This Tuesday evening, June 17, this Library will be rockin’! Detroit Garage band The High Strung will be here to lead off our summer reading program with a few hot guitar licks! There will be no shhshing going on here that night (the concert will actually take place on our south lawn - bring your blanket or lawn chair).
With an opening act by Avon Lake’s own sensation, Alana Bilancini, this concert promises to be one of the big acts of the summer here in Avon Lake and is suitable for all ages. The audience will participate in improvising and performing a premier rock ‘n roll composition.
While you’re here, be sure to sign up for one of our three, count them, three, summer reading contests. We’ve got contests, and prizes, for children, teens and adults! And don’t forget our Picture You ReadingContest.
Last March, Volunteer Docent Joe Mayo came out to Avon Lake to do a program on the beautiful Holden Arboretum in Kirtland, Ohio. He left Kirtland in a blizzard to come to Avon Lake where the sun was shining and we expected a good turnout for his program. But you know what they say about the best laid plans! Only a small handful of folks showed up that afternoon for his slides and stories and literature. Joe was a good sport about it, but he told me that after the trip he made through snow covered roads, I had better make a trip out to Holden myself!
Last weekend, my husband and I finally made it. We strolled through the beautiful Butterfly Garden filled with lovely flowers and a proud Mama and Papa Goose with their two goslings. We enjoyed the lush Wildflower Garden with its several different ecosystems all in different stages of bloom. We wandered down a couple forested trails labeled “rugged” but quite moderate compared to most parks and studded with benches. I wish I had taken pictures to share with you, but I was too taken with reveling in the beauty to think to record it.
Holden Arboretum would make a beautiful day trip from Avon Lake. It’s about 48 miles from the Library. Much closer than some of the usual summer destinations many of us are foregoing this year. The Arboretum is child and adult friendly with lots of learning opportunities as well as the opportunity to enjoy a beautiful day. When you go, should you run into Joe Mayo, let him know Avon Lake Public Library sent you!
Please keep in mind our program on Farms and Foods of Ohio tonight at 7:30, here at the Library. Learn how to find the freshest foods close to home and get tips for cooking it in the most delicious way from author and cook Marilou Suszko.
This Wednesday, April 2 at 7:30 p.m., we’ll be welcoming local blogger and all-around techie Gregg Eldred for a program on social media and web 2.0.
Want to know what the buzz is all about? Blogs, wikis, Facebook, MySpace? Want to join in the conversation or just know what your kids are up to online? Are you concerned about your company’s presence on the web or looking for ways to promote your business?
Gregg will lead us into the thicket and onto the World Wide Web.
Our friends at TrueNorth Cultural Arts will be presenting The Creation by Joseph Haydn on Friday, March 14 at Avon Lake United Church of Christ and Saturday, March 15 at French Creek Nature Center, both at 7:30 p.m.
Tickets are $10 and can be purchased online at www.TNCArts.org or from any TrueNorth musician.
Just in time for 2008, we have all new book discussion groups, including an exciting new one for older teens. Our two longest-running groups will have a new format and we’ve got a newer one just for you Jane Austen fans. Joining one of these groups is a great way to share great books with your neighbors and even meet new neighbors.Our members frequently comment that they enjoy the opportunity to read and talk about something they wouldn’t otherwise pick up.Membership is always open – come for one month’s discussion or for every month in the series.
Both our Second Wednesday group (1:30 p.m.) and Third Monday group (7:30 p.m.) will now work with a different theme each month. Each member will choose one book on the designated theme (we’ll have a dozen or so good ones available at the Reference Desk) to read and talk about at the meeting. We’ll look for common themes and share what we loved or hated about each book. You’ll leave each meeting with a list of the best titles as recommended by the other members of the group.
Here’s the Winter/ Spring schedule for these two groups:
Wednesdays 1:30 p.m Theme Discussions
January 9: Crossing Borders: Immigrant Fiction
February 13: I Shall Survive!:Memoirs of Childhood
March 12: Novice Novelists: Award-winning First Time Novelists
April 9: To Be Young Again: Teen Fiction for Adult Readers
May 14: Wisdom and Aging: Memoirs of Elders
Mondays 7:30 p.m. Theme Discussions
January 21: Novice Novelists:Award-winning First Time Novelists
February 18: To Be Young Again: Teen Fiction for Adult Readers
March 17: It’s Not Easy Reading Green: Irish Storytellers
April 21: Reading Through Time: Time Traveler Fiction
May 19: Musical Notation: Novels About Music
Books for the January sessions are available now at the Reference Desk, so come by to choose one that appeals to you.
Meanwhile, the Jane Austen group will continue meeting on Second Wednesday evenings.This group always welcomes new Austen-philes! They’ll meet at 7 p.m. each month.On January 9, they’ll discuss Emma, on February 13, Pride and Prejudice. On March 12, they’ll meet early at 6 p.m. to watch Keira Knightly as Lizzie Bennett in the 2005 blockbuster of P & P.And they’ll wrap up the Spring Austen season with Mansfield Park on April 9.
And for those older teens mentioned above, we’re starting a new discussion group with some exciting books.This group is for mature teens, 16 and older.We’re hoping to put the fun and excitement back into reading good books – no vocabulary lists, essays or heavy analysis.Just reading, talking and eating!We’ll start off on Thursday, January 24 with Slaughterhouse 5 by Kurt Vonnegut, read A Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess for February 14 (Valentine’s Day?!?) and read A Lesson Before Dying by Ernest Gaines for March 13.We’ll let the teens pick the book for April. The ones we’re starting with are all challenging (and challenged, in fact banned) books.They’re all filled with fascinating ideas to get us talking and arguing about the most important issues of life.And we promise: no tests!Just good food.
After Thursday’s big meal and Friday’s left-overs, just when the tryptophan is wearing off, with or without the relatives, a brief musical trip to another place might be just the thing. Right here in Avon Lake, the UCC will be hosting Moscow Nights, a classically-trained folk ensemble from Russia, Saturday at 7:30 p.m. After the concert, a reception for the four musicians will be held. No tickets are needed, no admission price, all are welcome.
The world’s first electronic musical instrument is played by waving your hands in midair, as demonstrated by the device’s inventor, Leo Theremin. Looks easy, but the instrument is really hard to play (trust us, we have one in Discovery Works and you can try it yourself)….
On Monday, October 29th at 7:00 pm, Robert Wheeler will show us how its done right in our Gallery. Mr. Wheeler is a member of Cleveland’s legendary avante-garage band, Pere Ubu, and also has a farm in Milan, Ohio.
Sunday, October 14 at 1:30 p.m. we’re holding our first Sunday Matinee. For October, we’re going with a Halloween theme: Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein. Come with a friend for a howling good time!
And don’t forget our coming Monday Matinee, this Monday, Sept. 24: The Best of the Tonight Show: King of Late Night.