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Mural Painting: A very special gift! - 24 May 2013
The Library celebrated 50 years of service last year, and what a fabulous year that was!  In honor of that major milestone, the Friends of the Library gave a very special gift to the Youth Services Department that will be put into place this June.

The Friends of the Library commissioned local potter, Don Edwards of IndyClayWorks, to create a community mosaic mural on the wall behind the Youth Services Reference Desk.  The exciting part is that this really will be a community project!  Local artist Susan Fletcher Conaway donated her time to design the beautiful image that will go on the wall, and the children of Zionsville will paint the pieces that make up the mural.  Register your child to paint clay tiles throughout the week of June 3-7.  We chose different time slots in hopes that your child can participate, we want everyone to be a part of our mural!  You can also participate by coming back on Monday, June 17 from 10am-2pm to help glaze the tiles.  The final project will be unveiled at the end of June.

The Youth Services department would like to extend a special thanks to The Friends of the Library, Don Edwards, and Susan Conaway for helping this project come to life!

Portrait of a Marriage - 23 May 2013

Intrigued by marriages of the rich and famous? Here’s a timely story, given the newly-released The Great Gatsby starring Leonardo DiCaprio.  Z: A Novel of Zelda Fitzgerald by Therese Anne Fowler follows the marriage of Zelda and F. Scott Fitzgerald from its riotous beginning to its tragic end. Married in 1920, beautiful, Southern belle Zelda Sayre and handsome, Ivy Leaguer F. Scott Fitzgerald capture the spirit of the scandalous “Roaring Twenties.”  When the extravagant, cash-strapped newlyweds move to Paris, they meet Ernest Hemingway and his first wife, Hadley.  And here’s where the story really takes off—especially if you’ve read The Paris Wife by Paula McLain (another fine novel about a celebrity marriage). The literary rivalry—The Sun Also Rises and The Great Gatsby were published within a year of each other—is  as riveting as the emotional tangles that ensnare both writers and wives.  I liked Z for the all the same reasons I enjoyed The Paris Wife.  It’s a well-researched, engrossing account of what it’s like to be married to a man who fears failure almost as much as he covets success.

Other recent novels that reveal the inside stories behind notable couples include:  The Aviator’s Wife by Melanie Benjamin, which portrays the marriage of Charles and Anne Morrow Lindbergh, Loving Frank by Nancy Horan, an account of the clandestine love affair between Mamah Borthwick Cheney and Frank Lloyd Wright, and The Master’s Muse by Varley O’Connor about the marriage of principal ballerina (and polio survivor) Tanaquil Le Clercq to George Balanchine.

Youth Summer Reading - 20 May 2013
To complete the program, each child chooses to read 50 books, 50 hours or 50 days.  Preschoolers will probably choose to read 50 books to make it easy on mom.  2nd graders might like to challenge themselves by reading 50 books.  If you are an avid reader, you will definitely want to choose to read 50 hours because you can earn more prizes that way (we have an extreme reading challenge sheet that goes up to 200 hours!).
Choose your path and then start reading, beginning May 31.  Keep track of your reading on a reading log, which will be available at the Library beginning May 31, or print a log from our website: www.zionsville.lib.in.us (you can't print it until May 31).

The Summer Reading Kick-Off Party will be Mon., June 3.  It’s a day-long celebration of magic, mural painting, reading, games, and prizes!   If you have read 3 books, hours, or days by June 3 you will be able to report your reading and pick up your first prize! The first 1000 children to report their first goal of 3 from their reading log will receive a Foam Rocket or Rubber Duck.  Kick-off Party Bonus: if you join us for our Kick-off party on June 3 and have read 3 books, hours, or days, you can utilize our reading rocket launch to launch your prize across the library-THIS IS ONLY POSSIBLE ON JUNE 3!  The Prize Market opens Monday, June 10.  

When you have completed “50” on your reading log, you will earn a chance to win a Grand Prize! 
 
Families are invited to the End-of-Summer Carnival celebrating our Library’s 51st Birthday on Friday, August 2 from 5:30 – 7 PM. Join us for extra special events, carnival games, music and refreshments on the Fifth St. lawn and parking lot.

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