Read On! Homicide at Harrison House

If you’ve ever wanted to be a sleuth in a murder mystery, the Friends of the Pryor Public Library are hosting a fundraiser that will allow you to do just that. On January 28th at 7:00 PM at Fat Toad Brewing Company, we’ll play a mystery game called “Homicide at the Harrison House.”

Tickets are on sale now via the Friends’ Facebook page (facebook.com/PryorPublicLibraryFriends) and include one drink, food, and fun. All the proceeds from the evening will benefit the Dolly Parton Imagination Library service that provides free books to Mayes County children ages 0 – 5 years.

Everyone who buys a ticket ($35 for a single ticket, $60 for a couple) will be assigned a character to play during the event – the annual Harrison House Bed & Breakfast bash. There aren’t very many characters on the guest list who get along, so the evening will be interesting and full of gossip!

The game is played in three rounds with clues given out each round. Everyone will know who their character is and what they’re supposed to say and do, so don’t be daunted by being assigned a role to play. Plus, your hostess, Drew Beasley (played by Cari Rérat), will guide you through each round and answer any questions you have about the game.

At the event, you’ll have the opportunity to sign up for membership in the Friends group as well as enroll any children under 5 years old for the Dolly Parton Imagination Library. It’s truly a wonderful service that sends free, age-appropriate books to children each month in the mail. For the Friends group, the cost is only $25 per year, per child. So far, they have over 100 children enrolled in the program!

If you can’t make it to the event but still want to help the Friends group, feel free to contact them via Facebook or email them at friendsofpryorcreeklibrary@gmail.com.

Read On! Writing & Learning Express

National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo) has come to an end. We had several writers in our writing session groups reach the 50,000 word goal! I was not among this winning group, but I definitely enjoyed the experience and the people involved. 

One of the nice things about NaNoWriMo is that the only pressure is to write 50,000 words (or whatever word goal you set). They don’t have to be good words and they certainly don’t have to be words that anyone else will read. For me, knowing this is freeing. 

Writing every day (or as often as you can) is a great way to get better at writing, but if you’re looking for something more formal to help improve your writing skills, we have several books in our collection to do just that. From tips on writing good nonfiction to journal writing and descriptive writing, you’ll find some good stuff in our collection. 

Our Learning Express online resource has two resource centers that might help too. The first is in the “Adult Core Skills” resource, which covers math, writing, and reading. The second is the “School Center.” The School Center has tests and tutorials for Language Arts, Math, Social Studies, and more for grades 4 – 12. 

All of these resources are free, of course, but you will need a library card. Learning Express is a great resource to explore when you have an extra few minutes. I’m always surprised by how much is in there. You can find it through our website by going to “Use Your Library” tab and clicking “Research and Resources.” You’ll know you’re in the right place when you see the lightbulb logo. 

We’re taking a break from classes and events during the month of December, but we’ll be back in January with storytime classes on Wednesdays, and something fun for teens and adults the first two Thursdays of each month.

Read On! NaNoWriMo

National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo) is upon us! NaNoWriMo (pronounced “nah-no-wry-mow”) happens every November and is a time when participants attempt to write a novel (or 50,000 words) between November 1st and 30th. 

If you’ve ever thought, “I could/should write a book,” now’s your chance! We have an entire month focused on just that. With two write-in sessions each week in November – Mondays from 6-9 PM and Saturdays from 9 AM-Noon (except November 30th), you can join other ambitious writers on your journey. 

These sessions are pretty low-key. We’ll have coffee and mints for inspiration and one of our staff will moderate. Moderation for a write-in session may sound strange, but it’s pretty fun. It includes pep-talks, word sprints (trying to reach a word count goal in a set amount of time), and writing prompts (that are often random quotes, items, or ideas you can include in your writing).  Plus, write-ins give you a group of people willing to discuss random or strange plot points.   

NaNoWriMo is full of people with different goals, so come write with us even if you don’t want to write 50,000 words in a month.

This Thursday teens will get to try their hand at solving the puzzles in this year’s Escape Room. Teens need to sign up for a time to go through the room, but there are still a handful of spots left. Their choices are 4:30, 6:00, or 7:30 PM. 

Next Thursday at 6:30 PM adults can hang out with me and learn how to knit! We’ll start a washcloth project and learn the basics of casting on, the knit stitch, the purl stitch, and casting off. Anyone interested should bring a skein of 100% cotton yarn (Sugar ‘n Cream or Peaches & Creme are good choices) and size 7 knitting needles. Also, your washcloths might look a mess. And that’s okay. Knitting can be tricky at first. 

 

Read On! Storytime

We are excited to start another session of programming. Storytime classes resume each Wednesday at 10:30 AM and Teen Night is the first Thursday of each month at 6:30 PM. We also have classes and workshops for grown ups the second Thursday of each month at 6:30 PM. 

While none of our classes, events, or workshops is done for pure frivolity – we have specific goals and learning targets for just about every event we put on – our storytime classes are the least frivolous of all library programming. The primary purpose for storytime classes is to help young children learn the early literacy skills that will prepare them for school and get them ready to learn how to read. 

To do this, we focus on teaching six specific early literacy skills – print motivation (love of books and reading), print awareness (knowing how books work), letter knowledge (knowing that words are made up of letters), vocabulary (knowing and using lots of different words), phonological awareness (knowing that words are made of different sounds), and narrative skills (being able to retell stories). We also try to model how to teach these skills so that caregivers can continue teaching at home. 

The kids in your life are not going to be behind if they don’t make it to storytime each week. In fact, I can count on two hands the number of storytimes I was able to take my kids to. If you’re reading to your kids regularly, you’re probably teaching them all six of these skills without even knowing it. The key to teaching early literacy skills is simply to read to them as often as you can. While you read, ask your kids questions about the story, point to different letters, make up rhymes, talk about the words in the story, and above all else have fun.

If you’re not reading to your kids, it’s never too late to start.