Why she wrote the book:
Karen Hesse was born and raised in Baltimore Maryland. She currenlty lives in Brattlebourough VT.
In 1997 while on a flight Karen Hesse was skimming an airline magazine. Contained therein was an article about the KKK in Vermont in the 1920's. she could not believe her eyes so when she went home she researched trying to disprove the article. In her research though she found out the article was in fact true. She read old newspapers from public libraries which inspired some of the details in the book.
When reading each townspersons narrative could you always tell which side they are on?
Which of the characters exhibits true bravery?
Why did the author choose to tell the story through the voices of so many character?
This novel is,written in a series of free verse poems. Was this style,effective. Why do you think so.
Could you relate to any of the characters in the story?
Other than racism and bravery what are some other themes?
Can you see any similarities between Witness and Maniac Magee?
Do you think events like this could happen now in this area?
Why do you think Esther talks so funny?
Each of the characters in the book experience or witness a slice of history that they played a part in. Do these witnesses represent particular value?
Throughout history hate groups gain popularity and then fade from view. Why do you suppose this is?
What hate groups do you hear about in the news? What do they stand for and why do you think people join them?
Archbishop Desmond Tutu of South Africa has said " If,you are neutral in situations of injustice you have chosen the side of the oppressors." What does he mean by this. Can you think of a time you stayed neutral even though you felt an injustice was being done?
What does witness yeach us about predjudice and how it can be overcome?
Activities:
Create a town newspaper
Friday, November 16, 2018
Book Discussion: Maniac Magee by Jerry Spinelli
Studies show that between the ages of 9 and 11 children begin to lose interest in reading for fun. Research also shows that parents' own reading and involvement in their children's reading has a strong impact on their future reading habits. Together gives libraries an opportunity to address these trends by involving parents and kids in discussions about a variety of personal, public, and historical issues through the close reading of selected picture books and novels. Families read a book at home before each Together session. During the session, an open exchange of ideas between parents and children encourages family participation in learning while emphasizing the importance and pleasure of reading.
When you read the first two pages of the book called "about the story" what did you think?
Who is brave?
What are some of the themes in this book?
In what time period do you think this novel took place?
Who is the narrator?
What does running do for Maniac? What do you do when you are feeling upset, sad or lonely to help you deal?
What makes Maniac different from other kids?
What do you think happened in the year after Jeffery ran away but before he arrived in Two Mills.
In the book Grayson asks Maniac about the Beals at home, like for example if they have toothbrushes. Have you encountered people with misconceptions about others who are different? How do you think they got that way? Is there anything you can do to change them
Why didnt Jeffrey see any differences betweem himself and the east enders? P. 58
Can you think of a time when you aknowledged and accepted someone who differed from you?
P86. What does home mean to you?
In the book maniac teaches Grayson to read.Why Do you really think he didnt know how to read?
What effect do you think Maniac had on the McNabb family?
Why did Maniac bring Mars Bars to the party at McNabbs?
Manic ran in and out of the lives of residents of the east and west end. What do you think he did for the town?
Why do you think the book was broken up into 3 parts?
What do you think will happen to the characters after the book is over?
Tuesday, October 23, 2018
Harry Potter Trivia Year 2
This was our second year doing a Harry Potter Trivia night and it sold out yet again with 18 teams registered. This event takes about 2 hours and is limited to ages 18+. Big shout out to Kristina Ronald and friends at the Guilderland Public Library for letting me use two of their rounds from a previous trivia night they ran. You will also want to download and install this font on your computer in order to see the fun Harry Potter font on the documents below.
All the rounds were a hit except for the Hogwarts Class Catalog. They thought it was too hard and missed HP in it. So if I were to do this again I would swap that round for something else.
All the rounds were a hit except for the Hogwarts Class Catalog. They thought it was too hard and missed HP in it. So if I were to do this again I would swap that round for something else.
Round 1: Name the Characters-Name the character from the films whose face is covered with a white circle. We are looking for first and last names of the characters.
Powerpoint Presentation Questions
Round 2: New Phone Who Dis?-Name the character who’s texts appear in blue in these made-up text message exchanges. We are looking for first and last names of the characters (when applicable.)
