Mystery Readers Book Group, May 18

Mystery Readers Book Group

Sponsored by The Friends of the Library 

(559) 713-2709

For May: This month's theme is academic mysteries. Read any mystery relating with teachers, graduation or schools!

Next Meeting
May 18 at 6:30pm

Come and bring a friend!!

Mystery Readers Book Group, April 20

 Mystery Readers Book Group

Sponsored by The Friends of the Library 

(559) 713-2709

For April: Dig for clues! Read any gardening mystery.

Next Meeting
April 20 at 6:30pm

Come and bring a friend!!

First Tuesday Book Club, May 3

For May, we're reading The Bartender's Tale by Ivan Doig.

Summary: Tom Harry has a streak of frost in his black pompadour and a venerable bar called The Medicine Lodge, the chief watering hole and last refuge of the town of Gros Ventre, in northern Montana. Tom also has a son named Rusty, an “accident between the sheets” whose mother deserted them both years ago.The pair make an odd kind of family, with the bar their true home, but they manage just fine. 

Until the summer of 1960, that is, when Rusty  turns twelve. Change arrives with gale force, in the person of Proxy, a taxi dancer Tom knew back when, and her beatnik daughter, Francine. Is Francine, as Proxy claims, the unsuspected legacy of her and Tom’s past? Without a doubt she is an unsettling gust of the future, upending every certainty in Rusty’s life and generating a mist of passion and pretense that seems to obscure everyone’s vision but his own. As Rusty struggles to decipher the oddities of adult behavior and the mysteries build toward a reckoning, Ivan Doig wonderfully captures how the world becomes bigger and the past becomes more complex in the last moments of childhood.

We are meeting in the Visalia Branch Blue Room to discuss this book on May 3 from 6:30 pm - 7:45 pm.

Spring Break Movies at the Visalia Branch Library

Are you looking for something fun to do with your children while they're out of school for Spring Break? 

We're showing some fun flicks at the Visalia Library all Spring Break! 

Below is the full list of films. Be sure to check out some books while you're here!

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Visalia Garden Festival, March 18 & 19

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Trees are blooming, grass is growing, and kids are playing outside! 

The Tulare County Library and the University of California Tulare/Kings Master Gardeners are ready to welcome Spring at the Visalia Garden Festival on Saturday, March 19, 2016, from 9 am to 1 pm. Please join us for this fun and informative event on the south lawn of the Visalia Branch Library at 200 W. Oak Avenue.

Come by on Friday, March 18, for a “Preview Day” from 12 noon to 2 pm, featuring the Master Gardeners’ information/diagnosis/FAQ booth inside the Visalia Branch Library. Do you have a garden related problem or question? Bring it to the experts!

For the main Festival event on Saturday, the UC Master Gardeners staff the informational booths on a wide variety of subjects. One area covers edible gardening, where experts offer advice about vegetable gardens, citrus trees, and other fruit trees. This booth also includes details about planting, fertilizing and integrated pest management. A second area covers landscape maintenance with discussions on drought tolerant landscape design, turf choices, irrigation systems, and general yard maintenance issues. A third booth contains information on ornamentals including succulents, annual, and perennial plants. This area focuses on California natives and drought tolerant selections. The fourth booth, on landscape pillars, features experts offering advice and information on tree, shrub and vine selection suitable to the Central Valley’s climate and drought situation. The City of Visalia’s Natural Resource Conservation Division representative offers information on low-water use landscapes and other water conservation practices.

Bring the kids for a scavenger hunt during the Festival!  They visit the different booths and ask questions of the Master Gardeners to get the scavenger answers. They can learn so much about the gardening world and win a cool prize upon completion of the hunt!

In conjunction with the Garden Festival, the Visalia Friends of the Tulare County Library hosts their “Spring Cleaning” Book Sale, scheduled from 9:00 am to 2:00 pm inside the Library. The sale features a variety of books, including fiction, mystery, history, biography, art, and cookbooks, with prices starting at $ .50 each. Special sets and coffee table books are priced at $5.00 each. In addition to this selection, the Friends gathered gardening related books for this joint event. Come and find gardening and outdoor treasures, so you can be inspired to start a garden of your own!  Proceeds from the Friends of the Tulare County Library sale benefit the Tulare County Library Summer Reading Programs at all our branches.

