How quickly the summer is going by! All the excitement of Summer Reading is pretty much over. Two things are yet to come. On Tuesday of this week, teens who took part in the Teen Summer Reading program will gather to give their input on things they would like to see for teens in the future. If you are a teen and did not take part in summer reading but still have suggestions you'd like to share, give Paulina a call for details about the gathering (626-0180, ext 8).

The other thing remaining is our end-of-summer program. Excitement is running high for YoYo SpinMaster Brent Dellinger who will be performing for us at the Showcase Theater on the Seward County Community College campus on Saturday, August 16, at 2 p.m. If you'd like a taste of what he will be bringing, check him out on YouTube.

For just a few wrap up statistics from summer reading, a total of 267 young people enrolled with 153 completing the program by turning in their reading log. Nineteen young people, including both the children and the teens, qualified for our High Readers' Reward Party by reading 35 or more hours during the five weeks. Kids all together who turned in their logs read in excess of 2650 hours.

We had lots of fun programs this year including a few real 'buggy' ones-one presented by the Lee Richardson Zoo, another from entomologist Dr. Phil Sloderbeck, and a third from beekeeper Dean Whitehill. The play, The Caterpillar Hunter, presented by Traveling Lantern Theatre Company was rather buggy as well, but in a different sense. The Orkin Man stopped by the library one evening with a fun educational video as well as some great hand outs for the kids in attendance. We all learned some interesting bug facts as well. Juggler Brian Wendling from the Kansas City area brought not only his juggling skills but his wry sense of humor as well. He had both children and adults laughing it up.

The teens had some activities centered around their metamorphosis theme, which included changes of various types. The most popular was a session called ToolBox Jewels and Tee-Licious. They used various hardware items to make some pretty neat looking jewelry and transformed tee shirts into slightly different styles. Another activity was Bug-igami with Diane Marsh from Baker Arts. Teens made some attractive butterflies with different sizes of paper. More on the educational side was a workshop about finding and keeping a job and another workshop which featured many of the organizations around town who accept teens for volunteer credit for high school graduation. Those folks told the teens what type of work they could expect to do if they volunteered for their organization.

Hopefully the kids had as much fun as the library staff did throughout the program. As always, any suggestions are welcome. Either use the suggestion box at the circulation desk or just stop by the children's desk and visit with us.

Now that hustle and bustle of summer reading is past, there are some great new books at the library you should know about. A book whose main character is reminiscent of the TV character Monk is Scaredy Squirre by Melanie Watt. This little guy's fears keep him captive in his tree home clutching an emergency kit. One day one of his fears actually materializes in the form of a bee, causing him to drop the emergency kit, then, without thinking, leap from the tree to catch it. You must read this book to find out what takes place next with this fearful, hapless squirrel.

Amy Rosenthal's Little Hoot is another new picture book to our collection. A good bedtime story for youngsters who resist giving up to sleep at the end of the day, Little Hoot has the opposite problem. His parents want him to stay up in regular owl fashion, but Little Hoot wants to go to bed. Find out how this family deals with their little 'not-so-night' owl.

Manfish by Jennifer Berne is a new book for older children that explores the story of famous French oceanographer Jacques Cousteau.

One of the more recent additions to our chapter book collection is Frances O'Roark Dowell's latest Shooting the Moon. This story is set during the Vietnam War. The main character is the daughter of a career military man. Unlike many chapter book characters in this day and age, this young lady is not precocious or smart alecky, instead she is a twelve year old who develops different perceptions of things as the story progresses.

New books are being added to the children's collection on a regular basis. If these titles don't appeal to you, come in and check on some of our other new titles.

The children's department is still looking for volunteers to read and review William Allen White nominated books throughout the year for publication in the newspaper and on our website. If you know a young person interested, please have them stop at the children's desk. There are a number of great books still remaining to be reviewed. See you at Memorial Library!