Wallkill Public Library
A different type of camp
Lego program offers building blocks for fun
As hard as it may be to believe, summer is nigh upon us, and with its approach comes that annual hunt for the perfect summer camp to keep the kids safe and happily occupied.
If you're looking for a change of pace your kids will love, Lego Camp may be the answer.
Kids ages 5 through 12 can power up their engineering skills with help from the pros at Play-Well TEKnologies, who apply real-world concepts from physics, engineering, and architecture to Lego construction. Arch bridges, sky scrapers, motorized cars, and more will be designed and built with the help of an experienced instructor during this five-day program.
The instructors come equipped with more than 100,000 Legos, so participants need bring nothing but their own innovative ideas!
The camp will run from July 9 through July 13, from 9 a.m. to noon for ages 5-7, and from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. for those ages 7-12. The sessions will take place in the community room of the Town Hall. The camp fee is $120, which goes directly and exclusively to Play-Well TEKnologies (the library is sponsoring the program for free).
Registration and payment must be made in advance at the library! Space is limited, so don't wait too long!
Visit the Play-Well website for more information on the program as well as videos of the camp in action.
Coming up at the Wallkill Public Library 
  Today: The Art Club meets at 4 p.m. This is identical to the Wednesday session, which is filled up. Register and enjoy creating a variety of unique and fun artistic projects with Miss Christine!
Saturday: An Earth Day Celebration is being held by the Shawangunk Environmental Management Council on the library lawn from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Clean Sweep: Wallkill will be on hand to tidy up the local roads and river - volunteers will meet at the library from 9 a.m. to 11:30 a.m.
Monday: The Friends of the Library will meet at 7 p.m. at the library.
Tuesday: Mommy & Me meets at 10:30 a.m., followed by Book Buddies at 11:30 a.m. At 4 p.m., the Magic Tree House Book Club gets together to discuss Sunset of the Sabertooth and enjoy crafts and activities related to the story.
Wednesday: Toddler Story time meets at 10:30 a.m., followed by Book Buddies at 1 p.m. The Art Club gets together at 4 p.m.
Thursday: The Knit/Crochet Club meets at 6:30 p.m.

And don't forget....

  • Discount tickets to the Broadway show Peter and the Starcatcher are still available! Seats are just $40 per person. There will also be a charter bus leaving from and returning to the library at a cost of $20 per seat. Contact Adrienne at 895-8712 or the library at 895-3707 for more information.
  • Renegades tickets for June 30's Geek the Library night are going fast! For only $15, your ticket will include general admission, a team hat, and post-game fireworks! Ask at the circulation desk for more information!
Author owes thanks to moms gone wild 

 E.L. James has gone from middle-aged working mom to erotica's It Girl with her Fifty Shades of Grey. The book has been selling at a rate of one copy per second in the U.S.

Take that, Philip Roth.

Okay, so the Fifty Shades trilogy might not be the intellectual fare of book snobs or fans of Amish romances, but whether you want to read it or not, you have to admit, it's a curiosity. James herself has admitted to not being a great writer. Though the book appeals to "women of a certain age," the story's main characters are in their twenties. The plot features a sadomasochistic relationship.
So what do so many people love so much about this book?
If you want to find out, you can tune in to ABC's 20/20 tonight at 10 p.m. and see an interview with the funny and down-to-earth writer herself. In the meantime, catch a partial interview here
New audiobooks for your commute! 
The following are new to our audiobook collection:

