Why should you come to a Young Writer's Program?

Have you wanted to write a novel in a month? Do you want to meet others who are interested in writing? What about just wanting like-minded individuals to correspond with? Want to push and challenge yourself? Just like being at the library?

Come to October's Novel Prep Sessions on Tuesdays @ 3:30 pm. The Library is providing laptops for who can't bring their own and writing devices for those who like to hand-write everything!

The First Meeting, on October 6th, will go over what NaNo is, what most people do to prepare, signing up for the Young Writer's Program, find our Virtual Classroom, and outlining what our goals are for our October Prep and for November .

Then we will have an activity to help us lock away our Inner Editor and start to relish the insanity that will be November.

Some Key Notes: The point of this program is to push yourself on your creativity, make you fulfill a self-made promise, and nothing you write will be public. Also, everything done inside of the virtual classroom is self-contained. If at the end of November you wish to edit your novel and try to get it published, I will aid you as much as possible!

The Giver Trailer

If you're a fan of Lois Lowry or dystopian science fiction (think The Hunger Games, Divergent), you only have sixteen days to wait until The Giver hits movie theaters!

Keep reading!

Shaen

Summer Book Bunch

This week, we held our Summer Book Bunch at four branches and discussed Kat Fall's underwater ecological adventure, Dark Life.  In keeping with our ocean theme, we snacked on cheddar fish crackers, experimented with scale by measuring out the span of a whale (interesting fact: at an average of 100 feet in length, a whale wouldn't even fit in most of our libraries!), sorted sea animals into their proper "depth" zones, and painted glow-in-the-dark jellyfish mobiles!

Getting ready to discuss Dark Life.

Learning about the different ocean zones, which include the Sunlit, Twilight, Midnight, Abyss, and Trench zones.

Sorting ocean animals into proper depth designations.

Working on our luminescent jellyfish mobiles!

They also work well as hats.

Our bookish bunch at Ironton.

Keep reading!

Shaen

Reach for the Stars Book Fair

Wow!  What a great response we had to the Reach for the Stars Book Fair!  With almost $600 in collected pledges and well over 5000 minutes read by the kids over the course of only two weeks, I'd say the program was a success!  Top readers winning prizes were: Violet Morgan for the Youngest category with 930 minutes being read to her, Brandon Morgan for the Elementary category with 930 minutes read as well, and Brianne Cooper for the Teen category with an amazing 1,483 minutes read.
Thanks to our community sponsors- the Mountain Echo and Cole's Funeral Home-, as well as First State Community Bank, who provided goody bags for participants.  We also appreciate all the families and friends who pledged support to readers throughout June and Connie Fain, our local Usborne Books & More representative, who put in a lot of time getting great books into the hands of deserving kids.  Check out the pictures below!

Setting up our refreshments table.

Every kid who attended got a free balloon.

While families were waiting in line for books, they got to make a paper Mr. and Ms. Potato Head craft and fill out thank you cards to their sponsors.

The Ms. Potato Head sample waiting for the Fair to start.

At the start of the Book Fair, we announced our top readers for each age category and then celebrated by blowing noisemakers and setting off confetti poppers.

Our local Usborne rep, Connie Fain, handing out prizes to top readers.

Brandon Morgan, top reader for the Elementary category.

Brianne Cooper, top reader for the Teen category.

Violet Morgan, child with most minutes read to her in the Youngest category.

Digging into the refreshments: popcorn, lemonade, fresh fruit, and lollipops!

There were lots of great Usborne books and other materials on display.

 

Doling out balloons as the party ends!

Keep reading!

Shaen

Reach for the Stars Book Fair TODAY!!!

Come on out, and join all the fun!  Our Reach for the Stars Book Fair will be starting at 1 pm TODAY at the Ironton Library.  We'll have FREE freshly-popped popcorn, lemonade, crafts, lollipops and balloons for the kids, and of course, an expansive collection of Usborne books for sale!  The event is open to the public; you don't have to have participated in the Reach for the Stars Reading Club in order to attend the Book Fair.  We'll also be announcing our prize-winning top readers shortly after 1.

Keep reading!

Shaen

Easy Reader Picks (Especially for Reluctant Readers)

Spring Story Time starts up the week of February 24, but until then, we'll be updating the blog with some recommended reading lists.  Be sure to keep your eyes peeled: if you see a blue asterisk next to a suggested book, that means that that title is a patron favorite! Would you like to suggest a book for our recommended reading lists?  Just shoot us an email in the Youth Department!  We'd love to hear from you!

Check out these recommended easy reader books for reluctant readers, now on the shelves at Ozark Regional Library!

Cover images and summaries from Goodreads.

Attack of the Clones by Elizabeth Dowsett- Young readers will learn all about the rise of the enormous Clone Army and the first battle of the Clone Wars in this action-packed Level 2 reader, featuring kids' favorite Jedi minifigures in their battle against the deadly droid army. This book is a perfect introduction to "Star Wars: Attack of the Clones."

This is Wolverine by Disney- The Marvel titles in Disney's WORLD OF READING line of early readers are designed to offer emergent readers, specifically boys, books that they will want to read by featuring characters they love. The Marvel titles in the series are broken into three levels that invoke the rigorous training courses their favorite Marvel heroes must engage in to perfect their super powers. In reading this series, boys will prefect their own power to read. This is Wolverine introduces readers ages 4-6 to the world of Marvel's most popular X-Man, Wolverine!

Arachnid Attack! by Teresa Domnauer- The Arachnid Attack! Extreme Reader features some of nature’s most feared eight-legged predators, from the black widow spider to the giant tarantula.
  

Keep reading!

Shaen