Renew your books up to 10 times at Mentor Library

We know you meant to read that book awhile ago, but life gets busy. Sometimes, two weeks just isn't long enough.

We at Mentor Public Library understand and want you to share as much time as you need with the books you love.

Until recently, you could renew a MPL book up to four times—as long as no one else had it on hold—for a total of eight weeks.

Anybody with a lawn to mow or dishes to wash or children to care for knows how quickly eight weeks can evaporate.

So we've changed our policy so you can now renew your books up to 10 times. That means you have up to 20 weeks with a book, as long as no one else puts it on hold.

Patrons will still have to renew their books manually—either by calling, via our website or at one of the our branches.

The change in MPL’s renewal policy is specifically for books—movies and CDs can still be renewed four times.

Studio MPL and the art of the good hair day

Kelsey focuses on her pink and magenta locks.

The summer hiatus is over and Studio MPL is back!

Oh, you haven't heard of Studio MPL?

It’s Mentor Library’s art club for kids in first through fifth grade, and it's six scoops of awesome.

They've made sun catchers, painted sunsets, weaved and even garnered inspiration from Jackson Pollock.

Giselle laughs as she draws brightly colored shocks of hair during the Studio MPL meeting Monday.

This month, we talked about art as a reflection of who we are—and we did it using hair. We gave the young artists colored pencils, markers and other art supplies, and we told them to draw a person's hair; and the hair would represent what's going on inside of them.

And the kids got more creative than we could imagine. One girl made her hair a series of googly eyes. A boy turned his artwork into two necklaces—one that he could wear and another for his grandma.

Darin packs a lot of bright colors close together to create contrast.

Studio MPL meets on the third Monday of each month.

Next month’s session will be Oct. 20 at our Main Branch. You can register for it here.

For more photos from our Studio MPL session, check out our Facebook page. For more information on programs and events for children, teens and adults at Mentor Public Library, visit www.mentorpl.org.

Ella's hair looks like a rainbow with its layers of color.

Mentor Library is going to the dogs (and that's OK)

You've probably heard of Paws to Read, our program that pairs young readers with therapy dogs. It's a splendid symbiosis. The kids get a supportive listener and the dogs enjoy story time.

You may have even thought, "That would be perfect for my kid."

Well, now is the perfect time to find out.

We are holding our final Paws to Read sessions this year on Wednesday evening, Oct. 15, at our Mentor-on-the-Lake Branch, but we still have a few openings available as of today. (Today, in this instance, is Thursday, Oct.9.) But these openings won't last until Oct. 15, so you should call Mentor Library if you're interested.

You can register your child for Paws to Read by calling (440) 255-8811 ext. 221.

Paws to Read is for readers between the ages of six and 12 years old.

If your child can read independently but doesn’t like to do it in front of other people, you might try signing them up for Paws to Read. The program works well for dog lovers, but it’s also helped some kids who are scared of dogs get over their phobia.

For more photos from Paws to Read, visit Mentor Library’s Facebook page.

Discover More About Where You Live: Mentor Marsh

The Newhous Pond in Mentor Marsh after the foliage has started to turn for the season

We are fortunate to live in this beautiful community.

We are surrounded by scenic city, county, state and even national parks. But how often do we think about or visit them?

Take, for example, the Mentor Marsh. It's nearly 700 acres are unlike any other habitat in the world. It provides a home to more than 200 kinds of bird, including the blue-winged teal, yellow warbler, American wigeon, gadwall, heron, American black duck, red-winged blackbirds, Northern shoveler and hooded merganser.

It combines a mixed oak swamp forest—an increasingly rare kind of habitat—with the largest phragmite marsh in the state. There are also picturesque walking trails that pass through thickets of staghorn sumac, rose hips, wild raspberry and more.

Kids can learn more about the Mentor Marsh when Naturalist Becky Donaldson visits Mentor Library's Mentor-on-the-Lake Branch on 2 p.m. this Saturday, Oct. 11. (You can register for the program on our website.) Donaldson will have hands-on items for kids to touch and explore as well as audio sounds of the marsh wildlife.

She'll also be talking about how the Marsh prepares for the winter.

Donaldson works for the Cleveland Museum of Natural History, who manages the park along with the state of Ohio. Her talk is free and open to everybody.

