To the Library and Beyond Our Prairie Community Library volunteers are looking forward to spring and warmer weather, although it has certainly been a mild winter! We have enjoyed and certainly appreciate the work of some new volunteers who have helped us with some work over the winter. And we look forward to their assistance during the coming spring, summer, and fall seasons. Joan’s book review this week is for the book “Appalachian Hiker – Adventure of a Lifetime”, by Edward B. Garvey and published in 1971. This book describes the author’s hike of the entire 2011.4-mile Appalachian Trail along the spine of the Blue Ridge and Appalachian Mountains in the eastern U.S. during the spring, summer, and early fall of 1970. At that time in 1970,only 57 hikers had made the entire hike from the time the trail was completed in 1937. The first through-hiker finished his hike soon after the trail was finished. During 1970, six hikers completed the whole trail, including the author. The Trail (AT) begins at Springer Mountain, Georgia and ends at Mt. Katahdin, Maine. The author first describes his preparations for the hike, including sections about his gear, food, clothing and shoes, extras, as well as trail etiquette. He divided the trail into sixteen sections proceeding through the states of Georgia, North Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, New York, Connecticut, Massachusetts, Vermont, New Hampshire, and Maine. The main part of the book recounts his hike through the 16 trail sections, the trail difficulties, weather, and people he met along the way. He also describes the many plants, birds, animals, and trees he saw. He describes all of the 238 AT trail shelters along the route, including their locations, conditions, and the nearest water sources. He also evaluated the AT trail markers and sign directions along the entire route. This is an interesting book for potential hikers (although dated) and other readers who are interested in the Appalachian Trail location, conditions, and scenery. The library workers, along with several of our younger community patrons and their children, continue to enjoy the presentations and activities coordinated by Carissa Jones on Tuesdays from 10-11am each week. Carissa usually reads a story accompanied by music and singing. She then has the children participate in some activity related to the story, including coloring, making pictures, and other crafts. The children always enjoy this, as is evidenced by their smiles and active participation. They also enjoy playing with the many stuffed animals and puppets we have. This includes our very large teddy bear, named “Buddy Bear”. Buddy is even bigger than some of the kids, and they love playing with him! So, if you have young children who would like to attend and participate in these activities, bring them on in on Tuesday mornings! | COTTONWOOD
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