Between the Stacks: 8/3/2022

The Whitehall Community Library had a special visitor for Storytime last week when Jaret Streib, Prevention Specialist for Jefferson County, came to share apples, stories, and crafts with our preschoolers. He had a great time, and the children gave him a big hand at the end. It is so important that young children see men reading and enjoying books as well as women.

Now that our Summer Reading and Feeding programs have ended, we are turning our attention to some great new programs this fall. One of the best will be a series of lectures and book discussions on classical literature which have been turned into movies. Luke Forney, a writer and English teacher, will be leading the classes, and they are open to anyone but are aimed at high school age and adults. "Lit & Flicks" will meet on Tuesday evenings at 6 PM. If you would like to participate in this program, please call the Library to sign up. We need to order multiple copies of each book, so an accurate number is critical to getting everyone materials. This is a fun way to compare the original books to Hollywood's version and what the differences made to the audience.

I am also in negotiations to have filmmakers and authors Diane Nilan and Pat LaMarche at the library. They will be traveling through Montana and may have time to take a rest stop and host a program at the Library. They are both nationally known speakers on homelessness in America, focusing on teenagers and children. We are looking at them coming in September so I will let you know what date they will be here. This is a growing issue all over the country, including Jefferson County, so this will be an important evening of information and action ideas.

For our mothers with young children, we are starting a "Mommy and Me" group. This is a chance for moms to get together to learn about a number of survival ideas when dealing with babies and young children. We will be setting up a mentoring program between new mothers and experienced moms for those who wish to learn from others. Topics will include everything from easy food preparation to childhood development and what to expect at different ages.

Fall will include our normal book clubs-History, Mystery, Holocaust, and new this fall, a book club for young adult readers from fourth thru eighth grades. This book club will meet after school and will cover a variety of different genres and topics.

Our fall children's programs will include studies of different countries and their cultures, reader's theater, art, STEM, and crafts. I am working on the fall calendar now so we can get everything finalized and supplies ordered. It is going to be an exciting fall at the Library!