Recap of Recaps: January 23–29, 2025

 Submitted by Joanne Garrett

Check out these highlights from some of the unique offerings patrons enjoyed systemwide January 23–29, 2025.

Lunar New Year Celebration at Sharon Forks Library (1/25)
950 children, 550 adults
"Sharon Forks hosted the third annual Forsyth County Lunar New Year Celebration in partnership with OneForsyth to celebrate the 2025 Year of the Snake, and we had our biggest attendance yet! We filled our parking lot and the Montessori parking lot, and people had to start parking at the church two doors down. This year we had 13 performances, including dancing, music, Kung Fu, youth presentations on coding projects, and even a stand-up comedy routine in Chinese! Patrons were greeted at the door and given a red envelope with a new dollar bill in it. The youth craft was a paper chain snake, and the paper cutting station was the Chinese character for Spring. There were volunteers teaching calligraphy, and patrons could decorate a paper fan. Patrons could also take home a goody bag with various Asian snacks. This is by far the biggest event of the year for Sharon Forks, and I owe so many people a huge THANK YOU! It takes a lot of work leading up to the event, setting up displays, designing and preparing crafts, putting up decorations, managing the AV equipment, and of course working in the branch the day of and managing the massive amounts of people coming through the door.” - hosted by Brooke Rose

Lunar New Year family fun: crafts, music, stories, dance, and snacks.

Lunar New Year Engagement Board at Sharon Forks Library (1/25)
362 children, 177 adults
"We had 127 patrons tell us on red post-it notes some of their favorite things about Lunar New Year. The most common thing was receiving red envelopes with money and eating dumplings and hot pot. There were also several blessings for the new year. Most of the notes were written in Chinese, and I had fun using Google Translate to figure out what they said. The other side of the engagement board had information about the Chinese Zodiac and the characteristics of each animal and element that is associated with each year. There was space for patrons to put a star on their Zodiac animal. Tigers and Snakes tied for the least with 17 each. Goats had the most with 75, followed closely by Dogs with 73." - hosted by Brooke Rose

What is Your Zodiac?

overBOOKed at Cumming Library (1/23)

8 adults

“Eight of our regulars braved the chilly morning to discuss this month’s title, The Kingdoms of Savannah by George Dawes Green. Green is an eighth-generation Savannahian. One of our members is from Savannah and said reading this book put her right back in the city. Another member lived outside of Savannah for a number of years, and most everyone else had been to visit and the setting really rang out for them. This book received high scores from most members. Our lowest score was a three, which prompted our Savannahian to ask, “And where are you from?” which got the answer “Connecticut” and a lot of laughs. Members have been asking for a list of overBOOKed titles for 2025 so I brought copies of that list for them, and I got some good comments about some of our upcoming selections.” - hosted by Jennifer Bell

Boys & Girls Club Bookmobile Visit (1/24)

32 children & teens

“We had to reschedule our monthly Boys & Girls club due to the inclement weather, but we still had plenty of visitors. Most of the students knew just what they wanted, but a few needed some guidance to find just the right thing, and we were happy to oblige. The thing I love about this stop is that we usually see the same kids each month, so we get to know their interests and personalities. This month we had a couple of students who were first-time bookmobile browsers, and they were eager to see what goodies we had. Everyone LOVED getting a colorful bookmark designed by kids in the Forsyth County School system!” - hosted by Joanie Goforth

First-time patrons as well as experienced patrons
are all excited when the Bookmobile rolls up!

Saturday Family Storytime at Post Road Library (1/25)
34 children, 29 adults
"Today, our theme was Winter Fun, and boy, was it a packed house! We started storytime with our ABCs of Storytime and our Hello Song. Then we read ‘Hot Cocoa Calm’ by Kira Willey, which taught us how to take deep breaths and calm ourselves down by blowing on our imaginary hot cocoa. It made me very happy to see that some families from Thursday came back today." - hosted by Lora Grace Paolazzi

The Unreliable Witness at Sharon Forks Library (1/26)

31 adults

"Dr. Offutt is a cognitive psychologist with Georgia State University. She specializes in eyewitness testimonies and is an expert witness in trials. She talked about how misattribution, bias, suggestibility, and transience (which are part of the seven sins of memory) can affect what and how people remember events and details. The patrons were fully engaged and asking questions throughout the presentation. Most everyone left with a bookmark and will hopefully make it to the rest of the Scene of the Crime series." - hosted by Jessica Giles