wear pads to run a race, let alone play football, an illegal sport. After breaking out of the prison camp, Bo obviously has a hard time fitting back into a world that is so regulated and focused on safety even to the point of ridiculousness.
This book is a satire of the ultimate end of the question, “would you give up your freedoms to be safe?” The citizens of the USSA have done just that. They subject themselves to forced labor if they cross the smallest infraction because they want to feel “safe” from “dangerous” things like football and road rage. The satire is completed by the realistic details that Hautman adds to the story. What big organizations would be in charge of these labor camps in the future? What would the pledge of allegiance sound like? The realistic hypothetical future coupled with the questions of freedom versus safety make for a very interesting read.
Friday, July 16, 2010
Time and Repetition
How are we all doing today? As usual, my week has been pretty busy, but I’m having way too much fun working with the young adults and the younger kiddos at the library.
Time and repetition are funny things to me. You start your work day, and you have a list of things that need to get done. Then you end your work day, and you still have things on that list that didn’t get done. Time seems to fly faster the more of it you need. Doing things over and over again, such as a blog post, are also interesting. You get it done one week, and then before you know it, you have another one that needs to get done because a week has already passed. Sometimes those time pass you right by and you miss a blog post. Crazy stuff.
As I’m writing this blog post, our office is a little bit of a mess. Space is a precious commodity because we have so many materials and programs to keep track of, so we are getting some new shelving for our office. Even though it is only a few shelves, it will be a big help to us. Thanks to our director, John Hartung, for getting those up for us.
Also as I’m writing this, there have been a few changes to our summer programs. As I mentioned in my last blog post, we have been partnering with Lightning Comics over the summer. Whilce Portacio, one of the illustrators for none other than Marvel Comics, is flying over from Seattle during the second weekend in August. While he is in the area, he will be signing books at Lightning Comics, and doing a program for us at the Hayden Library. Should be pretty awesome.
The second change to our summer programs is moving the date of our Karaoke event. It was originally scheduled for the 16th of August, but that puts it awfully close to the Whilce Portacio visit. To make it easier to catch both programs, we are moving the Karaoke program to July 27th from 5:00 to 8:00pm. Todd Alexander, a local Karaoke Jockey, will still be coming over for the event.
Well that is all August stuff, so let’s talk about July stuff. We are having our monthly Rock the Boat program for the 14 to 18 year old group this Monday from 6 to 7pm. We’re calling it ReMix it Up, and we’ll be making some movies using our Flip camera and Windows Movie Maker. We are also having our Last Friday program on well the last Friday, which is the 30th of July. It is going to be a free concert with the Coeur d’ Alene Rock School. The concert is going to start at 7pm and go until 9pm. This program was originally going to be for only our 14 to 18 group, but people from every age group are interested in it, so we are opening it up to all ages.
Well here’s to another week of fun in the sun!
Time and repetition are funny things to me. You start your work day, and you have a list of things that need to get done. Then you end your work day, and you still have things on that list that didn’t get done. Time seems to fly faster the more of it you need. Doing things over and over again, such as a blog post, are also interesting. You get it done one week, and then before you know it, you have another one that needs to get done because a week has already passed. Sometimes those time pass you right by and you miss a blog post. Crazy stuff.
As I’m writing this blog post, our office is a little bit of a mess. Space is a precious commodity because we have so many materials and programs to keep track of, so we are getting some new shelving for our office. Even though it is only a few shelves, it will be a big help to us. Thanks to our director, John Hartung, for getting those up for us.
Also as I’m writing this, there have been a few changes to our summer programs. As I mentioned in my last blog post, we have been partnering with Lightning Comics over the summer. Whilce Portacio, one of the illustrators for none other than Marvel Comics, is flying over from Seattle during the second weekend in August. While he is in the area, he will be signing books at Lightning Comics, and doing a program for us at the Hayden Library. Should be pretty awesome.
The second change to our summer programs is moving the date of our Karaoke event. It was originally scheduled for the 16th of August, but that puts it awfully close to the Whilce Portacio visit. To make it easier to catch both programs, we are moving the Karaoke program to July 27th from 5:00 to 8:00pm. Todd Alexander, a local Karaoke Jockey, will still be coming over for the event.
