Local author Rebecca Morris will read from her latest true crime book, “A Killing in Amish Country: Sex, Betrayal and a Cold-blooded Murder,” co-written with Gregg Olsen, from 6:30-7:30 p.m. on Monday, July 18, at the Greenwood Library, 8016 Greenwood Ave. N.
The reading is free. Couth Buzzard Books will have Morris’s books available for purchase and signing by the author.
In “A Killing in Amish Country,” Amish wife Barbara Weaver is happy with her family and her faith in Apple Creek, Ohio. Her husband Eli, however, is tempted by technology and eventually masterminds a murder. It is only the third murder in hundreds of years of Amish life in America, and the task of seeking justice falls to Edna Boyle, a young assistant prosecutor.
Morris, a New York Times best-selling author, is also a veteran journalist who worked in radio and television news in New York City; Portland, Oregon; and Seattle. Before she began writing true crime books, Morris was a freelance writer for The Seattle Times, The Oregonian, People, Entertainment Weekly and other publications.
Seattle Public Library is looking for mentors for K-12 students for the next school year. Homework Help volunteers are needed at 10 Library locations, including the Broadview Library, 12755 Greenwood Ave. N.
Homework Help volunteers will mentor K-12 students who are working on homework assignments, developing literacy and mathematics skills and preparing for college and careers. They provide help with all academic subjects up to the eighth grade level and may specialize in subjects up to the college-prep level.
Most of the students are first-generation Americans who speak a language other than English at home. Volunteers must be comfortable interacting with students of all ages in small groups and individually.
Volunteers will provide Homework Help once a week when public schools are in session, and a commitment throughout the school year is requested. Visit www.spl.org/homeworkvolunteer for more information. Volunteer applications are due by July 25, 2016.
SPL librarians are offering personalized “Your Next Skill” learning plans.
Expand your personal or professional expertise by learning salsa dancing, woodworking, computer coding, running a successful Kickstarter campaign, or how to cook Thai food. Whatever your learning goals are, Your Next Skill will set you up with personalized suggestions you use to can get started on according your own timeline.
To get your list, go to yournextskill.spl.org. Fill out a brief form with your name and email address and say what you’d like to learn and how you want to learn it. Options range from reading or listening to books, watching videos, downloading resources and attending free or paid classes online or in-person.
Within four days, you will receive a personalized list of resources to learn your next skill. For examples, visit yournextskill.spl.org/examples/.
SPL’s Summer of Learning is in full swing, with hundreds of reading, science, art and other programs for kids and families through Sept. 4. This theme is “Astounding Tales of Nature!” and encourages reading and activities around science, technology, engineering, arts and math. All programs are free.
Children and teens can learn to program robots, create video games, learn songwriting, take digital photos, make crafts with electronic circuits, design stop motion animation videos and more. Some classes require registration, which will open up online two weeks before the first class begins at each Library location.
Children who take part in Summer of Learning will receive a free Explorer’s Handbook packed with fun nature-related activities. Participants who complete five activities in the handbook, read 30 or more days over the summer, or solve the Super Secret Mystery Challenge will have their names placed on the Wall of Astounding Explorers at their home library.
Teens who take part in Summer of Learning will receive a free Read to Win game board. Participants who complete a reading challenge will be entered in a prize drawing for a $10 Starbucks card; each teen can enter up to five times.
Families with young children ages 0-4 can pick up a fun flier filled with nature-related activities to do together with babies, toddlers and preschoolers. The Early Learner flier will be printed in English, and a printable versions are available online in Amharic, Chinese, English, Oromo, Somali, Spanish, Tigrinya and Vietnamese.
The Library offers summer programming because research shows that during the summer young people can forget a certain amount of what they learned during the school year. Educators call that the “summer slide.” The Summer of Learning program mitigates the summer slide and teaches children and teens 21st century learning skills, such as teamwork, critical thinking and digital skills.
The Library has partnered with the Burke Museum to offer free family admission, for up to two adults and four children, when families bring an Explorer’s Handbook or an Early Learner flier from July 1 to October 31, 2016.
When the weather gets hot, most SPL locations have air conditioning to help patrons cool off. Libraries in and near our neighborhood with air conditioning include:
- Greenwood Library, 8016 Greenwood Ave. N.
- Broadview Library, 12755 Greenwood Ave. N.
- Ballard Library, 5614 22nd Ave. N.W.
- Wallingford Library, 1501 N. 45th St.
- Northgate Library, 10548 5th Ave. N.E.
