This week’s column is all about American Camp Week, which is celebrated April 24 – 30 this year. The topic seemed fitting since I’m currently working on the final details for our Summer Reading Program, staff are hard at work organizing special performers and programs at their branches, and this year’s theme is “adventure begins at your library.”
Thinking about camping always brings back childhood memories of going camping as a Girl Scout and the adventures we had hiking and exploring and learning various skills. Camping has long been a favorite vacation for families in the United States; whether it involves a tent, an RV or camper, or a cabin, camping remains popular.
The history of American Camp Week dates back to 1950 when then-governor of South Carolina, Strom Thurmond, Sr., passed a proclamation to initiate this celebration. He believed that camping provided experiences for children that they could gain nowhere else that would help them grow up to be self-sufficient people. And so American Camp Week saw it’s start in state parks throughout South Carolina.
But camping far predates the 1950s. According to my research, camping first gained popularity as a recreational activity in the 1880s. Around 1898, one of the first holiday camps opened for visitors; it was called Cunningham’s Camp and was located in Douglas on the Isle of Man. More camps opened as popularity increased and by the 1960s camping was a regular family holiday, particularly in the summer months.
Since we live in Louisiana, I personally think April is a much better time of year for camping than summer. But if you’d like to get in on the adventuring fun with us this summer, registration for the Summer Reading Program opens on April 22nd and the program itself starts on May 21st! As always, contact any of our branches if you have any questions about summer programming.
Central Complex, new address: 850 City Hall Drive, Bossier City 71111
Questions? Email us at: [email protected]
Website: https://www.bossierlibrary.org/
Facebook: www.facebook.com/bossierlibrary
New Library Hours:
- Central/History Center
- Monday – Thursday, 9:00am – 8:00pm
- Friday, 9:00am – 6:00pm
- Saturday, 9:00am – 5:00pm
- Benton
- Monday – Thursday, 9:00am – 7:00pm
- Friday, 9:00am – 6:00pm
- Saturday, 10:00am – 2:00pm
- Haughton
- Monday – Friday, 9:00am – 6:00pm
- Saturday, 10:00am – 2:00pm
- Aulds/East 80/Plain Dealing/Tooke
- Monday – Friday, 9:00am – 6:00pm
Library Locations:
- Aulds Branch
318.742.2337
- Benton Branch
318.965.2751
- Central Library
318.746.1693
- East 80 Branch
318.949.2665
- Haughton Branch
318.949.0196
- History Center
318.746.7717
- Plain Dealing Branch
318.326.4233
- Tooke Branch
318.987.3915
New and Coming Soon:
- The Beloved: The Black Dagger Brotherhood, Book 22 by J.R. Ward (Fiction; Book, eBook, eAudiobook)
- The Book That Broke the World: The Library Trilogy, Book 2 by Mark Lawrence (Fiction; Book, eBook, eAudiobook)
- Burn Book: A Tech Love Story by Kara Swisher (Non-Fiction; Book)
- The Deceiving Look: A Shepard and Gray Mystery, Book 3 by Victor Methos (Fiction; Book)
- March Comes in Like a Lion, Volume 2 by Chica Umino; translator, Jocelyne Allen (YA Graphic Novel; Book)
- Out of Darkness starring Safia Oakley-Green, Kit Young, and Chuku Modu (Fiction; DVD)
- Queen Victoria: Twenty-Four Days that Changed Her Life by Lucy Worsley (Biography; Book, Audiobook,
- The Reaper Follows by Heather Graham (Fiction; Book, Large Print, eAudiobook)
- Sandcastle Inn: A Hope Harbor Novel, Book 10 by Irene Hannon (Fiction; Book, eBook)
- Sunbringer: Fallen Gods Series, Book 2 by Hannah Kaner; map and interior illustrations by Tom Roberts (Fiction; Book)
- Trouble: A Novel by Lex Croucher (Fiction; Book, eBook)
- Uncanny Vows: Huntsmen Series, Book 2 by Laura Anne Gilman (Fiction; Book, eAudiobook)
Wilde for You: A Dark Horse Dive Bar Novel, Book 2 by Jennifer Ryan (Fiction; Book, eBook)