Youth

Dive into Savings for College, the annual partnership between the Library of Michigan Foundation and Michigan's two 529 college plans (MET & MESP), begins on June 1, and continues until August 13. This is your chance to win $1,500 dollars for your under 13 year old student's college education and $1,000 for the Troy Public Library simply filling out and mailing one entry form per child.

Additionally this year, there will be $10,000 worth of instant prizes - 1,000 individual prizes statewide - that parents of Troy Library Summer Reading Program participants can try to win. Participants will need to register and log in a book to qualify for a sticker that will have a magic code. Check the code on this website to instantly see if your child has won a $10 Meijer gift card. There are limited quanities of stickers.

In 2009, the $1,000 Library winners were: Stair Public Library; J.C. Wheeler Library; Ogemaw Library; Hazel Park Memorial Library; Plymouth District Library; and Kent District Library - Krause.

Get ready for the 2010 Summer Reading Program with some fun facts about water:

There are about 326 million trillion gallons of water on earth. Between 70 to 75% of the earth is covered by water. About 98% of water is in the oceans but, ocean water is undrinkable because of the salt.

Of the major oceans, the North Atlantic is the saltiest. Sodium and chloride (components of common table salt) constitute a little more than 85% of the dissolved solids in ocean water. This gives water its salty taste. 

Other dissolved solids found in ocean water are magnesium, sulfate, calcium and potassium which when combined with chloride and sodium makeup 99% of dissolved solids in sea water.

Humans cannot drink salt water, but salt water can be made into freshwater by a process known as desalination.

Ready to learn more about water? Check out some of these books from the Library's Youth Services Department and don't forget to sign up for the Summer Reading Program on Monday, June 14.

(Photo by: albertopveiga)

Selecting just the right audiobook though can be a trial for both parent and child. To make this choice easier for all, our audiobooks now have a color coded tape to serve as a guide. The colored tape is at the top of the spine of the case and serves as a help in title selection. Blue indicates titles for ages seven and below, purple indicates items for ages 8 to 11, and peach is for ages 12 and above. Come see our youth audiobook collection across from the Youth Services Reference Desk.

Play solitaire, build a card house, or Go Fish! These are just a few of the games to play while you enjoy outdoors during this beautiful spring weather or indoors on a rainy day. Take a look at the Troy Library's new booklist, Games Around the World. On it, you will find books that teach you the history of these games, basic rules, and easy step-by-step instructions to guide you. Then, check a few of the few books out from the Library's Youth Services collection. You might discover a new favorite game and win, win, win!