Mary Hurley

May is here! School is about to finish for the 2018-2019 school year. Two of our staff members will graduate and head out for other learning adventures. We’ll treasure our time with them until they begin their journeys.

Young readers to benefit: We’re excited to use our Texas Book Festival Grant award. Some of the money will go toward the children’s audio book collection. We found a book with the audio built into it which also has a sound for when to turn the page. This VOX book will be helpful to the beginning readers as they can read along with the story and know when to turn the page.

For our more experienced young readers, we’ll purchase audio books to go along with the books of some of our more popular series, giving these readers an opportunity to read along with the book and have someone pronounce the more difficult words. The older readers will also get to experience a reader bringing the story to life through their skills as storytellers. In either case, the goal is to encourage reading and to make it a fun experience for both parents and children.

Friends of the Mineola Memorial Library will meet on Thursday, May 2 at 1pm. This is a group that supports the library through promotion, fundraisers, and volunteers. They will be joining the Library in a booth at the May Fiesta in downtown Mineola on Saturday, May 4. Stop by to find out what’s happening at the Library and to learn more about the Friends.

Summer reading programs: Watch our next column for information about summer reading. We’ll be offering a program for children age 3 (with parent) to 5th grade, a tweens and teens program, and an early childhood program for infants to age 3. This year’s theme is a Universe of Stories.

As always, the purpose of the Summer Programs is to promote literacy and reading skills, but also to encourage visits to the library because it offers so much more than books.

Book Clubs and Good Reads: The Mineola Memorial Library Book Club will meet for the last time on Thursday, May 16 at 6pm to discuss How the Light Gets In by Jolina Petersheim. After this meeting, the club will take a break for the summer and will resume in the fall. If you’re interested, please join us for this meeting.

The East Texas Library Friends Book Club is reading The Passenger by Lisa Lutz and will meet on Saturday, May 4 at 2 pm in Rains county to discuss. If you’re interested in this club that meets approximately every 6 weeks, check out its site at goodreads.com, and look for the group East Texas Library Friends.

The Mineola Memorial Library is a 501(c)3, non-profit and your donations are very much welcome and appreciated.