Come into the library this week to vote on your favorite wreath displayed during the Festival of Wreaths.  If you find one that you particularly enjoy, you can purchase the wreath at this time.  You can buy raffle tickets for our raffle baskets, also.  The tickets are $1 each or $5 for 6 tickets.  Listed here is a brief description of each basket, please stop by the library for more information:
1) Summer Fun Basket - passes for South Pointe Pool and various family summer gear and toys, retail value over $200
2) El Paso Basket - gift certificates to various restaraunts and 
businesses in El Paso, retail value over $400 
3) Play and Swim Basket - passes to Central Illinois zoos, museums, golfing instruction and South Pointe Park Pool, retail value almost $200
4) Just for Kids Basket - toys for boys and girls, including a $50  Amazon gift car, retail value over $200
  

This Thursday (November 30th), Katie McKnight will be at the library to hold a Child ID Program for interested parents.  She will be here  from 10 am to 11 am in the history room area.  She is an agent with New York Life.   She holds free child ID events as part of her community service. She will create an ID badge for the parents with the child's picture and fingerprints. The parent keeps the ID and it can be used in an emergency rescue situation. New York Life does not store any information on the child or parent. If the parents request more information, they are free to complete a follow up post card, however that is not required to receive a badge. She can do all ages, so if someone has a grand parent along, the machine can switch to senior IDs.


Don't forget to visit the library this Saturday, December 2nd for the 9th Annual Christmas Extravaganza!  The hours are 9 am to 2 pm.  The activities include the Kiddie Bazaar, Craft Sale, Festival of Wreaths, Christmas Cookie Sale, and Raffle Basket drawings.


Also, I would really like to encourage our upcoming December adult presentations. The first is on Thursday, December 7th at 6 pm. Peoria educator and author, Tim Pletkovich will be at the library on Pearl Harbor Day to talk about his book, Civil War Fathers: Sons of the Civil War in WWII. Mr. Pletkovich is very enthusiastic about this subject! It started out as a project he gave to his middle school students and it turned into a book. The students interviewed World War II veterans whose fathers were in the Civil War. We also have the book at the library available for check out!

On Tuesday, December 12th at 6 pm, the library will host D. Paul Miller. Mr. Miller recently celebrated his 100th birthday. He has led a very interesting life. He will talk specifically about his experiences in the Senior Olympics, the latest being in June 2017. Come learn about his amazing experiences!

Hope to see you at the library!

There were 3 of us at the book club meeting last night. We had a very good discussion about the book, Touch the Top of the World by Erik Weihenmayer. Erik was just a baby when his father noticed that his eyes could not follow a football being tossed back and forth in front of him. That was the start of 2 years of tests and doctor visits. At the Boston Eye Clinic when he was 3 years old, the doctors said that he would lose his vision in his early teenage years and that he had retinoschisis, an extremely rare eye disease. It was interesting for us to compare the support that Erik got from his parents with some of the other books that we have recently read for book club. I won't give the rest of the book away except to say that Erik became the first blind man to climb the Seven Summits, which means that he has climbed the highest mountains in all 7 continents. He is a tremendous athlete and you can read about his further adventures at his website, http://www.touchthetop.com/eriks-adventures. Erik also is very active in helping others with disabillites, http://www.touchthetop.com/outreach
The really interesting thing about book clubs is that by talking about books, we start to learn more about each other. If you would like to meet new people and talk about books, let us know. The book club is open to any adult who would like to attend.
We will not meet in December. Our next meeting will be in January. We have not picked the January book yet. I will post the next book on Facebook when we decide.

Please sign up for Pioneer Cattle and Hog Droving presentation by Bill Kemp of the McLean County Museum of History! The presentation is Tuesday, November 14th at 6 pm at the El Paso District Library.
We hope to get some people to sign up for this presentation by Bill Kemp. He is a wonderful speaker and I'm sure you would enjoy it! We picked this topic to appeal to farmers and history buffs so please sign up.
Before the coming of the railroads, McLean County Farmers marchedlivestock to markets as far away as Chicago and Cincinnati. Can you imagine driving 2,000 hogs 120 miles to Chicago in the wind, ice, and snow of November? Isaac Funk and other area livestock farmers lived to tell the tale!
And yes, it is not a misspelling - it is droving. Wikipedia defines it this way: 
Droving is the practice of moving livestock over long distances by walking them "on the hoof". Droving stock to market, usually on foot and often with the aid of dogs, has a very long history in the Old World.
Come learn something new!

We are rescheduling the class, Social Media for Adults.  It was orginally scheduled for this Thursday, November 2nd but it will now be Thursday, November 9th.  It will still be at 6 pm.  Please register for this event by stopping by the library or calling us at 527-4360.
Alex DePauw will be teaching this class.  He will teach us about Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram and he will answer any questions that you might have, also.