Computer Classes Continue with Special Topics

The library's basic computer classes continue on three Monday evenings in June with topics focused on areas needed for becoming computer literate. June 13's class is on how to set up an e-mail account using hotmail or Yahoo. June 20's class is important for job seekers - in this class you'll learn how to create a resume and portfolio online that can be accessed by potential employers. June 27's class looks at social networking - how to get started on Facebook and Twitter. Also covered in the class is the all-important topic of internet safety. All classes are from 6:00 to 7:30 p.m. Class size is limited to 10, so you must call or stop in the library to sign up. 879-1531.

Seeking: Teen Advisory Board

We’re looking for motivated teens to help us plan a space especially for teens in the library. What after-school activities would you like to do? What sort of contests or events do you think would interest teens and help make the library a good resource for after school? Let us know if you’re interested in helping come up with new ideas. The group will meet once or twice during the summer. Call 879-1531.

Teen Summer Writing Contest

Teens who have completed grades 6 through 12 are invited to enter the library’s summer writing contest.

Choose any book, fiction or non-fiction, published in the past year (any book with a copyright date of 2010 or 2011). Write a personal essay of 1-2 pages (250-500 words) explaining “What this book means to me.” You might want to address how the book’s subject affects you, or has expanded your horizons, or how you relate to a character.

Submit a printed copy of your essay to the library’s front desk by August 22. Be sure to include your name, phone number, and last grade completed.

One winner will be chosen from middle school and one from high school age groups. Writers of the best essay will receive a $30 gift certificate to Wal-Mart. Winners will be announced in the fall issue of the library’s newsletter.

Questions? Call 879-1531

Meyerson joins summer spotlight

Musician/songwriter Robi Meyerson will give a children's performance at 1 p.m., Wed., June 15, at the Cloquet Public Library. The program is free of charge and open to the public.

Meyerson plays a wide variety of musical styles, including folk, swing, pop, rock, and blues. Her song selection includes originals, many genres, old standards, and, of course, children’s music. Kids love to sing and dance with Robi. For more information, call 879-1531.

Dark Tales for Teens

Mentalist and motivational speaker Robert Halbrook will bring his teen-oriented program “Dark Tales of Mystery and Intrigue” to the library on Thursday evening, June 26, at 6:30 p.m. Audience participants will experience strange phenomena such as telekinesis and mindreading. Macabre objects such as an Inquisitor’s box will be on display. The program draws from works by authors such as Stephanie Meyers (author of the “Twilight” series) and Edgar Allan Poe. If you are in middle school or senior high, join us for a heart pounding and fascinating journey into the unknown.

Harp adventures kicks off summer fun

Musician Christina Cotruvo will present Harp Adventures, a program full of travel, harps and music at 10:30 a.m., Thurs., June 9, at the Cloquet Public Library.

The program is free of charge and open to the public.

The program, based on the book, Harp Mouse Adventures, will introduce the inner workings of harps and provide an opportunity to play one and enjoy music from many nations following the travels of Harp Mouse. The author of the book is Diane E. Dunn.

Cotruvo’s appearance is part of the Library’s program of summer activities for youth. This year’s theme is “One World, Many Stories.” Children will travel the globe exploring places from Oceania to Russia through stories, crafts, music, games and other activities.

The Library’s Summer Reading Challenge is open to young people, preschool through young adult, with programs, prizes, story hours and special events. Additional performances will include African Drums, Dazzling Dave and his Yoyos and popular musician Robi Meyerson. All children are eligible to participate in the summer reading challenge. Preschoolers will receive credit for books read aloud to them.

Registration officially begins on Mon., June 6. To participate, children fill out a Reading Log by listing books or pages read and present it to the children’s librarian for credit. Incentives will be awarded as readers make progress.

Story Times for preschool (ages 3-5) children will be at 10 a.m., Wednesdays, June 15 through August 3. LapSit Story Times (ages 0-2) will be at 10 a.m., Thursdays, June 16 through August 4.

Tween and teens will learn the basics of Haiku (a form of Japanese poetry with three phrases) writing through imaginative exercises, games and fun examples during a two-day workshop at 1 p.m., Thursday, June 16 and 23. Interested youth must preregister by calling the library before the class begins.

This year, children will answer the question, “Where’s Jacques?” as they search weekly for the roving yet cuddly polar bear puppet. An end-of-the-summer drawing will determine who takes Jacques home. Children can also look forward to weekly scavenger hunts. For more information, call the Library at 879-1531.

News to Me: Journalist and Minnesota Book Award-winning Author Laurie Hertzel

Former Duluth News-Tribune reporter Laurie Hertzel has just been announced as winner of the 2011 People’s Choice Award from the Minnesota Book Awards. On Saturday, May 7, at 10 a.m., Ms. Hertzel will be at the library to read from her new memoir, News to Me: Adventures of an Accidental Journalist, published by the University of Minnesota Press.

Irreverent and insightful, Ms. Hertzel’s story vividly captures the changes taking place in the male-dominated world of journalism in the early '70s and society at large. Her journalistic endeavors covered the Twin Ports area up to the Iron Range and ultimately to the Soviet Union during the Gorbachev era. In Duluth’s sister city of Petrozavodsk, she met American-born Finns who had come as children with their parents to build a worker’s paradise under Stalin. The dream became a nightmare for many Finnish-Americans as they fell under suspicion and were rounded up at night for clandestine execution under Stalin’s purges.

Despite this grim and touching subject matter in later chapters of the book, Ms. Hertzel’s authorial voice from the first page shows her overwhelmingly humorous take on life. She is heir to James Thurber in her comic vision and to Mark Twain in her ironic observations of society and people.

In addition to her journalistic writing, Ms. Hertzel has also been the recipient of the Thomas Wolfe award in short fiction.

Copies of News to Me will be available for purchase after the reading.

This program is supported by the Minnesota Book Awards through a grant from the Minnesota Department of Education – State Library Services and the Minnesota Library Foundation. The Minnesota Book Awards is a project of The Friends of the Saint Paul Public Library, in partnership with the Saint Paul Public Library and the City of Saint Paul. For more information on the Minnesota Book Awards, visit http://www.thefriends.org/.