Bring the whole family for Board Game Night! The library will have a variety of games available in the community room on Wednesday, July 16, from 6:30 to 7:30 p.m. For all ages. No need to sign up.

Grove City Library will host a Pokémon trading card game twice a month this summer. Kids ages 7 and up are invited to the community room behind the library on the 2nd and 4th Wednesdays of the month from 4:00 to 5:30 p.m. Whether you’re an experienced player or want to learn how to play, you are welcome to attend this free program, led by Gene from the Cosmos Library. The library has all of the cards needed to play. You can bring your own if you wish. Children under age 8 should be accompanied by an adult or teen caregiver; caregivers are always welcome to stay with their children. No need to sign up.

Programs will be held on:

• June 11
• June 25
• July 9
• July 23
• August 13
• August 27

Visit the Grove City Library for storytime on the 2nd Tuesday of the month at 2 p.m. all summer!

• June 10
• July 8
• August 12

No need to sign up. Held in the library.

Grove City Library has a Crafternoon bring-your-own craft program every Thursday from 3-5 pm! Adults and teens age 16 and up are welcome to bring their craft project in progress to the library to work alongside other creative people. Younger teens are welcome if accompanied by an adult.

Examples of crafts for this program include papercrafts, knitting, crochet, embroidery, jewelry making, diamond dots, and drawing. No messy crafts such as paint, please. No formal instruction or supplies will be provided.

No need to sign up. No program on Thursday, June 19, since the library will be closed for the Juneteenth holiday.

This summer, kids are invited to Level Up at Your Library – the theme of this year’s summer reading program! Play is one of the ways we learn to relate to others, to think in new ways, and to foster friendships. “Level Up at Your Library” is a summer reading program based around games and puzzles. Libraries are more than spaces for knowledge – they are spaces for fun!

At Grove City Public Library the program will begin the day after Memorial Day: Tuesday, May 27. Kids ages 3-18 can sign up that day or any day throughout the summer. The program runs through August 29^th.

The summer reading program is something kids do on their own time, working their way through the reading game sheets by reading or being read to and doing other fun activities. The reading log for children looks like a board game. The teen reading log is a chart to simply record hours spent reading.

When they sign up, kids get a free book bag, a pencil, and a book to keep. When they turn in a completed reading sheet, they will earn “library loot,” play money that they can turn in for small prizes.

The goal of the summer reading program is to encourage kids to read all summer long so that they keep up their reading skills and return to school in the fall ready to learn. Because of that, kids can do one reading sheet after another all summer until late August and keep earning prizes.

So many fun activities are happening for kids at the library this summer:

Storytimes 2nd Tuesday of the month, 2 p.m.

Pokémon gaming 2nd & 4th Wednesdays of the month, 4-5:30 p.m. Kids ages 7 & up.

Science Heroes: Adventure of the Missing Color Friday June 6, 2 pm

CLIMB Theatre: Babe the Blue Ox Monday June 9, 11 am

Science Museum: Engineering Wednesday June 25, 3 pm

DNR Naturalist: Bats Tuesday July 8, 2 pm

Cookie Canvas Workshop Thursday August 14, 3 pm—sign up required. All ages; children must be accompanied by an adult.

Knitting Club 3rd Thursday of the month, 4-5 p.m. All ages.

Look for updates on activities:
www.grovecity.lib.mn.us
Facebook: Grove City Public Library –MN

Stop in any time after Memorial Day and Level Up at Your Library!

Take a look at the most-borrowed items of 2024 for Pioneerland Library System!

Top adult fiction

• The women / Kristin Hannah.
• The river we remember : a novel / William Kent Krueger.
• Three-inch teeth : a Joe Pickett novel / C. J. Box
• Toxic prey / John Sandford.
• Spirit crossing : a novel / William Kent Krueger.
• The housemaid / Freida McFadden.
• The teacher / Freida McFadden.
• A calamity of souls / David Baldacci.
• Mind games / Nora Roberts.
• The truth about the Devlins / Lisa Scottoline.

Top adult nonfiction

• Dear Jacob : a mother’s journey of hope / Patty Wetterling with Joy Baker.
• Hillbilly elegy : a memoir of a family and culture in crisis / J.D. Vance.
• The boys in the boat : nine Americans and their epic quest for gold at the 1936 Berlin Olympics / Daniel James Brown.
• House of Kahmanns : a memoir : a story about family love and shattered bonds, about finding each other in the aftermath / P. G. Kahmann.
• Killers of the Flower Moon : the Osage murders and the birth of the FBI / David Grann.
• The demon of unrest / Erik Larson.
• Oath and honor : a memoir and a warning / Liz Cheney.
• Gunflint falling : blowdown in the Boundary Waters / Cary J. Griffith.
• The anxious generation : how the great rewiring of childhood is causing an epidemic of mental illness / Jonathan Haidt.
• Atomic habits : tiny changes, remarkable results : an easy & proven way to build good habits & break bad ones / James Clear.

