Tulip Time at the Library!

With Tulip Time comes our Herrick District Library Precision Cart Team!  They have been practicing so keep an eye out for them in Wednesday’s parade next week.  Librarians do like to have fun!

The library is also partnering with the Holland Museum this year to bring you two story and craft programs!  “Tulip Time Tales” will be performed at the Library and at the Holland Armory.  See our website here for dates and times.

Herrick Children's department will be at Kinderplaats again this year!  To fit with our Summer Reading theme, Dig Into Books!, children will have the opportunity to dig for golden nuggets and other small treasures.  

Hope to see your familiar faces as we are out and about the community the next couple of weeks.  Give us a shout and a wave!

You Can Be a Hero!

One of the best parts of my job is working with our Literacy Heroes, volunteers who go out into the community and read with children at schools, after-school programs, here at the library as Reading Buddies, and in other community organizations.  They’re a great group, dedicated to spending time reading with children each week and making a huge impact on young minds.  As coordinator of this group, I hear not only about children who have increased their reading skills and gained self-confidence, but also from the Literacy Heroes and the fun they are having in this rewarding work!

The longer I work as the Literacy Heroes facilitator, the more need I see for volunteers.  Some children, struggling with reading, simply need someone to take an interest.  Others may have gotten aboard the learning boat a little late and need help catching up.  Whatever the reason, they could use an encouraging adult in their lives.

If you’d like an ongoing volunteer experience please consider becoming a Literacy Hero!  We will train you on everything you need to know over the course of two orientation meetings.  Sign-up is available on our website here, or feel free to contact me if you have questions at 616-355-3729 or ejenkins@herrickdl.org.

Attention Book Groups

In the second half of the nineteenth century, no place on earth was as mysterious, foreboding, dangerous or downright deadly than the Nile River.  Those daring to brave the frontier were heroes in their own time and names like David Livingstone and Sir Henry Morton Stanley were topics of dinner conversation.

Alan Moore chronicled this era in his classic history The White Nile.  The New York Herald Tribune called it "A vivid chronicle, stirring, exciting, important...Endlessly fascinating.  A superb drama of adventurers whose like can never be seen again."

Call the Reference Desk today at 355-3720 to reserve The White Nile for your next book club meeting!

And the Pulitzer Goes To.....

The literary fiction readers of the world can breathe a collective sign of relief this evening: the Pulitzer Prizes were announced today and (joy!) a fiction prize was awarded this year.  The prize went to Adam Johnson for his experimental--possibly romantic, maybe a little bit political and kinda' navel-gazing--title The Orphan Master's Son.  And if my description seems a bit vague, well, there's a good reason: while almost all of the major review sources were overwhelmingly positive about it, each one seems to focus on a different aspect of the work.  The reading public's response was underwhelming, but the Pulitzer will inevitably mean a rebirth.

Other notable titles include the history winner, Fredrik Logevall's Embers of War: The Fall of an Empire and the Making of America's Vietnam,  and for general non-fiction, Gilbert King's Devil in the Grove: Thurgood Marshall, the Groveland Boys, and the Dawn of a New America. 

For the complete list of winners, check out the Pulitzer Prize website and give the Reference Desk a call if you need help getting a hold of the titles you find most interesting!

Happy Reading!

Attention Book Groups

Mrs. Lincoln's Dressmaker by Jennifer Chiaverini

Here is a historical fiction selection for your book group.  New York Times bestselling author Jennifer Chiaverini describes the extraordinary friendship between Mary Todd Lincoln and Elizabeth Hobbs Keckley, a former slave who won her freedom by the skill of her needle, and the friendship of the First Lady by her devotion.  In later years Elizabeth wrote a book about her life with Mrs. Lincoln, Behind the Scenes: Thirty Years a Slave and Four Years in the White House.  Upon its publication, Keckley's memoir created a scandal that compelled Mary Todd Lincoln to sever all ties with her, but in the decades since, Keckley's story has languished in the archives.  In this impeccably researched, engrossing novel, Chiaverini brings history to life in rich, moving style.

Marilyn Brown Remembered

Celebrate art, life, and children this Saturday morning at 11:00 a.m. at Herrick District Library. An art work titled “The Windows” will be dedicated in memory of former children’s librarian Marilyn Brown. 

Marilyn was employed by Herrick District Library for over 33 years before she died in May of 2011.  She was responsible for planning and overseeing all children’s and teen programs at Herrick, as well as the selection of all children’s materials, and the supervision of staff.  

Adam Dahlstrom, the artist, is a graduate of Grand Valley State University.  The memorial is made possible by the board of Herrick District Library through the library endowment.  Pictured here is the original artist's rendering which helped a selection committee to choose Dahlstrom's piece.  Visit the upper level of the main library to view the finished product during the dedication or any time afterward.

The event will take place in the Children’s Area on the upper level of the main library located at 300 S. River Ave. 

Write Your Family History

Ever pondered writing your memoir?  Do you have a great personal story to tell but don't know how to get started?

On Tuesday, April 16 Michigan author Mardi Link will present "Write Your Family History", a program designed to help you craft personal essays or memoirs.  Mardi will offer various strategies to help get you writing!  Join us from 6:30 - 8:30 pm in the Hazel B. Hayes Auditorium on the lower level at Herrick District Library.