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A library on two wheels / Kurt Springs book signing

Fun Summer Reading
A library on two wheels / Kurt Springs book signing

Find the Traveling Library in Buffalo’s Parks

All summer long, at various parks and playgrounds

Once the final school bell rings, many children are set free for the summer—some of them letting their books collect dust while they’re at the park with friends. And others are not fortunate enough to get their hands on valuable books. According to Buffalo BookBike, many of these children are at risk of experiencing the “summer slide,” in which children of a lower socioeconomic status can lose 3-4 months of reading growth. However, this “slide” may be prevented through encouragement in conjunction with making reading fun.

Amy Ozay, who is part of something called “Buffalo BookBike,” is launching a project that will deliver books in a unique and fun way to those who would like to read. The Buffalo BookBike, affiliated with GObike Buffalo, is a library on wheels that will connect with the children of Buffalo for the duration of summer. It is a vehicle that will travel to various public playgrounds and parks in order to distribute free, quality books to the children they come across.

The Buffalo BookBike will be custom-made right here in Buffalo by the talented Nickel City Cycles’ community. It will consist of a cargo frame and custom, built-in cabinets. This will not be your typical library, but one that children will be comfortable and excited to approach while they’re enjoying the summer weather.

The project is asking the community to come together in order to make this literary dream a reality. Buffalo BookBike is looking to raise $4,500 to finish building the bike and launch the program. The team has set up an Indiegogo campaign, and is asking the community to donate a few dollars to launch this project and keep our kids literate. The campaign will run throughout July and into the first week of August. Let the library come to your children!


Discover the Price of Vengeance at Talking Leaves

Thursday (7/9), at 7pm, at Talking Leaves on Main Street

Kurt Springs will appear at Talking Leaves for a reading and book signing to celebrate publication of the first two books in his new series of fantasy novels, Price of Vengeance, and Promise of Mercy. Both novels and the archaeological bent will keep the reader inquisitive.

According to Talking Leaves, Price of Vengeance is about an angry orphan, Liam. He was orphaned at the age of two by a group of giant carnivorous insects called the chitin. Adopted by High Councilor Marcus and his wife, Lidia, Liam was raised with their older son, Randolf, in New Olympia, the last remaining city on the planet Etrusci. As an adult, Liam becomes a soldier. After being cut off from the city, Liam finds that there is an alien intelligence behind the chitin. To defeat it, he must discover who he is and how to use his powers. Then Liam discovers that a traitor, responsible for his birth parents’ deaths, had murdered his beloved foster parents. Will the price he has to pay in his quest for vengeance prove to be an even more unbeatable foe?

Promise of Mercy takes place twenty-five years after the events of Price of Vengeance. Deirdre and her sisters have returned to their home planet of Etrusci after completing their training with the Finnian Shock Forces. Their homecoming plans are disrupted when their mother, High Priestess Celinia, and other leaders of the clergy are taken hostage, and their father, Colonel Liam O’Connor, disappears. In their desperate search for their father, they discover that the Rebellion is secretly building weapons that could end civilization as they know it. Meanwhile, Liam has been befriended by a Rebel war criminal, a woman Deirdre has sworn to kill. Will Deirdre cast herself into the role of judge, jury, and executioner, or will she discover the promise of mercy?

On 7/9, come join this thought-provoking reading and purchase your very own, signed copies at Talking Leaves on Main Street!

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