GET REEL!
The Get Reel! Teen Film Festival is a film competition for Fresno County teens, ages 13-19. The Fresno County Library and the Educational Employees Credit Union have joined together to promote and recognize young local fi lmmakers, and to give them a chance to see their work on the big screen a the Tower Theatre this April. Entrants will be dropping off application packets at your branches, so please send them on to Gina Becker at Woodward Park as soon as you receive them. For applications, screening dates, deadlines and guidelines, go to http://www.getreelfi lmfestival.org.
IT’S A MYSTERY
The Kingsburg library will be hosting a “Murder Mystery in the Library” to help celebrate Kingsburg’s centennial anniversary. The Knuggledraggers will be performing and facilitating the murder mystery on March 8, 2008. They plan
to include some of the more interesting history of the town as well as the untimely
“death” of someone in attendance. If you would like more information or would like to attend, please send an email to Faythe Arredondo. The program will last about two hours and will also be a fundraising event for the Friends of the Kingsburg Library. Please email Faythe Arredondo for more information at faythe.arredondo@fresnolibrary.org
FRACTURED FAIRY TALE
The winning entry in the Woodward Shakespeare Festival New Playwright Competition is the creation of our own Terrance McArthur. “All’s Red that’s Riding Hood” is a fractured fairy tale with a dark twist. The tale begins with the traditional visit by Red Riding Hood to her Grandma’s house through the woods. In this version however, Red finds an unexpected companion in the exiled DeWolf. Though a series of misunderstandings ensue (leading to a tragic and traditionally Shakespearian end), the journey in-between provides opportunities for equally Shakespearian word-play and requisite hilarity. As part of this year’s Rogue Festival, the Woodward Shakespeare Festival will present Terrance’s play at the California Arts Academy at 1401 N. Wishon on the following dates/times:
February 29 at 7:30 pm
March 1 at 6:15 pm
March 2 at 2:30 pm
March 7 at 7:30 pm
March 8 at 2:30 pm
For more information, visit www.woodwardshakespeare.org.
CHILDREN’S READATHON!
The Library is partnering with ReadFresno, a non-profit agency combating illiteracy in Fresno County, to host a children’s readathon celebrating Literacy Awareness Month. Local celebrities and mascots will visit metro libraries on February 23 from 10 am to 2 pm to participate in the readathon, which will be held simultaneously at Woodward Park, Politi, Fig Garden, Central, Sunnyside, Cedar-Clinton, Gillis, Pinedale and Mosqueda. The event at Woodward Park will feature an appearance by popular children’s entertainer Okin Bloodworth at 9:15 am. Celebrity readers will represent the Fresno Regional Foundation, Lozano Smith, IRS, Teen Council, Junior League, Baptist Church, and local physicians. Mascots will include Freddie the Falcon, Chuck E Cheese, John’s Incredibear, Clifford Scorcher, Crispy Chicken, Colonel Sanders and Wendy's. For more information, contact Lisa Eckman in Youth Services.
PEGGY SHARP WORKSHOP
Over 12,000 books were published for children in 2007, and noted educator
and librarian, Dr. Peggy Sharp, selected the best of these books to present at a
workshop in January entitled “What’s New in Children’s Literature and How to Use It in Your Program 2008”. The workshop is presented annually in Fresno by the Bureau of Education and Research. Four staff members from the Woodward
Park Library attended the informative and entertaining workshop. Participants received a resource handbook which previews titles, gives ideas on how to
promote good books to readers, selection strategies, and ideas for using books in programs. The resource handbook is available from Youth Services if you are interested in reviewing the workshop information.
Peggy Sharp’s “List of the 10 Best Books of 2007” includes:
1) Chester by Melanie Watt
2) The Chicken-Chasing Queen of Larmar County by Janice N. Harrington
3) Dog and Bear by Laura Vaccaro Seeger
4) Elijah of Buxton by Christopher Paul Curtis
5) A Good Day by Kevin Henkes
6) The Invention of Hugo Cabret by Brian Selznick
7) The Mysterious Benedict Society by Trenton Stewart
8) Seventeen Things I’m Not Allowed to Do Anymore by Jenny Offi ll
9) The Wednesday Wars by Gary D, Schmidt
10) The Wall: Growing Up Behind the Iron Curtain by Peter Sis
POLITI BOOK DRIVE
In honor of children’s author Leo Politi during his centennial celebration this year, the Friends of the Politi Branch Library have launched a fundraiser to purchase sets of Politi’s book for Fresno schools and libraries. Various levels of support will help provide complete sets and multiple copies of single titles. A bookplate will ccompany every donated book. For more information, contact Linda Scambray at scam4@comcast.net, or Ryan Ewers at the Politi Branch Library.
LIBRARY LIFE
Library Journal recently highlighted a new book by Don Borchert, a library assistant
at the Torrance Public Library, that offers a wry memoir of library life. Free for All: Oddballs, Geeks, and Gangstas in the Public Library was given its title by the author’s daughter and suggests both the occasional chaos in public libraries as well as the philosophy behind them.
The full interview with Don Borchert can be viewed at www.libraryjournal.com/borchert. The book is available for checkout at the
Central Library and Fowler and Clovis branches.
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