Master Gardeners are members of communities trained by the University of California Cooperative Extension in different aspects of plant science. These volunteers completed a 17-week training program and passed the certifying exam. To remain certified, they complete annual educational and volunteer requirements. Founded in 1972 in Washington State, Master Gardener programs have spread to over 45 states and 4 Canadian provinces, with more than 45,000 volunteers. In California, Sacramento and Riverside led the way with pilot programs in 1980 with many of those original graduates still active today. Programs now thrive in more than 50 counties across the state and are a significant resource of gardening information. They are the official "formal volunteers" of the University of California Cooperative Extension.

All Visalia Garden Festival events are FREE. No registration required. For more information, contact Tulare County Library's Visalia Branch at 713-2703, visit us online at www.tularecountylibrary.org, or drop by in person at 200 W. Oak Avenue in Visalia. 

Dr. Seuss Festivities at Visalia Branch Library, March 1 - 5

Celebrate Dr. Seuss all week long - March 1st to March 5th, 2016 - at the Visalia Branch Library!

The Dr. Seuss Photo Booth will have props for a Dr. Seuss-themed photo op! (Photo booth is open all week, but unavailable during programs and closes 30 minutes before the library closes!)

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Mystery Readers Book Group, March 16

 Mystery Readers Book Group

Sponsored by The Friends of the Library 

(559) 713-2709

For March: Read your all time favorite mystery. It's hard to choose, but bring your favorite to the March meeting!

Next Meeting
March 16 at 6:30pm

Come and bring a friend!!

Visalia Branch Calendar, February 2016

Take a look at all of the fun programs and activities our Visalia Library has planned for February. 

The Visalia Branch Library is located at 200 W. Oak Ave in Visalia. For more information, please contact 559-713-2703.

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The Library Talks With Jill Shalvis at Visalia Library, February 9

Tulare County Library's Visalia Branch Library is hosting a live streaming visit by New York Times bestselling author Jill Shalvis on Tuesday, February 9, 2016 at 6:30 PM. Jill will join us via live video chat for a conversation about her bestselling romance novels just in time for Valentine’s Day! There will also be an opportunity for a Q&A from the audience. 

Jill Shalvis is the bestselling author of over fifty contemporary romance novels, including her award-winning Lucky Harbor series. She lives in a small town in the Sierras full of quirky characters. Visit jillshalvis.com for a complete book list and daily blog detailing her city-girl-living-in-the-mountains adventures. 

For more information, call the Visalia Reference Desk at 559-713-2703.

First Tuesday Book Club, March 1

For March, we're reading The Art of Racing in the Rain by Garth Stein.

Summary: Enzo knows he is different from other dogs: a philosopher with a nearly human soul (and an obsession with opposable thumbs), he has educated himself by watching television extensively, and by listening very closely to the words of his master, Denny Swift, an up-and-coming race car driver.

Through Denny, Enzo has gained tremendous insight into the human condition, and he sees that life, like racing, isn't simply about going fast. On the eve of his death, Enzo takes stock of his life, recalling all that he and his family have been through.

A heart-wrenching but deeply funny and ultimately uplifting story of family, love, loyalty, and hope, The Art of Racing in the Rain is a beautifully crafted and captivating look at the wonders and absurdities of human life...as only a dog could tell it.

We are meeting in the Visalia Branch Blue Room to discuss this book on March 1 from 6:30pm - 7:45pm.

Visalia Branch Children's Events, February 2016

Are you looking for something fun to do with your wee ones this month? Join us for all these fun happenings in Visalia in the month of February!

Call the Children’s Desk at 559-713-2731 for more information!

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Mystery Readers Book Group, February 17

Mystery Readers Book Group  

Sponsored by The Friends of the Library 

(559) 713-2709

For February: Read a book you got for the holidays!

Next Meeting
February 17 at 6:30pm

Come and bring a friend!!

Life-Size Candyland at Visalia Library, February 13

The Visalia Library's Homework Center will be transformed into Candyland for Valentine's Day! Children ages 3 to 12 are invited to play through the game as life-size pieces to win treats and prizes.

The event is free and no registration is required. Sessions last about 20 minutes each. Drop in anytime between 1:00 - 4:00pm on Saturday, February 13 to play.

For more information, call the Visalia Children's Desk at 559-713-2731.

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Visalia Branch Children's Events, December 2015

Are you looking for something fun to do with your wee ones this month? Join us for all these fun happenings in Visalia in the month of December!

Call the Children’s Desk at 559-713-2731 for more information!

