Library

Your Pryor Public Library is partnering with the Community Food Bank of Eastern Oklahoma once again to offer free grab-and-go breakfasts and lunches for kids and teens under 18 years of age. Come on over every Tues, Wed, and Fri this summer from 9 – 1 and pick up some free food for your kids!

All kids and teens are eligible for the meals. There aren’t any requirements or questions asked beyond “how many kids?” and “how many meals?” The USDA kept their relaxed guidelines for serving meals this summer, which means parents can pick up meals for each child and can get meals for multiple days in one trip. You’re welcome to use our picnic tables to eat, but your kids are not required to eat at the library.

Each meal is pre-packaged, shelf-stable, and checks off all the USDA food group boxes. They’re not gourmet by any means, but they’re pretty good and very kid-friendly. Each meal also comes with shelf-stable Hershey’s milk. Take it from me: put it in the refrigerator before your kids drink it. It’s drinkable at room temperature, but only just. Cold, it’s pretty delicious. Especially the chocolate milk.

While you’re in the library getting meals, don’t forget to register for our Summer Reading Program and pick up your packets! We’ve got something for every age group and prizes galore! Plus, reading all summer keeps kids from falling behind for the next school year.

This week we also have some exciting events at the library! Don’t miss our grab-and-go yard art available all week at the youth services desk, in-person toddler storytime on Wed. at 10:30, and an in-person seed saving class Thurs at 6:30.

You can also participate (or just admire) the virtual pet parade on our Facebook and Instagram pages. We’ve got so many adorable pet photos already! I can hardly stand the cuteness!

My family has begun our annual Summer Reading journey. Both kids have a time-tracker sheet where each circle marks 30 minutes of reading or listening while my spouse and I have a game board and/or a BINGO sheet to complete. (If we had teens, they would have a BINGO sheet; if we had babies, they would get an activity board.) We have book prizes for babies, kids, and teens and prize drawings for everyone.

The fun thing about reading with the Pryor Library is that we consider everything you can read and every format in which you can read valid for our Summer Reading Program. In fact, you’re reading RIGHT NOW! If you have our BINGO sheet, read this sentence out loud and you’ve just crossed off one square! If you’re listening to music right now? Another square!

We count time for our younger readers (age 5-11) instead of making it a game because we want to reward the effort of reading. So, 30 minutes of reading is 30 minutes whether they’re reading comics, audiobooks, or cereal boxes. Most importantly, 30 minutes of struggling to read is just as valuable as 30 minutes of fluent reading.

The event portions of our Summer Reading Program begin this week. All month long, we’re encouraging our community to participate in our Virtual Pet Parade. Take a picture or a short video of your pet(s) and share it with us on Facebook or Instagram. We’ll have a post you can reply to on Facebook or you can tag us in your photo on Instagram.

Also, this week, come in and grab our Grab & Go Craft. You’ll receive supplies to create a velvet canvas masterpiece. The canvas has a pre-made design with velvet on all areas meant to be black. You can use sand or markers to make it your own. We have a limited supply of our Grab & Go Crafts, so you’ll want to come in quickly to pick yours up.

It’s here! It’s here! Summer Reading is here! We have something fun for everyone!

Summer is our busiest time of year and we’re so excited to be able to present a program that’s closer to normal (lingering pandemic and construction projects limit what we can do for events).

We’re bringing back our normal reading portion of Summer Reading where we gamify reading (and listening) to encourage everyone to read all summer. We do this by giving participants game boards, BINGO sheets, or time-trackers to complete in order to earn prizes.

Studies show that when students spend about 20 minutes per day reading (or listening) they retain more of the things they learned in the previous school year and avoid the “summer slide.” Preventing the summer slide sets kids up to be successful the following school year, which snowballs into other future successes.

Summer Reading also consists of events sponsored by the library. This year, our events are a mix of in-person events (held outside), online events, and grab-and-go crafts.

Each event has a suggested age based on interest and difficulty level, but everyone is welcome. You can find our summer reading brochure on our website (pryorlibrary.org) to get the full list of event dates and times. You will also receive a brochure when you register for summer reading in the library.

Registration officially begins Tuesday, May 25th with events beginning June 1st. Summer Reading will culminate with our ending celebration on July 29th. All game boards, BINGO sheets, and time trackers are due before the ending celebration.

Don’t forget to come in to see our exhibit on the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre. The 100th anniversary is May 31st and June 1st. The exhibit, which discusses both the Massacre and the Greenwood District, is in our computer lab.

Learning about these events in our history, particularly our nearby history, can be uncomfortable, but it’s important to experience that discomfort and truly learn from our past so we can do better now.

The end of May/beginning of June marks the 100th anniversary of the Tulsa Race Riot/Massacre. In preparation, the library received the Tulsa Historical Society and Museum’s “Spirit of Greenwood/1921 Tulsa Race Massacre” exhibit last year. Beginning this week, we will display the four-panel exhibit in our Computer Lab and by the east windows near our DVDs and graphic novels (two panels in each area).

The panels are two-sided: one side focuses on the Greenwood area; the other side discusses the Tulsa Race Massacre (and why it’s appropriate to call it a “massacre,” not a “riot”). Each side includes photographs, but none that are excessively graphic.

If you’re interested in learning more about the Tulsa Race Massacre, I encourage you to go to the Tulsa Historical Society and Museum’s website (tulsahistory.org) and read the 2001 Tulsa Race Riot Commission’s report (okhistory.org/research/forms/freport.pdf). We will also have the report available at our main checkout desk.

We have several books in our adult nonfiction collection on the Tulsa Race Riot/Massacre. You can browse at 976.6 in the building or search Overdrive for digital items. The Tulsa Race Massacre plays important roles in some fiction items in the library. In the adult collection you’ll find “The Watchmen” TV series, “Lovecraft Country” by Matt Ruff, “Dreamland Burning” by Jennifer Latham, and “Fire in Beulah” by Rilla Askew.

In the teen collection, you’ll find “Angel of Greenwood” by Randi Pink, which is the subject of discussion among our Books & Brews group on June 5th from 1 – 3 PM at Fat Toad Brewing Co.