News

Get Caught Reading a Banned Book!

Banned Books Week celebrates the freedom to read and express controversial ideas.

Why read banned books?
By reading a banned book, you are exercising your first amendment rights, and exploring themes or topics that were at one time – or are now – controversial. Can you imagine a library without these books?

“The Adventures of Tom Sawyer,” by Mark Twain
“A Wrinkle in Time,” by Madeleine L’Engle
The “Harry Potter” series, by J.K. Rowling
“I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings,” by Maya Angelou
“The Catcher in the Rye,” by J.D. Salinger
“Alice In Wonderland,” by Lewis Carroll
“Charlotte’s Web,” by E. B. White
“Green Eggs And Ham,” by Dr. Suess

Yeah, we can’t either!!

Read-Aloud Book Club Begins at Skidompha Library!

Wednesdays at 12pm, Library Atrium

A.K.A the You Bring It, I’ll Read it Club.
Please join this group of readers interested in the art of the spoken word as we dive into the rhythmic texture and fabric of verse, from pre-classic to post-apocalyptic works.
Bring a work of fiction, non-fiction, poetry or song to share and speak, and hear other works as they roll off the tongue.
Past sessions have included swapping sonnets and poems to try “cold” reading, with discussions on interpretation of the piece once performed out loud. NO experience necessary – come and practice in an open, fun environment!

Special Event: Mr. Drew and His Animals Too!

Saturday, September 30th at 10 am

Join us as we celebrate a new season of Storytimes here at Skidompha!
Our special guest will be Mr. Drew, an animal rehabilitation specialist who helps exotic animals in need. 
Mr. Drew will bring a variety of species to the library, from birds and insects to reptiles and amphibians, many of which you can touch and interact with. 
 
This show is FREE and promises to be exciting and informative for all ages!

Skidompha Sketches Online! A Child’s Memories of Pearl Harbor, Dec. 1941

Longtime Skidompha Library friend Betsy Noyes sat down with Skidompha Community Media Producer Mal Gormley in July 2017 to record her vivid experiences as a young child on the morning of the attack on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, and later.

Betsy’s father was an officer on the USS Tennessee, adjacent to the battleship USS Oklahoma when the Oklahoma was sunk by Japanese bombers. She also tells of being evacuated to the California and subsequent fun with her family and friends. This unique recording is part of Skidompha Sketches, our program to document the lives of folks in the community.

All are invited to record their special experiences, conversations, and interviews with friends and family. Contact the library for more information!

Listen HERE!

Archives – How to Find Hidden Treasure

Archives – How to Find Hidden Treasure
presented by Kathleen Maclachlan
 
Thursday, September 7, 12:30-1:30
 
An overview of how to effectively use the treasures that hide in archives, large and small.  
 
Many wonderful documents exist that are not online. This short session will focus on preparing to visit archives so that you maximize your time and find some family gems.  If there is a specific archives that you’d like to visit in person or from a distance, please let Kathy know and she will try to use those as examples.    
The Genealogy Group at the library is open to all; to sign up to receive group information, please email Kathleen Maclachlan, staff genealogist.

Chats with Champions Welcomes Doug Preston

Doug Preston
New York Times best-selling author of The Lost City of the Monkey God
Tuesday, September 5 at 10am
Porter Hall
Since the days of conquistador Hernan Cortes, rumors have circulated about an ancient White City of immense wealth hidden in the Honduran interior. Indigenous tribes spoke of ancestors who had fled there to escape the Spanish, warning that anyone who disturbs this sacred city will fall ill and die. Myths of treasure and every imaginable curse run rampant–but the fact that the city existed somewhere out in the jungles of Mosquitia, was widely accepted by Hondurans.  
 
In 1940, swashbuckling journalist Theodore Morde returned from the jungle with hundreds of artifacts and tantalizing stories of having seen the crumbling walls of the Lost City of the Monkey God for himself. Soon after, he committed suicide without revealing its mysterious location.
Three-quarters of a century later, Doug Preston climbed aboard a rickety, single-engine plane carrying a machine that would change everything: LiDAR (Light Detection and Ranging), an expensive laser technology on loan from NASA that could map the terrain under the dense rainforest canopy to a resolution within three feet. That flight revealed for the first time an unmistakable image of a sprawling metropolis, tantalizing proof of not just the mythical city but an entire lost civilization – contemporaries of, but distinct from the Mayans. His first-hand account of the discovery of this previously unknown civilization is not only riveting in and of itself, but also profound in its implications for the past, present, and future of Central America.
 
Doug Preston grew up in Wellesley, Massachusetts and attended Pomona College in Claremont, California, where he studied mathematics, biology, physics, anthropology, chemistry, geology, and astronomy before settling down to English literature. After graduating, Preston began his career at the American Museum of Natural History in New York where he worked as a writer, editor and eventually manager of publications. Preston also taught nonfiction writing at Princeton University and served as managing editor of Curator, a journal for museum professionals. He has written for The New Yorker, Natural History, National Geographic, Harper’s, Smithsonian, and The Atlantic.
 
The author of several acclaimed nonfiction books-including the bestsellerThe Monster of Florence, Preston is also the co-author with Lincoln Child of the bestselling series of novels featuring FBI agent Pendergast. Preston has published a number of solo novels, including Tyrannosaur Canyon, Blasphemy, and Impact.


Harry Potter Day at Skidompha – the best excuse for kids AND adults to come out and play!

To every Wizard, Witch and Muggle who came out to play with us, a very hearty thank you!
Harry Potter Day drew a much larger audience than we expected, and we were all touched by the multi-generational affection this community feels for The Boy Who Lived.
Thank you also to Lincoln County News for the wonderful article, which you can find here. We look forward to announcing even more library events in the very near future!