Library Talk – July 19, 2016

Another happening at the Ripley library starts next week but requires signing up—there will be a summer art camp limited to 20 kids—first week is July 25-29 from 9 am-noon for elementary school aged children, and the second week August 1-August 5 noon-3:00 p.m. for middle school kids. Guest artists as well as learning different techniques and creating your own art projects—this program is free, but you must register. At the time I’m writing this, there are still a few spots available in each age group. Need to contact Rachel Bollman at 937-618-5424 or her email raradesign@yahoo.com.

Short stories and novellas have been around for a long time, but recently there has been an interesting twist on the shorter book. James Patterson, the very popular and very prolific author of fiction for adults, young adults and children, has started a trend of publishing what he calls BookShots. These are short, under 150 pages, paperbacks that are really meant to be read in one sitting. Some have characters from series well known to his fans—Alex Cross, Women’s Murder Club, Zoo, Private—others are more stand alone. Most have James co-writing the story, but some are called BookShots Flames that appear to be romances and his name is not listed as an author. He has multiple titles of the BookShots coming out every month—feedback has been interesting. Some people enjoy the ‘quick fix’, others would much rather the longer, more in-depth novels. I think both can be enjoyed. I don’t know if we will purchase every title, but we will have an assortment and monitor the popularity for future purchasing. I have heard through the grapevine that publishers are watching this very closely, and if successful, we may see more ‘shorts’ by other authors and maybe even in the non-fiction realm.