For more online information about Mentor Marsh, you can visit:

• the Cleveland Museum of Natural History
• the Marsh's Facebook page (with several gorgeous photos, including the one above)
• the Ohio Department of Natural Resources
• Hiking Ohio Parks.

James A. Garfield National Historic Site & Mentor Library team for new book club

The first read for the new book club is "James A. Garfield" by Ira Rutkow.

James A. Garfield National Historic Site is one of Mentor Library's favorite partners. We already team with them on our Major Battles of the Civil War series. (The next talk, by the way, is on the Battle of Cedar Creek this Wednesday at noon.)

Now we're joining forces to start a book club called “Mentor Reads James A. Garfield."

The group will meet at 6:30 p.m. on the second Thursday of each month from now until April 2015 at our Main Branch. Volunteers from James A. Garfield National Historic Site will lead the discussions on a different book related to the president each month.

The first meeting will be this Thursday, Oct. 9, and the book discussed that evening will be James A. Garfield by Ira Rutkow.

Everyone is invited to join us. People can call or visit the library to borrow a copy of each month’s book. Those with their own copies of the books are invited to read their personal copies and attend the discussions, as well.

For more information, you can call the James A. Garfield National Historic Site at (440) 255-8722 or visit the national park's website.

See you soon!

Stop by our NyanCon booth at Lakeland Community College on Saturday!

Saturday, October 4, will henceforth be called Caturday, in honor of NyanCon, the Anime and Pop Culture Convention taking place at Lakeland Community College from noon to 9 p.m.

NyanCon is a nod to Nyan Cat, the YouTube sensation that made everyone want to get up and dance, and then quickly stop dancing and get annoyed, and then want to eat Pop-Tarts. I can’t really explain it any better than that, so maybe you should just watch it

 

(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QH2-TGUlwu4.)

I guess I could have mentioned streaming rainbows.

Here’s a description of NyanCon from the convention’s website:

NyanCon is Lakeland Community College’s premier anime event. This is a full one-day event, free and open to students and the public. NyanCon is an all-fandoms convention where anyone with an interest in anime, gaming, comic books, science fiction, fantasy or any other geeky fandom can convene in a fun, welcoming atmosphere. NyanCon is appropriate for all ages with programming ratings and a section just for kids. We're proud to offer panels on a variety of subjects, a cosplay contest, full gaming area complete with dance, band, video, board, tabletop and card games with tournaments, video rooms, a vendors and artists section, NyanCon theater and so much more!

Here’s the gist:

It’s free.

It’s for anyone interested in anime, comics, sci-fi, fantasy, gaming.

The library will be there with cool things to do, a raffle, and great books and movies to check out (so bring your Mentor Library card!)

What else do you have to do this Caturday? Stop by NyanCon and don’t forget to say hi to your local public librarians Meredith and Marilyn!

Learning through playing at Mentor Library

Kevin builds with Duplo blocks during a Kids @ Work session at Mentor Library.

Once a month, we break out the Lego blocks and invite everyone to play. We call it Kids @ Work.

The theme for this month's Kids @ Work session was Dinosaurs. Kids could use Mentor Library's Lego and Duplo blocks to build their own terrible lizards. Of course, children's imaginations are not beholden to any theme.

So Lynn and Landon used Lego blocks to make hybrid plane-cars, Brooke and Addy built dream homes, and Tyler seemed interested in collecting all the green blocks.

Admittedly, it was a bit of a free-for-all, but there's nothing wrong with that.

Lynn and Landon pick their Lego blocks from the pile.

There are plenty of studies that talk about the benefits of playing with Lego blocks. It's supposed to improve everything from your mathematical reasoning to problem solving to social development.

It also happens to be a lot of fun.

Our next Kids @ Work session is from 2 to 3:15 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 4, at our Main Branch. (We schedule it for the first Saturday of the month.) And you're welcome to join us!

There aren’t a lot of rules for Kids @ Work.

Parents can help build with their kids, if they'd like.

There’s no need to register beforehand and children can build whatever they want with our Lego and Duplo blocks. (However, we do ask that kids younger than 8 have an adult with them; and, as with any library program, we ask that you be kind to the other patrons.)

But, in general, it’s just kids playing with Lego. So if your kid likes building, feel free to bring him or her to Kids @ Work. They will fit right in.

Tyler picks the blocks he needs from the pile. (And, yes, he's wearing a Superman shirt and cape. No, that's not pertinent, but it IS awesome.)