Star Wars Party

Join us in kicking off our Winter Reading Club and celebrate the release of the newest Star Wars movie: The Last Jedi.

We're looking forward to seeing everyone dress up as their favorite Star Wars characters. Whether your favorite is Rey or Leia, Han Solo or Darth Vadar, we hope you'll join us in this celebration and maybe win a prize, too! There will also be fun activities and refreshments to enjoy.

While you're here, sign up for the Winter Reading Club, which runs from December 16th to January 6th. Participants only need to read three books during this period to complete the program and earn a certificate and prize. You can pre-register for the program here, but you will not be able to log books until the 16th. All ages are welcome to participate.

Hope to see you Friday, and may the Force be with you!

Teen Hangout: LED Greeting Cards

On December 7th, the Dorris Van Doren Teen Hangout group was invited to create cards (holiday or otherwise) using not only their artistic talents, but also their scientific know-how.

 Teens learned how to build circuits out of copper tape, LED bulbs, and small batteries. It involved not only learning how circuits work, but also figuring out how to troubleshoot problems. (What to do if the bulb won't light!)

Everyone succeeded in creating their circuits, and the results were beautiful cards that creatively used technology to accentuate their artwork. 

They Broke Out!

Last week, the Dorris Van Doren Library hosted a Breakout EDU event for our weekly Teen Hangout group. The event was similar to the escape rooms that have recently popped up in major U.S. cities. In an escape room, participants are locked in a room and they have a certain amount of time in which to work together to unlock the door.

In our event, the teens were given a scenario and had 45 minutes to unlock two black boxes. The scenario required them to solve several puzzles. In order to solve these puzzles, our teens had to observe the room around them. They examined clues and researched information. In the end, it took them longer than their allotted 45 minutes to solve the puzzle, but they refused to give up until they solved it.

And they did!

Spooky Stuff at Dorris Van Doren

The Dorris Van Doren Library held our annual Fall Festival on Wednesday, October 25th. Children were invited to stop by the information desk to collect goodie bags to carry home their haul of treats and crafts. Then, they could visit the many game and craft stations located around the library. 

We had an amazing guest storyteller, who had the kids captivated with fun and fascinating stories.

Kids visited game stations to win yummy candy. There was a cookie decorating table in which kids could decorate delicious jack-o-lantern cookies with lots of orange and black icing. There were also numerous craft tables including one that allowed kids to decorate their own trick-or-treat safety lights. 

On Halloween day, staff members got into the holiday spirit by wearing fun and creative costumes!

All through October, we had a number of scary book and movie displays. The library was decorated with spiderwebs, cackling witches, and other spooky things. 

The teen area of the library was decorated for Dia de los Muertos with colorful paper flowers and painted calaveras. 

What's New at Teen Hangout

Every Thursday from 4:30 to 6:30pm, teens are invited to come to the library to learn a craft, play games, enjoy a snack, and spend time with their friends. This program, Teen Hangout, is aimed at ages 12-18 with the goal of giving teens something fun to do after school.

One of the crafts teens have learned in the past few weeks is to make colorful, foil-embossed notebooks. They used hot glue to draw patterns on the surface of a composition notebook. Then, they covered the notebook in aluminum foil and colored in the spaces with permanent marker.

We had some fails when it came to creating pixel art with fuse beads (we think our iron wasn't hot enough), but it was still a fun and relaxing way to spend the afternoon.

For Teen Read Week, our teens "unleashed their story" by learning about and creating their own zines.

We have so many fun teen programs coming up including working together to solve an Escape Room in November, and making an LED Holiday card in December.

Chalk the Library

As numerous local artists prepared for the annual Chalk the Block Art Festival in Downtown El Paso, the Dorris Van Doren branch held a smaller art event for library patrons. All ages were invited to beautify our patios with their artwork.

There were so many creative chalk drawings!

So many young artists attended this program that we had to open up our second patio. Soon, both patio floors were full of amazing, colorful artwork. 

Fall is Finally Here!

 Fall has arrived, and the Dorris Van Doren Library has already begun to feature fun fall activities.

