Library Lines ...

When the school year ends, school personnel tell us, here at Rhoads Memorial Library, that it is our turn to host the children via our summer reading program. We happily do so for two months, then August arrives, and the youngsters begin another school year.

So, it goes as Castro County schools start next week. Hart's school will begin Monday, Aug. 15, while Dimmitt and Nazareth schools commence on Wednesday, Aug. 17, 2022.

Educators have their work cut out for them as statistics provided by Mackin.com attest. Their February 2019 report showed that 2.6 months of math skills and 2 months of reading skills are lost over the summer, while one month's overall learning is lost. It takes six weeks to relearn old material to make up for summer learning loss.

Note that this report was pre-COVID-19, so even bigger learning hurdles are present now. Good luck, teachers and students!

Our Display for the Month of August features photos taken by Castro County 4-H members. A variety of subjects is exhibited from the photography project, notes Felice Acker, local agent with the Texas A&M Extension Service.

She said that a different subject is announced each month and youngsters are encouraged to take photos accordingly. So far, subjects have included sunsets, Christmas, what are you thankful for, flowers, and your hometown, among others.

James Patterson is one of the favorites, if not THE favorite, authors read by our patrons. The prolific 75-year-old writer seems to have a new work released monthly, usually fiction. He does sometimes wander into the area of non-fiction, as evidenced by his memoir, 'James Patterson by James Patterson: The Stories of My Life.'

Considered the most anticipated memoir of 2022, the new release is here, ready for checkout. The book's blurb notes: -on the morning he was born, he nearly died.

-his dad grew up in the Pogey, the Newburgh, New York, poorhouse.

-James worked at a mental hospital in Massachusetts, where he met the singer James Taylor and poet Robert Lowell.

-while he worked in advertising, he wrote the ad jingle line 'I'm a Toys 'R' Us Kid.'

-Dolly Parton once sang 'Happy Birthday' to him over the phone. She calls him J.J. for Jimmy James.

Patterson says, 'I have always wanted to write the kind of novel that would be read and reread so many times that the binding breaks and the book literally falls apart. I'm still working on that one.'

Until next week, Happy Reading!