Playtime: Celebrate National Library Week with these events, plus virtual field trip and local cleanup

National Library Week is April 4 -10 and there are certainly reasons to celebrate it. The Edmonds and Lynnwood Libraries are now offering limited in-building services on top of the current contactless services. Recently, I stopped by to pick up a hold at the Edmonds Library and was offered contactless pick-up or the option to pick-up and checkout on my own, I chose to head in on my own. Walking into the library for the first time in over a year was exciting though a little different as not all of the stacks are available for browsing and at that time, I was the only non- employee to be found. I picked up my hold, which was flanked by the same names I usually see, and walked over to the kids section, picking up a Minecraft joke book on the way to the graphic novels. It was a big hit as it makes my younger son laugh and then rest of us groan, a true win-win for him.

In honor of National Library Week and the new old services we have access to it feels like a good time to talk about the current virtual events the library is offering. There are also upcoming events that are perfect for Earth Day including a Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife virtual event on Orcas Island and a local Earth Day Work parties.

On Tuesday, April 13 at 2 p.m., Sno-Isle Libraries is featuring the program “Open Book: Imbolo Mbue.” Mbue is a New York Times bestseller and “How Beautiful We Were” was named one of Time magazine’s Most Anticipated Books of 2021. This installment of Open Book will include a special guest interviewer, Maya Sharma, a junior at Eastside Preparatory School in Kirkland and author of “Paving: Conversations with Incredible Women Who Are Shaping Our World.” For registration and more information on both authors, you can click HERE. If you are unable to join on Tuesday, “Open Book: Imbolo Mbue” will be available on Sno-Isle’s YouTube channel for the two weeks following the interview.

This Saturday, April 10 at 10 a.m., the library is offering “Eagles: What Are They Doing Out There?”, which was almost my exact thought as I saw a Bald Eagle soaring right down the middle of the 76th Avenue West corridor just north of College Place Elementary. This virtual event is aimed at “families with children ages 5 and up and anyone interested in knowing more about these magnificent creatures.” Participants will learn where eagles live, how to find them nearby and how they care for their young. For registration and more information on this event, you can click HERE.

Scrolling through the Sno-Isle Events page getting contact information for the above events showed that the libraries are still offering so many virtual options for connection. There are Stay-at-Home storytimes for families, babies toddlers and preschoolers and an Online Korean-English Bilingual Storytime: 온라인 한국어-영어 이중언어 스토리타임 for families. There is also a weekly Stay-at-Home Preschool, which looks to fill up quickly — future events have openings. There are online book clubs for novels and cookbooks and also virtual craft and chats. You can find all of the events being offered by clicking Events  on Sno-Isle.org.

Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife is offering “Wild Washington Live! at Moran State Park on Orcas Island” on Monday, April 12 at 10 a.m.. WDFW will take you on a virtual field trip to Moran State Park to learn about “temperate rainforest and coastal ecosystems with two of Moran State Park’s AmeriCorps members.” This event is “all ages friendly,” but considered best for second- through eighth grade students. For more information and the Zoom link, you can visit WDFW.WA.Gov where you can also find third- to fifth-grade curriculum on Coastal Ecosystems of Washington, including a 3D tour of the Puget Sound Shoreline.

Yost Park

On Saturday, April 24 from 10 a.m. to noon, the City of Edmonds is hosting work parties at four local parks. There will be tree planting at Yost Park, making way for native plantings by pulling invasive blackberry at the Edmonds Marsh, and litter pickup at Marina Beach and Brackett’s Landing Parks. Due to COVID-19, participants will need to bring their own tools and gloves while wearing a mask and maintaining social distancing. For more information on this and other local clean-up efforts, you can visit the Sound Salmon Solution Events Page HERE

— By Jennifer Marx

Jen Marx, an Edmonds mom of two boys, is always looking for a fun place to take the kids that makes them tired enough to go to bed on time.

 

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