newsletter of the Peoria Public Library www.peoriapubliclibrary.org
MAY 2014 Volume 23 n No. 5 Published monthly by the Peoria Public Library
MAIN LIBRARY 107 N.E. Monroe 309.497.2000 LAKEVIEW BRANCH 1137 W. Lake 309.497.2200 LINCOLN BRANCH 1312 W. Lincoln 309.497.2600 MCCLURE BRANCH 315 W. McClure 309.497.2700 NORTH BRANCH 3001 W. Grand Parkway 309.497.2100 BOARD OF TRUSTEES Edward J. Barry, Jr. Stephen M. Buck Margaret E. Cousin Lucy D. Gulley F. Eugene Rebholz Debbie Ritschel Sid P. Ruckriegel Barbara Van Auken Jeanne Williamson DIRECTOR Leann Johnson EDITOR Trisha Noack DESIGNER Laura Fehr
Summer Reading Sign Up Starts May 1! Paws to Read Summer Reading officially opens sign up on May 1 at every library location and on the Bookmobile! All ages are invited to participate in this fun program that will get everyone reading this summer. Sign up the entire family! This year all you have to do is come into the branch where you signed up and sign your contract saying you read library materials for three hours each week. The program starts June 9 and ends July 26. After you read five weeks you earn a voucher for a ticket to a Chief’s game on Monday evening, August 4 or 18. Then, read six of seven weeks and you earn a ticket to the best party of the summer, our fabulous Summer Reading Party at Peoria Riverfront Museum on Tuesday, July 29 from 6:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m. The doors will be flung wide to every activity just for you and we will add our own “paws-a-tively” fun to this family friendly party. Sign up now and be a Summer Reader!
Make Reservations Now for Pajama Night Read with Bestselling Author Mary Monroe The Peoria Public Library Read-On Book Club will host the Reaching for New Horizons Literary Event and “Pajama Night Read” with N.Y. Times Bestselling Author Mary Monroe on Saturday, June 7 from noon to midnight at the Par-A-Dice Hotel, East Peoria. Mary Monroe is the award-winning author of the well known, God Don’t Like Ugly that created memorable characters from the small town environments in which she grew up. She received the PEN/Oakland Josephine Miles National Literary Award, 2001, for God Don’t Like Ugly; as well as the Best New Southern Fiction Award, and the Memphis Black Authors Group in 2004 for Gonna Lay Down My Burdens. Her first novel, The Upper Room, was published in 1985 and reprinted in 2001. Mary Monroe has written 15 novels with a new novel coming out in June 2014, titled Family of Lies.
The event includes the author luncheon, book sale and signing, fashion show, a local speaker on women’s health, the “Pajama Night Read,” and music with a DJ. The cost is $30 per person and registration runs through May 30 with forms available at www.peoriapubliclibrary.org>Events>BookClubs>ReadOn Book Club or at any library location. Those who wish to spend the night can reserve a discounted hotel room at the Par-A-Dice through Friday, May 16 by calling 1-800-438-6777. Mary Monroe said, “I am the third child of Alabama sharecroppers and the first and only member of my family to finish high school. I never attended college or any writing classes. I taught myself how to write and started writing short stories around age four. I spent the first part of my life in Alabama and Ohio and moved to Richmond, California in 1973. I have lived in Oakland since 1984.” A complete biography and description of all her works appear in the Peoria Public Library database Contemporary Authors under the Research tab at www.peoriapubliclibrary.org. For more information call (309) 497-2601.