Friends of the Library Blog

“There’s something that happens to you when you come back to your hometown.” – Joseph Dougherty

Dunlap, our hometown.  What a beautiful place to be.  July is often a time for a lot of us who’ve left town to follow dreams or adventures, to come home for much needed visits.  A time to remember, catch up with friends, give hugs to family we haven’t seen in a bit.  And catch the feeling of being back in your hometown.

The float in this year’s parade, “Dunlap, Now and Forever”, was so meaningful.  It takes you back to how the town looked when we were young, makes you notice the new and exciting changes around us now and inspires us to think toward the future.  All the while focusing on keeping Dunlap the same small, friendly, loving, little town in the valley we’ve always loved, and we’ll want to come home to forever.

When my daughter was young and asked where she was going, she would always respond; “We’re going home to Dunlap Tennessee.”  I can’t say it any better than that!

The Sequatchie County Public Library has many, many great reads while you’re home for a visit or off on vacation.  Don’t forget to check out a few for your trip.

Hi everyone, I’m Dede Roberts.  I recently joined Friends of the Library in order to play a small role in helping our community. 

“One of the marvelous things about community is that it enables us to welcome and help people in a way we couldn’t as individuals.  When we pool our strength and share the work and responsibility, we can welcome many people, even those in deep distress, and perhaps help them find self-confidence and inner healing.” – Jean Vanier.

I’ve always been one to raise my hand to join in any event in order to accomplish a common goal.  Volunteering in our community not only helps those around us, but it also helps us personally.  Volunteering creates self-awareness & improvement, accountability, and strength of character.  At the end of a project that helps uplift our community or an individual within our community, the sense of success and achievement obtained increases our own happiness.  During this month of June, while we’re thinking of the warm weather and getting outside, remember your community and the boundless ways to help. Volunteer and watch the happiness within you bloom!  Think about checking out V is for Volunteer by Michael Shoulders from our amazing library for your young community service helpers.

April is National Poetry Month. Do you like poetry? It sneaks in a lot of places in our lives. We don’t always recognize it. When we are young, we hear it in the silly songs and nursery rhymes our parents share with us. We of course hear it in school; it is a part of any class on literature, or it should be. We struggle through the metered lines of Shakespeare looking for the plot. When we are young and falling in love, we may be drawn in by the Romantic poetry of the 18th and 19th Century. (“How do I love Thee, let me count the ways.”) But is it really a part of a grown person’s life? If you sing along with a favorite Country song or pray the 23rd Psalm, you are quoting poetry.
In an article in the Epoch Times (4/5-11), Karen Doll shares some ideas for sharing poetry with children. She suggests reading poetry aloud, create poetry, illustrate and dramatize poetry, host a poetry tea party or participate in “Poem in your Pocket” day ( April 27). If you are interested in any of these ideas, respond to this blog and we can share more ideas and inspiration. And look in our library for books on poems and rhymes this month.

Are you ready for Christmas?

The answer is a rather emphatic no. Dear Husband (DH) and I are empty-nesters and it would be reasonable to think that with so much time on our hands, we would have everything bought, wrapped and sent. We don

Sorry this is a bit late. I was visiting with family on the actual 15th, but I am back. although I miss my family back in Virginia. I was very happy to get back to Tennessee. I do not miss the traffic, the bad roads, the noise of the city. I am just not a city girl. Eight days out there was too much.
As I told you in an earlier blog, I have been reading a book called The Library: A Fragile History by Andrew Pettegree and Arhtur Der Weduwen. It traces the history of book collections from the earliest of times, including the famous Library of Alexandria, to the modern digital collections that are emerging. It is interesting that at one time, before the ability to mass print books, they were considered treasures and sometimes even required as part of a treaty. There are stories of con-men and counterfeiters, deceiving many with copies of valuable editions of ancient classics. One common theme was how an individual would create a great collection, only for it to be sold of piecemeal after their death or donated and neglected until there was almost nothing left of it. (This was the case for the son of Christopher Columbus.) It was also disheartening to read about the number of libraries destroyed by wars and lost in fires. It is a good read and I hope that one day it may get to travel to visit some of the great libraries that still exist. If our library doesn

I have written about reading to kids early to help them to develop better reading skills. This week, the news reported a significant loss in academic skills due to the Covid pandemic. All of us need to work harder at helping our kids catch up. Today, I want to emphasize that reading with or to your kids doesn

In an article called,

It is already mid-summer unless you are going by the public-school schedule. But assuming that you are not, how is your summer reading plan going? Did you find a great novel to read on your vacation? Or are you more of a self-improvement junkie? Personally, I am a history and biography nut. This year

My reading practices over my lifetime have consisted of reading for information and for pleasure. Both are valid reasons, and I will likely be blogging about either or both depending on the times and circumstances. Having said that, I have decided to structure my blogs is to discuss ideas on reading for and to children at the beginning of the month I will focus on grown-ups later I the middle of the month. I want to emphasize kids in my blog because we are in a battle against social media. There is evidence that too much screen time is damaging to a child

Well, Mom and Dad, it is here. Summer has arrived in Sequatchie County and the routines of life will be thrown aside for staying up late, sleeping in, and going on vacation. It is a good idea to relax our family schedules for a while, but completely abandoning structure is not a great idea. Multiple studies show that the summer vacation from school causes learning loss. This is especially harmful after the educational chaos that resulted from the Covid pandemic.

So what can parents do? Doing