Happy New Year!

As 2022 rolls in, the Dorris Van Doren Regional Library has numerous fun programs planned for our teens in the coming months during our weekly Teen Hangout program. We welcome all teens between the ages of 12 and 18 to join us and see what it's all about! 

 

A Visit from Curious George

As we wrapped up our 2021 Summer Reading Program, the Dorris Van Doren Library received a visit from a V.I.P. (Very Important Primate)! Curious George stopped by the library on August 20 to listen to stories with his human friends, take photos, and participate in crafts. 

A wonderful time was had by all. 

This Summer Reading Program was a success! The Dorris Van Doren branch registered over 700 people, who read nearly 140,000 minutes! We hope that you all will continue to read and come by the library to check out books even now that the summer is over. 

Thank you to all who participated! We are still giving away goodie bags to anyone who completed the Summer Reading Club (while supplies last) so stop by and pick up yours today!

 

Summer Fun at the Dorris Van Doren Library

 
During the pandemic, the El Paso Public Library has had to limit in-person programs due to safety concerns. Since then, family storytime has returned every Tuesday at 4:30pm, and Teen Hangout is also back on Thursdays at 4:30pm. We at the Dorris Van Doren are still trying to provide options for our patrons who may still feel uncomfortable congregating with others in person. 

For June and July, we had a "Stick Together" project which we encouraged all our patrons to participate in! Patrons requested a little sheet of stickers and then placed them on the corresponding grid square. Everyone had fun as the picture revealed itself to be a unicorn!

We've had storywalks all summer long. Large laminated pages of books were posted on the windows of the library. Patrons can walk from one window to another to read the story. Right now, everyone can come read Flower Garden by Eve Bunting as they stroll around the library.

We've also had a number of take and make crafts available for children and teens throughout the summer. Take and Make crafts for children have included crafts for Father's Day and the Fourth of July. Crafts for teens have included pride friendship bracelets, origami, and now corded coin purses. We also have our virtual volunteers creating puzzles and coloring sheets for all ages!

Finally, we had a fun matching game for our patrons. We posted photos of staff members and of their pets. Patrons had to guess which pet belonged to who! This was a fun (and hard!) puzzle. Our winner, Joaquin, successfully matched 3 pets with their humans, and won a fun prize package courtesy of the Friends of the Westside Libraries. 

As the summer winds down, keep an eye out for more opportunities for fun at the library!

Virtual Escape Room

Good luck!

 

Teen Hangout Returns!

Teen Hangout is back after an extended break due to Covid-19. The Dorris Van Doren Regional Library has a lot of fun things planned for young people between the ages of 12 and 18.

Our first Teen Hangout on July 15th brought in a bunch of new faces to join us in decorating tote bags. 

We've had a great time so far, and we have plenty of fun events coming soon! Next week, July 29, our group will be learning how to make felt animal plushies to fit our Summer Reading Club theme of Tales and Tails! Come join us and learn basic sewing skills!

Teen Hangout is every Thursday afternoon in the Dorris Van Doren Auditorium from 4:30-5:30pm. 

YALSA 2020 Teens' Top Ten Nominees

This week YALSA released the list for its 2020 Teens' Top Ten Nominees. Voting doesn't begin until August (it'll be available online from August 15 - October 12th). In the meantime, you can check out some of these titles on El Paso Public Library's Overdrive: https://elpaso.overdrive.com/ 

Aurora Rising by Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff

Broken Throne by Victoria Aveyard

Dreamland: The True Tale of America's Opiate Epidemic by Sam Quinones

Frankly in Love by David Yoon

Wayward Son by Rainbow Rowell

If you don't have a library card, you can request a temporary card for digital access here: https://elpasopl.ent.sirsi.net/client/en_US/default/search/registration/$N?pc=SYMWS

We'll keep you updated when voting begins! Keep on reading, and stay safe, El Paso!

Throwback Thursday

While all of our El Paso Public Library locations are closed, and our programming has moved online to our Facebook page, https://www.facebook.com/ELPASOPUBLICLIBRARY, your favorite library workers are at home thinking of how we can make the library even more wonderful for our patrons when we return. We're also thinking of our past programs and how much we miss our amazing library guests.

Today we're looking back to this past January when our Teen Hangout group participated in a button art program. Each of them was given a blank canvas. They painted colorful backgrounds. Then they used tacky glue to stick strategically placed buttons on their canvas to create beautiful artwork!

This is a simple project that can be done at home! How can you replicate this project at home if you don't have all the materials?

If you don't have a canvas, a piece of cardboard would work as a makeshift canvas (for example, the inside of an empty cereal box). Any type of medium would work to color in your background: paints, marker, color pencils, even crayons! You can use spare buttons you have on hand to glue onto your creation, but this can also be done with other small items such as pebbles, shells, etc. Be creative!

We can't wait until you're back with us. In the meantime, don't forget to check out our social media accounts for updates! Stay safe, El Paso!