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First Tuesday Book Club, January 5

For January, we're reading Z: A Novel of Zelda Fitzgerald by Therese Anne Fowler.

Summary: A tale inspired by the marriage of F. Scott and Zelda Fitzgerald follows their union in defiance of her father's opposition and her abandonment of the provincial finery of her upbringing in favor of a scandalous flapper identity that gains her entry into the literary party scenes of New York, Paris and the French Riviera.

We are meeting in the Visalia Branch Blue Room to discuss this book on January 5 from 6:30pm - 7:45pm.

Independent Film Series, January 26

Join us at the Visalia Library on Tuesday, January 26 at 6:00pm to watch Marie's Story!

Synopsis: At the turn of the 19th century, a humble artisan and his wife have a daughter, Marie, who is born deaf and blind and unable to communicate with the world around her. Desperate to find a connection to their daughter and avoid sending her to an asylum, the Heurtins send fourteen-year-old Marie to the Larnay Institute in central France, where an order of Catholic nuns manage a school for deaf girls. There, the idealistic Sister Marguerite sees in Marie a unique potential, and despite her Mother Superior's skepticism, vows to bring the wild young thing out of the darkness into which she was born. Based on true events, Marie's Story recounts the courageous journey of a young nun and the lives she would change forever, confronting failures and discouragement with joyous faith and love

Directed by Jean-Pierre Améris | France | 2014 | French with English subtitles | 94 min.

The film will be shown at 6:00pm in the upstairs "blue" meeting room at the Visalia Branch Library. This event is free and open to the public. Absolutely everyone is welcome.

For more information, visit the Reference Desk or call (559) 713-2723. You can also join the event on Facebook.

Holiday Card Making at Visalia Branch Library, December 3

Please join us at the Visalia Branch Library to make a unique-to-you card on Thursday, December 3, 2015, from 6:00 pm until 7:45 pm.

Attendees can choose to make Christmas trees, menorahs, stars, flower bouquets, candy canes, wreaths, snowmen, or other Christmas and Holiday designs out of buttons. Adults and families are welcome to attend. All supplies will be included for this free program!

For more information, call 559-713-2703 or visit the website at www.tularecountylibrary.org.



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Visalia Branch Children's Events, November 2015

Are you looking for something fun to do with your wee ones this month? Check out our calendar below to see what's going on this November at the Visalia Branch! 

In addition to our regularly scheduled events such as Toddler Time and Storytime, we will be having special crafts the Tuesday and Wednesday before Thanksgiving!

No registration is required for any of the programs, and all programs are free.

Please note that we will be closed on Wednesday, November 11 in observance of Veteran's Day, and on November 26 and November 27 for Thanksgiving.

For more information, please call 559-713-2731.

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First Tuesday Book Club, December 1

For December, we're reading Brave New World: with the essay "Brave New World Revisited" by Aldous Huxley.

Summary: Huxley's vision of the future comes to life in his astonishing 1931 novel Brave New World--a world of tomorrow in which capitalist civilization has been reconstituted through the most efficient scientific and psychological engineering--and its sequel, written thirty years after his classic novel of the future, in which Huxley describes the shocking scientific devices and techniques available to any group in a position to manipulate society. 

We will be meeting in the Visalia Branch Blue Room to discuss this book on December 1 from 6:30pm - 7:45pm.

Independent Film Series, November 24

Join us at the Visalia Library on Tuesday, November 24 at 6:00pm to watch Stations of the Cross!

Synopsis: Told in fourteen fixed-angle, single shot, individual tableaus that parallel Christ's journey to his own crucifixion, Stations of the Cross is both an indictment of fundamentalist faith and the articulation of an impressionable teen's struggle to find her own path in life. Though from the outside Maria lives in the modern world, her family and her heart are faithful to a Catholic radicalism that requires sacrifice and devotion at every turn. As she struggles to balance her own desires with the dictates of her family's faith, she makes ever more perilous sacrifices, attempting to please a God she worships unquestioningly in the pious hopes of curing the autistic younger brother she adores.

Directed by Dietrich Brüggemann | Germany | 2014 | German with English subtitles | 107 min.

The film will be shown at 6:00pm in the upstairs "blue" meeting room at the Visalia Branch Library. This event is free and open to the public. Absolutely everyone is welcome.

For more information, visit the Reference Desk or call (559) 713-2723. You can also join the event on Facebook.