We are in the last month of the year and holidays abound. There is Kwanza, Hanukkah, and Christmas in addition to the many other days that are featured in Chase's Calendar of Events, NationalToday.com, or HolidayInsights.com. Of these three Chase's Calendar of Events is the most authoritative. The other two sites list some fun holidays, and each website has their own version of what is considered a holiday. According to checkiday.com, National Hot Cocoa Day is celebrated on Dec. 13. However, the library will be serving hot cocoa from 5 to 6 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 7, while you wait for the annual Christmas parade to go by the library.
Santa will be visiting the library at 10 a.m. Saturday, Dec. 13. Join us for songs, stories and being in Santa's presence. Please bring a camera with you so you can take your child's picture with Santa.
Regular programming will not happen Dec. 23 -- Jan. 7 due to the holiday break. It will resume Tuesday, Jan. 8.
Morning Book Club -- This group will meet at 11 a.m. Tuesday, Dec. 17, to discuss Homegoing by Yaa Gyasi. This is the story about two half-sisters who are born into different villages in Ghana, each unaware of the other. One will marry an Englishman and lead a life of comfort in the palatial rooms of the Cape Coast Castle. The other will be captured in a raid on her village, imprisoned in the very same castle, and sold into slavery. Homegoing follows the parallel paths of these sisters and their descendants through eight generations: from the Gold Coast to the plantations of Mississippi, from the American Civil War to Jazz-Age Harlem. Yaa Gyasi's extraordinary novel illuminates slavery's troubled legacy both for those who were taken and those who stayed -- and shows how the memory of captivity has been inscribed on the soul of our nation.
A special movie event will be held at 6:30 p.m. Friday, Dec. 20. Join us for popcorn, lemonade, and a time spent with friends. Please check with the library about this event.
Ring in the New Year with crafts, snacks, games, and a hot chocolate bar from 11 a.m. to noon Dec. 31.
At 10 a.m. Saturday, Jan. 25, 1,000 Books Before Kindergarten will host the first graduation ceremony. We have at least 6 graduates. We will celebrate with cookies, punch and a short ceremony in which the graduates will receive a surprise from the Friends of the Siloam Springs Library. We encourage you, as parents and caretakers, to continue to read with your child. Reading provides entertainment and information. And children are naturally curious! Books help satisfy and explain their curiosities!
Stay tuned for Book Bingo Blackout! This will begin in January and all adults are eligible for this event.
Please visit the Library's Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/SiloamSpringsPublicLibrary, the library's blog at https://siloamspringslibrary.wordpress.com, the Library's website at https://www.siloamsprings.com/library, call us at 479-524-4236 or e-mail us at [email protected] for more information about what the library has to offer.
And as always, we will see you at the library! Peter Golkin states "My two favourite things in life are libraries and bicycles. They both move people forward without wasting anything. The perfect day: riding a bike to the library."
-- Dolores Deuel is the library manager at Siloam Springs Public Library. The opinions expressed are those of the author.
Community on 12/04/2019