Growing up, I knew summer was almost over when I started to see “Back to School” displays at Boscov’s.

As an adult, I know summer is almost over when UDPL’s annual Summer Quest (formally Summer Reading Club) comes to a close.

Well, friends, today is the last day of Summer Quest 2019. It’s time to turn in your reading/activity logs, fill out your final lottery tickets (both Teen and Children’s will be pulled on Monday, 8/12!), and collect your prize bags (for children up to grade 5!) from the front desk. (Logs can be turned in and bags collected until Friday, 8/30!) Storytimes and a few other programs will continue through the end of August, but we are winding down and prepping for fall.

It’s been a fantastic summer! And two of the best highlights for me occurred this past Wednesday and Thursday evenings.

On Wednesday, we hosted Captain Grace O’Malley, a kindly pirate who lives by the code “Fighting is Foolish.” Captain Grace’s crew was in dock, fixing her regular ship, so she recruited a new crew from some faces you may find familiar:

Kitty from Kit’s Interactive Theatre did a WONDERFUL job and everyone seemed to enjoy her presentation!

Then last night, Melanie Martin, an MRI research specialist at the Frontotemporal Degeneration Center at Penn Medicine, lead a Middle School STEAM workshop about the functions of the brain. As a part of the workshop, students were given the chance to dissect a sheep’s brain. This enabled the students to see up close how the parts of the brain are connected. (And we learned that since sheep have larger olfactory lobes than humans, they they also have better senses of smell than we do!)

Both of these programs (and all other programs we hosted this summer) were funded by our gracious Friends of UDPL. Their generous support allows us to do year round programs for people of all ages. If you would like to become a member of the Friends, please click here for a membership form or stop by the library to pick one up.

Keep an eye out for fall programs on our website starting the week of 8/19.

I sincerely hope that all of the families and residents of Upper Dublin enjoy the rest of the summer!