June 15, 2007

Off the Shelf

Get a Clue! Summer reading begins on June 16

By Tim Collins
Adult Services Librarian

As this issue of the Evergreen Times is being distributed, the annual Summer Reading celebration is just starting up at San José Public Library. This year the kids’ program has a mystery theme: “Get a Clue!”

Of course, anytime is a good time to read. No need to wait for summer! But to encourage participation in our Summer Reading celebration, San José Public Library offers fun incentives. Next time you are at the library, ask for a log sheet and we will get you signed up. Basically, it’s a matter of keeping track of the time you spend reading between June 16 and August 11. For every six hours spent reading, up to 30 hours, you can claim a prize. Getting read to counts as well!

Wow! You get the pleasure of reading a good book and you get a prize too! Such a deal!

For children, the prizes include Get a Clue Painting sheets, secret compartment wristbands, Get a Clue notepads and pencils, magnifying glasses and pizza coupons, and finally, a reading certificate and book. For teens, the prizes include Rubik’s cube key chains, lanyards, YNK (“You Never Know”) sticky notepads and pencils, flashing L.E.D. balls and pizza coupons, and of course, books.

Customers generally perceive SJPL’s Summer Reading program as being for youth only. While it is true that to a great degree the focus has been on kids in the past, adults have always been welcome to participate. However, this summer we are offering a summer reading program for adults during the month of July. The theme for the adult component of Summer Reading is “Summer Sleuthing @ your library.” Read any book you like, and submit a drawing entry for each completed book. Drawings will be held weekly at each of SJPL’s 18 locations. Drawing prizes include tickets from Camera Cinemas Theatres, as well as gift certificates from local bookstores, coffee shops and restaurants. (Yes, ironic, isn’t it? Movie theatres! But really, reading and movies feed into each other very well. Think Harry Potter.)

While I write this column most specifically in relation to events and happenings here at the Tully Community Branch of the San José Public Library system, this Summer Reading Celebration is a system-wide, citywide event. No matter which library location you generally visit, Summer Reading is happening near you.

Special Summer Reading events – author visit July 10

Here at Tully, we are hosting these special events as part of our Summer Reading celebration:

Saturday, June 16, 11 a.m. – Ballet Folklórico dancers perform.

Thursday, June 21, 2 p.m. – Phil Ackerly will amaze us all with his astonishing magic.

Tuesday, July 10, 2 p.m. – Performing artist Zun Zun invites audience members’ participation to use clues embedded in music and lyrics to solve a mystery! This show explores our shared cultural and natural surroundings through music and sound.

Thursday, July 26, 4:30 p.m. – P&T Puppet Theatre presents The Adventures of Spider and Fly

Also, as promised, there is an adult component to our Summer Reading. On Tuesday, July 10 at 6:30 p.m., Tully Library is proud and pleased to have local mystery author Mark Coggins pay us a visit. Various local mystery authors are visiting different library locations during June, July and August, as part of both Summer Reading and the “Sisters in Crime” series. On July 10, it’s Tully’s turn!

Mark Coggins' first book, Immortal Game received the 2000 Shamus award for Best P.I. First Novel. The Shamus Award is given by the Private Eye Writers of America to honor excellent work in the Private Eye genre. Other books Coggins has written are Vulture Capital and the recent Candy from Strangers. Coggins sets his mysteries right here in the San Francisco Bay Area, including Silicon Valley, so for us that makes it an especially fun read. Come and enjoy.

Harry Potter, Harry Potter
The reading sensation of the past 10 years or so reaches its climax and conclusion this July with the release of the seventh and last book, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. Is Severus Snape really good, just misunderstood? Or is he the truly evil wizard Harry has believed him to be all along?

Find out!
San José Public Library customers are just as bewitched by Harry Potter as the rest of the international reading public. So during July, we’re joining the bandwagon, riding the broomstick, boarding the Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Knight Bus….

On July 10, the Knight Bus pays a visit to the Cambrian Branch Library from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m., and the Berryessa Branch Library from 3 to 6 p.m. Pay your local library a visit and enter a drawing (by 6 p.m. on June 23) to board the Knight Bus. Winning fans will get a chance to videotape their thoughts on the Harry Potter series.

Also, on the night of July 20, the eve of the release of book seven, a special event will be taking place at the Almaden Branch Library and Community Center, starting at 10 p.m. Come as you are, or dress up as your favorite Harry Potter character. There will be crafts and games and a magical time to be had by all!

Congratulations, We have a winner!
We congratulate Cynthia Nguyen, participant in our Women’s History Month quiz drawing, who won a $20 Target gift certificate. While Nguyen is the nominal winner, we salute everyone who participated in the quiz, thus increasing their knowledge of women who made a difference. You’re all winners!

Tully’s calendar… now available en español
Normally in this column, I include a listing of all the events taking place at Tully during the course of the upcoming month. This month, though, there was so much to say about Summer Reading and Harry Potter that space ran out.

So don’t worry, all our usual weekly storytimes, computer classes, citizenship classes, ESL classes haven’t gone away (although certain programs will be taking a summer hiatus). Tully Community Branch Library is just as busy as it always is! To find out about events either at Tully or throughout the San José Public Library system, visit our website www.sjlibrary.org or pick up the monthly calendar we give out to customers next time you visit us! That calendar is now available in both English and Spanish.

Tim Collins is the Adult Services Librarian at the Tully Community Branch Library, 880 Tully Road, between McLaughlin and Senter. It is one of the branches of the San Jose Public Library. The Library’s phone number is (408) 808-3030. For more information about the library, visit the website at www.sjlibrary.org.