Would you like to write to a soldier? Or send her/him a care package!
With Armed Forces Day this weekend and Memorial Day on the 30th, it’s time to think of the soldiers that help us overseas. The day was created in 1949 to honor Americans serving in the five U.S. military branches – the Army, Navy, Marines, Air Force, and Coast Guard. President Kennedy made it a holiday in 1962.
Honor your troops with a card or a package that says hello from America! Soldiers miss their country, and like to hear news about everyday things from home. Write a letter or send a package with the following websites:
Are you excited for the coming summer vacation in Chelsea? What if you didn’t have one?!!
Why does the American school year start in September and end in June? It’s something of a mystery. Did children once “bring in the harvest” on the family farm all summer in the distant rural past?
Historians say not. Farm children went to school from December to March and from mid-May to August. Adults and children alike helped with planting and harvesting in the spring and fall.
Most modern American fathers and mothers work year round and scramble to find fun, safe, affordable programs during the holidays that schools take but employers do not.
Working Families: Then and Now
Urban schools in the 1800s also lacked the long summer vacation modern Americans take for granted. Like working families today, new immigrant families needed a safe and affordable place for children to stay while parents worked. In large cities, children of parents who worked learned English and other subjects during an 11-month school year!
Vacations Around the World
Short school years with long vacations are not the norm in Europe, Asia, or South America either. Children in most industrialized countries go to school more days per year and more hours per day than in America.
Many American teachers spend weeks every fall just reminding kids of what they forgot over the summer!!
For more history on summer vacations, try this website
For information on vacations in Michigan, see your librarian, or try the Pure Michigan website.
The Pilgrims landed at Plymouth Rock on December 11, 1620. During a bad winter only about half of the 102 people from the Mayflower survived. But the harvest of 1621 was a bountiful one. And the remaining colonists decided to celebrate with a feast — including 91 Indians who had helped the Pilgrims survive their first year. It lasted three days.
The Pilgrims may have had some kind of bird, but they mostly ate venison (deer meat). The term “turkey” was used by the Pilgrims to mean any sort of wild bird.
Most people eat pumpkin pie at Thanksgiving, but not the Pilgrims. The supply of flour was long gone, so there was no bread or pastries of any kind. However, they did eat boiled pumpkin. There was also no milk, cider, potatoes, or butter. But the feast did include fish, berries, watercress, lobster, dried fruit, clams, venison, and plums.
COME TO OUR THANKSGIVING LIBRARY PROGRAM!
Thanksgiving Evening Storytime: Tuesday, Nov. 23, 6:15-7:ooPM, Drop-in. Kidspot. Meet a real, live turkey at 6:15 PM, and then stay for a special evening Thanksgiving storytime at 6:30 PM, complete with stories, songs, and a craft!
Columbus Day is this Monday, October 11th. It celebrates Christopher Columbus’ arrival in the New World.
The day is celebrated as Columbus Day in the United States, as Día de la Raza in many countries in the Americas, as Día de las Culturas (Day of the Cultures) in Costa Rica, as Discovery Day in the Bahamas, as Día de la Hispanidad and Fiesta Nacional in Spain, and as Día de las Américas (Day of the Americas) in Uruguay.
Many people don’t like Columbus Day because of the poor treatment that native cultures received from the Europeans. Indian groups all over the hemisphere have protested the holiday. These groups decided on a new holiday, on October 12, 1992, the “International Day of Solidarity with Indigenous People.” Many native groups have pow wows to celebrate on that day.
What do you think of the holidays? Ask your librarian to show you our many books about Columbus, American history, and Native Americans, and you can decide which you will celebrate.
Harry Potter casts his magic spell, Lego A Libri! Read a book!
It’s Banned Books Week at the Chelsea District Library, and time to think about how lucky we are that we have public libraries that bring us all the books and information we want to read, regardless of whether some people think it should be read!
The American Library Association states that a ban or challenge is an attempt to remove or restrict materials, based upon the objections of a person or group. Challenges do not simply involve a person expressing a point of view; rather, they are an attempt to remove material from the curriculum or library, thereby restricting the access of others.
Check out the fabulous Banned Books display at the library, and see Harry Potter casting his spell over banned books caged in the Hogwarts’ Library Restricted Section. Pick up a fun bookmark. And exercise your right to read by chosing a book from the cage that someone at some time has challenged.
A Few Silly Challenges:
The Carl picture books were challenged because some parents thought that other parents would think that children could be babysat by their pets!
The Harry Potter books have been challenged because some people think it encourages Satanism.
Read more about it at the ALA website for Banned Books Week
Check out our fun display!!
Thanks to Wags and Whiskers of Chelsea for lending us the large pet cage.
How much do you know about the courageous life of a Chelsea Firefighter?
Sign up now to come to I Need to Read on Monday, October 11, from 3:30-4:30 pm, to learn about the lives of our local firefighting heroes. Find out what they need to read to learn how to fight fires and rescue people in trouble. You can ask questions, play games, and even get in a real fire truck!
The Chelsea Fire Department was formed on March 19, 1889. Pictured here in 1909, it was formed with 50 volunteers. The Fire Department has a long tradition of selfless bravery, helping the people of Chelsea. They work long and hard, even climbing the Jiffy towers for practice!
