On Monday it was rainy so we took mom's inspiring idea and headed to the Holdrege Public Library. It had been a couple of decades since I had been there to visit Old Sam the Reading Dragon. He was still there, friendly as ever.
I noticed a plaque in his honor showing how he was made and again restored. He was built the year I was born! The boys loved playing on him and watching Reading Rainbow from him.
We also played with Trio blocks for quite a long time and then checked out some puppets and computers and different things the children's section offered. I was highly impressed at their children's section which was nearly the entire second floor. In all the places I have lived and visited libraries and participated in their program for kids, Holdrege by far tops them all with Chadron's taking second (no dragon). Spearfish and Belle Fourche are not nearly as accommodating nor as friendly. They like to keep the stereotype that librarians should be grouchy old women who scowl at kids and turn them away at the first use of their 12" voice. Kudos to the Holdrege Public Library.
I decided to take a look around and found that all my favorite childhood authors and series seemed to be pretty much right where I remember. One of my favorite authors is Kenneth Thomasma. He writes about Native American children and their epic stories of survival in times past. When I was a fourth grader he visited Holdrege Elementary schools and did a mini workshop with us showing the drawings and explaining editing and the writing process. He also did a drawing for a poster he drew during his community presentation later that night. I got one of those as well as an autographed copy of the book he featured, Naya Nuki. I later read the very same book to my students at Canyons Hills Career Academy my first year of teaching. They loved the book just as much as I do.
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