The Holidays Are Here....

....and we've got some exciting programs you'll want to know about!

Halloween Happenings!

It's not too late to sign up for Spooktacular and Scarify Me! Monday October 29th will feature Halloween crafts and fun activities for ages 3 through 1st grade in Spooktacular--space is still available for 2PM, 3PM, and 4PM--and scary makeup tricks for grades 2-6 in Scarify Me at 3:30! Must register--call 879-0497 today!

Awesome Book News!

For all you fans of Percy Jackson and the Olympians, there is good news! Author Rick Riordan has announced the title of the fourth book in the best-selling mythological-fantasy-adventure series. It will be called The Battle of the Labyrinth, and will be released May 6, 2008. Get the whole story here. If you haven't read any of these awesome books, start with The Lightning Thief and prepare for a thrilling ride!

A Host of Holidays!

Happy Hobbit Day, everyone! Today is the birthday of both Bilbo Baggins and Frodo Baggins, of The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings trilogy respectively. So use this day to catch up on your Middle-Earth lore, and read some Tolkien! We have a Tolkien display set up in the Children's Department for your browsing convenience.

















This past week has also seen two other interesting holidays: Talk Like a Pirate Day, and the birthday of one of our favorite (and smartest) literary characters, Hermione Granger! To view a list of other strange and interesting holidays, click here.

Sad News for the Literary World

We are extremely saddened to learn that author Madeleine L'Engle has passed away. In the span of her writing career, Ms. L'Engle wrote many books, but was most famous for A Wrinkle in Time, which was a Newbery Medal winner in 1963 and has remained popular since its publication. Read more here. In honor of Madeleine L'Engle, come check out some of her amazing books at the library! You can view what we have here.

Get Ready for Fall!

Have you gone into programming withdrawal since Summer Reading ended? Never fear, at Emmet O'Neal we are starting our regular programs again next week! Once again you can participate in a wide variety of exciting, entertaining, and educational programs for all ages! There are superb storytimes for the little guys (and big guys too!), and awesome activities for the older kids as well. For a schedule of events, come to the Children's Department and pick up a calendar, or visit our website and view the calendar there.

Among the cool stuff planned for the 3rd-6th graders is the much-anticipated return of Dig-It! The first session will be at 3:30 on Thursday, September 6th, when we will kick off the fall with a rousing round of Bingo for prizes! Don't miss it! Each week Dig-It (which stands, as you must know, for Daring Inventive Ginormously Interesting Thursdays) features something different--a movie and popcorn follows Bingo, then board games, and a special speaker or activity. September's movie on the 13th is a cool flick about a certain teen spy, and the special event will feature origami and paper airplanes.

Many of you already know about and participate in Dis-A-Book: Emmet O'Neal Library's book discussion club for 4th-6th graders, where we talk about a new book each month, eat pizza, and collect patches. But did you know that the library also offers a computer class that can help you with homework difficulties? Kids & Komputers gives you handy tips for using Google and the library's website, online catalog, and databases. This is the sort of information that can really give you an edge when working on reports and projects! If you're in 3rd-6th grade, call 879-0497 to sign up for the September 12th or October 22nd sessions today! Space is limited.

The End.....of Harry Potter?

By now, most readers have finished or are near to finishing Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. What did you think? The feeling is bittersweet--it's a fabulous read (the best in the series, we here at the library think!), but so many of us have spent so long reading about Harry & co. that we don't want it to be over! Other than re-reading the entire series ad nauseum, what are die-hard Pottermaniacs to do now? Read something else, of course! Here are some suggestions: ~Percy Jackson & the Olympians series (or check out the new Percy short story on Rick Riordan's blog!) ~The Abhorsen trilogy or Keys to the Kingdom series by Garth Nix (for slightly older readers) ~Children of the Red King series by Jenny Nimmo ~The Secret of Platform 13 or Which Witch? by Eva Ibbotson ~Inkheart and Inkspell by Cornelia Funke (the 3rd volume, Inkdeath, is due out next year!) ~The Goose Girl or Princess Academy by Shannon Hale ~Peter and the Starcatchers and Peter and the Shadow Thieves by Dave Barry & Ridley Pearson ~The Artemis Fowl series by Eoin Colfer ~Matilda or The Witches by Roald Dahl ~Anything written by Gail Carson Levine Do you have other ideas for good post-Potter reads? Leave us a comment and let us know your suggestions! If you are still in desperate need of a Potter fix now that you've finished the series, you can: 1) Check out the special collector's issue of Entertainment Weekly on sale now--"Goodbye, Harry." It's chock-full of fun and informative Pottermania like a sample Hogwarts yearbook and "secret ingredients" of the Potterverse, and some great lines like: " . . . here's the simple truth: As the books aged with the readers, they got darker and more complicated and transformed into something bigger and better. Something called art." We heartily agree! 2) If you're entering grades 4-6 you can sign up (call 879-0497 or email ewiggins@bham.lib.al.us) for the September Dis-a-Book sessions, where we will be discussing Deathly Hallows--Sept. 18th or 25th, at 6PM. 3) Try listening to the audio versions of the books, read by the phenomenal Jim Dale. Altogether, that should keep you busy for around 116 hours! 4) If you're really patient, you can wait until J.K. Rowling eventually publishes the wizarding world encyclopedia that she's promised to write......and hope that maybe one day in the future, she'll write Hogwarts: The Next Generation or perhaps Children of the Phoenix :)