Well that is all August stuff, so let’s talk about July stuff. We are having our monthly Rock the Boat program for the 14 to 18 year old group this Monday from 6 to 7pm. We’re calling it ReMix it Up, and we’ll be making some movies using our Flip camera and Windows Movie Maker. We are also having our Last Friday program on well the last Friday, which is the 30th of July. It is going to be a free concert with the Coeur d’ Alene Rock School. The concert is going to start at 7pm and go until 9pm. This program was originally going to be for only our 14 to 18 group, but people from every age group are interested in it, so we are opening it up to all ages.
Well here’s to another week of fun in the sun!
Friday, July 9, 2010
Learning from Mistakes
How are we doing today? As far as North Idaho goes, I think summer has finally arrived. It has actually been ninety degrees twice in the last week. Consequently, I’m going to the beach after work today.
Karen and I have been learning a whole lot about doing tween/teen programs over this first month and a half of programs. As we have never done programs for this age group before, we only have the things we’ve read and the assumptions that we have from younger programming. We are finding that serving this audience is entirely different, and we are trying to adapt our own ideas to meet your needs. New things are definitely a learning experience, and we have made some mistakes. But, we are learning from these mistakes, and are working for better library programs in the future.
This week has been filled with our usual band of suspects. Monday opened with three programs at the same time, which is what we have been doing all summer. Miss Cassie has an Every Child Ready to Read workshop, for the 3-5 age group. We also have an open craft set up where families can come anytime between 10 and 2 and make some crafts. The third program is mine, and is Ka-Boom Science Experiments. We had the chance to do a Mentos Diet Coke rocket, and we also got to make Gak. If you ever get a chance, I would highly advice doing both of those experiments. If you go to Steven Spangler’s website, he has all of the steps you will need.
Tuesday means Tween Summer Reading for me. This last week we made denim summer beach bags. We had sequence, petals, glitter glue, and buttons galore, and the bags turned out amazingly. We also had a really good turnout which is always cool.
Wednesday is our younger summer reading program, and this week we played READO, which is BINGO by any other name. Instead of numbers and letters, we did letters and different items such as bicycles, shoes, and dinosaurs. Then of course we gave away some of our summer reading prizes.
Thursday means that I get to go to Finucane Park. This was actually the first story time that I got involved in when I started working in the children’s area, and I’ve been doing it ever since. We read some frog stories and played with our parachute which is always fun.
Which brings us to today, and today we have our Open Game Friday and I’m working on getting our Ka-Boom program set up for Monday. Ka-Boom is going to be electricity experiments next week.
This past week I’ve also been busy doing some advertising. Karen made me up some new flyers, and I’ve been busy posting them at different businesses and stores (don’t worry, I asked before I put any up). I was really encouraged by how many places were willing to post information about library programs.
Well join us for Ka-Boom on Monday, Tween Summer Reading on Tuesday, which is going to be a battleship tournament, and you can also come on down for our Open Game Friday. Hope your week is filled with amazing times with friends, family, productivity, and plenty of sunshine.
Karen and I have been learning a whole lot about doing tween/teen programs over this first month and a half of programs. As we have never done programs for this age group before, we only have the things we’ve read and the assumptions that we have from younger programming. We are finding that serving this audience is entirely different, and we are trying to adapt our own ideas to meet your needs. New things are definitely a learning experience, and we have made some mistakes. But, we are learning from these mistakes, and are working for better library programs in the future.
This week has been filled with our usual band of suspects. Monday opened with three programs at the same time, which is what we have been doing all summer. Miss Cassie has an Every Child Ready to Read workshop, for the 3-5 age group. We also have an open craft set up where families can come anytime between 10 and 2 and make some crafts. The third program is mine, and is Ka-Boom Science Experiments. We had the chance to do a Mentos Diet Coke rocket, and we also got to make Gak. If you ever get a chance, I would highly advice doing both of those experiments. If you go to Steven Spangler’s website, he has all of the steps you will need.
Tuesday means Tween Summer Reading for me. This last week we made denim summer beach bags. We had sequence, petals, glitter glue, and buttons galore, and the bags turned out amazingly. We also had a really good turnout which is always cool.
Wednesday is our younger summer reading program, and this week we played READO, which is BINGO by any other name. Instead of numbers and letters, we did letters and different items such as bicycles, shoes, and dinosaurs. Then of course we gave away some of our summer reading prizes.