Top young adult fiction

• One-Punch Man / story by One ; art by Yusuke Murata ; translation, John Werry.
• A court of thorns and roses / Sarah J. Maas.
• A good girl’s guide to murder / Holly Jackson.
• One piece / story and art by Eiichiro Oda.
• The seven deadly sins / Nakaba Suzuki ; [translator, Christine Dashiell ; lettering, James Dashiell].
• The ballad of songbirds and snakes / Suzanne Collins.
• Powerless / Lauren Roberts.
• One of us is lying / Karen M. McManus.
• If he had been with me / Laura Nowlin.
• Death note / story by Tsugumi Ōba ; art by Takeshi Obata ; translation & adaptation, Pookie Rolf.

Top easy fiction

• The Big Cheese / written by Jory John ; illustrated by Pete Oswald.
• The teeny-weeny unicorn / by Shawn Harris.
• Love from Bluey / text by Suzy Brumm.
• Bluey : daddy putdown.
• The pigeon has to go to school! / words and pictures by Mo Willems.
• Buffalo Fluffalo / written by Bess Kalb ; illustrated by Erin Kraan.
• If you give a dog a donut / written by Laura Numeroff ; illustrated by Felicia Bond.
• Creepy crayon! / Aaron Reynolds ; illustrated by Peter Brown.
• No cats in the library / Lauren Emmons.
• Penelope Rex and the problem with pets / Ryan T. Higgins.

Top juvenile fiction

• Dog Man. Vol. 12 : The scarlet shedder / written and illustrated by Dav Pilkey.
• Cat kid comic club. Vol. 5 : Influencers / words, illustrations, and artwork by Dav Pilkey .
• Dog Man. Twenty thousand fleas under the sea / written and illustrated by Dav Pilkey.
• Dog man. Mothering heights / written and illustrated by Dav Pilkey.
• Dog man. Lord of the fleas / written and illustrated by Dav Pilkey.
• Dog Man. Brawl of the wild / written and illustrated by Dav Pilkey.
• Dog man. Grime and punishment / written and illustrated by Dav Pilkey.
• Baby-sitters club. Vol. 15 : Claudia and the bad joke / a graphic novel by Arley Nopra.
• Baby-sitters Club. Vol. 7 : Boy-crazy Stacey / a graphic novel by Gale Galligan.

Grove City Library will offer curbside service indefinitely. Call the library at the number on the sign, 320-857-2550, if you’d like your materials brought outside. Have your library card number ready.

Library staff can hand your bag of library materials to you on the sidewalk or bring it to your vehicle parked in front of the library. Let us know where you’d like us to bring it when you call.

Curbside service may be useful if you have mobility issues or a sleeping child in the car, or because of illness. Regardless of your reason, you are welcome to use the service!

by Beth Cronk, Meeker County Librarian

Here are some useful facts about the library in a Frequently Asked Questions format. I hope you learn a little something you didn’t know before!

How much does it cost to get a library card?
A library card is free! It’s part of the public services available to you as a resident of Minnesota. Once you have a library card, it’s also free to check out anything in the library collection, both ebooks and physical items. If you had a library card and it’s lost, there is a $3 charge for a replacement card.

How many books are in the Grove City Public Library?
The Grove City Library has about 6,900 books. It also has about 1,800 DVDs and about 300 CDs.

What if I want to check out something that the Grove City Library doesn’t have?
You can request things from other libraries in the Pioneerland Library System, which has a collection of about 620,000 physical items. If Pioneerland doesn’t have something, you can often request it from another library in Minnesota, using the MNLINK catalog. You can search both the Pioneerland and MNLINK catalogs online and request things yourself, or library staff can help you and place those requests.

Does it cost money to order things from other libraries?
No, the service is free to you as part of the interlibrary loan network in place in Minnesota. Our state is outstanding at providing access to library materials! Grove City Library gets two deliveries of those interlibrary loan materials each week.

How long can I keep a book?
Most books are loaned for four weeks. Some bestsellers are limited to just two weeks while they’re new; you’ll recognize these by the sticker on the spine that says “14 day loan.”

How long can I keep a DVD I’ve checked out?
DVDs are now loaned for two weeks.

Can I check out magazines?

Yes, magazines can be checked out for two weeks.

A book I checked out had a due date coming up soon, but now I found out that it’s not really due for a few more weeks. What happened?

Automatic renewals! This is a brand-new service our library system is offering. If no one has a hold on an item that you have checked out, and you haven’t renewed it before, the library’s computer system will automatically renew it for you once, three days before its due date. If you are signed up for email updates about your account, you’ll be notified by email when those renewals happen and when you have items that will be due soon.

I’m late returning a library item. How much will I be charged?

There is a charge of ten cents per day for late items, although there is a three-day grace period before those start being charged. Materials for children and teens no longer have late fees. If your item is a month overdue, you’ll get a bill for the replacement of that item. If that happens, once you return the item the charge will drop to a $3 late fee (or to $0 for materials from the kids’ section). If an item is damaged or lost, talk to library staff about how you can resolve that charge.

Can I use my library card in other libraries?

Yes, you can. Your Pioneerland library card will work in all libraries in the system. Our system stretches from Graceville to Glencoe and from Canby to Dassel. If you want to use a different library system in Minnesota, you can do that, too. Bring your card to them, and they will help you register as a reciprocal borrower in their system.

If you have more questions, stop in or call the library, and we’ll be happy to answer them.