Monthly Newsletter

April 2025

www.mancoslibrary.org

From the Desk of

the Director,

Jared Boudreaux

Spring has officially sprung, and with it comes the usual mix of sunshine, allergies, and the occasional to-do list we can’t ignore.

Looking ahead, I wanted to let you know that the library may need to close for a day or two in late April or early May. We’ll be wrapping up some scheduled maintenance during that time, and our solar panel installation project will be nearing completion. We’re excited about the long-term sustainability this brings and appreciate your patience while we take these final steps.

We’ll share exact closure dates as soon as we have them. Until then, thank you for continuing to support your local library. I hope the season treats you well, and I look forward to seeing you soon.

APRIL LIBRARY HAPPENINGS

Tween and Teen Programs

Tween & Teen Anime Club

Monday, April 7th and 21st

4:30-5:30 pm

Tween & Teen Open Lego Building

Monday, April 28th

4-6 pm

Teen Game Night

Friday, April 4th and 18th

6-9 pm

Teen Café

Saturday, April 12th

6-8 pm

Death Café

April 17th – 5:30 pm

Adult Programs – From the Desk of Midge Kirk

TAX SEASON

Tax season is upon us. PLEASE NOTE: This is not a library sponsored program but a very valuable one to help you prepare taxes at no cost. You can pick up a packet at the library and then call Kathy Elliot at 970-553-9150 to make an appointment. THE LIBRARY DOES NOT make appointments. We just offer space for this valuable service.

April Art Wall

The Art Wall this month will feature the amazing tapestry of Rebecca Mazoff

Welcome April, and with it comes thoughts of seeds, gardens and warm weather. Huge thanks to those who saved seeds last year and returned them. We have begun to package and label seeds for you. They will appear in mid-April. A local guide says we can plant most seeds outdoors at our elevation from mid-May to the end of June. There will be a guide on the seed table for you to reference.

Planting our own gardens may be more important than ever this year with rising food prices and funds to support local growers cut. Let’s still support our locals at Farmer’s Markets though!

We are offering something new this year at the beginning of the month, Microgreens for you to sprout at home for early green eating. We have sunflower, peas, and kale. If you are not familiar with the health benefits, check it out.

Microgreens are packed with essential nutrients, including vitamins (A, C, E, K), minerals (calcium, iron, magnesium), and antioxidants. They are rich in vitamin C, which supports immune function and antioxidant activity. All you need is a mason jar and cheesecloth. We will print up some basic instructions for you. Come by and get your first taste of spring while seeds last! They will be out in the first week of April.

Book Discussion

These are turbulent times and we need community more than ever. A new book discussion group will begin in late May (time and date TBA). This is not a political group, an action group, but a coming together in community to focus on healing. The first book we will read and discuss is Joanna Macy’s Active Hope. For more information contact Leigh Morris elliesleigh@hotmail.com.

Poetry Month

April is also National Poetry month. We invite you to come and celebrate on Saturday the 19th at 2 pm, with the award-winning Burton E. Baldwin as he reads some of his selected poems. Over the years, The Four Corners Free Press, Colorado Country Live Magazine, and the Durango Telegraph have regularly published his work.

Encounters with Nature

~ An Artist’s Spiritual Awakening ~

A Reading by Watercolor Artist Jan Wright

Thursday, April 10, 2025 – 7:00 pm

Mancos Public Library

Journey into the deserts of southern Utah, northern New Mexico, and Southwest Colorado with watercolor artist Jan Wright. Share her magical wilderness experiences with animals, birds, butterflies, stones, and trees.

Young Adult Programs – From the Desk of Jenni kitchen

Happy National Poetry Month!!!

Here are a couple of poems from some writers I enjoy.

Find out more about Phyllis Cole-Dai at https://phylliscoledai.com/

You can learn about Ellen Hopkins and her many banned and challenged books here https://ellenhopkinsbooks.com/

“Manifesto”

By Ellen Hopkins

To you zealots and bigots and false

patriots who live in fear of discourse.

You screamers and banners and burners

who would force books

off shelves in your brand name

of greater good.

You say you’re afraid for children,

innocents ripe for corruption

by perversion or sorcery on the page.

But sticks and stones do break

bones, and ignorance is no armor.

You do not speak for me,

and will not deny my kids magic

in favor of miracles.

You say you’re afraid for America,

the red, white and blue corroded

by terrorists, socialists, the sexually

confused. But we are a vast quilt

of patchwork cultures and multi-gendered

identities. You cannot speak for those

whose ancestors braved

different seas.

You say you’re afraid for God,

the living word eroded by Muhammed

and Darwin and Magdalene.

But the omnipotent sculptor of heaven

and earth designed intelligence.

Surely you dare not speak

for the father, who opens

his arms to all.

A word to the unwise.

Torch every book.

Char every page.

Burn every word to ash.

Ideas are incombustible.

And therein lies your real fear.

