Adventure Begins at the Eager Free Library!

The Summer Library Club for all ages starts June 10th!  The theme this year is “Adventure Begins.” Here’s a brief description of how each program works:

Children’s Reading Challenge

Make your own goal of how much you’d like to read this summer!  Pick up a log from the library starting June 10 and choose your path. When you make your goal, choose a book prize from our cart, available starting July 10, and enter the Grand Prize Drawing. Read more paths and earn more Grand Prize Drawing slips!

Bonus Adventure Path: Try at least 5 of the outdoor activities on our bonus sheet and earn an extra Grand Prize Drawing slip!

 

Teen Reading Challenge

Pick up a BINGO sheet from the library and read any 5 in a row, any direction to earn a Grand Prize Drawing slip and your choice of a book from the prize cart!  Each additional square completed earns another slip for the Grand Prize Drawing on Aug. 10^th! (Prizes include gift certificates to Culvers, Target, and area businesses as well as a DIY wood dragon model!)

 

Adult Reading Challenge

Pick up a BINGO sheet from the library and read any 5 in a row, any direction to earn a Grand Prize Drawing slip and your choice of a book to be purchased!  Each additional square completed earns another slip for the Grand Prize Drawing on Aug. 10^th for a bag of goodies!

 

Summer Programs Preview:  

The Storywagon events are back!  Join us for 4 big performers for all ages this summer on Tuesdays at 10 am: Snake Discovery, Mad Science, Fox & Branch (music group),and TNZ Magic Show!  We’ll also have a Saturday Adventure Movie Trivia event (with a movie gift card prize!) and don’t miss the Food Cart Fest Finale in August, with a picnic on our front lawn, food trucks, music, and Grand Prize drawings!

 

Other kids events include Planet Balloon prints and  a rocket craft, and we’ll have both kid and teen versions of tie dye and a Viking escape room!  Teens are also invited to participate in an Art Contest and our Teen Lock-In!

 

The Friends will be having their annual Ice Cream Social in June, and we have a number of crafting programs and kits for adults this summer, from mini serving trays and adventure signposts to vintage maps decoupage.  We also offer a monthly Spanish/English conversation group at El Vallarta restaurant and we’d love to see your suggestions for an adventure playlist!

 

Pick up our summer flyers at the library for more details, available now!

Read ‘em & Reap: goblin goop and other unusual gardening Books

 

The abundance of flowers and flowering trees lately combined with spying some strange new gardening titles has led us to think about some of the crazy and amazing ways plants have been used and cultivated and how they can help mental health. Here are a few titles we found intriguing:

 

Goblin Mode: How to Get Cozy, Embrace Imperfection, and Thrive in the Muck by McKayla Coyle 

Feel like you don’t fit in? The author shares advice on embracing your inner goblin through creating a moss lair and growing medicinal plants.

Floral Folklore: The forgotten tales behind nature’s most enchanting plants by Alison Davies

           Intriguing stories behind how plants got their names and other stories.

Secret World of Plants by Ben Hoare (Children’s NF)

             Weird plant-animal relationships, how the venus flytrap counts to trap prey…

New Naturalism by Kelly D Norris

                Suggestions on creating a home garden that can handle climate change                                   fluctuations.

 

American Roots by Nick and Allison McCullough and Teresa Woodward

 

The authors travelled the U.S. to discover creative, inventive gardens and share ideas that could be used in a home garden.

Attracting Beneficial Bugs to Your Garden by Jessica Walliser

 

Interesting perspective on introducing a natural balance to your garden by keeping plants that attract beneficial bugs.

 

The Green Witch’s Garden by Arin Murphy-Hiscock

 

                Thinks of gardens as sacred spaces, with ideas for plants that are useful for cultivation.

Moms in Books, Real and Imagined

 

Motherhood is tough and in a society where it is highly idealized, even if you have an amazing mom, it is interesting to hear other perspectives and experiences.  Whether you’re a mom, frustrated by your mom, or feeling the loss of a mom, here are some books to inspire and let you know you’re not alone.