Check out the USFA Kids website to learn some great fire safety tips and play some fun games and puzzles! Or ask a librarian to help you find interesting books on firefighting.
And check out the video below to see our firefighters respond to a car fire!
Sign upfor the Guys Read Book Club, and get a free copy of the book, Jason’s Gold, by Will Hobbs!
Join fifteen-year old Jason as he joins thousands of gold prospectors attempting the difficult journey to the Klondike, one of the richest gold fields in the world. Follow him along the Dead Horse Trail, as he battles subartic winter, wild moose, and snarling bears. Will he ever have a reunion with his brothers? Sign up for the Guys Read Book Club and find out!!
Books are available now at the Youth Reference Desk. Just sign up and receive your copy.
Grandparents are our heritage and are essential members of our families and communities. That is why a special day, National Grandparent’s Day, is set aside every year to honor them. Here is an opportunity for you to spend some time with your grandparent, have fun, and create a project together that spotlights his or her life. Marian McQuade invented this day with the primary motivation to champion the cause of lonely elderly in nursing homes.
The official website lists lots of ways to record your grandparent’s life, including creating a song, a poem, an interview, or a website about them. Grandparents.com has songs, crafts, activities, poems, and suggested gifts for this special day.
FUN FACT: One of our youth librarians, Miss Lisa, had a granny that used to stomp grapes with her feet in Hungary to make wine!
The library has many craft books to help you make a special craft to give to your grandparent (check out the 745s). So get busy, and make sure to visit your grandparent this Sunday!
How will you celebrate Memorial Day? Many people think Memorial Day is just a day for picnics, but it means much, much, more!
Memorial Day, a United States federal holiday, honors US soldiers who died fighting for their country. Many people observe Memorial Day by visiting cemetaries and war memorials, and leaving flags, flowers, or notes on the graves of soldiers.
The National Memorial Day Concert, broadcast on PBS and NPR on May 30, 8pm, takes place on the west lawn of the United States Capitol. Here in Chelsea we have a Memorial Day Parade at 10am on Saturday, May 29, led by the Chelsea American Legion, which includes a fly-over by the 107th Fire Squadron of the Michigan Air National Guard.
For some Memorial day fun , try this website for great crafts and activities, or this educational website for crafts, activities, facts, poems, and short stories. Or ask your librarian to recommend some great books about this holiday
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On Sunday, March 7th, library patrons sipped in style at the Chelsea House Victorian Inn, an 1880’s Queen Ann Victorian Inn run by Jim and Kim Myles. Part of the Chelsea Reads Together: Wheels to Reels events, the tea was in celebration of the film Somewhere in Time, which was shot almost in entirety at The Grand Hotel on Mackinac Island. Participants enjoyed Darjeeling Tea and homemade fruit crepes, eclairs and scones as they discussed fascinating facts about the movie. Did you know that Richard Dreyfuss and Diane Keaton were at one time considered for the leads instead of Christopher Reeve and Jane Seymour?
Many guests arrived in costume for the event
The fabulous a cappella group the Meadowlarks entertained with Victorian era songs
Patrons enjoyed viewing the many beautiful items in the inn.
Librarians Karen and Lisa model beautiful hats generously lent to tea guests by Helen Welford
Everyone had a simply delicious time!
If you would like to join in our next celebration, please consider coming to our fabulous Gala Finale, preceded by our Pre-Gala Reception. We’ll have lights, red carpet, velvet ropes, professional photographer Mark Bogarin, delicious catered hors d’oeuvres, jazz pianist Brian Brill, and academy award winner Sue Marks, a Michigan filmmaker. See the Oscar up close!
Check out our many fine programs during the Chelsea Reads Together Wheels to Reels: Movie-Making in Michigan event here.
Would you like to write to a soldier? Or send her/him a care package! 
a. 
Why does the American school year start in September and end in June? It’s something of a mystery. Did children once “bring in the harvest” on the family farm all summer in the distant rural past?
Do you know about the first real Thanksgiving?
THANKSGIVING FUN: 
Columbus Day is this Monday, October 11th. It celebrates Christopher Columbus’ arrival in the New World. 
Many people don’t like Columbus Day because of the poor treatment that native cultures received from the Europeans. Indian groups all over the hemisphere have protested the holiday. These groups decided on a new holiday, on October 12, 1992, the “International Day of Solidarity with Indigenous People.” Many native groups have pow wows to celebrate on that day.
Harry Potter casts his magic spell, Lego A Libri! Read a book!
How much do you know about the courageous life of a Chelsea Firefighter?
Sign up for the Guys Read Book Club, and get a free copy of the book, Jason’s Gold, by Will Hobbs! 
Have you hugged a grandparent lately?
The National Memorial Day Concert, broadcast on PBS and NPR on May 30, 8pm, takes place on the west lawn of the United States Capitol. Here in Chelsea we have a Memorial Day Parade at 10am on Saturday, May 29, led by the Chelsea American Legion, which includes a fly-over by the 107th Fire Squadron of the Michigan Air National Guard.
