August “ A Reading Season” Blog

 

School starts soon, do you have all the supplies you need? If you answered yes, we hope that means you have a library card for every student in your household. With a DPL library card, you not only have access to physical books, but to all of our online resources as well. E-books and E-Audiobooks on the Libby and hoopla apps, newspaper and magazine articles on NewsBank and Newspaper Archives, and homework help on Homework Alabama. We also provide access to online tutorials, practice tests and more on EBSCOLearning Express. All free with your DPL library card. Don’t start school without it!

And if you’re looking for a quiet spot to study with access to free Wi-Fi, look no farther than Decatur Public Library. Our Wi-Fi is available from the parking lot even when the library is closed. Let us help you get great grades this year.

All of this talk of back to school reminds us that we need a vacation now that Summer Reads is over. The perfect place to take a book vacation is Hawaii, and now is the perfect time to do it. Hawaii was annexed by the United States of America in 1898. Sixty-one years later on August 21, 1959, Hawaii became the 50th state in the United States of America. The Adult Reading Challenge August task is to read a book set in Hawaii.

Happy Reading!

 

July "A Reading Season" Blog

 

July in Alabama is hot! It is also the month for cookouts, baseball, swimming and fireworks. All things that tend to happen outdoors, in the heat. DPL does not have food, baseball games, a pool, or fireworks this summer, but we do have a cool place to stock up on books to read while you recuperate from playing in the sun. It’s not too late to sign up for the Summer Reads program on the READsquared app and earn some digital badges as you are reading. You are also invited to our Summer Reads Finale on Friday, July 22^nd from 10:00am until 4:00pm. Come by the library and join us indoors and out to have piratical fun, no matter your age. There will be a story time with O’Malley, the Pirate (appears courtesy of Magical Memories AL) in the Youth Services department at 10:00am. The Crewe O’ Ye Crooked Goat will be on the Cherry Street side of the library from 10:00am until 2:00pm, and they will have their pirate ship with them. They will do story times, have giveaways and pose for pictures with kids and adults. There will be sea creature sidewalk chalk on the sidewalks, a Famous Pirate Walk and a Pirate Joke Walk. Then you can come back inside to cool off and do activities in the Youth Services department and in the Community Room. Piratical fun for everyone and it’s all free!

While you are here, having piratical fun, be sure to check out a paperback book from our collection. July 30,  1835 is the date Penguin Publishing Company, in London, England first began publishing paperback books. Up until this  time, books were bound in hardback and were often out of the price range of most people. Using paper made books more accessible to the general public. In just the first twelve months, they produced three million paperback books. For those taking the Adult Reading Challenge, the July task is to read a paperback book.  This means eBooks and audio books cannot be counted for this task. It must be a physical book that has a soft paper cover. While you’re reading a paperback book in the cool, listen to the Beatles sing Paperback Writer.

Happy Reading!

June "A Reading Season" Blog

 

Check any library calendar during the month of June and you will find programs and events aimed at keeping kids reading during the summer months. Public libraries in Alabama this year are using the slogan “Oceans of Possibilities” and programs and events that tie into the theme of oceanography. Here at DPL we are starting our summer with a kick-off program on Friday, June 3rd, from 10am until 2:00pm on the Cherry Street side of the Library. We are hosting a drive-up program using the circular drive to hand out goody bags for kids aged 12 and under.   The best and most unique thing about this year’s Summer Reads program at DPL is that we are giving the prizes away at the kick-off event!  The prize for kids aged 12 and under is a hardback children’s encyclopedia on the Ocean, and it’s in the kick-off bag along with other goodies!

When you bring kids through the drive-through to get their goody bag, you’ll also receive information on downloading the READsquared app to track reading progress. There will be activities, games, read-alongs with Ms. Anna, digital badges and more on the app. Mark your calendar and bring your 12 and under kids to Decatur Public Library’s drive-up kick-off this Friday from 10:00am until 2:00pm. Bags will be available while supplies last; after 2:00pm you can come into the Youth Services department to sign up and get a goody bag.

For adults and teens this month we will be hosting Writing Workshops with the Heart of Dixie Fiction Writers. If you are interested in learning to set a scene, create characters, or publish what you write, join us Saturday, June 11, 2022 from 12noon until 2:00pm to learn from the professionals. The classes are free and taught by best-selling and award-winning authors. Space is available on a first come, first served basis. Some of the authors in Heart of Dixie Fiction Writers will also set up for a Meet and Greet in the main area. If you’ve met any of the authors before, you know they are always a lot of fun, so don’t miss this opportunity to spend time with these friendly storytellers.

The June task for the Adult Reading Challenge is to read a book where you learn at least one fact you didn’t know about the ocean, sea, or any other large body of saltwater. It could be non-fiction about the ocean or marine life, or a fictional book that features or is set on – or in – the ocean. As long as the book imparts a fact you didn’t know about the ocean before you read the book, it doesn’t matter if it’s fiction or non-fiction!

