New Western Art Books

We just received a donation from the Sid Richardson Museum in Fort Worth, Texas.  They sent us several books that include art from Frederic Remington and Charles Russell. 

Also included is a book of "sayin's" and wisdom from the "real west".

Come by and check them out!  They'll be on the shelf later today!

Game of Thrones

Are you familiar with the HBO series Game of Thrones?

Did you know that the series originated with George R.R. Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire series?  I (Julie) just finished the first book in the series, which is appropriately named A Game of Thrones. 

The first book is an epic in itself.  The medieval setting has elements of fantasy, but is very similar to a world set in 15th Century England.  In the Seven Kingdoms all of the lords serve one king, Robert Baratheon.  In times past, Robert was a mighty warrior and wrested the throne from Aerys II.  However, the years of the kingship have not improved King Robert.  He has become lazy, and more interested in pursuing pleasures of every kind than ruling his kingdom. 

After the death of his King's Hand, Jon Arryn, Robert appoints his old friend Eddard Stark of Winterfell to the position.  Eddard must negotiate all of the perils and pitfalls of politics at court while trying to protect his family from the tumultuous environment of life at court.  Ambitious lords from several houses as well as the king's own wife have plans and schemes that could topple the kingdom.  Meanwhile, across the narrow sea, the last surviving descendants of Aerys II are plotting as well. 

I really enjoyed this book, and plan to read the rest in the series.  There's war, romance, treachery, and loyalty.  It is not for the faint of heart, however.  Mr. Martin does not skimp on the blood and gore, there is bad language and there are sexual situations as well.  I found it similar to Phillipa Gregory's books.  There are lots of characters to keep up with, but Mr. Martin provides a few helpful charts and maps in the back of the book.  The first book is 694 pages long.  So far George R.R. Martin has written five of the planned seven books in the series.  All of the books are available at Franklin County Library.

Busy, Busy, Busy!

Summertime has exploded at the library!

As you can see we are all decorated for Summer Reading!  The theme this year is "Under the Sea" and Mrs. August is reading stories about the water and doing water related crafts.

 

 

We have had lots of kids for all our sessions.  It's not too late to get in on the fun.  Just come in and sign up.  There are still four weeks left.

 

Yesterday we were visited by Zoofari.  They brought a lemur, a monkey, a possum, a hedgehog, a snake, and more!

 

 

We appreciate First Baptist Church letting us use their gym for this program.

 

We still have two magicians, an ice cream sundae day, a watermelon day, and a storyteller coming up this summer.  Click here for a copy of our summer schedule.  Don't miss out!

Also, did you know that the library is on Twitter?  Be sure and follow us for lots of updates and exciting news. 

 

Why Librarians are Better Than Google

Did you know? : Talking Book Program

Are you aware of the Talking Book Program?  It is a service provided by the Texas State Library and Archives Commission and is completely FREE!  It is intended for people who are visually impaired.

If you are interested, you can come by the library to look at our demo machine.

The machine is very easy to use.  It has large buttons that are easy to feel and push.  After you get the machine the system works in a very similar way to Netflix.  You simply maintain a request list and when you return an item you receive another item from your list.  You must request at least one item a year to maintain your account and keep your machine.  There are loan periods for books and magazines. 

We have all the information and paperwork here at the library along with the machine and a couple of sample books that you can play with.  Unfortunately, our demo machine can not be removed from the library, but anyone is welcome to come by and test it out.

If you have used this program, we'd love to hear how it worked for you.

Tom's Two Cents : Z, A Novel of Zelda Fitzgerald

With the current release on film of Scott Fitzgerald's "Gatsby,"  I can think of no better time to read the new novel called "Z" by Therese Anne Fowler, now available in book and tape format in our library.  Told in the first person by Fitzgerald's wife Zelda Sayre, "Z" is the story of her courtship and marriage to one of America's most famous writers, of his early struggles, huge popular successes and tragic dissolution into alcoholism and early death.  But it is not so much the tragedy of the Fitzgeralds as of their fairy tale life in  America and Europe of the Roaring Twenties that makes this book so engaging.

Scott and Zelda were the golden couple of their era, surrounding themselves with fascinating literary and artistic people, especially in Paris and the Riviera in the decade before the Crash of 1929.  They literally lived as if there were tomorrow, and indeed in their case there wasn't.  Scott died in Hollywood at the age of 44, trying to establish himself as a screenwriter.  Zelda lived long enough to know her first grandchild (the famous couple had one child, a daughter, Scottie) but checked herself in and out of mental institutions for years with a mental condition of what would now probably be diagnosed as bipolar disorder.

But this is not a book that dwells on sad events.  Zelda's life is fully explored as she searches for her own artistic identity in writing, painting and ballet.  She was an accomplished writer and dancer, but she could not escape the inevitable presence of her famous husband.  Written totally from the viewpoint of its heroine, "Z" is in the tradition of the recent autobiography of Hadley Hemingway, "The Paris Wife," and though it lacks the style and substance of that work, it is both entertaining and enlightening.  For summer reading, I would certainly recommend it.

