From the library

Heroes in the summertime and the reading is easy
Summer officially begins this Sunday, but it is already in full swing at the library. We have a summer reading program for kids, teens and a new one for adults, all loosely themed on ‘Heroes.”
The kids’ summer reading program, called “Every Hero has a Story,” has a different Reading Club event every Thursday now through July 30, with a program at 11 a.m. in the Library Forum Room. Today it’s “Superhero Training Camp,” with fun crafts and activities to test the superpowers in us all. Next Thursday, June 25, it is Jungle James. This is a live animal show where kids get up close and personal with an array of wild beasties. Don’t worry: Jungle James has been classroom- and library-tested for years and years all over Northern California. Every Thursday has a different glorious hero-making event. Come in and get the schedule or go to the website: sonomalibrary.org.
Teens are usually way too cool for organized stuff like named programs so we left the name off our teen program. It is super easy, fun, no-hassle, teen reading thingy (too laid back to be called a program) that awards prizes for reading different kinds of books, or exploring the library or the library’s website. First prize is a Kindle Fire. There are incentives along the way like free books and candy bars and book bags and stuff.
Then there is the totally new thing for this summer: “Escape the Ordinary: The Adult Reading Program.” It is built around a kind of bingo or tic-tac-toe card. Each of the nine squares you fill in by reading a specific kind of book or book with a certain property. You have your choice: a book that was turned into a movie, a book about a hero, a biography, a book of poetry, and so on. Each book you read of a certain type fills in a square and when you a row across or a row up and down or a row diagonally, you earn a ticket. Tickets get put in the big empty pretzel jar, and at the end of the program on August 8, winning tickets will be drawn. Prizes go to heroic readers whose tickets are drawn. There will be $100 gift certificates for Plaza Gourmet, the Raven Theater and Copperfield’s Books. The grand prize is a $300 gift certificate for the Dry Creek Kitchen.
Goodbye. If you read this on the day the paper usually comes out, my tenure as a librarian and library branch manager is over. My last day was Wednesday, June 17. June 18 is my birthday, and I am celebrating by retiring. It has been a grand ride, and I have absolutely loved working at the Healdsburg Regional Library since September 1988, and, before that, at the Central Santa Rosa Library, since October 1983. I have watched kids grow up in the Healdsburg Library and, in due season, have gotten books for their kids.
My kids grew up here, and I love this town. It has been wonderful to work here and to be a part of this community. I will stick around and continue to be a part of the community, working as a volunteer and board member of North Sonoma County Services, the homeless shelter and transitional housing in town. My other retirement project is my dream of writing a good narrative history of Sonoma County wine. Peace and buoyant bookmarks.
Bo Simons is the former branch manager of the Healdsburg Regional Library.