By Karen Kelly | Special to the Times Vedette
MJB Library wrapped up its Summer Reading Program on Friday, June 27 with a Level Up at the Library party. HomeTown Foods provided grilled hamburgers and hot dogs for the celebration; the MJB Library extends their thanks to HomeTown Foods for their generous support of the Summer Reading Program.
Following lunch, prizes were drawn. Participants earned drawing tickets by turning in reading logs, activity sheets and by attending library programs. After the drawing, each child was able to choose new books to take home for his or her personal library. Prizes and programs for the summer reading program were made possible by grants that were designated for the summer reading program.
Forty-six children signed up for the summer reading program, and those children logged 38,330 minutes of reading time during the month of June.
Readers who won prizes include Chase Betts, Emmerich Hernandez, Edward Irlbeck, Rylee Irlbeck, Clark Knobbe, Hadley Knobbe, Kane Knobbe, Eli Langgaard, William Langgaard, Ella Lewis, Chance Nielsen, Piper Peterson, Brylon Redfern, Kroy Redfern, Ainsley Schreiber, Merrick Schreiber, Reagan Terwilliger and Blair Tinken.
Please plan ahead for your holiday reading needs since the MJB Library will be closed on Friday, July 4. We will be open our normal Saturday hours of 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. on July 5.
The Guthrie County ISU Extension will be presented two STEAM programs for our youth during July. On Wednesday, July 2, at 2 p.m., they will have a workshop entitled “Pinball Machine.” On Wednesday, July 9, the 2 p.m. program will be about robotics and coding.
The library will have LEGO Mania at 4 p.m. on Thursday, July 10. Guthrie STEM Lab will be on Wednesday, July 16 at 4 p.m.; this event is geared to tween and teen participants. Younger children must be accompanied by an adult helper if they are attending the STEM Lab as the activities are more challenging. Creation Corner on Thursday, July 24, at 4 p.m. is open to all school age youth. Please pre-register for these events as we have spots for 25 participants.
Cribbage and Bridge groups meet at the Taylor meeting room from 9-11 a.m. on Monday and Wednesday respectively. Players of all skill levels are encouraged to join.
Between the Covers Book Club will meet on Tuesday, July 8 at 3 p.m. The group will be reading Colm Toibin’s “Long Island.”
Members of Reads Well With Others evening book club may stop by at their convenience to check out a copy of our July read, “The Heaven and Earth Grocery Store” by James McBride. In 1972, when workers in Pottstown, Pennsylvania, were digging the foundations for a new development, the last thing they expected to find was a skeleton at the bottom of a well. Who the skeleton was and how it got there were two of the long-held secrets kept by the residents of Chicken Hill, the dilapidated neighborhood where immigrant Jews and African Americans lived side by side and shared ambitions and sorrows. As these characters’ stories overlap and deepen, it becomes clear how much the people who live on the margins of white, Christian America struggle and what they must do to survive. When the truth is finally revealed about what happened on Chicken Hill and the part the town’s white establishment played in it, McBride shows us that even in dark times, it is love and community — heaven and Earth — that sustain us.
Blair assists Director Hawkins with the prize drawing.
STEM participants are working to construct a tower using only spaghetti and marshmallows.
This group of clever engineers think they have figured out the best way to build their structure.
Merrick won a Simon game.
The kids enjoyed grilled hot dogs and hamburgers provided by HomeTown Foods.
Eli won the prize that he had his eye on.
Clark is happy with his new game. Since the SRP theme was “Level Up at your Library,” all the prizes were game related.
Kane needed to be persuaded to put down his burger to go pick a prize when his name was drawn.
Library Director Jerri Hawkins congratulates the group on their excellent reading accomplishments.
All of Chase’s time spent reading paid off since his name was chosen for a prize.
Area youth who participated in the MJB Library Summer Reading Program had a celebrational lunch on Friday, June 27. Prize drawings were held, and all participants left with brand new books for their personal libraries. The 46 participants read a total of 38,330 minutes during the month of July.