Here's Dean Lennert, spider hobbyist, spreading the word that Spiders are Cool to Tuesday's Summer Reading group. We had a great talk about spiders and how useful they are and how folks need to learn to think before they squish.

Here Dean is holding Kiki, a Chilean Rose tarantula. He has had Kiki for many years, now. Female tarantulas can live for twenty or thirty years if you take good care of them.

He also brought in Theo, an elderly (for a boy) fellow with an eight-inch leg span, but Theo isn't particularly social and did not come out of his cage. Dean says he can run really fast!

The kids really enjoyed their close encounter. The tarantulas were a big hit. Some of the Moms might have been slightly less enthusiastic, but we learned a whole bunch!

Here is a closeup of Kiki:

Here are some books we have recently purchased. Come in and check them out!

At Canaan's Edge by Taylor Branch
Cell by Stephen King
Death Dance by Linda Fairstein
The Cat Who Dropped a Bomb by Lilian Braun
On the Run by Iris Johansen
All Night Long by Jayne Krentz
Lighting the Way: Nine Women by Karenna Schiff
Hostage by WE Griffin
Dirty Blonde by Lisa Scottoline
Get a Life by Nadine Gordimer
Night by Elie Wiesel
The Constant Princess by Phillippa Gregory
Predator by Patricia Cornwell
The Old Wine Shades by Martha Grimes
Ah, Trechery! by Ross Thomas

The following are some of the new DVDs available at the library:

King Kong
Chronicles of Narnia--the Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe
Brokeback Mountain
Memoirs of a Geisha
Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire
Crash
Good Night and Good Luck
Chicken Little
Jarhead
Bambi II
Lady and the Tramp
Aristocats
Faerie Tale Theatre
Flightplan
Corpse Bride
Proof
Howl's Moving Castle
Murderball
Capote
Dreamer
Secondhand Lions

"What's Buzzin' at your Library" is this year's theme for summer reading. We'll explore the wide world of insects through stories and crafts. Please register your child for the program by June 23, 2006. We'll meet on the following Tuesdays at 10:00am 7/11, 7/18, 7/25, 8/1, 8/8.

Penultimate Peril by Lemony Snicket
Dry : A Memoir by Augustine Burroughs
Running With Scissors by Augustine Burroughs
Seven Storey Mountain by Thomas Merton
Life and Holiness, by Thomas Merton
Dawn on a Distant Shore by Sara Donati
Fire Along the Sky by Sara Donati
Lake in the Clouds by Sara Donati
Camel Club by David Baldacci
1491 : New Revelations by Charles Mann
Anansi Boys by Neil Gaiman
Anne Frank : Diary of a Young Girl by Anne Frank
Bait And Switch by Barbara Ehrenreich
Bob Dylan Scrapbook by Robert Santelli
Bury the Chains by Ada Hochschild

The Library hosts the Knitting Roundtable every Tuesday evening from 6:30--8:30. Come in and knit with friends, or learn how to knit if you don't know how! There's plenty of instruction and support for all ages. So come to the Library every Tuesday and create something warm for your loved ones on these cold winter nights!

The Friends of the Porter Memorial Library met on October 20th for a brainstorming meeting. The Friends are a fun group of folks who are interested in planning and sponsoring events, programming and other cool stuff for the benefit of the library.

The Friends also decided to take the Big Leap and incorporate as an official 501(c)3 nonprofit. So if anyone out there has any experience or interest in getting involved, here's your shot to get in at the ground level!

The yellow bricks used as a background for our website are taken from a photograph of the wall of the building in the back.

The Library hosts the Knitting Roundtable every Tuesday evening from 6:30--8:30. Come in and knit with friends, or learn how to knit if you don't know how! There's plenty of instruction and support for all ages. So come to the Library every Tuesday and create something warm for your loved ones on these cold winter nights!