Kwanzaa, a Young Adult Celebration of African-American Heritage, West Covina

Young adults and their families celebrated Kwanzaa at the West Covina
Library, Saturday, December 23. The celebration featured a poetry class
and reading by poet, Tajji Samone. Volunteens, Aimee, Alyssa, Genevieve,
Oni, and Daniel decorated the meeting room using black, red, and green
bows, origami, construction paper, posters, and brightly-colored balls.
Informational literature was provided to attendees, as was a poetry
newsletter produced by Samone. Following the reading, approximately
thirty guests enjoyed soul food from Hungry Al's Barbeque, including
saucy ribs and delicious collard greens. For dessert, the teen crowd
gobbled peach cobbler, red velvet cake, and assorted pastries prepared
by library staff and patrons. Thank you to the Friends of the West
Covina Library for sponsoring this educational and fun celebration of
African-American culture!

Evaluation Form Comments:
"Very well presented" M. Curry
"It was very good and I enjoyed it -- very educational. I hope to see
this happen next year." April W.
"Very good, I loved it." Semaj L.
"It was great participating and learning about other cultures. It
should be done more often!" Millie A.
"Thank you. It was very educational." Andrew L.

Halloween for Kids, by Young Adults, West Covina

It looked like rain, so we couldn't bring out the giant TV console. One of the kids thought up limbo instead of karaoke. The West Covina staff party reappropriated the camera from me (so evil!), so I couldn't photograph my FAVORITE part, the pinata-smashing!!! We also had a costume contest that Andy won for his Lakers uniform (his second costume contest win that day). We had 6 or 7 actual tweens or teens, all of whom watched the 4 or 5 little ones (mostly younger siblings) have fun. Of course, the teens did like the smashing part. Target makes a seriously hard pumpkin pinata.

Barnes & Noble Shopping Spree for Teen Read Week, West Covina

In celebration of Teen Read Week, teens shopped for the young adult (YA) collection and enjoyed Starbucks at the West Covina Barnes and Noble, Saturday, October 21 st (total cost $350). In shopping, teens earned experience in collection development techniques. YAs also gained expertise in marketing as they promoted the library, speaking one-on-one with bookstore shoppers about turning in a "Love your Library" voucher along with their purchases. Each voucher that was presented at the time of purchase resulted in a donation by Barnes and Noble of 15-25% of the sale to the Library (total donation to library - $500). The teens enjoyed socializing with other YA readers and working with Friends of the Library members. The President of the YA Board, Sami , says of the event, "It was really cool knowing that we made a difference by raising money for the library. It was just really fun and the result feels awesome."

Mountain Lion Foundation Program for Young Adults, West Covina

We had a Mountain Lion Preservation Fund Program on Thursday, Oct. 20. I bought some giveaways for the teens from the fund, including T-shirts, post card books, and mugs. This program was so special that we decided, at the last minute, to invite all of the families in the library to attend. The children and teens enjoyed the snacks, slide show, and memory game contest.

Ray Bradbury Event for Young Adults (Arranged by Yours Truly), West Covina

West Covina Library hosted one of the greatest science fiction writers in history, Mr. Ray Bradbury, on June 8, 2006. We raised funds by selling 200 of his books, which we received at cost through Random House. (Ray Bradbury speaks/signs books at libraries to raise funds for library needs.) We had about 200 participants, some of whom filtered in and out of the lecture. Many of the students drove 40 miles from Sepulveda High. We provided bottled water and cookies baked by volunteer teens (with staff assistance).