March "Total Reads" Blog

 

This month we have an educational day for the entire family planned for Thursday, March 19^th, from 9:00am until 12noon in Delano Park. We are partnering with the Delano Conservancy and Decatur Parks and Recreation to provide a fun-filled day of learning about the birds and trees in the beautiful Delano Park. The Delano Conservancy is hosting the 4-H Science School Raptor Trek program, Ms. Zoie will do Story Time under the big Oak, we will have a scavenger hunt, and give away free books to the kids. There will be tables set up with Leave No Trace, the International Crane Foundation, and the North Alabama Young Birders group, who will also lead a bird walk. There will be a photo opportunity with Tansy the Meadow Princess from Magical Memories AL. The Tree Lady will be talking to kids about the trees and will also be available for pictures with the little ones. We hope you can join us for some outdoor fun while learning about the birds and trees who live in Delano Park.

We will also host another FYI program with Jetaun Bailey, LPC-S, CSC. This month will be “When Perfect Isn’t Peace: How Perfectionism Fuels Anxiety and Blocks the Spiritual Practice of Love and Forgiveness”. Please mark your calendar to join us on Wednesday, March 25^th, from 12noon to 2pm in the Community Room for this program. You don’t want to miss this free and insightful program.

If you are here for the Total Reads task this month, we hope you are able to join us on Thursday, March 5^th, at 12noon in the Community Room for Book Club. If you are new to the Challenge or have been playing for a while, we would love to talk books with you at the monthly book club meetings. We know not everyone can make the Thursday, middle-of-the-day book clubs, so once a quarter we host a Sunday afternoon club. The next one of these will be in April. We will email more information about Sunday Book Club to everyone who is signed up for the Challenge this year, closer to time.

The task for March is to read a book with a dual timeline. This means the book must have two distinct time periods that are tied together by a common character or theme that comes together for a resolution.  Books that have flashbacks do not count. There must be two distinct story lines in different times that come together in the end to resolve both stories.

Happy Reading!

February "Total Reads" Blog

 

Welcome to the blog for the Adult Reading Challenge at Decatur Public Library. This year’s title is “Total Reads” and all of the clues are based on all types of numbers: GPS coordinates, the Dewey Decimal system, dates and times, addresses, statistics, and Alabama Criminal Justice Information Center Radio Communication Codes.  As always there are 3 levels to achieve a chance to have your name entered into the drawing for one of the prizes. However, if 5 books are a challenge for you, we are happy to have you be part of the fun! Join us this year as we read books based on clues and tasks inspired by the world of numbers.

You can sign up by coming by the Marketing and Outreach office at Decatur Public Library. We encourage you to call or email first to make sure we will be available to meet with you. Part of our job is Outreach and Adult Programming so we may be out of the building or hosting a program and not in the office to assist you. You can call the office at 256-340-5780 or email us at StephRhonda@myDPL.org to make an appointment. Generally, we are available Monday through Thursday 10am until 5:30pm and Friday 10am until 5pm.

The first book club this year will be Thursday, February 5^th starting at 11:30am until 2pm in the Community Room.  Immediately after book club, there will be a program with local author Betty Bolté called “Discovering Mary Katharine Goddard”. This program is part of our yearlong celebration of 250 years of American history. Come learn all about the woman who printed and signed the Declaration of Independence.

We will also host an FYI program this month on Wednesday, February 25^th, at 12noon in the Community Room. The first FYI program this year is called “Stress Less, Live More: Practical Tools for Everyday Calm” and will be presented by Jetaun Bailey, LPC-S, CSC. This practical, skills-based session will focus on recognizing stress and learning simple tools to manage everyday stress.

At the end the month (Saturday, February 28th, at 3:30pm) we will host author Sharon Udasin for a discussion of her book Poisoning the Well: How Forever Chemical Contaminated America. The book concerning forever chemicals polluting the Tennessee River from chemical plants, features Decatur and Courtland. She will speak and then answer questions from the public. She will also have some of the local people she interviewed for the book with her for the question-and-answer portion of the program.  This program is made possible by the Friends of Decatur Public Library. Books will be available for purchase from Brown Books and More.

The first task for the Challenge this year is to read a 2026 debut book. This means it has to be the author’s first book ever published. I noticed on a few of the book promotions I receive, publishers pushing books as “her adult debut” if the author is an established children’s author. These do not work for the sake of this task. It must be the very first book published by the author and it must be copyrighted 2026.   It must also be a book found in the adult section of the library. Juvenile titles do not work for this task.

Happy Reading!