Summer Reading Day 1

Today was the first day of Summer Reading.  We had over 100 kids come!

Check out some pictures below:

They made jellyfish today!

Bella found just a few books she wanted to take home.

Leopoldo the Frog

Yesterday Franklin County Library and Mt. Vernon Music partnered to bring a children's musical to Mt. Vernon.  "Leopoldo the Frog" was performed by the Hall Ensemble.

The performers played a violin, a viola, a bassoon, and a cello.  Each instrument represented a character in the story. 

Kids and adults alike seemed to get into the story and have a really good time.

For the finale, several kids were picked from the audience to come to the front and play instruments that mimicked the sounds of crickets, frogs, and rain. 

We hope that the Hall Ensemble will return.  We were very impressed by the program and enjoyed the wonderful music and story very much.

Naked Eggs Conclusion

We finished up our Naked Eggs experiment yesterday.

It was very interesting.

For the first step, we put raw eggs in water, orange juice, vinegar, and coke.  We wanted to see which liquid would work the best to dissolve the egg shell.  Of course, the water did nothing.  The coke did very little which surprised a lot of people.  Everyone expected that the coke would be very corrosive because we always hear about all the things that coke can eat through.  The orange juice did begin to dissolve the shell, but it never removed all of the shell.  It was more like a top layer sloughed off, but the shell was still present and hard.  The vinegar was a great success.  As soon as we put the egg in the vinegar bubbles formed around the egg.  Within 30 minutes the first layer of egg shell was floating on top of the vinegar.  After the first day the shell was mostly gone and the egg was very soft.  After the second day the shell was completely gone and the membrane was translucent enough to see the yolk moving around in the egg.

The second phase of the project involved testing the theory that the naked egg would bounce when dropped.  We didn't have quite as much success with this part.  The egg only bounced once and then broke.  I think that part of the problem was the surface that we bounced the egg on.  The surface was rough and I think that part of it caught the egg and caused it to pop.  If we had had a smooth surface we might have had more success.  In the picture below you can see the "skin" of the egg and the yolk after it broke.

 

The third step in our experiment was to take a naked egg and see if we could remove all the water from it.  Our instructions said that we needed to take an egg that we had removed the shell from using vinegar and place it in corn syrup.  Due to osmosis the water in the egg moved across the membrane into the corn syrup.  After the corn syrup became diluted, I removed the corn syrup and replaced it with fresh.  After about 1 day we removed the egg from the corn syrup and observed that it had become very dehydrated.  Only the yolk and white remained in the egg and the skin was wrinkled. 

 

The picture below shows an egg with it's shell still on, a naked egg, and a naked egg with the water removed.  Notice that the naked egg is swollen, due to absorbing some of the vinegar.

 



We had a lot of fun with this experiment.  Adults and children both seemed to enjoy watching the eggs change and touching the naked egg to feel how squishy it was. 

We have several more experiments on tap for this summer, so stop on by!

Petting Zoo!

Today was our petting zoo on the square.  We had almost 300 kids and adults come to pet the goats, chickens, ducks, tortoises, baby pigs, an emu, a llama, and a calf.

 

The animals were very good natured, and the kids had a blast!

Green Eggs and Ham

Naked Eggs

Yesterday we started a science experiment that is going to last all week.  Did you know that you can dissolve the shell of an egg and then perform several experiments with the egg that is left?  The first step, of course, is to dissolve the egg shell so that you are left with a naked egg.

We put eggs in several different substances to see which one would dissolve the egg shell the best.


From left to right : Water, Orange Juice, Vinegar, and Coke

What substance do you think will work the best?

Later this afternoon, we will try and bounce the egg with its shell dissolved.  How high will it bounce before it breaks?

And later this week, we'll put a naked egg in corn syrup.  What do you think will happen to the egg then?

Did you know? : Large Print Books

Did you know that Franklin County Library has nearly 300 titles in our Large Print Section?  There are Mysteries, Westerns, Nonfiction, Inspirational, and General Fiction titles. 

Recently, patrons Tom and Betty Whitmer have donated several new releases in Large Print.  We are very thankful for their contributions in large part because Large Print titles are priced about 150% more than regular new releases.  The Whitmer's contributions allow us to have a much greater selection of large prints than we otherwise would. 

Last week, they brought in six new titles.

 

Thanks Tom and Betty! We really appreciate you!

Bubble Day!

Bubbles everywhere!  Today was our annual bubble day at the library.  Over 100 kids of all ages came and played with bubbles and visited the library.  There were big bubbles, little bubbles, and medium bubbles. 

Free Entertainment Here!

Reminder! : Summer Schedule

***We have added a new program in addition to the ones listed below.  It is Twice Upon a Time storytelling.  It is at the Franklin County Arts Alliance on Friday August 9th.  There will be two programs.  A 2:00 program will be geared toward children and a 6:00 program will be geared toward adults.  Hope to see you there!***

 

Bubble Day!