Elgin Public Library

This month’s Book Club book is at the library. You will be reading Lessons in Chemistry by Bonnie Garmus. Stop by and pick up your copy.

The library has received numerous new book titles to get you through the final days of summer and into the fall.  Check out the picture below to see all the new titles.  Many are by familiar and favorite authors while there are also new ones that are just waiting to be read.

Through a grant, the library received money to buy Playaways for adults and Wonderbooks for children. You may ask yourself, “What are Playaways and Wonderbooks?” Let us explain.

Playaway is a device where an audiobook had been pre-loaded on the device. It is portable so you have the freedom to take it anywhere. There is no need for WiFi or internet. It has a universal headphone jack so you can use almost any kind of headphones, speakers or adapter.

Wonderbook is a print book with a ready-to-play audiobook inside. Kids can press play and read along with the book.

Stop by the library and check them out!

The Book Club book for August has arrived. You will be reading The Boys in the Boat by Daniel James Brown. We have one large print copy available. Stop by and pick up your book.

Nebraska 4-H Reading Connections
2024 Adventure Begins at Your Library
with Anne Dexter – Antelope Co. Extension Office Summer Intern

The 4-H Reading Connections program engages youth in extended 4-H learning opportunities in partnership with the Collaborative Summer Library Program.
With that we talk about the 4 H’s: Head, Heart, Hands, and Health and begin each activity with a physical activity to get our minds and bodies ready! The first week we talked about Head and Mapping Your Community. The kids and I walked
around the Library to look at different ways to map their community around the library. They had to come up with symbols that would also go their map key. Once they had a sense for that part of their community they wanted to map, they drew it down on paper making sure they had key symbols on their maps. We read the book Mapping Penny’s World.
Our second week we used our heart by talking about healthy foods that are good for you. We started our afternoon off with fruit and veggie yoga in the back yard of the library and moved onto our main activity, TIE-DYE! Not your regular tie-dye but with liquid that was boiled off from purple cabbage, red beets and the spice turmeric. Each kid was given a white handkerchief and rubber bands they dyed with the colored water. They couldn’t decide between Zombies Don’t Eat Veggies and Eat Your Veggies, Goldilocks, so we read them both!
On to our third week where we talked Hands: getting outside and exploring nature with our hands. The activity was started off with a nature scavenger hunt with in the block around the library. They worked together in groups or by themselves to find everything on the list! Then we used some of these things to make a garden stone our of salt-dough. They could either imprint the leaves, flowers, sticks, pinecones, etc. or keep them in the dough. Then they were sent home with instructions on how they could let these dry. Along with this activity we read The Tree That Bear Climbed.
Our final week was about Health and Battle of the Senses with a couple taste testing
experiments. First, we played an exciting game of hot-potato then broke out the blindfolds! The kids have to use their senses; feel, smell, taste to see between different types of food and guess what they are eating. Just Try One Bite is a book about kids trying to get their parents to put down the junk food and just try one bite of health food. I thought every kid could relate to that!

Our latest adventure took us to the kitchen. We read “Our Little Kitchen” by Jillian Tamaki and learned about neighbors that came together to prepare a meal for their community. With all of their garden produce, a happy and chaotic kitchen, and a friendly meal, Our Little Kitchen was a celebration of full tummies and watching out for each other. Following the story the children decorated their own aprons. What an adventure it was!

Over the last two weeks preschool through 1st grade children have been going on different adventures during storytime. Week one found the kids going to Grandma’s house and the Savannah in a hot air balloon. Week two we had fun going on adventures at the Petting Zoo and then soaring into Space as our next adventure. It has been a fun time but we have several more adventures to go on. Stay tuned!

Twenty “egg”cited participants gathered at the library on Saturday, March 23 to try their hand at cookie decorating. With the help of Kristina Sehi they all did a great job – in fact Easton will tell you they were good enough to eat! Enjoy the slide show below that shows all the concentration and effort they put into learning their new skill.

On Monday, March 11, we had LEGO League for the Kindergarten through second grade students. Below you will find one of the many LEGO creations that were made. Stop by the library and take a look.