Reading programs spell success

The chil­dren of Delaware County made the Delaware County Dis­trict Library’s 2012 Sum­mer Read­ing Club another spec­tac­u­lar and record-breaking suc­cess. Although totals are still being com­piled, more than 6,000 chil­dren read books, attended pro­grams and received stick­ers and prizes for their efforts. More impor­tantly, their involve­ment in the Library’s sum­mer read­ing club let them hone and develop their read­ing skills, mak­ing them more pre­pared to start the upcom­ing school year.

Hun­dreds of teens also joined in sum­mer read­ing this year, read­ing, attend­ing pro­grams and help­ing out in the library’s Vol­un­teen pro­gram. Their par­tic­i­pa­tion helped them to fos­ter a love of read­ing and the sat­is­fac­tion of volunteering.

Adults cer­tainly held their own this sum­mer too, with nearly 1,100 reg­is­ter­ing online and read­ing and dis­cussing books. No doubt, their appre­ci­a­tion of a good book and their joy of read­ing will serve as splen­did mod­els for chil­dren and teens alike.

Every­one who par­tic­i­pated in this year’s sum­mer read­ing club cer­tainly brought the theme, “Dream Big … Read!” to life. Thanks to all who were a part of the programs.

The children’s staff will be tak­ing a much needed rest and there will be no story times for chil­dren until Sep­tem­ber, but August is filled with ter­rific pro­grams for adults. There is a grant writ­ing sem­i­nar at 7 p.m. Aug. 14 at the Pow­ell Branch, and the Green Lec­ture Series con­tin­ues with a pre­sen­ta­tion on bee­keep­ing at 7 p.m. Aug. 16 at the Orange Branch. There will be book dis­cus­sion groups meet­ing at all library loca­tions this month, too.

Check the online cal­en­dar at delawarelibrary.org, or pick up a copy of “Check It Out!” at any library loca­tion for more pro­gram­ming details.

When you’re in the library in August, look for these great books on the New Book Shelves.

• Bul­lied: What Every Par­ent, Teacher, and Kid Needs to Know About End­ing the Cycle of Fear by Car­rie Gold­man Segall. The mother of a bul­lied first grader draws on research from the top experts in the field to pro­vide spe­cific advice on how to help chil­dren respond to bul­lies, reveal­ing how to mit­i­gate the destruc­tive behav­ior that affects too many children.

• A Death in Italy: The Defin­i­tive Account of the Amanda Knox Case by John Fol­lain. A Lon­don Times jour­nal­ist presents a com­pre­hen­sive account of the highly pub­li­cized trial of Amanda Knox, draw­ing on hun­dreds of first-hand inter­views and access to com­plete case files to assess the true story and media sen­sa­tion sur­round­ing the 2007 mur­der of her roommate.

• Hostage by Elie Wiesel. In 1975, Shaltiel Feigen­berg, a Jew­ish writer from Brook­lyn, endures a night­mar­ish abduc­tion by Arab and Ital­ian cap­tors by shar­ing poignant sto­ries from his child­hood years spent hid­ing from the Nazis.

• The Kingmaker’s Daugh­ter by Philippa Gre­gory. Presents a tale inspired by the daugh­ters of “King­maker” Richard, 15th cen­tury Earl of War­wick, who uses his daugh­ters as polit­i­cal pawns before their strate­gic mar­riages place them on oppos­ing sides in a royal war that will cost them every­one they love.

• The Lin­coln Let­ter by William Mar­tin. A lat­est entry in the best-selling series by the author of The Lost Con­sti­tu­tion finds Peter Fal­lon and Evan­ge­line Car­ring­ton head­ing to Wash­ing­ton, D.C., to com­pete against dan­ger­ous adver­saries in a hunt for the 16th President’s Civil War diary, a record that con­tains infor­ma­tion that could change his­tory and influ­ence key elections.

• The New New Deal: The Hid­den Story of Change in the Obama Era by Michael Grun­wald. An award-winning Times senior cor­re­spon­dent reveals lesser-known aspects of the stim­u­lus bill while explain­ing how the Obama administration’s pro­gres­sive steps have pre­vented an immi­nent depres­sion while sup­port­ing clean energy, health care, edu­ca­tion reform and other pos­i­tive agendas.

• Psy­cho USA: Famous Amer­i­can Killers You Never Heard Of by Harold Schechter. Shares the sto­ries of lesser-known ser­ial killers includ­ing “Mad Sculp­tor” Robert Irwin, “Tell-Tale Heart Killer” Peter Robin­son and “Man of Two Lives” Edward H. Ruloff, in an anthol­ogy that eval­u­ates their men­tal sta­tuses, moti­va­tions and role in inspir­ing period lit­er­a­ture and tabloids.

• A Sun­less Sea by Anne Perry. A lat­est install­ment in the pop­u­lar Vic­to­rian mys­tery series by the author of Accept­able Loss finds Monk dis­cov­er­ing a shock­ing truth while inves­ti­gat­ing the mur­der of a high-end pros­ti­tute with ties to an opium-dispensing doctor’s widow.

• Trickster’s Point by William Kent Krueger. Dis­cov­er­ing that he has been set up when Native Amer­i­can governor-elect Jubal Lit­tle is mur­dered with one of Cork’s bow-hunting arrows, Cork O’Connor recalls his com­plex rela­tion­ship with Jubal while strug­gling to clear his name and find the real killer.

If you have a ques­tion that you would like to see answered in this col­umn, mail it to Mary Jane San­tos, Delaware County Dis­trict Library, 84 E. Win­ter St., Delaware, OH 43015, or call 740–362-3861. You can also email your ques­tions by vis­it­ing delawarelibrary.org or directly to Mary Jane at mjsantos@delaware library.org. No mat­ter how you con­tact us, we’re always glad you asked.

Posted by Mary Santos on Aug 3 2012. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS Feed. Comments can be made below.