Lions and Tigers and Haikus - Oh my!

April is National Poetry Month, and this year Katie, a Collection Support Aide at the Hampton Park Library, created an endcap in our Juvenile section about animal haikus.

 

A haiku is a style of poetry created in Japan. These short poems consist of three lines, and each line has a required amount of syllables. Typically, the poem is a line with 5 syllables, a line with 7 syllables, and a line with 5 syllables. For example,

Hampton Park, the place
of creativity and
written word wonders.

-Kayla

Katie’s endcap encouraged visitors to take a moment and write a haiku about an animal. We were so delighted by everyone’s haikus that we wanted to share some of our favorites with all of you. 

I love to pet my 

Small furry cute puppy dog

As she snuggles close

The turtle is slow

But it always wins the race

Go, go turtle go

Dragons are [fierce] and powerful

And thats all I have to 

Say

Love Evelyn

Giraffes are the best

Their long necks make them super

Gentle giant friends

-Reagan C.

[Kitty] in the sun

Sleeping, playing, having fun

Fuzzy little one

-Emma

Duck haiku

Ducks are [fantastic].

They like to waddle and bathe

But can’t live in a cave.

-Maggie

The python slithers

Through the forest gleefully

It’s looking for food

We appreciate everyone who wrote a poem or stopped to read a poem from a fellow library patron. We hope it brought a little bit of joy to your day!

Denmark Library Has Gone to the Birds

We’ve got some caw-some news that we are raven about at Denmark Library! 

If you’ve been to Denmark Library you may have noticed or been heron about our bird feeder located in the adult area just outside the windows. After a few months of having it up, we have gained quite a faithful flock of visitors. A whooping amount of feeder birds such as wrens, cardinals, and blue birds have been visiting round the clock. In the sky you can catch a flicker of a turkey vulture or Cooper’s hawk. You may even spot a murder... of crows.

One of our frequent visitors, a male Brown-headed Cowbird. Did you know the Brown-headed Cowbird is North America’s most common “brood parasite.” A female cowbird makes no nest of her own, but instead lays her eggs in the nests of other bird species, who then raise the young cowbirds.

To help keep track of our feathery friends, a bird observation log is provided for everyone to fill out their observations at the bird feeder or anywhere on the library’s grounds. If you spot a bird, simply fill out the log with the date & time, weather, what bird you observed and its location, and any identifying information about the bird. Toucan even make it into a family event by checking out Georgia State Parks backpack, which contains binoculars and a bird ID guide book, and walking around the library grounds looking for birds with your brood.

Our bird watch log is available now! Peep the pine warbler on the feeder. They are another common feeder bird we see at Denmark.

To provide our quail-ity contributions to citizen science, the Denmark Library will be sharing these observations on our eBird page. For those unfamiliar with it, eBird is a global online database of bird observations and a citizen science project launched in 2002 by the Cornell Lab of Ornithology and the National Audubon Society. It provides scientists, researchers, and naturalists with real-time data on bird distribution and abundance. Participation is free and you must create a free account to view findings and log your own.

We are piping with egg-citement about this project! Be sure to visit us swift-ly or you’ll egret it! (We apologize for the fowl language but we couldn’t help owl-selves.)

Jessica Dillard
Information Specialist
Denmark Library

Georgia Library Service for the Blind and Print Disabled (GLS)

Did you know that Georgia has a free braille and talking book service for residents of any age who are unable to read standard print due to a visual, physical, or reading disability? GLS, the Georgia Library Service for the Blind and Print Disabled, serves all of Georgia with books and magazines in braille and audio that are available through postage-free mail or via download. GLS is a network library of the NLS, the National Library Service for the Blind and Print Disabled, from the Library of Congress. 

There are a variety of ways that members of GLS are able to get their reading materials. For those that prefer audiobooks, GLS will send a talking book player and two cartridges (which hold up to 10 books per cartridge) via US mail. Members also receive access to the BARD mobile app for easy downloading of audiobooks to their personal device. For those that read braille, members can borrow books through the mail or they can request up to five hard copy braille-on-demand books per month from the NLS that are theirs to keep. Members may also borrow Large Print books via US mail. GLS has Reader Advisors that are available Monday through Friday, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Learn more by visiting the GLS website. 

Applying to GLS is a simple process. Applications can be found here and once completed, they can be emailed, mailed, or faxed. If you prefer, you can also visit any Forsyth County Public Library branch to fill out a paper application and library staff can submit your application for you. Once GLS receives your application, they are usually able to send a talking book player and the initial books to you within seven working days. If you or someone you know could benefit from gaining access to reading materials in an accessible format, make sure to check out GLS!

Jen Bell

Information Specialist

Cumming Library