Calendar

Do you want to improve your reading? Do you know someone who needs to learn to read? Reading is essential not only as a leisure activity but for success in all aspects of everyday life. Key areas where reading is very important include finding employment, finding housing, and using social services. Should you sign a cell phone agreement or apartment lease if you can’t read it? How do you fill out a job application without being able to fully understand the job description and employee responsibilities? In Humboldt County, an estimated 13,800 adults are functionally illiterate; they read below a fifth-grade level. Another 23,000 people in our county read below an eighth-grade level. Since 1985, Humboldt Literacy Project has been matching adult learners with trained tutors. Stop by and find out how you can be a part of it!

Bring your family to the library for a night out together! Family Fun Night begins with stories and songs, and continues with games, crafts, and other activities. Bring a stuffed animal ready to spend the night away from home, or play with one from the library. After shared stories, participants will make a dream blanket, tuck their animals in to spend the night at the library, and sing them to sleep. Children will return in the next few days to pick up their animals and hear about the overnight adventure. The entire family is welcome.

Celebrate National Poetry Month with New, Less New and Very Old Work, read by local poet Ed Munn. Ed has lived in various parts of Humboldt County for over forty years, committing poetry sporadically throughout. He worked as a logger, carpenter, and homesteader for many years before discovering the perfect profession, running the bookmobile for the county library. The happy blend of librarianship and truck driving suited him so well, he persisted at it for 22 years, and still takes to the road occasionally as a substitute driver.

Babies and their families are invited to share songs, rhymes, bouncing games, finger plays, and short stories at this early literacy event. Following the program, there's time for play with developmentally appropriate toys and socializing for both parents and children. The program is designed for children aged 3-24 months, and occurs on the first and third Friday of each month.

Based on the novel by William R. Burnett, and hosted by Michael Cooley. Ambitious career-criminal Rico abandons small-time holdups to chase his fortune in the big city, an act that ultimately brings him into conflict with his more straight-laced partner. Rico's desperate quest for respect, power, and status drives him to the top of the underworld but, of course, also precipitates his tragic and inevitable fall.

Ali Freedlund of the North Coast Storytellers visits Fortuna Library with her local tales for all ages. Co-hosted by Humboldt Literacy Project, who will provide free books to all children who attend this free monthly event!

Step out for an evening with two popular local poets who'll get you laughing & make your brain jump. Both have a lot to say about life and say it in words everyone can understand. They'll surprise you with the familiar, spun through a poet's fingers into gold. Pat McCutcheon has taught creative writing at College of the Redwoods and through OLLI since 1984. Her poems appear in journals and anthologies and in her chapbooks, Recovering Perfectionist and Slipped Past Words. Vinnie Peloso teaches writing, is the mastermind of poetry events in many local venues, and has been a California Poets and Writers Writer in Residence. His poems appear in many literary magazines and journals, and he was the first runner-up for the Bordighera Poetry Prize in 2011.

Based on the play The Gold Diggers by Avery Hopwood, and hosted by Charity Grella. Three out-of-work showgirls are hoping for a job on a new musical about the Depression but soon find out that the supposed producer is himself broke. When young singer-composer Brad Roberts offers to foot the bill, his upper-crust family sends a henchman to reel Brad home. But the man will have to deal with the showgirls first…

The local Fortuna Girl Scout troop invites all interested girls to the monthly meeting for friendship, games and crafts.

The film this month is Bridge to Terabithia, based on the book by Katherine Patterson. Magic comes into Jess's somewhat dismal life when a new girl arrives at school. She becomes a friend, and the two children create their own fantasy kingdom. They use the powers of imagination and friendship to grow strong and capable, offset the effects of school bullies and change their world. And then tragedy strikes. Is the magic gone forever, and how will Jess survive? This film is praised as a faithful adaptation of the award-winning book.

Babies and their families are invited to share songs, rhymes, bouncing games, finger plays, and short stories at this early literacy event. Following the program, there's time for play with developmentally appropriate toys and socializing for both parents and children. The program is designed for children aged 3-24 months, and occurs on the first and third Friday of each month.

Based on a story by Harry Hervey and hosted by Jennifer Fumiko Cahill. A diverse group of passengers is traveling by express train from Peking to Shanghai. Among them is Captain Doc Harvey, who finds himself reunited with his former lover, now an infamous adventuress who calls herself Shanghai Lily. Desire and deception follow, culminating in a tense hostage situation when the train is hijacked by a Chinese warlord.

If you are a poetry locavore, step along to hear Jerry Martien, whose poems tell stories of our home forests, Humboldt communities, skies and native waters. He'll bring copies of two recent books beautifully printed at Bug Press, 'Before the Flood' and 'Earth Tickets'. Jerry has lived here since 1970, supporting himself as a truck driver, night watchman, bookstore clerk, editor, doorman, and for thirty years a carpenter. He's a voice for our bioregion and active in organizations that care for the land. He's been part of the Poets in the Schools program in local and back country classrooms, and occasionally teaches in the creative writing department at HSU. Jerry's poems are perfectly understandable both in your ear and in your heart, written simply and clearly and speaking of places you know. He makes it look easy.

Swing by for for an evening of night-time stories to wrap up your day at Trinidad Library. Children are encouraged to wear pajamas & bring a snuggly toy or blanket, but it's not required!

Stop by for story time at the Blue Lake Library. At noon, join in the fun of making a simple craft.