Thank You, Keiko

photo source - Bernardsville Public Library

Keiko Matsuura, a volunteer in the Youth Services department of Bernardsville Public Library, is responsible for all the charming "reading bugs" that have taken up residence throughout the library. These adorable insects, posed with their books and magazines, mark the beginning of the library's summer reading program called "Catch the Reading Bug @ Bernardsville Library."
Although Keiko has had no formal art training, she is obviously very talented and possesses an artist's eye and imagination. Michaele Casey, Youth Services Librarian, reports that Keiko took her inspiration from the drawings of illustrator, Harry Bliss, bringing his bug illustrations to 3-D life. Using styrofoam balls, corrugated paper, and even some special packaging paper from Japan, Keiko sculpted and formed a variety of insects, turning them into the kinds of bugs we would actually like to have in the library! Keiko carved and sandpapered large styrofoam balls to create the facial structure of each bug and then hand painted them with vivid, eye-catching colors. Posed at ease in beach chairs and on sofas, these larger-than-life reading bugs surely know how to pass a lazy summer day - with a good book, of course!

Bernardsville Library has been so fortunate to have Keiko as a volunteer over the last two years. She moved to Bernardsville with her husband after leaving Japan, where she studied English, and it wasn't long before Keiko found her way to us. She has done children's programs on Japanese culture and origami and will be teaching origami in 3-D for teens on August 4th at the library.

Reading Bugs Make Great Patrons!

photo source - Bernardsville Public Library
photo source - Bernardsville Public Library

photo source - Bernardsville Public Library

photo source - Bernardsville Public Library

photo source - Bernardsville Public Library

Bugs of all kinds, gloriously colored and larger-than-life, have taken up residence in Bernardsville Public Library, marking the beginning of the library's summer reading campaign entitled "Catch the Reading Bug @ Bernardsville Library."

Children aged 2 1/2 years to Grade 6 may register to join the "Catch the Reading Bug" club where they will record their reading minutes, attend fun programming and earn exciting prizes. Teens entering Grades 7 to 12 are invited to participate in their own summer program, "Metamorphosis @ Bernardsville Library." Adults need not feel left out as they will once again be eligible for weekly gifts donated by local merchants if they check out three or more library items at one time.

While these programs begin this Monday, June 23rd, the library will celebrate the summer reading kick-off with a mime performance by Lluana Jones on Saturday, June 21st at 1:30 p.m. followed by an ice cream social sponsored by the Friends of the Bernardsville Public Library. Come join us and the "bugs!"

Come to Our Book Group Fair

Are you looking for a book group to join? Would you like to start one yourself? Does your current book group need some helpful resources to make organization and book selection easier?

Come to Bernardsville Public Library's Book Group Fair tomorrow, June 12th, for some great ideas to make book group planning a breeze. The library's Readers' Advisory Team will be on hand in the Community Room to demonstrate online resources which will enable you to find background and biographical information as well as book reviews and author interviews. Packets containing helpful Web sites, reading suggestions and many other great aides will be given to each visitor.

Our new "Book Group Bags" will also be on display - each one complete with ten copies of a book as well as packets of reference material on the book and its author. These bags, made possible by a grant from Jean Horton, may be checked out for four weeks at a time.

There is no charge to attend this fair and refreshments will be served. Please come between 11 and 2 p.m. or between 6 and 9 p.m. tomorrow, June 12th!

Grendel Invades the Halls of Bernardsville Library!

Saturday Samplers, a book discussion group meeting at Bernardsville Public Library, will take on Grendel, a masterpiece of modern fiction by John Gardner, at its next meeting this Saturday, June 7th at 3:30 p.m.

John Gardner was a medievalist, college professor, mentor to many authors, and a highly noted author himself. Some of his famous works include October Light, Nickel Mountain, The Sunlight Dialogues, and his last work, Mickelsson's Ghosts, written just before he died in a motorcycle accident while commuting to his teaching job in 1982.

The story of Grendel, while based on the poem of Beowulf, takes on its own narrative arc which divurges from the original Anglo-Saxon work. Here Grendel himself speaks his own mind while telling the story of his 12 years' war with the Danes. He is given a witty but cynical voice, and he is capable of great feeling and angst as he attempts to find his place in a world he sees as either "connected" or one of "mechanical nothingness."

Gardner wrote this short book with a great sense of imagery, humor, and a clever use of literary and philosophical allusions. Grendel is a one-of-a-kind, amazing reading experience. Join us this Saturday.