Running December 5, 2011 to February 8, 2012, Adult Winter Reading is a great way to catch up on your reading, win prizes, and have fun. Here’s how:

READ
Check out and read at least one book. Need suggestions? Browse our list of online reading resources, or ask us.

REVIEW
Write a review for each book you read and drop your review off at the library. We will have review forms at the desk, or you can download forms and fill them out at home.

WIN
Every participant wins a $5 gift certificate for the Friends of the Library Used Book Sale. Submitted reviews will also be drawn in a weekly raffle for prizes, including treats and gift certificates to The Human Bean.

HAVE FUN
Join us in January and February for our adult programs, including art classes, film showings, and book groups. Check our Programs & Events for a complete, up-to-date list of library programs.

If interested, you can download and print a publicity flyer to keep or share. If you have any questions, please contact us.

Adult Winter Reading 2011-12 is made possible by the Friends of West Slope Library.

On September 20, the Washington County Board of Commissioners publicly thanked the Friends of West Slope Community Library for their donation of $15,000 to the library. (You can view the official thanks from Eva Calcagno, the director of Washington County Cooperative Library Services, and the Board on the Tualatin Valley Community TV website.)

West Slope Library would also like to say a big “Thank You!” to the Friends for their generous donation. The funds will be used to purchase additional books for the adult and youth collections, ensuring that the library continues to provide a current, relevant collection to meet patron needs.

The library welcomes input about adding items to the collection, so feel free to make purchase suggestions online or at the front desk.

And if you are interested in learning more about the Friends of West Slope Community Library, you can read about membership online or come into the library to pick up their triannual newsletter.

If you have any other questions, please contact us.

Once a month, service dogs visit the library and young readers can spend 15 minutes reading individually with one of these quiet, attentive, non-judgmental listeners. A pilot study at Tufts University has already shown that children who spend time in “read to the dogs” programs show improvement in reading ability and a better attitude towards reading overall.

Readers ages 6-13 are welcome to participate. Registration is required, so please contact the library to check availability. [Spaces for November and December are filled, but waiting lists are available.]

This calculator is intended for educational and informational purposes only. Thank you!

Included with the Kill A Watt monitors are helpful tips and information on next steps you can take to save energy at home based on what you learn by using the monitor. Let us help you save energy and money by checking out a Kill A Watt monitor at the library today.

The different World Books give you access to a plethora of multimedia content, thousands of e-books, and tens of thousands of reference articles. You can even find much of the content in Spanish through Enciclopedia Estudiantil Hallazgos.

We also have the 2005 and 2008 print versions of World Book available here in the library if you want to browse through the volumes or check one out.

To access this world of information, all you need is your library card. Read more from WCCLS about World Book Encyclopedia. And if you need any help using the library’s online services, feel free to contact us.

There are many, many people out there who are remembered best by that great first novel they wrote. A few classics that you will recognize include

• Catch 22 by Joseph Heller
• House Made of Dawn by N. Scott Momaday
• To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
• The Catcher in the Rye by J. D. Salinger
• Cold Comfort Farm by Stella Gibbons

 Some recent impressive first efforts include:

• Cold Mountain by Charles Frazier
• The Beach by Alex Garland
• The Help by Kathryn Stockett
• The Hunt for Red October by Tom Clancy
• The Shack by William P. Young
• Smilla’s Sense of Snow by Peter Hoeg

Now, for some really new releases, you might consider:

• The Faculty Club by Danny Tobey
• Tinkers by Paul Harding (winner of the 2010 Pulitzer Prize for fiction)
• The Weight of Silence by Heather Gudenkauf
• The Quickening by Michelle Hoover
• Then Came the Evening by Brian Hart.

We’ve barely scratched the surface of the possible new writers out there for readers to discover. Give somebody’s “first” a try, and maybe you’ll discover a new favorite. 

And if you have any suggestions on debut novels, please let us know in the comments below!