Book Buddies Reading Program Now Accepting Sign-Ups at Library

Registration for students in grades K-2 will be through June 29.

Applications for the Book Buddies Reading Program are being accepted through June 29 at the Livingston Public Library. Book Buddies is a program that pairs up young emerging readers entering grades K-2 with a teen reading mentor. Book Buddies will meet from 4:30 to 5:15 p.m. on either Tuesdays (July 9, 16, 23 or 30) or Thursdays (July 11, 18, 25 or Aug. 1) The library is asking that students commit to all four sessions of the program. Emerging readers entering grades K-2 are eligible to apply. Applications can be found on our website at http://livingston.bccls.org/ or at the Children's Information Desk at the library.  For more information, call (973) 992-4600, etx. 256.

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Livingston Library Closed Sunday, Monday

Books can still be dropped off anytime.

The Livingston Public Library will be closed Sunday and Monday in observance of Memorial Day. Books can still be dropped off at the library anytime. 

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Artists Wanted to Exhibit at Nearby Library

Are you an artist, or do you know one, who'd like to exhibit? The Springfield Free Public Library is looking for submissions.

The Donald B. Palmer Museum of the Springfield Free Public Library is currently accepting applications for artists who wish to exhibit their work in the fall of 2013 through 2014. Applicants are asked to submit a current resume, 10 slides, prints, a CD ROM or computer files representative of the work and a stamped self-addressed envelope that will accommodate submitted samples no later than June 1, 2013. Due to increased use of the space for programming, no sculpture will be exhibited in the future unless the pieces can be hung on the wall or displayed on wall-mounted shelves. Limited pedestal space is also available. The Museum Committee will review applications in June. The 36x50 foot Palmer Museum was opened at its current site in 1975…

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Local Library Will Host Bestselling Tween Authors

David Lubar and Wendy Mass will speak at the South Orange library on Sunday, Feb. 10, at 2 p.m.

Acclaimed authors for young readers, David Lubar and Wendy Mass, will discuss their books and their love of reading on Sunday, Feb. 10th, at 2 p.m. at the South Orange Public Library.  The event will be open to the entire family and will be sponsored by the Friends of the South Orange Public Library and Sparkhouse. David Lubar is an author of numerous books for teens.  He is also an electronic game programmer, who programmed Super Breakout for the Nintendo Game Boy, and Frogger for both the SNES and Game Boy.  As a game designer, he designed the game Frogger2: Swampy’s Revenge for the Nintendo Game Boy Color.  His works include the novel, ” Dunk”, a favorite check out at the library.  It is about a young man at the Jersey shore, where …

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Community Quilt: Sew Close To Completion

Livingston quilters discover it's hip to be square.

Livingston Library’s community quilt features dozens of stories told in squares. The project, which began early this season, involved more than 200 participants ages 4 to 84, who were asked to use squares of fabric to express their love of reading or show their favorite author or book. After contributors were done drawing on the squares, teen volunteers and library staff members have spent much of the summer quilting the pieces.    One of those volunteers is Helen O’Connor, an 11th grade student at Livingston High School. "It was really fun to work on the quilt," she said. "Jan Aji, who works at the library, taught me how to quilt by machine.”  The idea for the quilt was conceived by quilt artist and illustrator, Adrienne Yorinks, and Teen…

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Children Fall Into Reading at Library Programs

What are they reading at the Livingston Library? Plenty.

Have you read a good book lately? Our children have. Actually the number is 12,119 books last summer alone. And that’s just young readers. Teens checked out 935 books over the summer months. The Livingston Library will kick off fall storytimes next week. There is still time to register (call 973-992-4600, ext. 270) for the programs running Oct. 11-Nov. 21. The programs are wildly popular, librarians say. This summer, for example, close to 1,000 children and teens participated in the Livingston Library’s reading program. What were they reading? In addition to the huge popularity of the Harry Potter books (no doubt brought about by the release of the latest Potter movie), the series like The Wimpy Kid, Weird School, Don’t Let The Pigeon, …

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Police Say a 72-Year-Old Man Exposed Himself to Girls at Library

Police arrest man after he returns to Livingston Library.

Livingston police arrested a 72-year-old man on Monday who allegedly exposed himself to four girls at the Livingston Library. According to Det. Sgt. Anthony Dippold, the man was reading a newspaper in the back area of the library last Thursday afternoon when he began talking with the girls, ages 11 and 12. The man then allegedly raised the newspaper and exposed his genitals. Library surveillance video captured the man, Dippold said. Raymond Witwick, 72, of East Hanover was arrested after he returned to the library Monday and was recognized by a library staff member, Dippold said. In New Jersey, a lewdness offense is typically a disorderly persons offense. But Witwick was charged with the more serious lewdness in the fourth degree because …

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'Not Too Scary' Folktales

Livingston Library showcases master storyteller & puppeteer.

Try successfully keeping a group of small children enthralled while they’re in the dark, hearing stories of fierce animals and ghosts at the time of day when many are sleeping, and you have a taste of the magic wrought by master puppeteer and storyteller, Ron Sopyla. The Livingston Library presented the many talents of Sopyla, who used his rich background in theatre and teaching to bring to life traditional folktales from around the world. Sopyla is a master  shadow puppeteer who make many of his own puppets using leather (which is still used in China to make puppets) as well as plastic. Using simple lights and his talent for storytelling, he brought to life what might have been “scary” tales in someone else’s hands.  His telling of “The …

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The Way We Read Now

Star-Ledger Columnist Kathleen O'Brien Is optimistic about changing news media.

Kathleen O’Brien loves newspapers. You could tell by the way she fondly gazed at her framed copy of a New York Herald from 1865 telling about the death of Abraham Lincoln (she bought the heirloom for $5 years ago).  “The process is still the same,” she said in describing that newspapers still buy paper from paper mills that still cut down trees, make the paper, and ship it to newsrooms around the world.  "Paper is the second largest expense after personnel and it’s the reason you don’t have two full pages of Comics anymore," said O'Brien, a newspaper columnist. "Cutting the Comics to one and a half pages saved the Star-Ledger $350,000 annually in paper costs.” O'Brien has been a journalist for three decades -- two of them as a columnist…

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Grab The Kids & Go

Ways to Celebrate Read Across America

The Library invites you to activities designed to encourage lifelong readers.

National Read Across America Day is March 2, the birthday of renowned children's author Dr. Seuss.  It celebrates the joys and educational benefits of reading, encourages adults to read to children, and invites everyone to read 365 days of the year.  The Livingston Library will celebrate with ongoing activities all day long including: According to Linda Simpfendorfer, Head of Children’s Services, these activities are individual so there is no set time for them to begin.  The library itself will be open from 10 a.m. to 9 p.m.  Can’t make it to the library?  The National Educational Association has these suggestions to encourage your children to become readers: For more information on Read Across America Day, visit www.nea.org.

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