(True!) Paula by Isabel Allende:  An autobiographical account of when the author’s daughter fell into a coma. The author recounts to her the history of their Chilean-American family, with magical realism elements.

(True!) Mom & Me & Mom by Maya Angelou: The last of the author’s autobiographies, focusing on her relationship with her mother, who abandoned her while young, but returned 10 years later.

Where’d You Go, Bernadette? by Maria Semple: When her wild & whimsical mother Bernadette disappears, 15 year old Bee turns private detective to figure out what happened to her. A lighthearted and eccentric mystery/adventure.

 I’m the Vampire, That’s Why by Michele Bardsley: Single mom and vampire, Jessica has commitment issues after a bad divorce, but sexy vampire Patrick did save her life by turning her…

(Graphic Novel) Are You My Mother?A Comic Drama by Alison Bechdel: A comical, personal, intense look into the author’s unusual family with a gay father and complicated mother as well as the nature of female relationships and society.

(Historical fiction: 1950s New Orleans) Out of the Easy by Ruta Sepetys: Josie is a straight A student who has been saving every cent she can for college. Her mother’s job as a local prostitute has made things difficult, and when one of her mother’s clients turns up dead, the investigation threatens to ruin their tenuous relationship permanently.

Bucking the Sarge by Christopher Paul Curtis:  Luther is an African American teen who is determined to get out of Flint, MI, and away from his mother, who he calls Sarge. His mother owns a number of slum houses and Luther works hard maintaining them in return for college funds. The Sarge bullies, scams, and manipulates her way into everything she wants, including with her son, but Luther thinks he knows a way out.

(True!) The Color of Water: A Black Man’s Tribute to His White Mother by James McBride:  An introspective look at race, social class, and identity through the lens of an author raised by a black pastor father and a white mother in a family with 12 siblings.

How to Save a Life by Sarah Zarr:  Jill’s father has passed away, and Jill feels herself disconnecting from close friends and the world in general as a protective measure as she grieves.  Jill’s mother, however, decides to adopt a baby and let the teenage mother life with them during her pregnancy.

Asian American Pacific Islander Month

 

It is Asian American Pacific Islander Month (AAPI) and we are celebrating at the library today (Monday, May 6, 2 pm) with a movie showing of Moana on the big screen, along with some Korean and Indian snacks! Here are some fairly well-known books set in Asia and the Pacific Islands. How many have you read? (Please add a number in the comments, we’re curious!)  Are there others that you’ve read and enjoyed? Which do you feel gave the best insights into the countries they were about?

India

A Passage to India by E.M. Forster

The God of Small Things by Arundhati Roy

A Moment Comes by Bradbury

The Far Pavilions by MM Kay

Interpreter of Maladies by Jhumpa Lahiri

Siddhartha by Herman Hesse

Kim by Rudyard Kipling

 

China

Snow Flower and the Secret Fan by Lisa See

The Good Earth (House of Earth, #1) by Pearl S. Buck

The Joy Luck Club by Amy Tan 

Shanghai Girls (Shanghai Girls, #1) by Lisa See 

Waiting by Ha Jin

 

Japan

Memoirs of a Geisha by Arthur Golden

Shōgun (Asian Saga, #1) by James Clavell

Rainbirds by Clarissa Goenawan

 

Thailand

The Beach, Alex Garland

Sightseeing, Rattawut Lapcharoensap

A Good True Thai, Sunisa Manning

 

Samoa

Leaves of the Banyan Tree by Albert Wendt

 

Vietnam

The Lotus Eaters by Tatjana Soli 

Water Buffalo Days: Growing Up in Vietnam by Huynh Quang Nhuong

 

Korea

Pachinko by Min Jin Lee

When My Name Was Keoko by Linda Sue Park

Under the Same Sky by Joseph Kim

White Chrysanthemum by Mary Lynn Bracht

 

Philippines

Noli Me Tángere (Touch Me Not))by José Rizal

Patron Saints of Nothing by Randy Ribay