Happy Reading!

May "A Reading Season" Blog

 

May is here and finally so is Adult programming at DPL. We kick-off Thursday, May 5th, with Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist John Archibald. His book, Shaking the Gates of Hell: A Search for Family and Truth in the Wake of the Civil Rights Revolution, is partially set in Decatur, Alabama. DPL is mentioned when his Mother needs to self-educate herself on a topic; she turns to the public library for books. He also told us he learned to ride his bike in the parking lot when the current library building was new. We hope you will be able to join us for more stories about his experiences growing up in Decatur during the era of Civil Rights.

The next program for adults will be held Thursday, May 19th, at 6pm. This program is for What a Day! Short Stories by Southern Authors. The Anthology is put out by the Heart of Dixie Fiction Writers, who meet monthly at Decatur Public Library. Eleven authors have stories in the book and nine of them are confirmed to be at the program so far. We will post the full list of authors next week with more details about the book.

May is International Short Story Month, so the task this month is to read a book of short stories. The What a Day! program will let you learn about a book of short stories that might be of interest to you and let you meet some of the short story writers. As Seneca said: “As is a tale, so is life: not how long it is, but how good it is, is what matters.”

Happy Reading!

Kick-off for Adult Programming at DPL

 

April “A Reading Season” Blog

 

April is National Poetry Month and DPL is celebrating with interactive displays. Come in and try your hand at Paint Chip Poetry, check out some poetry books, pick up a poem for your pocket and vote on your favorite poet and poem. The display cases will have information about poetry and be a work in progress for the paint chip poetry display. If you don’t feel creatively inclined to write a poem, fill out our survey to help us find the favorite poets and poems of our patrons. April 29^th is Poem in Your Pocket Day, but we will have our annual poem postcards available to pick up and share by the middle of the month.

We have reinstated Story Time and Book Babies in the Youth Services room, so if you have small ones be sure to check out the early literacy programs on Tuesday and Wednesday mornings. This month we will also partner with Magical Memories, AL for a special Story Time and Easter Egg hunt at Delano Park on Tuesday, April 12^th at 10am.

If you are taking the Challenge this year or want to learn more about it, the Book Club will meet on Thursday, April 7^th from 12noon to 2pm in the Community Room at DPL. Come find out about the Challenge and what other people are reading for the clues and tasks. We would love to see you and hear about what you are reading.

On the Hebrew calendar, the 27^th of Nisan (April 27^th) is Yom HaShoah or Holocaust Remembrance Day, in Israel. Nisan is the first month of the ecclesiastical year on the Hebrew calendar; on the Gregorian calendar it usually falls in March-April. The day was set aside to commemorate the approximately six million Jews murdered in the Holocaust by Nazi Germany and its collaborators, and for the Jewish resistance in that period. The April Task is to read a book about the Holocaust or Jewish resistance. Survivors of the Holocaust have repeatedly asked that the world not forget the victims or survivors of this painful part of history. Read a book to remember those who were lost and those who survived, to honor the memory of both.

March “A Reading Season” Blog

 

In Reading Challenge terms, March 1^st  kicks off a new season: Spring. We don’t know about you, but we’re ready for Spring right now. We’d like an end to the wet and cold and to move straight to warm and sunny weather going forward from now until summer.

No matter what the temperature outside, come visit us at DPL and check out the “Military Service: A History in Postcards” and “Honoring Military Service: Morgan County and Beyond”. These two displays are on view through Monday, March 28^th during Library hours: Monday through Thursday 10am until 6pm, Friday 10am until 5pm, and Saturday 10am until 4pm. The “Military Service: A History in Postcards” is displayed in the main sitting area and is on loan from Troy University Libraries Humanities Project which is supported by a grant from the Alabama Humanities Foundation. The “Honoring Military Service: Morgan County and Beyond” is displayed in the glass cases in the main area and was provided by courtesy of the Kennedy-Nicholas-Ragland Collection.  Be sure to fill out a postcard while you are here and let us know your thoughts on the displays. There is a box on the front plug in bar to turn in comment  cards.

The March task for the ARC is to read a book set in Boston, Massachusetts. Are you wondering why Boston for the month of March? It’s because Boston has a lot of ties to the month of March and the Irish. There is a thriving Irish community in Boston, so much so they have an Irish Heritage walking tour year-round, not just in March which is Irish Heritage month. March 5, 1770, was the date of the “Boston Massacre”. Saint Patrick’s Day (March 17^th)  is an unofficial city holiday, as it falls on Evacuation Day-the day the British were expelled from the city after a successful siege by Patriots in the American Revolution. The city throws one of the best Saint Patrick’s Day parades in the United States. So, if you can’t get to Boston in person this month, make the trip through the pages of a good book set in Beantown.

Happy Reading!