The Title of this Poem has been Censored

If my life were a book you’d ban me

Facts too straight to sit on your shelf

But truth keeps faith with itself

Shred me, break my binding

Burn me on a heap

The ashes of

My pages

Will still

Rise

Phyllis Cole-Dai

2023

APRIL PROGRAMS BY MS. JENNI

Anime Club for Tweens and Teens

Monday, April 7th, afterschool 4:30-5:30

Monday, April 21st , afterschool 4:30-5:30

Open LEGO Building for Tweens and Teens

Monday, April 28th 4:00-6:00

TEEN GAME NIGHTS

Friday,April 4th, 6-9 pm

Friday, April 18th, 6-9 pm

Teen Café

Saturday, April 12th, 6-8 pm

SPRING HAS SPRUNG! ENJOY!

Children’s Librarian – from the desk of Erin Bohm

What Does the Letter “A” Say?

Learning Letters at Storytime!

Storytime is an excellent opportunity to work on school readiness. And outside of storytime, when enjoying books together at home, this practice can continue to feed childrens’ natural curiosity about the letters and words they see in their favorite books. To model this during Wednesday storytime, I use the principles of the Orton-Gillingham approach and incorporate Simultaneous Multisensory Instruction. It helps kids to learn phonics: the knowledge of how spoken sounds (phonemes) can be represented by written letters (graphemes). We do this by simultaneously using three neural pathways: auditory (hearing); Visual (seeing); Kinesthetic (movement).

What does this look like, during storytime? On a handheld whiteboard, using a brightly colored marker, I draw a capital letter. I choose the first letter of a word that has driven the theme of the day. Recently, we read a book about birds to celebrate our theme, Signs of Spring, so I drew the letter “S” on the board, saying, “This letter’s name is S and it says “Sssssss, like in the words Signs of Spring.” I ask them to repeat the letter’s name, to make the sound it makes, and to watch my mouth while I make the sound. I emphasize the shape that our mouths take when we correctly make the letter’s sound.

Then I ask them to find their “magic marker” – this is their pointer finger (at storytime we call this our Peter Pointer, after the poem we often recite, “Peter Pointer Up, Peter Pointer Down”.) Using their pointer finger, they

trace the shape of the letter in the air. We repeat, “This letter’s name is S and it says Sssss.”

When the opportunity presents itself, as it did with the word “Spring”, I will extend this practice to include the next letter

in the word to demonstrate how it changes

the sound from “Sssssss” to “Sppp-uhh.”

We again bring our attention to the shape of

our mouth while making this new sound. It is

really fun and it really works! This practice is

represented here, in

Dr. Samuel Orton’s Language Triangle.

Let’s Use the New Catalogue Computer to Search for a Book in the Mancos Collection!

1. Type a keyword or change the search bar to Author or Title

2. Select Search

3. Select Mancos Library District

4. Follow The Call Number. Use the Call Number Poster above the computer; it explains the letters and numbers & shows where to locate the book:)

OR… If the record says “Available from Another Library”, place a Hold and it will be delivered here!

1. Select Place Hold

2. Enter Card # and Last Name

Circulation – from the desk of Bernadette Tuthill

Spring Is In The Air!

Birds are flying about and if I step quietly outside, I can hear them singing. It sounds like there are hundreds of birds in every tree. I am seeing blades of green grass when I look down at my feet. Yes, spring is here.

There are lots of well known holidays in April like April fools Day, religious holdays like Easter and Passover and Earth Day.

Do you know that April 14th is “National Look Up at the Sky Day?

• Give yourself a break from being rushed and stressed. Taking a breath and stopping to look up at the sky has a way of calming our minds.

• Mother Nature is beautiful. Look up in the sky to see her abundance like clouds, auroras, stars, and birds.

National Library Week, April 6-12, 2025, is a celebration that highlights the valuable role libraries, librarians, and library workers play in transforming lives and strengthening our communities.

This month look for books about Librarians:

The Librarian of Burned Books by Brianna Labuskes

That Librarian by Amanda Jones

The Personal Librarian by Marie Benedict; Victoria Christopher Murray

The Librarian Spy by Madeline Martin

Or the sky:

The Night Sky by Zaiga Cress

Sky Magic by Lee Bennett Hopkins

Between Earth & Sky by Joseph Bruchac

A Word from Friends of the Library

We have a date for our annual on-line auction of a night in the Jersey Jim Fire Tower. Some lucky winner will stay in the lofty perch of a “Room with a View” on Saturday, July 12, 2025. We have not yet discussed the timing of the auction but that’s typically a little more than a month before the date. We’ll keep you posted.

The Friends are very grateful to the Jersey Jim Foundation, which has donated a single night in the Fire Tower to the Mancos Friends of the Library each year. This unique auction has generated significant funds for the library.

Along with other business, we’ll be discussing the auction timing at our April 1st meeting at 4 p.m. in the library.

As always, Friends logo hats can be purchased at the library for $20. We also have a stash of four beautiful prints donated to the Friends by Stanton Englehart. Two are limited edition that Stanton signed before his death. Go to the Friends website at mancosfriends.org to view and for pricing.

Friends is a volunteer organization that supports and promotes the Mancos Public Library. To become a member, go to www.mancosfriends.org and download the membership form. The link can be found at the bottom of the page. It’s a mere $10/year and your membership dues go to our amazing Mancos Public Library.

Questions about Friends can be directed to Anne at southwestanne@yahoo.com.

See You At The Library!