PAPER SNOWFLAKES

I've been cutting out paper snowflakes for a bulletin board display in Youth Services and wanted the 60 degree angle to make it simpler to fold the paper correctly for 6-sided snowflakes. So, I checked out some of the online resources available. These seemed the most helpful. Papersnowflakes.com and Dave's snowflakes have some gorgeous patterns to be printed out. The others demonstrate clearly the basics of folding and cutting with only a simple pattern or patterns to use. I, personally, just cut extemporaneously--I love the surprise when you open them up! There are lots more sites, but these would be a good start.

PAPER SNOWFLAKE PATTERNS

PAPER SNOWFLAKES.COM
HIGHHOPES
LOOK AND FEEL
DAVE’S SNOWFLAKES
MY WEB 3000
MARTHA STEWART
STARS AND FLAKES

There are also some books in our Youth department that are specific for cutting snowflakes:
J. Moffatt
Snow Shapes: a Read-And-Do Book (741.5941 MOF)
N. Poydar
Snip, Snap…Snow (E)

Also of related interest is the biography of the man who discovered the uniqueness of snowflake design, Wilson Bentley:
J.B. Martin
Snowflake Bentley (J BIOG)

EGVPL ASRP 2004 REPORT #4

One of the reasons we feel the participation this year was so much higher than in previous years was that the patrons had 9 different categories from which to pick 5 books that would qualify them to receive the usual completion award of a t-shirt. ( This year it was a nice deep red imprinted with the summer theme logo--a chef with the words "Dining with Dewey"). We also had a sign-up incentive of a white apron for the first 125 or so.

To earn the t-shirt, participants had to read 5 books: a Mystery or book of Short Stories, a Biography or a Classic, a Western or Science Fiction, Non-fiction, and a Romance or Political-techno Thriller. Mysteries were the most read (488) followed by Non-fiction (430) with Romances (323) next in popularity. Of course, some genres crossed over; 19 Romances set in the West were reported as Westerns. 154 books were General Fiction and 12 were "Historical" Fiction--166 in all. The next most-read category was Biography (155). 111 different Science Fiction titles were read and 93 Westerns (though, added to the Western Romances they totalled 112); there was also 1 Western Mystery. More Classics were read (69) than Politico-techno Thrillers (60--though some of them also qualified as Science Fiction or Mysteries). The least read category was the Short Stories (28) and some participants reported individual stories rather than collections (an area to be clarified if included in future programs).

EGVPL ASRP 2004 REPORT #3

During the Elk Grove Public Library (www.egvpl.org) 's recent Adult Summer Reading Program, c. 1970 different books were reported. The total number of books reported was c.2547.

The top 21 books (read by the most people) were:
R is for Ricochet by Sue Grafton (20)
Ten Big Ones by Janet Evanovich (16)
Sam's Letters to Jennifer by James Patterson (13)
The Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown (12)
Blowout by Catherine Coulter (11)
Nighttime is My Time by Mary Higgins Clark (11)
The Cat Who Talked Turkey by Lilian Jackson Braun (10)
Calder Promise by Janet Dailey (9)
Second Chance by Danielle Steel (9)
How To Cook a Tart by Nina Killham (8)
The Devil in the White City by Erik Larson (8)
3rd Degree by James Patterson (8)
The Taking by Dean R. Koontz (7)
Winesburg, Ohio by Sherwood Anderson (6)
Prey by Michael Crichton (6)
The Paid Companion by Amanda Quick (6)
The Notebook by Nicholas Sparks (6)
Angels & Demons by Dan Brown (6)
The Dangerous Hour by Marcia Muller (6)
The Big Bad Wolf by James Patterson (6)
Firestorm by Iris Johansen (6)

EGVPL ASRP 2004 REPORT #2

Finally finished tallying all the books reported during the Elk Grove Village Public Library's Adult Summer Reading Program. 304 patrons and staff signed up (this was a record). 65 did not report at all; 239 participants reported reading at least one book. One patron read 77 books during the 3 months of the program. More than 1950 different books were reported. More info in next report.