Recap of Recaps: October 25–October 30

Submitted by Joanie Goforth

Here is a small, yet spooky sampling of recaps from system-wide programs that took place from October 25–October 30:

Local horror flash fiction authors come together for Writers' Night of Fright–StokerFest

Teens work together to solve mysterious puzzles during Escape the Haunted House

Writers’ Night of Fright–StokerFest at Cumming Library

2 children, 16 adults

"We had scary good talent in the room for our third annual Writers' Night of Fright! Patrons submitted horror flash fiction (500 words or less, give or take a few) for this program, in celebration of Bram Stoker, the author of Dracula. Our ten stories included

sorcery, werewolves, eating teeth, ghostly family members, an estate sale in which various items are stained slightly pink, ding-dong ditching, an investigation of the Carver Mill ghost, police officer Drake (Dracula), a home intruder, and a terrifying 911 call. Our presenters this year were fabulous. One of my Up & Cumming Writers attendees memorized his entire submission and gave an incredible performance that included walking around the room, changing the tone of his voice, and even using his hat as a prop. During our interlude, we challenged patrons to write one scary sentence using a single word drawn from a hat. Then we anonymously paired up two sentences and had the audience vote for which was the scariest. Patrons received goody bags, and writers got to take home copies of their stories printed on special paper. Sarah and I also created a bound copy of the submissions this year. A few patrons remarked that it is a shame they have to wait to do it again until next year, so we discussed perhaps doing it twice a year." –hosted by Brianna Schantz

Illustrators Academy at Hampton Park Library

5 adults, 7 children

"For today's Illustrator's Academy, we talked about mixed media illustrations and I showed a few examples of books illustrated this way. We talked about the different materials that were available for today's project and about oil pastel/watercolor resist. I started our group off with instructions on using their oil pastel crayon to make a cityscape. Once they were happy with their creation, they used the watercolor paints to paint over their oil pastel outline. The effects were amazing and so unique to each child. While they were painting, I read the book Monsters Don't Eat Broccoli by Barbara Jean Hicks, illustrated by Sue Hendra, which was one of our mixed media illustration examples. Our budding illustrators then created a monster out of different materials, and chose a food that their monster won't eat to glue onto their cityscape. We had monsters who don't eat apple tarts, mushrooms, soy sauce, and even spaghetti! Our participants did amazing work and had a lot of fun building their creations. Our parents who stayed were very appreciative of the program and look forward to next month.” –hosted by LeAnne Craig

Historic Murders of Forsyth County at Post Road Library

35 adults

“Twenty-two University of North Georgia students and professor Dr. Melissa Schindler presented a fascinating and well-attended program full of interesting bits of North Georgia history relating to long-ago murders.The program served as a research project for Dr. Schindler’s students, who studied how to collect information from many different sources, including old newspapers, history archives, and historical societies. Each student displayed facts about a chosen crime on large poster boards mounted on tripods, but what made the program so interesting was that the students offered a talk as patrons stopped to look at their displays. Staff members created a booklet for patrons that contained summaries of the crimes and allowed patrons to keep track of which presentations they attended. A common thread for most of the crimes was that murderers and victims had partaken liberally of moonshine or were in the moonshine business. It was also common for the murderers to have spent little to no time in jail for the crime due to lack of evidence or the court deeming the crime justified. One interesting talk highlighted the Wildcat murders, involving fights in two places: a moonshine wagon that was traditionally brought to the courthouse after court was over, and a bar located under the courthouse. Another fascinating project told the story of a man who had been shot on separate occasions and survived (including a bullet in the neck), only to later be killed by his own brother! The students did a fantastic job presenting their research resulting in a very successful program!” –hosted by Angie Robbins

Escape the Haunted House at Sharon Forks Library

15 teens

“The Haunted House was a TAB planned and implemented program in which teens had to solve puzzles, riddles, and codes to escape each of the four "rooms". Teens were split into two groups to work on their escapes. Besides escaping the haunted house, teens could dress up in costumes for a photo booth, give themselves scar tattoos, and decorate treat bags. The escape rooms included “A Ghostly Message”: teens had to find all of the messages hidden in miniature bottles buried in sand to solve the mystery, “Spooky Writing”: teens searched for hidden items to find parts of a message, then used a UV light to read and unlock the puzzle, “Skeletons”: teens had to solve the riddle, find the ingredients for a special potion, and escape before becoming skeletons, and “Mad Scientists”: teens searched for a special word to unlock the "room” using a periodic table to solve the puzzle. The TAB volunteer did a great job interacting and helping the teens who attended the program, as well as resetting each room for the next group once the previous group finished. TAB teens used ChatGPT to make the rhymes for each room, inputting the clues for each room and asking ChatGPT to make them rhyme.” –hosted by Page James

Outreach Visit to Keller Williams Kares 4 Kids

12 adults

“On Monday the bookmobile hit the road to visit the Keller Williams office in the south end of the county. The Kares 4 Kids partnership was established by Keller Williams Atlanta Partners with the mission to care for kids in need. Each year they participate in a myriad of projects benefiting children in need and their families. The Outreach Department was the recipient of one hundred early readers and picture books. It was our pleasure to give the twelve real estate agents a tour of the bookmobile.” –contributed by Lorraine Lane