Friends of the Library Book Sale, Sept. 24

The BIG Friends of the Library Book Sale will be held on September 24th from 9:30 a.m. to 3:00 pm on the north/east lawn, near Locust St. Come and see our great selection of fiction, non-fiction, and children's books. We will also have a large selection of videos and books-on-tape for sale.

See you there!

Literacy Center Hours

The Literacy Center will be closed on Monday, September 5, in observance of the Labor Day Holiday. They will re-open on September 6, when their Winter office-hour schedule begins:

Monday - Thursday: 7am to 5pm
Friday: 8am to noon.

Walking Tour of Visalia, September 23

Mary Brown and daughter (played by Sally May and granddaughter, Isobel) survived the flood of 1862.

Women and Children First!

In 1862, Mary Brown, her two-week-old daughter, her sister Charlotte Dineley and her three week-old daughter floated around Charlotte’s back yard on a carpenter’s bench.

This was not a play date for the children. The mothers and babies were waiting for rescue from the rising flood waters of what is the worst flood in California history.

Learn what then happened to the sisters and their daughters at the Practically Preposterous Walking Tour sponsored by the Tulare County Library Literacy Center on September 23. Three hour-long sessions are scheduled, one each at 4 pm, 5 pm and 6 pm. Six stops will be made in the old Visalia downtown area, with volunteers acting the parts of Visalians affected by the flood.

The tour is a fundraiser for the Read to Succeed Literacy program. Tickets are $15 and can be purchased at The Literacy Center, 417 N. Locust Street, in Visalia until September 16. No tickets will be sold at the event. For further information, call 713-2745.

Friday, Sept. 2nd 2-5pm: Family Fun Fridays @ the Visalia Library! Movies! XBox 360 Kinect Fun! Games!!!

Family Fun @ the Visalia Library!!!

Join us every Friday for free Kinect gaming, movies and over 15 board games that families can enjoy playing together!

When: Every Friday 2pm-5pm


Movie starts @ 2pm & 4pm in homework room This week's movie: Pippi Longstocking!
(children might want to bring pillows or something comfortable to rest on during the movie.)
Kinect game of the day: Kinect Adventures! 3-5pm
(Kinect is for ages 6-13)
Board Games available to play in Children's Wing:

Candy Land, Chess, Checkers and Backgammon, Chutes and Ladders, Clue, Connect 4, Dominoes, Go Fish card game, Hi Ho Cherry-O, Memory, Regular playing cards, Scrabble, Sorry!, Uno

Cost: Free!!!
Where: The Children's Wing of the Tulare County Library Visalia Branch
Who: Children, teens and parents (adults must be with a child in order to attend this program)
*Parents must stay with children under the age of 14. *No group or daycare visits are allowed during our program times.Please call in advance to schedule a group visit.For further information or to schedule a group visit, call the Children's Dept. 713.2731

Socrates Cafe, September 13

Every second Tuesday of every month, the Visalia library will be hosting a Socrates Cafe at 6:30pm in the library's "blue" meeting room.

Socrates Cafe is a gathering of people who--with the help of a facilitator--engage in lively conversation about philosophical questions, posing questions, listening to others, raising challenges, and considering alternative answers.


This month's discussion question: Socrates says: Happy? Me? Not yet.

Please join us for this free and fun event!

Friday, August 26th- Family Fun Fridays @ the Visalia Library!

Family Fun @ the Visalia Library!!!
Join us every Friday for movies and over 15 board games that families can enjoy playing together!

When: Every Friday 2pm-5pm
Movie starts @ 2pm & 4pm in homework room
This week's movie: Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone
(children might want to bring pillows or something comfortable to rest on during the movie.)

