Have you ever dreamed of living in a castle? Have you ever thought about designing a castle of your own? You can start by making Virtual Visits to Castle Around the World! In addition to tours of real castles, Castles of the World by Affordable Tours includes pages about: the Parts of a Castle, the Architecture of Castles, and Haunted Castles! Buckle your seat belt and visit a castle!
If you missed Jonah Larson on The Today Show in April, prepare to be inspired! Eleven year old Jonah Larson was born in Ethiopia and lived in an orphanage until he was adopted by his American parents, Jenn and Chris Larson, in 2008. Now, Jonah has become a crocheting phenom. In addition to crocheting incredibly fast, Jonah donates his creations to charity and raises money to support the orphanage he once called home.
If you’d like to try your hand at crochet, you can learn some basic stitches at Dabbles & Babbles: Basic Crochet Stitches, or you could try asking your favorite needleworker!
Are you running out of books to read? Hoping to find something new? Why don’t you try visiting a Little Free Library. Little Free Library is a nonprofit organization that inspires a love of reading, builds community, and sparks creativity by fostering neighborhood book exchanges around the world. Through Little Free Library book exchanges, millions of books are exchanged each year, profoundly increasing access to books for readers of all ages and backgrounds. Bring a book — take a book! It’s that simple!
Chartered LFLs are quite easy to find. Go to Little Free Library. There you will find a function/map through which you can locate LFLs by ZIP code or other criteria. There are many in the West Chester area, and the United Way maintains one on each Born Learning Trail.
Of course, there are also many unchartered LFLs, which you just have to luck upon. It’s like a Treasure Hunt! Have fun and I hope you find some good books!
The Next Chapter Book Club is a program that welcomes adolescents and adults with Down syndrome, autism, cerebral palsy and other intellectual and developmental disabilities to participate in reading and discussing books together in a fun and informal social setting. It is the largest community-based book club program of its kind in the world with hundreds of clubs meeting weekly in North America, Australia and Europe. The Chester County Library and Henrietta Hankin Branch became an affiliate in 2019 and Henrietta Hankin Library has been hosting a club that has been meeting since June 4th, 2019.
As we approach our Next Chapter Book Club’s one-year anniversary, we find ourselves adjusting to the times and have begun meeting virtually via Zoom from 5:00-6:00pm on Wednesdays. We are always open to accepting new members as well as volunteers to help co-facilitate. This June is a particularly opportune time to join in the fun, as we are in the process of selecting our next long book which we hope to begin reading in July. For more information or to sign up, please contact Henrietta Hankin Branch librarian, Claire Michelle Viola at cviola@ccls.org. For more information on the Next Chapter Book Club program, check out their website at https://www.nextchapterbookclub.org/.
Do you love Roald Dahl? Do you like supporting good causes? Do you adore watching celebrities goof around? Then James and the Giant Peach read by Taika and friends is just for you!
The collaboration between Roald Dahl Story Company, Taika Waititi and the star-studded line-up of guests will serve children and families currently in lockdown all over the world and will raise money for Partners In Health, a global health non-profit who are on the front line of the fight against COVID-19 in the most vulnerable parts of the world, with the Roald Dahl Story Company committed to donation matching of $1 million.
Watch new episodes every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday! James and the Giant Peach.
The world around you is SO interesting if you take the time to explore it! Whether you’re taking a walk or planting a garden, science is EVERYWHERE! Here are some great sites with science experiments and activities to help you start exploring.
Exploratorium – San Francisco Science Museum
Franklin at Home – The Franklin Institute
Though summer doesn’t start till June 21st, many people celebrate Memorial Day as the unofficial first day of summer. But Memorial Day is about a lot more than hot dogs and hamburgers.
Union General, John A. Logan, declared May 30, 1868 an occasion to decorate the graves of Civil War soldiers. He called it Decoration Day (later changed to Memorial Day). In 1950, President Harry S. Truman issued a proclamation calling on Americans to observe the holiday as a day of prayer for peace. President Richard M. Nixon declared Memorial Day a federal holiday in 1971. Now, we observe Memorial Day on the last Monday of May and honor the men and women of the U.S. military who died in American wars.
This video from PBS Learning Media will teach you more about Memorial Day.
Due to the COVID-19 threat, the Board of Trustees of the Chester County Library System/Chester County Library will be holding their monthly board meeting virtually. If you have always wanted to attend a meeting but haven’t had the time, this is your opportunity. Please click this link at 8:30 a.m. on Tuesday, May 19 to join the Chester County Library System Board Meeting. The Chester County Library Board Meeting will immediately follow.
World Book is currently offering free access to ALL our Digital resources to support patrons, educators and parents during COVID-19 distance learning through the end of May.
Click here or use the username and password below to access your free World Book Online resources:
https://www.worldbookonline.com
Username: wbsupport
Password: distancelearn
Visit the World Book Online Training & Support Guide to learn more about these resources and other Distance Learning Support for Parents and Schools.
Have fun exploring and learning!
Did you know that with your library card you have instant access to over 16,000 eBooks from the world’s leading publishers across all major subject areas? It’s true! Just go to our the Tools and Research tab on our website at chescolibraries and select “All CCLS databases.”
eBooks on EBSCOhost (POWER Library) includes both fiction and nonfiction books for children, young adults and adults. It’s a great way to find a book to read for a book club or reading group, since it is always available to any number of readers. Give it a look! Just click on this link and scroll down to eBooks on EBSCO. https://www.ccls.org/196/Databases-by-Name
Here are just a few of the many tantalizing reads available through this database:
New Kitchen Basics : 10 Essential Ingredients, 120 Recipes – Revolutionize the Way You Cook, Every Day / by Claire Thomson
This is just one of over 1,000 cookbooks available.
Nancy : A Comic Collection / by Olivia Jaimes
Over 680 comic books and graphic novels
The National Team (Updated and Expanded Edition) : The Inside Story of the Women Who Changed Soccer
Over 8,000 biographies and memoirs
If I were a Park Ranger / by Catherine Stier & Patrick Corrigan
Thousands of colorfully illustrated nonfiction books for kids on all kinds of topics.
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