LAMORINDA WEEKLY | Summer Reading Events and Activities Kick into High Gear


Avid readers Jefferson and Jonathan Wake Photo Jennifer Wake

Summer heat getting you down? Crack a book, and disappear into another world. Kids and adults will also have ample opportunities this summer to get engaged in reading through great programs offered at Lamorinda libraries, as well as wonderful speaker events at local book stores.

Author Marty Brounstein will conduct a book talk Saturday, June 9 at 2 p.m. about "Two Among the Righteous Few: A Story of Courage in the Holocaust" at Orinda Books. Brounstein and his wife Leah Baars connected with the children of Frans and Mien Wijnakker during their visit to the Netherlands in 2009. Frans and Mien were Catholics living in the small town of Dieden who risked the safety of their own family to save the lives of two dozen Jewish people during World War II. Baars encouraged Brounstein to research the Wijnakkers' story in great detail. Inspired by the message of hope from Otto Frank, "Anne Frank: the Diary of a Young Girl," and Corrie Ten Boom, "The Hiding Place," Brounstein began to weave a new story of courage and triumph during mass devastation. "This is one of the few positive stories. No one was caught or harmed," Brounstein says.

Brounstein filled the gaps in records left behind by Frans with interviews and visits to Yad Vashem museum in Jerusalem. His hope in sharing the story of a couple risking their lives to do the right thing is that the message of courage and interfaith compassion gains momentum. "It is like pushing a little snowball downhill and hoping it will grow."

Also on Saturday, June 9, the Moraga Library will kick off its Summer Reading Festival with a special hands-on arts and science Eco-Festival, featuring nature-related interactive exhibits facilitated by the Charles M. Shultz Museum and Research Center. The free 45-minute program is designed for school-age children. Younger children are welcome with an adult.

Tweens and teens can pick up their reading record and celebrate the beginning of the Summer Reading Program while making a dream catcher at 11 a.m. June 13 in the Lafayette Library and Learning Center's Teen Center.

Kids can also earn summer reading minutes with a dog certified for sociability on Saturday, June 30 at the Orinda Library or and kids ages 10 and up can participate in the much anticipated Z-Day: The Zombie Apocalypse at the Lafayette Library and Learning Center that day (and night), when Mitch Kocen, renowned Bay Area Zombie Expert, will lead an emergency Zombie Survival seminar and participants will eat brain food, take a Zombie Apocalypse Survival Kit Challenge, try Zombie makeup, and then do battle with the Zombies in the library after it has closed.

For more information about the Summer Reading Program, prizes, book lists, and other events visit your local library or the Contra Costa County Library website at ccclib.org.