June is here, school is out, the lilacs may bloom before the end of June and this weekend I’m planting my tomatoes outside. It must be summer. That means summer reading is underway. Look What’s Cookin’ at Your Library and be sure to swing into the library and pick up a bag full of activities and information about summer reading for any child interested in participating. The first program will be Wednesday, June 11, at Smokey Bear Park at 6 p.m. Come hear stories, play games and engage in general silliness as we party through the summer. Thursday, June 12, will be the first school age program at 1 p.m. Join the library as we “Cook up a Celebration,” fun and games for ages 5 and up.
Teen Summer Reading “Plug into Your Library” has also begun. Youth entering grades 7 and above can participate. Fill out a brief bookmark for each book read and place bookmarks in prize envelopes. The library will hold one drawing at the end of August and award prizes. Come take a look at what you can win.
Summer is also a great time for adults to get in some reading or maybe listening. We have a number of new titles in the Vigilance Collection. An interesting read is Regret the Error: How Media Mistakes Pollute the Press and Imperil Free Speech by Craig Silverman, the founder and editor of the popular web site RegretTheError.com. This book asks the key questions that should concern everyone who follows the news about how errors impact media, society and free speech.
One Nation Under Debt: Hamilton, Jefferson and the History of What We Owe by Robert E. Wright is a fascinating look at the history of national debt in this country. The United States was born in debt, a debt so deep that it threatened to destroy the country before it ever got off its feet.
The Vigilance Collection also has a number of gardening books, so if you haven’t got your garden planted yet, or if you want additional advice check out Grow It, Cook It: simple gardening projects and delicious recipes is a beautiful book to use with children. Grow a pumpkin and make mini pumpkin pies or strawberries and make strawberry meringue. The Self-Sustaining Garden: a guide to matrix planting by Peter Thompson advocates letting plants do much of the hard work by combining plants into self-governing communities.
Listen to books on compact disc such as, Bad Money: reckless finance, failed politics, and the global crisis of American Capitalism by Kevin Phillips or America’s Secret War: inside the hidden worldwide struggle between America and its enemies by George Friedman as you garden, walk or spend time outdoors this summer.
The Vigilance Collection has several new DVDs, including “Power Shift: energy + sustainability” hosted and narrated by Cameron Diaz or “Rush to War: between Iraq and a hard place” including an interview with Joe Wilson, husband of outed CIA agent Valerie Plume.