January Is Puzzle Month At The Library

During the last month of 2007, we banged our heads around and decided to create some excitement at the library during 2008. Boy, did we come up with some goodies for all year! To begin the New Year, we made January our Puzzle Month at the Moultrie-Colquitt County Library.
Today we started putting together a 1,000-piece puzzle on a round table in the reading area. It is a dynamic landscape of mountains, a stream, pine trees, snow, Indians, horses and tepees; a painting by Hermon Adams called "Coming Home." The colors are dark in the foreground and bright across the mountain range. We are working on the outer edge of it right now to pull it together. So, remember to check it out and add a few pieces when you come into the library. We're going to see how long it takes the public to finish the puzzle. (Of course, every time one of our staff members walk by, they have to drop in a couple of pieces, too.) And the Doerun Branch will have a puzzle for its patrons to work, also.
We'll continue the puzzle theme on Tuesday, January 22nd, when we're going to have a genealogy puzzle. As part of our Technology Lunch Bunch program, Irene Godwin, who has been with the Odom Genealogy Library for almost 18 years, will walk us through researching an individual using the Library Edition of Ancestry.com. It will be like putting together the pieces of an individual's life to solve that person's puzzle. Irene will cover such topics as: surname searching of multiple databases in one location, searching by Soundex or exact surname spellings, finding digital images available for some original documents, and using a newly added U.S. map collection. The event will be held in the Willcoxon Auditorium at noon and no reservations are required. However, it would be nice if you'd let us know you're going to attend, so we can have a chair for you. You can do that by calling 985-6540.
The big puzzle event will be held Tuesday, January 29th, 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. in the Willcoxon Auditorium. There will be a 1,000-piece jigsaw puzzle titled "Dragon Storm," 19 inches by 27 inches, that we will need help in completing. There will also be 200-piece puzzles for ages 10 through adult, as well as word searches and crossword puzzles. Puzzles for the little tikes will be available too, including a floor puzzle that is 2 feet by 3 feet, called "The Policeman is on the Job." And we'll have dominoes (regular and Dora, the Explorer), checkers, and Scrabble for non-puzzle enthusiasts.
As if that weren't enough, we'll have books about puzzles for you to read. Here's just a few:

• A Clue for the Puzzle Lady by Parnell Hall
• Mathamusements by Raymond Blum
• Too Hot to Hoot: The Palindrome Puzzle Book by Raymond Stuart
• Perplexing Puzzles and Tantalizing Teasers by Martin Gardner
• Super Strategies for Puzzles and Games by Saul X. Levmore and Elizabeth Early Cook
• The Official Scrabble Players Dictionary, and
• I Spy Extreme Challenger! A Book of Picture Riddles (a Scholastic book).

We hope you'll join us during the month for all our puzzle shenanigans. These events are for singles as well as families. We're going to have fun. And it will be a lot more fun if you show up.