Thursday means that I get to go to Finucane Park. This was actually the first story time that I got involved in when I started working in the children’s area, and I’ve been doing it ever since. We read some frog stories and played with our parachute which is always fun.
Which brings us to today, and today we have our Open Game Friday and I’m working on getting our Ka-Boom program set up for Monday. Ka-Boom is going to be electricity experiments next week.
This past week I’ve also been busy doing some advertising. Karen made me up some new flyers, and I’ve been busy posting them at different businesses and stores (don’t worry, I asked before I put any up). I was really encouraged by how many places were willing to post information about library programs.
Well join us for Ka-Boom on Monday, Tween Summer Reading on Tuesday, which is going to be a battleship tournament, and you can also come on down for our Open Game Friday. Hope your week is filled with amazing times with friends, family, productivity, and plenty of sunshine.
Wednesday, July 7, 2010
Just Odd Enough to be Awesome
Happy sunny Wednesday! At least, it’s sunny here. Hope your Independence day was filled with friends, family, and appreciation for the freedom and principles that this nation is built on. Anyways, this week’s book blurt is about Criss Cross, a novel by Lynne Rae Perkins. Apart from reading several reviews on the book, and having it mentioned on several reading lists I look at, this was another one of those books that I glanced through when I was shelving books as a page. The book has also been awarded the John Newberry Medal, so I figured I would actually sit down and read it.
This book tells the stories of Debbie and Hector as they go about their lives in a very normal summer. Debbie and Hector have known each other for a long time as they have been going to the same schools as long as they can remember. The book goes back and forth from telling Debbie’s story, to telling Hector’s story, and then telling something that might happen to both of them. The book also concerns itself with Debbie and Hector’s families and friends. While reading through the book, there is no huge happening that jumps out at you. This book just looks at growing up from Debbie’s and Hector’s perspectives. It also deals with fate, destiny, chance, and moments and chooses that can change your life, or keep your life exactly the same.
This book is just odd enough to be awesome without being too odd that it is hard to read. The book doesn’t keep within the “normal” way of writing a novel. Instead of having longer chapters, this book has some long chapter, and some chapters that are only half a page. Instead of just having prose throughout, sometimes there is poetry, or a stanza of a song. In addition, there are small illustrations that start some of the chapters, or are mixed in with the words. The characters themselves are also a little off base. They don’t think normal thoughts. Instead, the characters think and feel very realistic, which means random. Instead of following one thought to its conclusion, sometimes the characters jump from topic to topic just like we do in our own minds. There are also some very odd thoughts that made me laugh out loud because I could totally see myself thinking or saying that same thing. The normal subject matter, coupled with the odd writing style makes for a very fun, interesting, and entertaining read.
This book tells the stories of Debbie and Hector as they go about their lives in a very normal summer. Debbie and Hector have known each other for a long time as they have been going to the same schools as long as they can remember. The book goes back and forth from telling Debbie’s story, to telling Hector’s story, and then telling something that might happen to both of them. The book also concerns itself with Debbie and Hector’s families and friends. While reading through the book, there is no huge happening that jumps out at you. This book just looks at growing up from Debbie’s and Hector’s perspectives. It also deals with fate, destiny, chance, and moments and chooses that can change your life, or keep your life exactly the same.
This book is just odd enough to be awesome without being too odd that it is hard to read. The book doesn’t keep within the “normal” way of writing a novel. Instead of having longer chapters, this book has some long chapter, and some chapters that are only half a page. Instead of just having prose throughout, sometimes there is poetry, or a stanza of a song. In addition, there are small illustrations that start some of the chapters, or are mixed in with the words. The characters themselves are also a little off base. They don’t think normal thoughts. Instead, the characters think and feel very realistic, which means random. Instead of following one thought to its conclusion, sometimes the characters jump from topic to topic just like we do in our own minds. There are also some very odd thoughts that made me laugh out loud because I could totally see myself thinking or saying that same thing. The normal subject matter, coupled with the odd writing style makes for a very fun, interesting, and entertaining read.
Saturday, July 3, 2010
Awesome Library Partners!
How is this Independence Day Weekend finding you? For the library, it has been another busy week of great programs and fun.
Can you believe that it is one day away from the Fourth of July? I still can't believe how fast June has blown by. Before we know it, it'll be August, and we'll be prepping for our fall programs. Time flies when you are having fun, and when you are really, really busy.
