Patrick Dewane-"The Accidental Hero"

Patrick Dewane
"The Accidental Hero"

Kasson Public Library and Prairie Meadows Senior Living partnered to receive a Minnesota Legacy Grant from the Minnesota Historical Society for actor Patrick Dewane to perform "Accidental Hero" at Prairie Meadows Sunday, October 17, at 2:00 pm at Prairie Meadows Senior Living.

"The Accidental Hero" is an astonishing one-act play about a grandfather, history, the reality of war and the mystery of heroes. Patrick tells the story of his grandfather, whose CB handle during the war was “The Accidental Hero.” He was a World War II Czech-American soldier, fighting in the dark forests of his homeland. His name was Matt Konop and he rarely talked about his experiences, but years after his death, Patrick came into possession of a pile of typed pages discovered in a box in the basement.

Patrick Dewane, left, his grandfather, Matt Konop, right.


The performance and refreshments are free to the public and made possible by a grant from the Minnesota State Arts Board, through an appropriation by the Minnesota State Legislature from the Minnesota Arts and Cultural Heritage fund with money from the vote of the people of Minnesota on November 4, 2008.

Farm Animals Storytime October 12-14

This week's four storytimes theme was Farm Animals. The children loved the stories that Children's Librarian Ingvild read to the children but the favorite book of all the story times was Chickens To The Rescue. The children drew their favorite farm animal on big white sheets that Ingvild pre-drew a barn, fences and a pond. There will be eight of these sheets displayed around the KM library area. Look for them! Additonal pictures for these events or any programs that the library sponsors may be found at: http://www.flickr.com/photos/kassonlibrary/

Minnesota Author Julie Kramer

Julie Kramer, 2009 winner of the Friends of the St. Paul Public Library Minnesota Book Award spent Thursday, Oct. 7 talking to students at area schools, and later that night to the public at the Kasson Library.

Kramer, a graduate of Southland High School in Adams, grew up on a family farm along the Minnesota-Iowa State Line. "The bookmobile was very important to me when I was growing up. I'm always happy to talk about how libraries create authors. Libraries are so important to communities. "

As part of the Minnesota Legacy Grant program area libraries had an opportunity to book winners of the Friends of the St. Paul Public Library Minnesota Book Award. Kasson Public Library, KM Schools, and Triton Schools partnered together to have Mystery Writer Julie Kramer come and talk about her books and how to get them published. Her latest book, SILENCING SAM, explores the fine line between news and gossip when a reporter because a murder suspect in a gossip columnist's death. Library Journal called it "riveting" and gave it a starred review. The book also has an unusual subplot involving wind farms, that has proven especially popular with rural Minnesota readers.



The adults attending Thursday's talk thoroughly enjoyed hearing Julie talk about the book writing process and her life as a news journalist. Many people had questions ranging from how do you learn to write, how many hours do your devote to writing, where do the ideas come from.




Mary Kramer, Julie Kramer, Bonnie Adams, Ingvild Herfindahl

Additional pictures of this event can be found at:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/kassonlibrary/page3/

The Minnesota Library Association Convention is in Rochester at the Mayo Civic Auditorium for the next three days October 6th-8th. Since the convention is local this year, I along with some of my library staff, Library Board Trustees, and the Chair of the Friends of the Library Organization will be attending. We are all looking forward to learning new ideas, trends, etc. that can make our library a better place for the patron and community. See you next week.

My Body Storytime Week of Oct 5-8

The children really enjoyed this weeks theme of My Body. The also got to sing along with Do Your Ears Hang Low Do They Wiggle To and Fro?

For additional pictures of all the groups attending this weeks storytime,please go to: http://www.flickr.com/photos/kassonlibrary/

Minnesota Mystery Author Julie Kramer Comes To the Library

Minnesota Mystery Writer Julie Kramer will be at the Library on Thursday, October 7th at 6:30 pm. Julie has written three books, Stalking Susan, Missing Mark, and Silencing Sam. Julie will speak and sign books at the Kasson Library. Book clubs are invited; individual readers and aspiring authors are also welcome.

She is a career television news producer who used to run the I Team at WCCO-TV and now works freelance news for NBC and CBS networks. "People always have lots of questions about how the media works," she said. "And I think that's one of the strengths of my books. I take people inside how newsrooms make decisions. And sometimes that's not pretty."

Julie is part of a multi-library Fall Author tour that the Kasson Library received as part of a legacy grant through our regional library system SELCO. The funds were made available through the Clean Water, Land and Legacy Amendment, was passed overwhelmingly by Minnesota voters in November 2008. A portion of these funds has been appropriated to regional library systems to support programs and services at local libraries and to partner with community organizations to enrich the lives of Minnesota residents.

Arts & Culture Legacy Grant Programs

The Kasson Public Library has been the recipient of four Arts and Culture Legacy Grants this past summer. Underwater Adventures, Rose Ensemble Singers-Last Queen of Hawaii, Treasure Beyond Measure Magic Show, and the Computer Assisted Drafting (CAD) Grant with KM School Technology Class. The Kasson Library had over 7oo people attend these four events and people of all ages thoroughly enjoyed the programs. Additional pictures of these four event as well as other programs may be found on our picture website Flickkr: http://www.flickr.com/photos/kassonlibrary/

The Kasson Library received these legacy grants through our regional library system SELCO. The funds were made available through the Clean Water, Land and Legacy Amendment, was passed overwhelmingly by Minnesota voters in November 2008. This electoral decision created new resources for land conservation, water conservation, parks and the arts. A portion of these funds has been appropriated to regional library systems to support programs and services at local libraries and to partner with community organizations to enrich the lives of Minnesota residents.

One of Kasson Public Library primary goals is to seek new or expand existing partnerships with libraries, community organizations, performers and artisans to sponsor a wide variety of arts and cultural projects within the community. The library has a large variety of choices of entertainment is is looking for partners to bring more art and culture to the KM Library service area. If you or your group would like to partner with the library please call Library Director Bonnie Adams at 507-634-7615 or email badams@selco.info.

The Last Queen of Hawaii by the Rose Ensemble

Treasure Beyond Measure-Magic Show