September 19th was Talk Like a Pirate Day. We had a display of fantastic pirate books for kids to check out.

September 24-30 was Banned Books week, so we displayed our collection of banned and challenged books for patrons who dared to take one home!


















This Friday, October 6, we have a Chalk the Library program to get everyone ready for this weekend's Chalk the Block Arts Festival in Downtown El Paso.

Keep watching our calendar for more awesome fall events. 

Back to Hogwarts

September first is always an important day in the Harry Potter universe, as every year it's the day students return to Hogwarts. This year September first was extra-special, because it commemorated the date the epilogue of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows and the first scene in Harry Potter and the Cursed Child took place.

In celebration of this rite of passage, the Dorris Van Doren Library invited wizards and witches of all ages to join us for a magical Harry Potter themed back to school party.

Young witches and wizards learned how to create their own magic wands worthy of Ollivander, made pet Pygmy Puffs (magical creatures bred by Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes), and crafted round-frame glasses in the style of The Boy Who Lived. 

After trying on the Sorting Hat to find out whether they belonged in Gryffindor, Ravenclaw, Hufflepuff, or Slytherin House, attendees could stop by the Leaky Cauldron for a Butterbeer float (cream soda and vanilla ice cream with a butterscotch drizzle).

It was a truly magical way to celebrate going back to school at the most magical of places: the library!

Summer 2017 Wrap-Up

Everyone had fun this summer at the Dorris Van Doren Library. This year 792 people registered for the Summer Reading Program at our branch, and hundreds of people flocked to our programs.

Summer was off to a good start with Amazing Adrian. 

This summer, Z.Z. the Clown, the Randy Collins Magic Show, the Magical Balloon Guy, and Mr. Universe also visited our branch and delighted children of all ages.

There were also many hands-on activities for children to participate in as well. One workshop taught kids how to make their own hacky sacks. They learned about chemical reactions by watching and participating in a geyser demonstration. They also created their own balloon cars out of simple materials.

There were many activities for our teen patrons to participate in as well. Our teen summer programming included a robotics program. Teens also learned how to create a video game using Bloxels, and had fun building straw structures with Strawbees.

One of the most popular teen events was button-making. Teens had a fun time drawing designs and then using the button making machine to create wearable art. 

Even though summer has ended, we still have plenty of fun events for children and teens all year round. We encourage you to check out what amazing things we have planned for this fall!

Going Back to Hogwarts

VOTE: Teens' Top Ten Books of 2017

Voting for YALSA's Teens' Top Ten Books of 2017 is now open through October 14th. The Teens' Top Ten is one of the only booklists to be nominated and selected solely by teens. We have several of the nominated books on display at Dorris Van Doren, and the others are available for request through the library's website or the library information desk.

Here are this year's nominees:

The Art of Being Normal by Lisa Williamson

The Sun is Also a Star by Nicola Yoon                         

P.S. I Like You by Kasie West

Love & Gelato by Jenna Evans Welch

Scythe by Neal Shusterman                                           

If I Was Your Girl by Meredith Russo                         

This is Where It Ends by Marieke Nijkamp                         

All We Have Left by Wendy Mills

Heartless by Marissa Meyer

Burning Midnight by Will McIntosh

The Year We Fell Apart by Emily Martin

Starflight by Melissa Landers

The Diabolic by S.J. Kincaid

Rebel of the Sands by Alwyn Hamilton

Genius: The Game by Leopold Gout

Girl in Pieces by Kathleen Glasgow

We Will Not Be Silent by Russell Freedman

The Great American Whatever by Tim Federle

Don’t Get Caught by Kurt Dinan

Truthwitch: A Witchlands Novel by Susan Dennard

Lady Midnight by Cassandra Clare

Once Upon a Dream: A Twisted Tale by Liz Braswell

Tell Me Three Things by Julie Buxbaum

Passenger by Alexandra Bracken

The Killing Jar by Jennifer Bosworth

Nightstruck by Jenna Black

 

To vote please visit: Teens' Top Ten Books of 2017. You can also write a review or rate the nominated books as well. 

The final Top Ten list will be announced after Teen Read Week in October.