Teen Read Week!!!

Do you know what week it is? Teen Read Week!! It's the 17th through the 23rd. In honor of this special week, why don't you grab a book and start reading! Can't find a book you like? Choose one off the sidebar! More than likely your local library will have it.

International Children's Festival

Handley Regional Library sponsored a booth!

Children took a tour of Australia with Sharron Todd. 

David playing a Didgeridoo, a wind instrument native to Australia. 

Here is the full display watched over by the Kangaroo.

Central display with flags. 

Sharron Todd, born in Australia.

Announcement! One Summer, Three Books!

It's official! The 2010 One Summer Three Books selections ave be revealed! We are excited about each of them!
They are...
Swimmy by Leo Lionni
The Black Pearl by Scott O'Dell
Flush by Carl Hiaasen

One Summer Three Books!

The titles of this year's One Summer, Three Books have been revealed! First, I want to talk about this year's themes. For the elementary-age children, this summer's theme is "Make a Splash: READ!" and the young adults' theme is "Make Waves @ Your Library." Obviously, this summer is based around water. There's a great line-up of activities for all ages, it's going to be a lot of fun so don't forget to check the events calendar often!

Now on to the books, there are three different titles for three different age groups:

• For primary aged children (pre-k to 2nd grade), we have Swimmy by Leo Lionni (cover)


• For elemtary children (3rd to 6th grade), there's The Black Pearl by Scott O'Dell (cover)


• The young adults' (middle to highschool) book is Flush by Carl Hiaasen (cover)]

Each book looks really good, especially for their designated age group. I've read Flush and I loved it. Don't forget to look out for all the great activities the library has to offer this summer!

--Fernando Forero
Youth Volunteer

Homeschooling showcase

Recently the library had its 2nd annual homeschooling showcase, it turned out great! The theme this year was "Imagination: Tapping into Your Students' Creativity" and there was plenty of creativity in the many displays by home schooled students. The displays showed just how impressive these homeschoolers are. Two stood out to me the most, these wood carvings by Joshua Hinkle:




and this other display made with beads of some very familiar images:

Of course, these are just two of the many great displays we had. Also, there were displays by organizations with information for homeschoolers as well as people wanting to know about homeschooling. Vendors had many useful tables too. There were displays for art schools, girl scouts, and even the Civil Air Patrol:

For a full list of the vendors, see bottom of post.

This showcase was also a great opportunity for homeschooling parents to network with each other. I know it's definitely helpful for the parents of home schooled students to get advice, tips, and suggestions from one another. Seeing another's technique always helps improve your own.
On Saturday there were performances by many talented home schooled students. Some sang, some played instruments, and some demonstrated their martial arts skills:

This is something I love about homeschooling, there are so many things you can learn and dedicate yourself to. Every home school event I have ever been to has had a talent show of some sort. Almost everyone has something to show at these events, and they're always very impressive. Many people and organizations also had presentations with a lot of information and opportunities to homeschoolers. See a list of all the presenters at the bottom with the vendors.

I really enjoy events like this. A homeschooled student myself, I moved here from a place with a larger population of homeschoolers, so it's great that there are showcases like this one that give people so much information about homeschooling. There really are so many advantages of homeschooling, and this event displayed them. If you missed it this year, be sure to come next time!

-Fernando Forero, youth volunteer

Thanks to all the vendors that participated:

American Cancer Society
American Red Cross
Blue Mountain Martial Arts
Civil Air Patrol
Clarke County Parks and Rec
Classical Conversations
Frederick County Farm Bureau
Frederick County Parks and Rec
Friends of Shenandoah
Girl Scouts
Green Apple Driving School
Home Educator's Association of Virginia
Home School Legal Defense Association
Homespun Schoolhouse of Agape
Homeworks by Precept
Humane Society of Warren County
Independent School of Winchester
Laurelwood Books
Little Gym of Winchester
Lord Fairfax Area Food Bank
Lord Fairfax Community College
Museum of Shenandoah Valley
Northern Virginia 4-H
Old Courthouse Museum
On the Road Driving School
Opus Oaks
Organization of Virginia Homeschoolers
SAIL & Jr. SAIL
Samuels Public Library
Shenandoah Conservatory Arts Academy
Shenandoah Valley Discovery Museum
Sportsplex
Teens Opposing Poverty
Tiger Tai Kwon Do
Warren County Heritage
Warren County Parks and Rec
Winchester Youth Development Center
The Young Marines

Thanks to all the presenters:

Al and Linda Linder
Heather Burton
Doug Johnson
Faith Berends
Donna Hughes
Clark Groves
Israel Groves
Briana Nei
Angel Chorale
Keith Fillpu
John-David Sayle
Boyce's Martial Arts
Angela Pyle
Marlisa Eyre