The weekend of September 10th/11th marks the International Rock Flipping Day, a day of discovering what is happening right under your feet, and under that rock. From the sponsor blog, Wanderin' Weeta, comes these suggestions:

• On or about September 11th, find your rock or rocks and flip it/them over.
• Record what you find. "Any and all forms of documentation are welcome: still photos, video, sketches, prose, or poetry."
• Replace the rock as you found it: It's someone's home.
• Post on your blog, or load your photos to the Flickr group.
• Send them a link, so that they collect the links, e-mail participants the list, and post it for any and all to copy to your own blogs.
• Tweet it, too. Use the hashtag #rockflip.

If you want to know more about the creatures you find under rocks or living in your backyard, check out a free of these books from your library:

• Insecto-files
• Backyard Detective
• Backyard Habitats
• Scary Creatures of the City

On the evenings of Monday, August 8th and Wednesday, August 10th, Petticoat Creek Branch and Central Library played host to some very special visitors. Stuffed Animals from across Pickering gathered to share stories, sing songs, roast marshmellows and have a sleep out under the stars.

We had a great turnout and some great LEGO brick projects for our contest! Here are some pictures of the winners!

Junior

First place in the Junior category was Dylan with his entry Robob!

Second Place in the Junior category was Christian with his Police Station

Third place for Junior went to Angus and his project The Navy!

Tween

First Place in the Tween Category went to Owen with his awesome clash of titans called "The Battle"

Second Place went to Peter with his aptly titled "Catch of the Day"

Third place went to Mark and his version of Hogwarts castle

Family


First place went to Andrea, Aaron and Debra and their scene at "The Airport"

Second Place in the Family Category went to Chris and Emily and their clever "Pnematic Cage"

Finally we had a third place tie between Simon and Colin and their "iLego" and Matthew and Daniel's creation of "Skater Boy"

Congratulatiuons to all the winners, and we hope to see you all again next time!

Check out what happened on the Stuffed Animal Camp Out this summer!

Petticoat Creek Camp Out

Central Camp Out

Please fill out our online evaluation form and tell us what you thought of the Summer Reading Clubs this year. You can also give us ideas for next year's Summer Reading Clubs!

TD Summer Reading Club Evaluation

Read n' Grow Summer Reading Club Evaluation

Kid's version of Evaluation

Summer is drawing to an end and the Summer Reading Clubs are wrapping up this week. The Library had 369 registered for the Read n' Grow Club, 818 registered for the TD Summer Reading Club, which makes a total of 1187 registered in the Summer Reading Clubs this year! The kids read a total of 19,556 hours throughout the summer!

Remember kids, come in this week to do your last report and receive your certificate and Splash! sticker!

Are you a master lego builder? Do you love creating amazing constructions? Want to show off your skills? The Pickering Public Library is holding a contest for all builders to demonstrate their legomania. Build your most impressive lego creation and bring it to the library to enter in our contest. The subject can be anything you can imagine, from spaceships to submarines, cars to cattle, just go and build it!

The categories:
Junior: For those 9 and under. No help from mom and dad or elder siblings please!
Tween: 10-13, again, no help from anyone!
Expert: Anyone 14 and older working by themselves.
Family: All ages, the whole family can work on a project for this category!
Group: All ages, a group of friends can work on this category together!

The rules:
1. The person/persons entering the contest must be present for the judging
2. You must have your creation at the Central Library by 2:00 p.m.
3. You must register your entry by August 17th
4. No Lego construction kits allowed
5. Your entry must have a title

Registration is required.

On August 20th we will have the judging. You must have your creation at the Central Library by 2:00 p.m.

Jumeah, Chiara and Sefra having fun at Splash! Storytime Plus

Liam and James show off their hand puppets

Ella, Evan, Taylor, Hailey, Emily and Stacey were also at splash! Storytime Plus!

Suha, Shayaau, Tahmid, Huzaifa, and Fatima listened to songs and made a craft to take home with them.

Splash! Storytime Plus runs at Central Library, Thursdays at 2 p.m. until August 18th. The program also runs at the Petticoat Creek Branch, Tuesdays at 11 a.m. and 6:30 p.m., until August 16th, and at our Claremont Branch, Thursdays at 10:30 a.m., until August 18th.

Pickering Public Library has received a Special Mention for our 2010 Destination Jungle TD Summer Reading Club. Congratulations to all our staff and participants who made it so successful last year. It's not too late to join in the fun this year with Splash! Celebrate Summer, the 2011 TD Summer Reading Club edition. Register at your nearest branch.

Registration begins Saturday June 25th at all our branches.
In between school years it can be hard to maintain your child's reading level. Encourage your child to keep reading all summer long by enrolling them in the TD Summer Reading Club. The Club promotes the love of reading to school age children by allowing them to choose their own books and motivates them to keep reading through a system of small rewards and prize draws.

Registration begins Saturday June 25th at all our branches.

Help your child get ready for reading by showing them how much fun it can be. Join the Read n' Grow Club! This program is designed for parents/caregivers and their children. It focuses on developing children's early literacy skills through fun activities that can be done at home or on the go.