What's New?

The staff of the Youth Services Department is having so much fun decorating for the Summer Reading Kick-off next week! "Lions and tigers and bears..oh my!" Also leopards, giraffes, rhinos, monkeys... There are monkeys hanging from vines over our "stage" area; there are animals flying the model airplane over the young readers tables; there is a safari in the front window; the story tree has monkeys and snakes. Wow!

School goals for the summer are up and the bulletin board will track progress "to the watering hole" throughout June and July. We would love to hand out trophies to ALL the schools in September, so come in and show your school spirit this summer.

Sign ups for story times, crafts, Thursday events, and reading for prizes will take place next week for children 6 months through 12 years. Come in out of the heat and rain to sign up, get materials, play the special games, and start your reading! There are so many things to do this summer!

The Teen Summer Reading Program will begin June 8, but everyone is invited to come check out the special Video and Wii contests!

Grab your Safari hats, a camera, and READ on the Wild Side this summer.

Thank You to our Teen Volunteers

We are so fortunate to have great teen volunteers in the Youth Services Department at the Lincoln Public Library. With graduations being held, we would like to sincerely thank our two senior volunteers Samara Shane and Sarah Zhang for the work they have done over the past years. These young women have shared many hours with us working on crafts, helping with activities, and of course cleaning books. We wish them the best of luck in their future careers and will miss their smiling faces at the Library.

Three other volunteers will be staying on to help us next fall. If you would like to learn how to become a library teen volunteer, stop by the Youth Services Desk and ask for information. We will be taking summer volunteers as part of the Teen Summer Reading Contest to win a wii player!

Summer Suggestion

If you loved Stephenie Meyer's "Twilight" series and are looking for something along the same lines for summer reading, try Kelley Armstrong's The Summoning and The Awakening. More than lovable vampires fill her young adult novels, but the suspense, the creepiness, and the mild romance are all there. Send me a message and let me know what you think! Maybe you have another author that you have found as well. Happy reading!

Decorations Go up for READ on the WIld Side

The Youth Services Department is busy decorating the Library Annex in preparation of this year's Summer Reading Program: READ on the Wild Side. June 1 - 6 will be the Kick-off and Sign-up Week with many "wild games" for young people to play while signing up for summer activities. sign up will continue in June for those not able to stop by the Library that week.

The Summer Reading Program has various levels from 6 moths - teens with readers receiving prizes throughout the summer. An Awards Program in August will complete the program where readers who meet their reading goals will receive a summer reading shirt. Top reader prizes will also be awarded.

There is something for everyone at the Library this summer! It's like a buffet: choose the parts you want to participate in and register! Story times, crafts, entertainment, new books, prizes, and fun...all for free!

Many local sponsors help to make this possible for our young people. Be sure to look at our bulletin board that lists all of our contributors and thank them for their support.

Butterfly Release

Our first set of butterflies has been released into the wild! The second batch should be hatching any day, so come see them before we releease them as well.

Summer Reading is Coming!

If you have not stopped by the Library Annex lately you may not have seen some of the really cool decorations going up each day. We are beginning to turn the library's Youth Service Department into a WILD place of reading!

Our window has a diorama depicting our theme: READ on the Wild Side. Ms. Aliscia did a great job on that. Ms. Marlene has begun to put up the backdrop for our Thursday Event area. Wait till you see what she has come up with this year! Be sure to bring in your own camera this year to take pictures, since we will not be taking sign-up pictures this year. (We are saving our Polaroid film for Santa.)

Prizes have arrived and we have just HAD to try out a few! What fun. The new puppets from Folksmania have had us fluffing and cuddling new friends.

We sure hope you are getting excited because we sure are!

We have Butterflies!

The first batch of Painted Lady Butterflies has hatched! Watching the cycle from caterpillar to cocoon to butterfly never stops amazing us. Each day the staff and many patrons stop by my office window in anticipation of seeing a new and remarkable phase in this promise of spring and renewal.

If you have not had a chance to come in and see this exhibit, the second batch have spun their cocoon and will probably hatch this week some time.

The first batch of butterflies will be released this afternoon, weather permitting. Maybe you will see one flying around!