Board Games available to play in Children's Wing:
Candy Land, Chess, Checkers and Backgammon, Chutes and Ladders, Clue, Connect 4, Dominoes, Go Fish card game, Hi Ho Cherry-O, Memory, Regular playing cards, Scrabble, Sorry!, Uno,

Cost: Free!!!
Where: The Children's Wing of the Tulare County Library Visalia Branch

*Parents must stay with children under the age of 14.
*No group or daycare visits are allowed during our program times.Please call in advance to schedule a group visit.For further information or to schedule a group visit, call the Children's Dept. 713.2732

"First Tuesday Book Club" Meets, September 6

The next "First Tuesday Book Club" will meet on September 6 at 6:30 pm in the blue meeting room.

This month we are reading Lake With No Name by Diane Wei Liang.

For more information on this title and to see a list of other library events, please visit the library web site's Free Adult Programs page.

Meet Local Author, Dr. Ramon Resa

Join us for an evening with local author, Dr. Ramon Resa, on September 10th at 7:00pm, at the Visalia Library. Dr. Resa is the author of the book Out of the Fields: My Journey from Farmworker Boy to Pediatrician.

For more information, please contact Sheryll Strachan at 713-2709.

English Speakers of Other Languages Conversation Circle to Meet In Visalia

The Library Literacy Center will hold an English Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL) Conversation Circle here in Visalia. This club will offer a very small group of English Language learners the opportunity to meet once a week and speak English while learning proper pronunciation, writing and grammar.

Only the first EIGHT people who call the Literacy Center at 713-2745 will be accepted. The first meeting will be Wednesday, September 14, 2011, at the Literacy Center. REGISTRATION IS REQUIRED before attendance.

Literacy Center's Walking Tour of Visalia to Feature Flood

The first stop on the Practically Preposterous Walking Tour fundraiser sponsored by the Literacy Center on September 23 will feature the historic Visalians, Samuel and Charlotte Dineley. Married less than a year, the Dineley’s moved into their new home on the site of the Literacy Center and then survived the worst flood in California history.

This natural catastrophe resulted from heavy rainfall during December of 1861 and January 1862. An estimated 50 inches of rain fell during that period and put the state underwater from Sacramento to Los Angeles.

The tour, sponsored by The Literacy Center of the Tulare County Library, will start at the Center, and progress to five more locations mentioned in narratives of the time. Volunteers playing the roles of historical Visalians, including the Dineleys, will be at each stop to recount their experiences during the flood.

There will be three hour-long tours, at 4 pm, 5 pm and 6 pm. The event is a fundraiser for The Literacy Center and the $15 donation per person goes to provide books and supplies for the Read to Succeed literacy program. Deadline for ticket purchase is September 16; no tickets will be sold at the event. For more information, call 713-2745.

Friday, August 19th- Family Fun Fridays @ the Visalia Library!

Family Fun @ the Visalia Library!!!
Join us every Friday for movies and over 15 board games that families can enjoy playing together!

When: Every Friday 2pm-5pm
Movie starts @ 2pm & 4pm in homework room
This week's movie:Mars Needs Moms
(children might want to bring pillows or something comfortable to rest on during the movie.)

Board Games available to play in Children's Wing:
Candy Land, Chess, Checkers and Backgammon, Chutes and Ladders, Clue, Connect 4, Dominoes, Go Fish card game, Hi Ho Cherry-O, Memory, Regular playing cards, Scrabble, Sorry!, Uno,

Cost: Free!!!
Where: The Children's Wing of the Tulare County Library Visalia Branch

*Parents must stay with children under the age of 14.
*No group or daycare visits are allowed during our program times.Please call in advance to schedule a group visit.For further information or to schedule a group visit, call the Children's Dept. 713.2732

Independent Film Night, August 18

The library will host a free showing of the independent film, If I Want to Whistle, I Whistle, on August 18 at 6:00pm in the upstairs "blue" room.

Visit the Independent Film Movement Series page on our web site for more information.

Mystery Readers' Meeting, August 17

The next Mystery Readers' Meeting will be held on August 17 at 6:30pm at the Visalia Library (upstairs, in the "blue" meeting room).

This month's theme is: History Mysteries. For a reading list of suggested authors and titles, please visit the Friends of the Library web page.

Library Branches Opening Late, August 12

All Tulare County library branches (that are normally open on Fridays) will be closed until 2:00 PM on August 12th due to a mandatory staff meeting in Visalia. We apologize for any inconvenience.

