Summer Camp 2014

Camp 2014 is over, and as I say every year, it was worth every bit of effort that went into it. The entire Chapters staff--Cheryl, Kelley, Stephanie, Elise, and I--want to thank all those who helped us pull off a successful, fun week. We couldn't do it without you, our faithful volunteers Haley, Nora, Megan, Grace, and Abby.

Also, thanks to everyone who participated in our activities and entrusted your children to us. As former teachers, Cheryl and I both enjoy your children and their enthusiasm. We love having them fill the store with their laughter and sweet voices.

Our theme for 2014 was "Poets on a Bike and Other Unusual Combinations." See last week's blog entry to find out more about the biking poets. Here are some highlights from the rest of the week.

Our youngest campers started the week with the Pigeon, Mo Willems' loveable character, who, in his latest book, desperately needs a bath. The kids made dirty pigeons, blew bubbles, and had dirty water and soap (root beer floats) for a snack. For their second day of camp, they had fun with another favorite character, Pete the Cat, making magic sunglasses and using groovy buttons in fun art projects. For snack, the kids enjoyed mouse shaped pancakes--food fit for a cat. Camp week ended with a birthday party for Chapters' tenth anniversary, a fun time for everyone.

Started their week with Origami Yoda the school age group did. The kids learned to fold their favorite Star Wars characters from paper and read a very silly book. In keeping with the (very loose) theme of building things, the kids also had fun with Legos and made marshmallow-pretzel bugs for a snack. Later in the week, they read about a squirrel with super powers (Flora & Ulysses), recycled trash into treasures, and ate dirt and worms. Eat them up, yum! For their final day of camp, they also had a birthday party for Chapters and enjoyed cupcakes and a classic birthday story, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.

Here are just a few more photos from our week. To see others, check out the albums on our facebook page--and thanks again for a fun week and for ten years of serving you.

Type Rider II Tandem Poetry Tour

We had the pleasure to meet Maya Stein and Amy Tingle this weekend. They're riding a tandem bike

1,400 miles from Boulder, Colorado, to Beloit, Wisconsin, building “Little Free Libraries” and promoting poetry, community, a love of reading, and the spirit of collaboration along the way. At their Seward stop, we  hosted a bike rodeo, built a "Little Free Library" for the town of Staplehurst, and read and wrote poetry with Maya, Amy, and two Lincoln poets, Lucy Adkins and Marge Saiser.

Thanks to everyone who helped with Saturday's event, which we held at the Olde Glory Theatre and Community Hall. Officers Hammond and Summerfeld and John Moody ran the bike rodeo. Charlotte Endorf--owner of one of Nebraska's first Little Free Libraries--and Ken Block oversaw the construction project, and Ashlyn, Amelia, Nora, Haley, and Molly helped out as needed throughout the morning. And, as always, our fabulous Chapters staff was on hand to help.

Here's just one of the many poems Amy and Maya wrote at our event. They sat at their typewriters--manual ones, no less-and asked for a word from the audience. This is Maya's poem in response to the word 

"Friendly"

It's Saturday morning. I just had a glass

of lemoade. Right this minute we are in 

Seward, Nebraska, and the sun is shining and

there are bicycles on the sidewalk and you,

you are sitting right in front of me blowing

up a blue balloon and everything is

feeling bright and possible and the whole world

is friendly and it would be alright

with me if time stood still so it could be

like this a little while longer. Just like this.

Maya Stein