Highland Library Invites Kids To A “Mad Scientists Laboratory” Of New Books In January 17, 2011

Monterey, VA – We’re starting the New Year off with some great news at the library. We’re pleased to announce that we’ve been awarded a Libri Foundation “Books for Children” Grant. This grant provides us with seventy-six new children’s books, including many new books in the areas of math and science. This was a three to one matching grant with local funds provided from used book sales.

The Libri Foundation is a nationwide non-profit organization that donates new, quality children’s books to small, rural public libraries in the United States. This is HCPL’s third “Books for Children” grant. To showcase the new books we’ll be having an After School “Mad Scientist’s Laboratory” on Tuesday, January 18th from 3:30 p.m. to 4:30 p.m. Kids will help with cool science experiments and problem solving challenges. Students with a parent’s permission can ride the bus from school to the library.

Family Movie Night on Friday, January 21st, features “Despicable Me” (PG) at 7:00 p.m. The library’s new 10′ movie screen has been installed and, combined with the new home theater projection system, the movies now look incredible. We encourage folks to arrive early to guarantee a good seat. There will be free popcorn, candy, and drinks. Everyone is welcome.

For their annual public meeting, held this month, the Library Board has planned a great community event and you’re invited. They’ll be hosting a “Technology Petting Zoo” and Open House on Sunday, January 23rd from 2:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m. The petting zoo will feature many electronic gadgets which you can try out.

We’re featuring an Amazon Kindle e-reader, an Apple iPad and iPod Touch, a digital camera, Flip Video, a Droid phone, a Nintendo DS, a digital frame, a Wii Gaming Console, and a Verizon Wireless Network Extender, which allows you to pull in cell phone signal in your home, regardless of whether signal from a tower reaches you or not. We’ll also be showing off our new mobile laptop learning lab that we’ve put together in order to be able to start teaching computer classes here at the library.

We’ll be polling people at the event on what classes they’d like us to start with. Board members will be on hand to answer questions and demonstrate the gadgets, and you’ll be welcome to touch and try out anything we have on display. The event will kick off with a very brief meeting to elect new directors. Refreshments will be served.

Winter is reading season and we’ve got some great new books for your reading pleasure. Come check out Jack Higgins’s “The Judas Gate,” Jayne Ann Krentz’s “In Too Deep,” Tami Hoag’s “Secrets to the Grave,” Dean Koontz’s “What the Night Knows,” and Tom Clancy’s “Dead or Alive.” In non-fiction we have Harriet Eleanor Smith’s “The Autobiography of Mark Twain, Vol.1,” Adam Corolla’s “In Fifty Years We’ll All Be Chicks,” Sarah Palin’s “America By Heart,” and Mike Brown’s “How I Killed Pluto and Why It Had It Coming.”