Round 3: Chapter Illustrations- Using the picture “bank” write the correct matching book number in the blank space. Bonus points if you can name the chapter.
Round 4: Hogwarts Class Catalog-I hope you have been practicing for your NEWT’s because in this round we will go through the Hogwarts class catalog and ask you questions based on those classes. Some of the classes you will find represented include: Divination, Astronomy, Herbology, History of Magic, and Care of Magical Creatures. Fair warning, these are real world questions so if you are a good friend who came tonight with not much Potter knowledge this is your round to shine!
Round 5: Spells-Remember matching games from your years at Howarts. Well, this is like that. On a separate sheet is the word bank (warning there are more words than questions.) Fill in on the answer sheet the correct spell name. Since this is your final round, each correct answer is worth 2 points.
PRIZES:
I made four different prize packs based on the four Hogwarts Houses. First place team gets to pick their prize pack and so on down the line.
Ravenclaw:
Gryffindor:
Hufflepuff:
Slytherin:
Best Team Name: Pez Dispensers
Last place: I always give out a last place team prize. It is all a lot of fun with a little light teasing but it also keeps teams from leaving early if they have low scores. This game I gave out bags of jelly slugs
Best Costume: Lunch Bag
Harry Potter Escape the Room
Ages 14+ (too difficult for younger folks)
Escape room designed using the plans of librarian Beth Crawley from the Programming Librarian Interest Group on Facebook
1. Scenario Card: You must navigate the room and complete the clues in
order to find your lost Hogwarts Express ticket and catch your train to
Hogwarts on time. Good luck. You have 30 minutes to complete the room and are
allowed only 1 hint. If you want a hint ask one of the moderators by yelling
“HINT” from the top of the stairs in your best indoor library yell.
The moderator will hand the group a lockbox with a
blue multidirectional lock on it with a riddle on the top that reads:
2. On the table will be three of the HP books. In the final
book, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, hidden among the pages is the
Marauders Map.
3. On the map, the group will find the names of Moony, Prongs,
Padfoot, but NOT Wormtail.
4. Hidden in the room will be a plastic rat. Taped to the
bottom of the rat will be this riddle:
When you arrive at
Hogwarts
On to your head this is placed
It will then tell you out loud
In which house you will be based.
On to your head this is placed
It will then tell you out loud
In which house you will be based.
5. This riddle will lead the group to the sorting hat. Inside
the sorting hat will be a lockbox with a red combination lock. The group must
use the numbers from the Quidditch match poster to unlock the box. The scores
on the Quidditch match poster will read Gryffindor: 30, Ravenclaw: 20, Slytherin:
26, Hufflepuff: blank. This is the code to the box.
6. Inside the lockbox will be four cards, each representing
one of the four Hogwarts houses. Each of the cards will have a number in each
corner and a scrambled word on the back (this will represent the order of the
houses/items). If you unscramble the words they will say: crown, locket,
chalice, sword
7. The group will then need to find the four items in the room
belonging to members of the four houses:
Ravenclaw: crown
Hufflepuff: chalice
Gryffindor: sword
8. On each of the items hidden in the room there will be a
directional arrow. The group will have to put the items in order as per the
numbers on the corner of the Hogwarts house cards.
9. The arrows on the items will open the blue multi-directionallock The combination is up (Ravenclaw), down (Slytherin), right (Hufflepuff) , left (Gryffindor)
10.
Inside the multi-directional lockbox there will be a Howler.
The Howler will read:
11.
This clue will lead the group to the bottles of potions,
specifically the Poly Juice potion.
12.
Behind the label of the Polyjuice potion will be XY390.
This is the Azkaban number Sirius Black is holding.
13.
Tucked behind the frame holding the Wanted Poster for SiriusBlack will be a postcard and blue decoder. Place the decoder over the postcard
and certain words and numbers appear.
14.
Once decoded, the code will read: I open at the close and 1/2/13
15.
Inside the room will be a backpack. Inside the backpack
will be miscellaneous items including a lockbox with My golden snitch written
on top of the box.
