Greetings from the Great Bend Public Library, and Happy Halloween! I hope everyone has a fun and safe Halloween planned. Don’t have any Halloween plans? Come to the library and check out a scary book or a spooky movie and enjoy a fun night in.

With Halloween comes the end of October and so we look toward November, and November is Kansas Reads to Preschoolers month! This is an annual event to celebrate literacy and instill a love of reading in Kansas children from birth to preschoolers. As part of the month-long celebration and to encourage reading, the Great Bend Public Library will be going to local preschools throughout the month to hand out copies of this year’s book, “Grumpy Bird,” by Jeremy Tankard.

You can also celebrate reading all month long with us at storytime every Tuesday at 10:30 a.m. and Thursdays at 6:30 p.m. Storytimes are a great chance for little learners to not only practice literacy skills, but also to get up and move to music, learn rhymes, watch fingerplays, and more. As part of the Kansas Reads to Preschoolers celebration we have a very special event happening on Nov. 13. Mark your calendars for a Dino O’Dell Concert! There will be a reading of “Grumpy Bird” followed by a concert with author and musician Dino O’ Dell as well as a craft and some yummy snacks! We are very lucky to have such a great performer pay us a visit. We hope you’re as excited as we are for this very special event.

Starting Nov. 1 we have an awesome new program, Book Buddies! Children can come to the library and get partnered up with a Book Buddy from the Great Bend High School Educators Rising Club. Children will have the opportunity to read with their buddies for 30 minutes, during which time they will be able to practice reading aloud, reading fluency, and listening comprehension with one-on-one assistance. This new program will take place from 6-7 p.m. every Monday in November. If you come to the first session on Nov. 1 we will be having ice-breaker activities as well as a snack.

We have a few other awesome programs next week, starting with an escape puzzle for teens on Nov. 1. A mysterious figure will leave a trail of clues to ... well that’s up to you to figure out. Traverse the library as you follow hints and decipher riddles to solve the puzzle. The first clue can be found in the Teen Spot on Monday. Then Friday, Nov. 5, is our next Casual Teen Game Friday. This time we will be playing the popular beat ‘em up Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, starting at 3:30 p.m.

As for adults, we have our next meeting of the Great Bend Silver Screen Society Thursday, Nov. 4. This month we will explore Korean cinema, with a film by famed director Bong Joon-ho. If you are a film buff, like discussing films or just love movies, then this is a club you would really enjoy. We meet on the first Thursday of each month at 5:30 p.m. If you want to find out what the film of the month is check out our website, greatbendpl.info. Next Friday we have our Adult Movie Night Out starting at 7 p.m. You can check our website to find out what this month’s, as well as next month’s movie, will be.

For our other events visit our Facebook and our website, greatbendpl.info. You can also message us on Facebook, email us at gbcirc@gmail.com, or give us a call at 620-792-2409 for any questions about our programming or services.

Written by Hannah Grippin, Outreach Manager at the Great Bend Public Library.