How I Read It

Doug Bowler

The public library system is one of the truly positive contributors to

a civilized society.

It is the original commercial-free world wide information system for

collecting, categorizing and storing information for teaching, learning

and promoting the art of the written word.

In our democracy, it provides uncensored divergent political,

philosophical and religious ideas, both accepted and disputed by various

persuasions of thought in a centralized academic environment for

discussion and analysis. Its vast resources are free to all people

regardless of education, cultural or economic status.

Our librarian, Marianna Hoff, will continue to inform our community of

the many interesting, informative and educational activities your library

offers for all ages (which the Web will never match). She will also add

her own unique and humorous observations of the world in general, Laguna

in particular and any other topic she may find interesting or relevant to

the joys of life.

My contribution will be to explore and report on some of the amazing

resources and benefits of this magnificent institution of ours from a

layman’s perspective. I will also share with you a summary and

recommendations of novels I checked out and truly enjoyed. I will not

bore you with books that I returned prematurely, in that I’m certainly

not qualified to criticize another’s work.

Every other week, we hope you learn a little something from our column

you did not know before and take advantage of the many benefits and

activities this community treasure has to offer all of us.

Thank you and please contact us with your thoughts and comments at

doug@mdbowler.com.

* DOUG BOWLER is a native Californian, born in 1940 in Pasadena. For

the past 18 years he and his wife have lived happily in their

turkey/dairy farm in Laguna Beach.

Kids get ‘Wrapped Up in Reading’ at the library

By Marianna Hoff

This summer a young visitor to our children’s department would be

forgiven for thinking he or she had been magically transported to ancient

Egypt.

Brimming bulletin boards or colorful Egyptian scenes, including two

imposing, floor-to ceiling columns, greet the eye, as do shelves and

troughs full of exciting books.

We want to encourage “book raiders” this summer!

“Wrapped up in Reading,” the theme of this year’s summer reading

program, is open to children of all ages and young adults too.

Beginning June 24 and ending Aug. 17, children are encouraged to read

for pleasure and earn a new, free paperback book to keep for up to 20

hours. Children can participate in the program in one of three ways:

“Read to Me” is for children to whom books are read; the “Read on my own”

is for young people entering sixth grade and under who are readers?. The

“Young Adult” program is for young people entering grades six-12. It’s

been proven in many studies that children who read for fun during the

summer maintain their reading skills and are more likely to be successful

when they return to school.

It’s not too early to mark your calendars for “Tomb Raider’s Tuesday

Evening Programs” starting June 25. The series of eight programs for the

entire family will feature Egyptian magic, a ventriloquist and exotic

animals, just to name a few of the attractions.

We hope to have hundreds of young pharaohs and queens register for

this year’s awesome summer reading program and attend our Tuesday evening

performances, so please encourage the children in your life to “Get

wrapped up in reading” this summer.