PONCA CARNEGIE LIBRARY

Ponca Library’s book club, Between the Pages, is back after a long hiatus!

If you enjoy a good mystery, you will want to join the club on Monday, October 18th, at 2 pm.

They will be discussing the book The Guest List by Lucy Foley.

Here is a quick summary provided by the publisher:

“On an island off the coast of Ireland, guests gather to celebrate two people joining their lives together as one. The groom: handsome and charming, a rising television star. The bride: smart and ambitious, a magazine publisher. It’s a wedding for a magazine, or for a celebrity: the designer dress, the remote location, the luxe party favors, the boutique whiskey. The cell phone service may be spotty and the waves may be rough, but every detail has been expertly planned and will be expertly executed. But perfection is for plans, and people are all too human. As the champagne is popped and the festivities begin, resentments and petty jealousies begin to mingle with the reminiscences and well wishes. The groomsmen begin the drinking game from their school days. The bridesmaid not-so-accidentally ruins her dress. The bride’s oldest (male) friend gives an uncomfortably caring toast. And then someone turns up dead. Who didn’t wish the happy couple well? And perhaps more important, why?”

If this book sounds like your next good read, stop by the library to pick up your copy today!

Grab your sweater! Fall is here and we have some fun things happening at the library this month.

October 5^th @4 pm– Ponca State Park program featuring Bats

October 17^th @ 2pm – Book Signing with Myra Kingsbury

October 19^th@4pm – Ponca State Park program featuring The Moon

October 30^th @10am – Monster Mash Halloween story & craft. Ages 4-9

We are so excited to begin our Fall programming with

Ponca State Park

Please join us at 4pm on October 5^th and October 19^th

The theme for the month will be Creatures of the Night.

This program is appropriate for ages 5 – 12. Each session will include a hands-on learning activity and

a featured book presented by a Ponca State Park naturalist. Snacks will be provided.

** November theme and dates to be announced soon **

This year will mark twenty years since that tragic day on September 11, 2001. For most of us, that day will be forever in our hearts and minds. However, nearly one-fifth of this country is too young to remember firsthand that day that changed everything.

So, I want to share something special with both of these groups. Those who do remember firsthand and also those younger.

Many adults have heard of The Library of Congress.  It is the world’s largest library; and they did an extraordinary thing on September 11^th, 2001.

Within hours of the terrorist attacks, The Library of Congress staff began to call for and collect a vast array of materials regarding the attacks which included videos, interviews, personal accounts, photographs, news stories and more. These were then used to chronicle this historic event from every angle and perspective from firefighters to bystanders. The incredible result of this can be seen in an online exhibition called Witness and Response: September 11 Acquisitions at The Library of Congress. ‘It is an exhibition that exposes visitors to powerful eyewitness accounts and commentaries regarding events on Sept. 11, 2001.’

Here is the link to view the exhibition items:

For younger children, teachers and parents may not know how to discuss the events of 9/11. I recommend the following website which was designed specifically for children. It is filled with stories, videos and lessons appropriate for teaching younger children about 9/11.

https://www.loc.gov/exhibits/911/911-overview.html

(Some content not appropriate for children)                                            

https://911lesson.org/book-reading/

Over the past year, our library has had the pleasure of hosting several special guest authors. Each one had a unique story to tell. If you were present at one of these events, you learned not only about the author’s personal journey but also about the journey of the characters in their books and how the author developed them.

If you were not able to attend our previous author visits, you will be glad to know we are currently working on booking more authors both via ZOOM and in person.

While you are waiting for our next author to be announced, we encourage you to check out some of the books from the authors we have hosted. These books are available in our library.

William Kent Krueger:  This Tender Land, Ordinary Grace, and his newrelease Lightning Strike (released Aug. 24^th 2021)

Lauren Francis-Sharma:  Book of the Little Axe

Tricia Currans-Sheehan and Jeanne Emmons (pen name JT Ashmore):    

Scaled Book One and Deep Skin Book Two

Tammy Marshall:  The Clearwater House, Ticker Tape and State of Georgia and Other Writings

With COVID cases rising again just as we begin our new school year in Ponca, we may be thinking, HERE WE GO AGAIN!  When the stress of what’s going on around us becomes too much, we MUST pay attention to the mental health of ourselves and our friends and loved ones. We need to be aware of how we are feeling and what we are doing to take care of our mental and emotional needs. Do we have enough support from others to help us do this?

Last October, the psychologist Lisa Damour wrote a column for The New York Times about how adults could help teenagers attend to their emotional needs as school resumed for a challenging year. There was a great response to the article and some teenagers responded by asking Ms. Damour to write another column but this time addressing them, the teenagers, rather than the parents.

In “Dear Teenagers, Here’s How to Protect Your Emotional Well-Being.”  Ms. Damour offers up five suggestions for young people. Yes, this article was written the tail end of 2020 but it is so very relevant again right now that I wanted to share the link for the article in its entirety. This is an important read. Let’s all help take care of each other.

As summer comes to a close, I want to thank everyone who joined us for our summer programs. We had great turn outs for our final two programs of the summer. William Kent Krueger made a visit in July to talk about his writing career and his latest book. Then in early August, Marcy Broyhill and her sister Teresa Kay Orr entertained us with their presentation of Aprons, Skirts, Hats and Flirts.

All of our guest speakers were very pleased with the number of people in attendance.

As we move into a new season, I wish to continue to offer programs that interest our patrons of all ages. We hope to offer something for everyone.

Library staff was able attend the back to school Meet & Greet night at both Jackson and Ponca schools. That evening, we asked families to fill out a quick survey regarding what kinds of programs they would like to see offered at the library. We are excited at the number of responses we received AND the number of families that signed up for library cards! Families were also able to sign up for text reminders and/or e-mail notifications for upcoming events and programming. If you would like to fill out our survey and sign up for these notifications, please e-mail us or call the library during regular business hours. Thank you and we look forward to seeing all of you at the library.

Melissa Kebaili, Ponca Carnegie Library Director

A great big thank you goes out to our friends at UNL Extension Office and Ponca State Park for partnering with us for our Tails and Tales Summer Reading Program.

We look forward to our continuing partnerships. Some exciting programs are in the works!

You can always stay up to date on what’s going on at the library by visiting our website or Facebook page.

Please join us for these upcoming events:

July 29^th – Presentation by visiting author William Kent Krueger at 6pm. Potluck at 7pm.  This event will be held at Ponca State Park.

August 7^th –  Marci Broyhill and Teresa Kay Orr will present Aprons, Skirts, Hats & Flirts: Women – Their Range of Status During the Western Movement at 2:45 pm in the River Bluff Room at Ponca State Park