Robert B. Parker's Lullaby, by Ace Atkins - When 14-year-old Mattie Sullivan asks Spenser to look into her mother's murder, he's not completely convinced by her claim that the police investigation four years ago was botched. Mattie is gruff, street-smart, and wise beyond her years, left to care for her younger siblings and an alcoholic grandmother in a dilapidated apartment in South Boston. But her need for closure and her determination to make things right hit Spenser where he lives - they're the very characteristics he abides by.
 Spring Fever, by Mary Kay Andrews - Annajane Hudgens truly believes she is over her ex-husband, Mason Bayless. They've been divorced for four years, she's engaged to a new, terrific guy, and she's ready to leave the small town where she and Mason had so much history. She is so over Mason that she has absolutely no problem attending his wedding to the beautiful, intelligent, delightful Celia. But when fate intervenes and the wedding is called to a halt as the bride is literally walking down the aisle, Annajane begins to realize that maybe she's been given a second chance. Maybe everything happens for a reason. And maybe, just maybe, she wants Mason back....
Wild Star, by Catherine Coulter - Brent Hammond is as handsome as sin and wilder than an unbroken stallion. When he meets Byrony by chance, he's charmed. but when he sees her again, as the petted wife of an older rich man, he's chagrined. Until her life is threatened - and he discovers that only he can protect her.
Short stories take writer back to roots  
Stay Awake: Stories
By Dan Chaon
Before the critically acclaimed novels Await Your Reply and You Remind Me of Me, Dan Chaon made a name for himself as a renowned writer of dazzling short stories. Now, in Stay Awake, Chaon returns to that form for the first time since his masterly Among the Missing, a finalist for the National Book Award.
In these haunting, suspenseful stories, lost, fragile, searching characters wander between ordinary life and a psychological shadowland. They have experienced intense love or loss, grief or loneliness, displacement or disconnection - and find themselves in unexpected, dire, and sometimes unfathomable situations.
A father's life is upended by his son's night terrors - and disturbing memories of the first wife and child he abandoned; a foster child receives a call from the past and begins to remember his birth mother, whose actions were unthinkable; a divorced woman experiences her own dark version of "empty-nest syndrome"; a young widower is unnerved by the sudden, inexplicable appearances of messages and notes - on dollar bills, inside a magazine, stapled to the side of a tree; and a college dropout begins to suspect that there's something off, something sinister, in his late parents' house.
Dan Chaon's stories feature scattered families, unfulfilled dreamers, anxious souls. They exist in a twilight realm...in a place by the window late at night when the streets are empty and the world appears to be quiet. But you are up, unable to sleep. So you stay awake.
Don't overlook this valuable resource!
  The Library of Congress  website might not sound like the world's most scintillating reading, but don't be deceived - you don't have to be a librarian to get a lot out of it!
You can access the site via the Wallkill Public Library's homepage. Why would you want to, you say?
Think of the site as an ordinary public library's electronic catalog on a much grander scale. The Library of Congress is, after all, the largest library in the world, with more than 151.8 million items on approximately 838 miles of bookshelves. Its collections include more than 34.5 million books and other print materials, 3.3 million recordings, 13.4 million photographs, 5.4 million maps, 6.5 million pieces of sheet music and 66.6 million manuscripts.
There's also an extensive Ask a Librarian section (that includes online chat capability in many instances), informative and entertaining webcasts, current exhibits, and, of course, book-related articles, events, blogs, and more. Give it a look today!
Consider us your home - minus the angst 
 
It's been said that home is place where they have to take you in. One could say the same about libraries - only we hope you enter our doors without feeling the pressure of familial drama, unresolved guilt, inflated expectations, and a list of disappointments filed away for future use. On second thought, perhaps libraries are more like home than we think!!:)
But on the bright side, like home and family, we  hope you feel a sense of comfort, familiarity, shared interests, and the knowledge that you are welcome here, no matter what. We know you can't make everyone happy in all circumstances, but our hope is that you feel that we try our best to do so. Also, that your opinions, ideas, and expectations matter to us. In the next couple of weeks, we will feature a user survey online and on paper - available at the front desk - that will ask you for your thoughts on a variety of topics. We will compile this information for use in planning our programs and services, revising and upgrading our collections and online offerings, and reorganizing our cozy space to better meet your needs. (Imagine if this happened at your next family gathering!!)
Please keep a look out for this survey and take a few moments to complete it for us. Thank you so much for your ongoing support and for building a great sense of community in the Wallkill Public Library (....please don't feel obligated to bring us deviled eggs). 
Have a great weekend!

Mary Lou Carolan
Director
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