DPL Blog

Summer Reading Challenge Accepted – by 516 Kids This Year!

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Summer is zooming past us like it does every year.  It seems like as soon as we get into the swing of things it’s time for back to school, pumpkins and Christmas trees.

We have been super busy in the Children’s Department with the Summer Reading Program and awesome summer events.  We have hit a new record this summer with 516 kids signed up so far for the Super Heroes, Super Readers Summer Reading Program. 

The Summer Reading Program will be coming to an end on July 31, and kids have been reading and turning in their prize tickets like crazy!  It is great to see such a great response and excitement for reading!  What an accomplishment for these children to complete the Summer Reading Program challenge of reading 600 minutes!

It has also been a treat to see them at all of our summer events here at the Library. This week we had a Local superhero meet and greet with Storytime on Wednesday at 10:30 AM and next week will finish our programs with a comic book instruction class.  The class will be held on Wednesday July 28 and will be led by Unbound comic creator Doug Laubacher.  You can find this comic featured in The Bargain Hunter. 

Local Heroes wish our Local Olympian Hunter Armstrong Good Luck at Wednesday’s Story Time

It’s been a great summer so far, and we are looking forward to an awesome fall!

-Jen Gardner, Children’s Department Manager

Perplexing, Confusing, Brain-Stumping… Puzzles!

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Puzzles were created in the 18th century by John Spilsbury. The old term for jigsaw puzzles was called “Dissected Maps”. When he first designed this tool, he made a map of Europe into pieces This helped children learn geography! 

To this day, millions of people play puzzles. Studies show that puzzles help work left brain and right brain coordination. This makes puzzles great for children with autism to build fine motor skills.

Puzzle Facts: 

  1. Deepika Ravichandran holds the World Record for completing a 250 piece puzzle in 13 minutes and 7 seconds!
  2. The world’s most difficult puzzle is printed on both sides! It is a picture of Dalmations!
  3. Enigmatology is the study of puzzles
  4. In the U.S., 1.8 billion jigsaw puzzles are sold annually.

So why not give your brain some exercise and complete a puzzle! They are a fun group activity and you can even glue it together and frame it!

In the meantime, stop by the adult department and look at my collection of vintage wooden puzzles including: Sesame Street characters, Humpty Dumpty and even Snoopy!

– Ellen Lint, Library Assistant

5-Star Super Reads from our Super Readers

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This year’s Summer Reading Program, Super Heroes, Super Readers, is going, well, SUPER! We have had over 500 registered participants of all ages take part in our reading challenges for chances to win fabulous prizes.

The Adult Summer Reading Challenge is to read and rate books then turn in the ratings back to the library to share with fellow patrons. We’re collecting these ratings in a notebook that you can view at the library to find your next read.

Here are some highlights that have received five-star ratings from other readers. Maybe one of these is your next beach read!

  1. Devoted by Dean Koontz
  2. Orphan Train by Christina Baker Kline
  3. Things You Save in a Fire by Katherine Center
  4. Warm Nights in Magnolia Bay by Babette De Jongh
  5. In a Book Club Far Away by Tif Marcelo
  6. Past Tense by Lee Child
  7. Missing and Endangered by J.A. Jance
  8. Grateful American by Gary Sinise
  9. Take a Chance on Me by Susan May Warren
  10. Golden Girl by Elin Hilderbrand

– Liz Strauss & Paula Fawcett

Plastic Caps to Plastic Benches

This entry was posted in Adult Services DPL Blog Teens on by

On behalf of the library, I wanted to say thank you to the community for their overwhelming support of our plastic bench project. 

If you are not aware, the library began a partnership and a journey with an organization called the ABC Promise Partnership in the fall of 2020 with the aim of collecting plastic caps and lids which ultimately will be melted down and extruded into benches made of the recycled material.  If you did not know, the plastic that makes up caps and lids cannot be recycled with your average recyclable plastic. These plastic caps and lids would simply be discarded in the landfill. The ABC Promise Partnership strives to repurpose this plastic into something positive and useful in the community. 

For months and months we have been blessed with donations from the community. The donated caps and lids were sorted and weighed by volunteers (thank you Interact Club at Dover High School, library staff, and community volunteers!) and transported to a plastics factory in Indiana. 

At this time we have three benches made up of the donated caps and lids.  I wanted to say thank you to the sponsors who made the financial commitment to make this project a reality.

Starting with Dover Rotary and the Dover Exchange Club and expanding into donations from private individuals who care about leaving the world a better place, we were able to secure funding for five benches which will be placed on library grounds and throughout the community.

This project was a perfect example of how a group of people with a shared vision and a shared passion can transform something negative into something beautiful and sustaining. 

Thank you T-Valley!

-Jim Gill, Director

Creativity: Taught by John Cleese

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We can all be more creative. John Cleese shows us how in his book Creativity – A Short and Cheerful Guide. Who is John Cleese? He is a scriptwriter and performer who co-founded the Monty Python comedy troupe. He has appeared in many films, including, A Fish Called Wanda, James Bond, Harry Potter and various TV shows.

Everyone is creative. It’s a skill that anyone can acquire. Cleese shares insights into the nature of the creative process. 

  • What do you need to get yourself in the right frame of mind?
  • When do you know that your idea is worth pursuing?
  • What to do if you have hit a brick wall?

Everyone is creative, including scientists, athletes, medical people, business people, basically all professions and people in all walks of life. You might think that creativity is only a gift for artists, writers, musicians, designers, illustrators etc. “There’s a myth that creativity is something you have to be born with. This isn’t the case. Anyone can be creative.”

This book is a quick read and explains how to get your juices flowing. Maybe we need to learn how to play again, or to think outside the box. Creativity is a frame of mind. It is also a process. We can all acquire this skill. 

Let John Cleese help you make that leap.

-Jan Ridenour, Library Assistant, Technical Services

Paint Night is Back!

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Last Saturday, we had our first Paint Night in over a year and a half.

When I heard we could do in-person programming again, I knew I had to find some paint brushes, dust off the easels, and make sure the paints had not dried up during the pandemic.

I chose an easy and adaptable painting project for our first post-pandemic paint night: a tropical sunset. This painting features a gradient background and a silhouette foreground with white highlights.

I use a gradient background in a lot of our Paint Night projects. For this look, you paint quickly, with a big brush, and blend the colors directly on the canvas board as you go.

The next step is to wait for the background paint to dry. It doesn’t take long, as we use acrylic paint.

Then, you can add your island and your palm trees and birds with black paint. Don’t like palm trees? Go off-book and paint your own scene.

When the black paint is dry, you add the white highlights.

And that’s it! You have a finished painting!

I think of this painting as our beginner class. It’s easy to adapt to any kind of theme and has some very popular techniques. It’s a great place to start to learn how to use acrylics.

I look forward to building on the techniques in Tropical Sunset in future in-person Paint Nights! See you then!

-Liz Strauss, Teen/Outreach Services Manager

Notaries at the Library

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In April, I passed my Notary Exam! I had already taken the class in 2020 and then the state of Ohio shut down.

I decided to take the class again to refresh my memory and voila! I passed again! And this time I submitted all of my information to the Ohio Secretary of State and was awarded my official license.

Becoming a Notary was not an easy feat. You need to call the law library and set up a day and time for you to take the 3 hour class and exam. And it’s also a huge responsibility.

Since becoming a notary, I have notarized at least 11 documents with help from four library colleagues who are notaries.

Notary Public sign outside the library

Dover Public Library has five notaries that can help you with your notary needs at no cost to you!  There is usually always a notary here. Feel free to call and ask if we are available at 330-343-6123!

-Ellen Lint, Library Assistant