16.
When the group uses the code 1213 from the postcard to unlock the box with the 4 number combo lock they will find the goldensnitch and the train ticket (can be printed from the Scenario Card).
- I used stuff laying around the library to actually make the room look like a study. In fact we used one of our study rooms! I used this fake brick wall since half of our room was glass and I wanted to obscure the view.
- I put this cutie in a decorative birdcage I had previously bought at Michael's Craft Store.
- I made our own Tom Riddles Diary
- Printed out a couple of Daily Prophets (1) (2) I tea stained them to age them as well.
- Not really a red herring but thought this would be helpful to put in the room to help those who have not used a combo lock in a while!
Tuesday, September 25, 2018
Book Discussion: Eileen by Otessa Moshfegh
Discussion Questions:
- How did it feel to be inside Eileen's head? Did you understand her or sympathize with her?
- Is Eileen the hero, villain, or victim of her story?
- On page 27 Eileen encounters a rape victim wanting to face her accuser at the prison and she denies her access. Eileen says "I don't know why I was so cold to her. I suppose I may have been envious. No one ever tried to rape me, after all. I'd always believed that my first time would be by force." What other ways does violence show up in the book?
- The book is narrated by Eileen as a much older woman, how does the space between narrative and narrator affect the development of the story?
- The narrator tells us that ‘this is not a love story’ and at times that a certain detail or scene is ‘not the point of this at all’. Do you always agree with her? Does this narrative signposting help us understand the ‘point’ of it all? What effect does this interjection have on the plot?
- Eileen is often obsessing over her own body and describing it terms of shame, disgust, violence and fascination. On page 24 she mentions "I didn't want anyone to think I was susceptible to bad breath or that there were any organic processes occurring inside my body at all. Having to breathe was an embarrassment in itself." What were some other body obsessions she had? How do they contribute to the mood or plot of the book. How do they effect the way you view Eileen?
- Eileen enjoys living in her own filth, is obsessed with her bowel movements, and most of the time she wishes her father were dead. Of her own moral character, she tells: ‘I was a shoplifter, a pervert, you might say, and a liar.’ Do you agree with her self-assessment? How does Eileen’s ‘likability’ affect your reading? Are there moments that shock or awe you? Does liking the protagonist matter?
- In an interview with the Guardian Moshfegh says, ‘Eileen is not perverse. I think she’s totally normal… I haven’t written a freak character; I’ve written an honest character.’ Do you agree? Discuss the different ways truth is explored in the novel.
- At the end of the very first chapter we read: ‘So here we are. My name was Eileen Dunlop. Now you know me… This is the story of how I disappeared.’ And so we learn very early on that something is going to happen, and soon. The novel is peppered with hints of an impending schism. How does this foreboding affect the reading experience? In what other ways does the author build suspense and mystery?
- Eileen tells her story as an old woman, looking back at a twenty-four-year-old version of herself. Her memory, she admits, is fallible and there are some things she remembers more clearly than others. She also benefits from hindsight. How might this unreliable narration affect the story? What is its effect on the plot and perception of the characters? Is the narrator Eileen a different character to the young Eileen?
- Moshfegh admitted she wrote the book "as a fuck-you joke, also I’m broke, also I want to be famous. It was that kind of a gesture." Knowing that does it influence the way you interpret the novel? Could the authors intent have formed who Eileen was?
- Let's talk about Rebecca. Do you think she was a real person or a manifestation of Eileen?
Tuesday, August 14, 2018
Future Adult Program Ideas
- Get Lowes to come and do how-to demos on things like installing tile, hardwood flooring, building decks, using power tools, plumbing, dry walling, etc.
- Folded book heart https://www.instructables.com/id/Folded-Book-Art-Best-most-clear-Tutorial-available/
- Peep Literary Diorama contest https://www.marshmallowpeeps.com/art-diorama-contests/ http://blog.fgculibrary.info/2017/03/08/literary-peeps-diorama-contest/ https://www.facebook.com/groups/ProgrammingLibrarianInterestGroup/permalink/1636619973082563/
- Bow making workshop
- Book wreath https://www.vintagepaintandmore.com/2013/11/book-page-wreath-tutorial.html
- Buy blank gift bags and cut out and paste completed adult coloring sheets on them to make cute customized bags. Embellish with glitter, ribbon, etc.