This week at the library, we will be making Gak and a Diet Coke Mentos Geyser at our Monday Ka-Boom Science Experiments program. The program starts at 10:30am and goes to 11:30.
At our Tween Summer Reading program on Tuesday, we will be making Summer Beach Bags using sequence, glitter glue, petals, and all other kinds of awesomeness. This program starts at 11am and goes to noon.
Lastly, we will be having our Open Game Friday where the Wii will be set up, and I'm going to grab our board games and see if we want to play those this week.
I think I need to take this time to thank some of the people that have made some amazing programs happen for us. First of all, I want to thank Tim Boal down at Lightning Comics for partnering with the Hayden Library. He has helped us on three of our programs. The first was a Yu-Gi-Oh training, the next was letting us borrow some games for our Last Friday game night, and the third was for the younger kids and was a Readng with Superman.
The next person to mention is Mark Evans at the CDA School of Woodworking. He donated twenty five wooden boat bodies, and random boat pieces that made some amazing wooden boats. One of the ideas of the program was to see which boats floated and which didn't, and most of them did. The other part of the program was making some awesome boats, and that definitley happened as well.
Another partner is the North Idaho Fair & Rodeo. If anyone eighteen years or younger who is registered for summer reading reads fifteen hours, they will get a free pass to the fair on the opening day. Great stuff!
Lastly, the Texas Roadhouse is partnering with us as well. They are giving a free kids meal to anyone who reads ten hours and is under the age of twelve. Even though this doesn't apply to everyone in our Make Waves program, it is still really cool.
At our last Ka-Boom program, Mr. B (his last name is really hard to spell) programmed Lego NXT robots and brought them in for the tweens to play with. He put a lot of time programming the robots, and creating building instructions for the robots themselves.
Although some of the programs didn't have a huge turnout, I'm hoping that these are the beginnings of some beautiful friendships. These are just a few of the people that are partnering with us, and I'll tell you about the others as they get closer.
See you on Wednesday for a Book Blurt on Criss Cross by Lynne Rae Perkins, and have a great Independence Day!
Can you believe that it is one day away from the Fourth of July? I still can't believe how fast June has blown by. Before we know it, it'll be August, and we'll be prepping for our fall programs. Time flies when you are having fun, and when you are really, really busy.
This week at the library, we will be making Gak and a Diet Coke Mentos Geyser at our Monday Ka-Boom Science Experiments program. The program starts at 10:30am and goes to 11:30.
At our Tween Summer Reading program on Tuesday, we will be making Summer Beach Bags using sequence, glitter glue, petals, and all other kinds of awesomeness. This program starts at 11am and goes to noon.
Lastly, we will be having our Open Game Friday where the Wii will be set up, and I'm going to grab our board games and see if we want to play those this week.
I think I need to take this time to thank some of the people that have made some amazing programs happen for us. First of all, I want to thank Tim Boal down at Lightning Comics for partnering with the Hayden Library. He has helped us on three of our programs. The first was a Yu-Gi-Oh training, the next was letting us borrow some games for our Last Friday game night, and the third was for the younger kids and was a Readng with Superman.
The next person to mention is Mark Evans at the CDA School of Woodworking. He donated twenty five wooden boat bodies, and random boat pieces that made some amazing wooden boats. One of the ideas of the program was to see which boats floated and which didn't, and most of them did. The other part of the program was making some awesome boats, and that definitley happened as well.
Another partner is the North Idaho Fair & Rodeo. If anyone eighteen years or younger who is registered for summer reading reads fifteen hours, they will get a free pass to the fair on the opening day. Great stuff!
Lastly, the Texas Roadhouse is partnering with us as well. They are giving a free kids meal to anyone who reads ten hours and is under the age of twelve. Even though this doesn't apply to everyone in our Make Waves program, it is still really cool.
At our last Ka-Boom program, Mr. B (his last name is really hard to spell) programmed Lego NXT robots and brought them in for the tweens to play with. He put a lot of time programming the robots, and creating building instructions for the robots themselves.
Although some of the programs didn't have a huge turnout, I'm hoping that these are the beginnings of some beautiful friendships. These are just a few of the people that are partnering with us, and I'll tell you about the others as they get closer.
See you on Wednesday for a Book Blurt on Criss Cross by Lynne Rae Perkins, and have a great Independence Day!
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