Friday, August 12th- Family Fun Fridays @ the Visalia Library!

Family Fun @ the Visalia Library!!!
Join us every Friday for movies and over 15 board games that families can enjoy playing together!

When: Every Friday 2pm-5pm
Movie starts @ 2pm & 4pm in homework room
This week's movie: Toy Story 3
(children might want to bring pillows or something comfortable to rest on during the movie.)

Board Games available to play in Children's Wing:
Candy Land, Chess, Checkers and Backgammon, Chutes and Ladders, Clue, Connect 4, Dominoes, Go Fish card game, Hi Ho Cherry-O, Memory, Regular playing cards, Scrabble, Sorry!, Uno,

Cost: Free!!!
Where: The Children's Wing of the Tulare County Library Visalia Branch

*Parents must stay with children under the age of 14.
*No group or daycare visits are allowed during our program times.Please call in advance to schedule a group visit.For further information or to schedule a group visit, call the Children's Dept. 713.2732

Socrates Cafe, August 9

Every second Tuesday of every month, the Visalia library will be hosting a Socrates Cafe* at 6:30pm in the library's "blue" meeting room.

The discussion topic for July 12 will be:

Cooperation -- Why can't we all just get along?

Please join us for this free and fun event!

*Socrates Cafe is a gathering of people who--with the help of a facilitator--engage in lively conversation about philosophical questions, posing questions, listening to others, raising challenges, and considering alternative answers.

Thursday, August 4th @11am & 3PM-Children's Summer Reading Program- Boswick The Clown!

Thursday, August 4th @11am & 3pm Bay Area Performing Artist Boswick the Clown!

About Boswick...

Clown College Graduate
Boswick the Clown attended the world famous Ringling Brothers Clown College. Each year 5,000 people auditioned only 50 get accepted. Out of the 50... 16 go on to perform in the Ringling Brothers Circus -- Boswick among them! Other famous Clown College Alumni include Penn Gillette of Penn and Teller and Bill Irwin (a.k.a. Mr. Noodle from "Sesame Street."

On TV
Boswick is a television star! He's run amok in commercials for the Yellow Pages, HandSpring, Nissan, The Examiner, BMW, and Chevrolet. He's also been featured on "Entertainment Tonight," "Inside Edition," a CBS "Clown College Celebration Special," and "Evening Magazine." He's also the star of a music video for the band The Two Gallants ("Despite What You've Been Told") and has a role in the movie "Milk" with Sean Penn.

Magically Speaking
Boswick is also an award-winning magician, taking second place in the San Francisco Conjurers Competition.

Friday, August 5th 2-5pm-- Family Fun Fridays @ the Visalia Library!

Family Fun @ the Visalia Library!!!
Join us every Friday for free movies and over 18 board games that families can enjoy playing together!

Movie starts @ 2pm & 4pm in the Children's Wing
When: Every Friday 2pm-5pm
This week's movie: 2pm &4pm- Rio
(children might want to bring pillows or something comfortable to rest on during the movie.)
Who: Children, teens and parents (adults must be with a child in order to attend this program)
Where: The Children's Wing of the Tulare County Library Visalia Branch

Board Games available to play in Children's Wing: Candy Land, Chess, Checkers and Backgammon, Chutes and Ladders, Clue, Connect 4, Dominoes, Go Fish card game, Hi Ho Cherry-O, Memory, Regular playing cards, Scrabble, Sorry!, Uno

Cost: Free!!!

*Parents must stay with children under the age of 14.*No group or daycare visits are allowed during our program times.Please call in advance to schedule a group visit.For further information or to schedule a group visit, call the Children's Dept. 713.2731

Preschool Storytime and Toddler Time will be taking naps in August

Preschool Storytime and Toddler Time will be taking their yearly naps in August. We will resume on Tuesday, September 6th at 10am with Toddler Time and Wednesday, September 7th at 10am with Preschool Storytime.



ZZZzzzzz...