- Bob Ross painting night https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/inspired-life/wp/2018/07/04/painting-with-bob-ross-at-your-local-library-you-might-have-to-wait-in-line/?noredirect=on&utm_term=.223f9c83d169
- Canvas Pouring https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3wpvUXq--ss Do over metal pans to collect the drips
Tuesday, July 24, 2018
Book Discussion: Behold the Dreamers by Imbolo Mbue
Winner of the 2017 PEN/Falukner Award
Oprah Book Club Selection
Discussion Questions:
Though they moved to America to find better life as a couple and as a family, both Jende and Neni are inevitably impacted by the way America shapes their own personal identities.
Oprah Book Club Selection
Discussion Questions:
Though they moved to America to find better life as a couple and as a family, both Jende and Neni are inevitably impacted by the way America shapes their own personal identities.
- What are some of the ways in which they change as individuals over the course of the novel?
- How does their marriage change?
- Do you feel this is for the better or worse?
- How does it speak largely to the way America's ideals impact the members of its society?
Discuss the role of dreams in the novel.
- How do dreams drive the plot of the novel?
- What kind of dreams do these characters wish to achieve?
- What dreams are deferred?
- How has the American Dream changed in your lifetime?
- What cost is too high to make your dreams come true?
How was the author able to cultivate empathy from the reader in regards to Cindy and Clark Edwards?
Jende's lawyer Mr. Bubakar yielded him some advise at one point stating "Immigration is concerned, there are many things that are gray, and by 'gray' I mean the things that are illegal but which the government doesn't want to spend time worrying about. My advise to someone like you is to stay close to the gray area. What gray area is Bubakar referring to?
What role does race play in this novel?
Jende's lawyer Mr. Bubakar yielded him some advise at one point stating "Immigration is concerned, there are many things that are gray, and by 'gray' I mean the things that are illegal but which the government doesn't want to spend time worrying about. My advise to someone like you is to stay close to the gray area. What gray area is Bubakar referring to?
What role does race play in this novel?
- Bubakar states that "The police is for the protection of white people. Maybe black women and black children sometimes, but not black men. Never black men. Black men and police are like palm oil and water.
- Neni observes in NYC people walking around her were mostly paired up with "their kind." She observes that "Even in NYC, even in a a place of many nations and cultures, men and women young and old, rich and poor, preferred their kind when it came to those they kept closest." What is it that drive humans to seek others like them?
Discuss the character of Vince Edwards. What do you make of his relationship to his family and his thoughts about his country? How do his opinions play a larger role in the novel? What do you think is in store for him in India?
- In a conversation with Jende about how he views America Vince states " That's exactly the problem! People don't want to open their eyes and see the Truth because the illusion suits them. As long as they're fed whatever lies they want to hear they're happy, because the Truth means nothing to them.
Though they moved to America to find better life as a couple and as a family, both Jende and Neni are inevitably impacted by the way America shapes their own personal identities. What are some of the ways in which they change as individuals over the course of the novel? How does their marriage change? Do you feel this is for the better or worse? How does it speak largely to the way America’s ideals impact the members of its society?
- Cindy tells Neni that "Being poor in Africa is fine. Most of you are poor over there. The shame of it, it's not as bad for you." "Over here , it's embarrassing, humiliating, very painful."
How was Neni's blackmailing of Cindy justified or was it?
How did Neni change over the course of the book?
- After blackmailing Cindy Anna confronts Neni and Neni states "If Mrs. Edwards is not happy with her life, let her solve her own problems. I am tired of people wanting me to care about them more than I care about myself and my family."
Does the American Dream fail Neni and Jende?
- They are going back to their county wealthier then when they left
In the aftermath of the collapse of Lehman brothers Clark is able to pick-up the pieces of his life and find a new job as the head of a lobby for credit unions. While at the same time Jende chooses to give up on his family's American Dream and return to Cameroon.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)