SRP roundup

We are heading into our 3rd week of Summer Reading Program activities and thought we would share some photos and details about what we are up to lately.

For our kick-off events, we were lucky to have Jack Gladstone perform songs with his daughter Mariah performing American Indian sign language alongside him. The audience loved them!

Last week we journeyed to Africa. The younger children created elephant masks, and the older children made lion masks. We also read stories and sang songs about Africa, and some of us even learned some Swahili.









We also had a great group of teens come and work on journaling projects. They decorated their own journals and then spent an hour writing about their hopes, dreams, selves, and futures.





Stay tuned for more news and pictures as we continue our adventures this summer!

Summer Reading Program is coming!

“One World, Many Stories” is the theme for Flathead County Library System’s 2011 Summer Reading Program for children. Through stories, songs, and a variety of crafts, children will enjoy activities and stories that will take them on an extraordinary global journey. The 2011 Summer Reading Program is a free program that encourages all children from infants to those entering 5th grade to enjoy books all summer long.

Registration begins on June 13 at any Flathead County Library System branch. Those participating in the Summer Reading Program will receive a reading log to record time spent reading or listening to books. The program concludes on August 22.

Library locations will offer a variety of children’s programs all summer; no registration is required to attend the programs. Brochures listing program schedules are available at Flathead County Library System locations. In Kalispell, programs will be held Tuesdays and Wednesdays at 11:00 a.m. Columbia Falls will have programs at 10:30 a.m. on Wednesdays. Programs at Bigfork will be on Wednesdays at 10:00 a.m. Visit the Summer Reading Program website for more details.

“You Are Here” is this year’s theme for the Teen Summer Reading Program. Area teens entering grades 6 through 12 are invited to sign up for the Teen Summer Reading Program. Teens can keep track of their time spent reading and earn prizes; teens participating in the program will be entered for grand prizes that include an iPod Touch and a Nook eReader. Teens can also join fun events all summer long. Teen Summer Reading Program flyers are available at all library locations, or contact your library for a list of upcoming events and times.

Registration for the teen program begins on June 13 and the program concludes on August 22.

This year, the Friends of the Flathead County Library System will again sponsor Readers to the Rescue, an additional component of the Summer Reading Program. Any extra hours read by children and teen participants will go to the Readers to the Rescue fund and will be converted to a donation (up to $2000). This summer, Readers to the Rescue will support Literacy Volunteers of Flathead County, a community non-profit organization that improves people’s lives through reading and writing skills.

Special thanks to Park Side Federal Credit Union for their generous support in sponsoring FCLS’s Summer Reading Program.

Refresh Refresh

"In a small town in rural Oregon, many husbands and fathers who enrolled as Marine Reserves have been shipped off to fight in the Iraq war.  Left behind, three sons, boys on the verge of becoming men themselves, struggle to grow up fast enough to fill their father's shoes." (from book jacket)

Refresh, Refresh: a graphic novel by Danica Novgorodoff, is based on an award-winning short story by Benjamin Percy.  Some called the original story a shortened version of a Tim O'Brien novel; and Novgorodoff's drawings give this retold version an immediacy that juxtaposes the beauty of the Oregon countryside with the brutality of fighting and war.

Expand your reading list with this excellent graphic novel!

TREME: the complete first season

HBO's Treme is an outstanding new series set in New Orleans beginning three months after Hurricane Katrina.  The show interweaves music, food, and several storylines of people struggling to rebuild their lives after the storm. "Treme" refers to one of the earliest neighborhoods, which early in the city's history was the main neighborhood for free people of color.  Treme remains famous for its music and culture. 

An excellent tie-in that is coming soon to the library collection is Spike Lee's documentary, If God is Willing and Da Creek Don't Rise.  Lee revisits New Orleans five years after his magesterial When the Levees Broke: A Requiem in Four Acts.  Check out all these DVDs at your Flathead County Library!

check it out! (or put it on hold)

Currently, your Flathead County friends (and you) have 29,030 holds placed on items owned by the library. And you may be surprised to find out which of FCLS titles have the most holds.

By far the number one title is
1. Unbroken: a World War II story of survival, resilience and redemption by Laura Hildebrand with 110 holds
2. Salt starring Angelina Jolie, with 92 holds
3. The Social Network, starring Jesse Eisenberg, with 88 holds
4. Red, starring Bruce Willis, with 79 holds
5. Life, by Keith Richards, with 71 holds
6. Cleopatra: a life, by Stacy Schiff; & Hells Corner, by David Baldacci, each with 64
7. Monk (TV show), starring Tony Shalhoub; & Tick Tock by James Patterson, each with 60
8. The Kings Speech, starring Colin Firth and Geoffrey Rush, with 58 holds
9. Toy Story 3, with 56 holds
10. Black Swan, starring Natalie Portman, with 55 holds

Three nonfiction books, two works of fiction, six feature films, one TV show. Interesting.

check it out! books for Black History Month

I just began the Pulitzer Prize winning, The Warmth of Other Suns: the Epic Story of America's Great Migration. This is a perfect book to read during February, Black History month.

Tom Brokaw says: "The Warmth of Other Suns is a sweeping and yet deeply personal tale of America's hidden twentieth-century history--the long and difficult trek of southern blacks to the northern and western cities. This is an epic for all Americans who want to understand the making of our modern nation." Check it out!

Best Blog Post for Book Addicts

Calling all book nerds: here's a mammoth list of Best Books of the Year lists. In fact, this blog attempts to find ALL best books lists and put them in one long list. Great for browsing, especially if you have a special interest (i.e. art books, inspirational fiction, or middle grade fiction).

Enjoy!