Things are moving and shaking at the library. This week, it’s mostly adult-level fiction books. Yesterday, staff finished moving the new fiction books to the second floor, reuniting them with their older siblings. Finally, the fiction family is together! Very soon, the non-fiction family will be in one home, too. We’re not really moving materials around to reunite book families; we have a plan. Want to hear know what’s happening?
Continue reading “Movin’ on Up: A book family reunion”
As we travel the open seas this summer, our staff are recommending some “hidden gems” for your reading. These gems are books that may have slipped your notice but have been read by at least one of our staff and they’re confident that you may like it, too. Even better, this gem collection is easy to find.
Continue reading “Hidden Gems are in Plain Sight”
Get your pirate hat, find your sea legs and join us at our annual kickoff to summer, next Friday, June 6th, 5pm to 8pm. We’ll transform Ravenna City Park into a Treasure Island getaway for the evening with live music, games, activities, a photo booth, food trucks, a pirate costume contest and much more.
Continue reading “Set sail for Treasure Island!”
Last Sunday’s Chicago Sun Times included a 2025 “Summer Reads” list that went viral because 10 of the 15 books on the list weren’t real. Turns out, the newspaper plopped in some syndicated content that was AI generated. The AI had actually invented book titles attached to popular authors and had even created a brief synopsis for each book (Yikes!). Well, we can promise that our 2025 summer reading list is full of real books, recommended by real people.
Continue reading “A Summer [Real] Book List”
Our Community Baby Shower is this Saturday and literally everyone is invited. In a few weeks, you’re also invited to our Fired Up For Safety extravaganza with firetrucks, firefighters, hands-on demonstrations, and Marshall from Paw Patrol. These events are a big deal and lots of work for us. So why do we organize them?
Continue reading “Exciting Free Events: They’re Better Together”
A few months ago, we reminded you that with SearchOhio, you have free access to over 16 million books, audiobooks, movies, and music from public libraries across the state. If you’re using SearchOhio or its academic counterpart, OhioLINK, there’s good news and bad news.
Continue reading “Borrowing millions more items: interrupted”
April is known for Earth month, poetry month, school library month, contains National Library Week and Earth Day. It’s a month full of reminders to read, celebrate your library, and save the Earth. Mash these ideas together and you get the perfect month for Reed Memorial Library’s Book Art Contest.
The book art contest is just what it says: repurpose an old book and make some art out of it. We hosted this contest in 2022 with fabulous results (see a few of the entries below) and it’s time for another round.
We have just a few simple guidelines in our contest. Your art must be:
That’s it! We even have a readily-available supply of used books at the Friends’ bookstore at low, low prices (nothing over $1). They’re available in all sizes, shapes, colors, types of paper, and with and without illustrations. There’s plenty of variety to let your imagination run wild.
Entries are due at the library by April 30 for display and voting. The winner will be announced May 14th and all entries will be on display through May 27th. Download an entry form on your own or fill one out when you bring in your art.
What will you create? Get some inspiration from our Repurposed Book board on Pinterest. Peruse the shelves in the Friends’ bookstore with art (not reading) in mind and let’s see what happens!
Life as a recluse isn’t for everyone. This is the lesson learned in Julie Hatcher’s latest novel, Not Quite By the Book. It’s a sharp yet sweet book about how sometimes you need to abandon the quest for love to find your true passion. Want to meet the author? She’s coming to the library this Saturday!
Continue reading “Not Quite By the Book: An Author Event You Can’t Miss”
We installed a new book on the Story Trail today: Nest, by Jorey Hurley, a story about the first year of a bird’s life. The weather is warming, so take those kiddos outside to the park and read the story while they expend energy walking the trail. Not sure what the Story Trail is? Keep reading for details and a spring book list for kids.
Continue reading “Walking and reading: perfect for spring”
It’s a challenge so simple, it’s a breath of fresh, spring air. Complete a prompt from our activity list or read for an hour. Do either one five times. Fill out your tickets (up to five per person) and turn them in for the grand prize drawing. What could you win? Keep reading to find out.
Reed Memorial Library’s Petals and Pages challenge runs March 1 to 31st and is for all ages and all readers. You’ll get a matching magnet when you pick up your ticket board (so that you can hang it on the fridge). Want to get started right now? You can download and print your ticket board, too.
Like we said, it’s super simple: any combination of prompts from our activity list or reading for an hour. The activity list has all sorts of fun choices like reading in the sun, reading a book about butterflies or spring sports, and even visiting the story trail in Dix Park. There’s an activity for every age and reading level so the whole family can participate.
Fill out your tickets and bring them in for an entry. Do it one at a time or all five at once, just turn at least one in by March 31. One lucky ticket will be drawn for the grand prize.
Here’s what you will win:
One month to read and/or complete fun activities, one grand prize to win. Pick up a ticket board in the library or download and print your own and get started!
Simply put, a library challenge is a fun way to ensure that you, your kids, your family, are reading and learning. A challenge can be set up like a game, a BINGO board, a checklist, a tracker, or some other fun way to record reading and activities. Prizes and rewards are given for completing challenges and sometimes along the way. Library challenges grew out of a need to keep younger readers on track during school breaks by measuring and rewarding reading. We think that rewarding reading is appropriate for everyone and all seasons.
Sincerely, Cornelius 