50 – Make some sidewalk chalk art.

50 – Visit an art gallery or museum.

50 – Make a colorful collage using old magazines or scraps of paper.

50 – Try your hand at origami.

50 – Color a page in a coloring book, Zentangle page, or other pre- printed picture.

50 – Draw your own picture for someone else to color.

100 – Help someone paint their house.

100 – Read a book about creating art.

100 – Read a book about an artist.

100 – Read a book with “ART” in the title such as The Art Thief or Heart of Darkness.

50 – Eat some Greek food.

50 – Make a simple sculpture using clay, playdough, etc.

50 – Visit a building that has columns.

50 – Watch a documentary about Ancient Greece.

50 – Build a structure inspired by Greek architecture using blocks or LEGOs.

50 – Write your name using the Greek alphabet.

50 – Draw a mythological creature such as a Minotaur or Pegasus.

50 – Paint a rock as a doorway greeting or as a pocket rock for personal encouragement.

100 – Read a book set in Greece.

50 – Eat some Italian food.

50 – Draw a portrait of a friend or family member (need not be smiling).

50 – Make a secret code or cipher.

50 – Write your name backward like Leonardo’s mirror writing.

50 – Try writing with your non-dominant hand like Leonardo.

50 – Do some star-gazing.

50 – Build a model of one of Leonardo’s inventions.

50 – Listen to music on the lyre or the flute, instruments Leonardo was accomplished on.

100 – Read a book set in Italy.

50 – Eat some food from the American Southwest.

50 – Paint a landscape.

50 – Get away from town and count how many shades of green there are.

50 – Take a hike looking for details in flowers.

50 – Visit a garden, park, or greenhouse.

50 – Watch a sunset.

50 – Write a short poem about nature.

50 – Make a nature-themed playlist with songs about flowers, the desert, and/or the sky.

100 – Read a book set in the American Southwest.

Do you love writing?

Enter the Madison Library District’s short story writing contest and you could win a prize and be featured in our newsletter!

Our theme is “Oh, the Places You’ll Go!” Based on the famous Dr. Seuss tale of facing life’s ups and downs, tell us a story of the places you’ll go, Fiction or Non-fiction are accepted.

The contest winner will be awarded a $100 gift card to Barnes and Noble. The winner will be announced Friday, July 26th and will be featured in our August newsletter.

Email submissions ONLY accepted. Must be 18 or older to enter.

Drawn Together: Post-it-art creations!

Everyone will do a small piece and then discover what happens when we come together. Teens 12 and older are also welcome to participate!

Calling all adventurers!

Calling all adventurers! Dive into a world of imagination, strategy, and camaraderie with our new Dungeons & Dragons program for adults. Whether you’re a seasoned Dungeon Master or a curious beginner, this is your chance to embark on epic quests, battle fearsome foes, and shape your own story in the world’s greatest tabletop role-playing game.

Led by an experienced Dungeon Master, each session will transport you to fantastical realms where the only limit is your creativity. New to D&D? No problem! We’ll provide pre-made characters and guidance to get you started on your journey. Come solo or with friends to forge alliances and make memories that will last a lifetime.

For Adults ages 18+ who are ready to embark on thrilling adventures, solve mysteries, and conquer dungeons.

A get-together for crafters and makers!

Bring your crocheting, knitting, cross-stitching, lace-making, tatting, or whatever it is you like to do and spend some time with others who do it too! An informal evening of fun.

Film director Wes Anderson has a distinctive style that many attempt to mimic. A recent book, Accidentally Wes Anderson, shares views of the best efforts by professional photographers. If all those pros are having such a good time making Wes Anderson fakes, we thought it might be fun for our patrons to do so as well.

Take a look at the style hints found in the adult section display case and take a photo that you think is "Accidentally Wes Anderson," and we'll display them during the month of November.

TO ENTER:

Email your photo to our programming team or leave it at the Circulation Desk by November 1.
Please include your name, library card number, and phone number.

The three photos judged to be closest to Anderson's style will receive a copy of the book.

Nonfiction:

• White Picket Monsters by Bev Davis
• Ultimate Book of Home Plans   
• Be in a Treehouse by Peter Nelson

Adult Fiction:

• The Mist by Rgnar Jonasson
• Murder with Peacocks by Donna Andrews
• A Week in Winter by Maeve Binchy
• The Heron’s Cry by Anne Cleeves
• A Painted House by John Grisham
• The House of the Seven Gables by Nathanial Hawthorne
• The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson
• An Incomplete Revenge by Jacqueline Winspear

Tween Fiction:

• The Vanderbeekers of 141^st Street by Karina Yan Glaser

Nonfiction:

• A Fever in the Heartland: The Ku Klux Klan’s Plot to Take Over America, and the Woman Who Stopped Them by Timothy Egan
• My Cool Classic Car: An Inspirational Guide to Classic Cars by Chris Haddon
• The Big Book of Tiny Cars: A Century of Diminutive Automotive Oddities by Russell Hayes
• Nala’s World: One Man, His Rescue Cat, and a Bike Ride Around the Globe by Dean Nicholson
• Highway 1: The Dream Road Along the Pacific by Andrea Lammert
• Coastal California by Stuart Thornton

Adult Graphic Novel:

• Ashes by Alvaro Ortiz

Fiction:

• Timeline by Michael Crichton
• Shutter by Ramona Emerson
• The All-Girl Filling Station’s Last Reunion by Fannie Flagg
• Murder on Bamboo Lane by Naomi Hirahara
• Sinister Graves by Marci Rendon
• The Mapping of Love and Death by Jacqueline Winspear

Nonfiction:

• Breadsong: How Baking Changed Our Lives by Kitty and Al Tait
• The Totally Unscientific Study of the Search for Human Happiness by Paula Poundstone

Adult Graphic Novel:

• Alone by Chaboute

Fiction:

• The Daughter of Time by Josephine Tey
• Anxious People by Fredrik Backman
• Beartown by Fredrik Backman
• New Boy by Tracy Chevalier
• The Authenticity Project by Clare Pooley
• How Not to Die Alone by Richard Roper
• The Long Call by Anne Cleeves

Young Adult Fiction:

• Swing by Kwame Alexander

Tween Fiction:

• Dead End in Norvelt by Jack Gantos

Nonfiction:

• The Giant Joshua by Maureen Whipple
• Master Slave, Husband Wife by Ilyon Woo
• Grandma Gatewood’s Walk by Ben Montgomery
• Epic Road Trips of the Americas by Amy Balfour
• Assassination Vacation by Sarah Vowell
• A Walk in the Woods by Bill Bryson

Fiction:

• The Trackers by Charles Frazier
• The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry by Rachel Joyce

Tween Fiction:

• Walk Two Moons by Sharon Creech
• The Remarkable Journey of Coyote Sunrise by Dan Gemainhart

Nonfiction:

• The River of Doubt: Theodore Roosevelt’s Darkest Journey by Candice Millard
• The Moth and the Mountain by Ed Caesar
• Eighty Days: Nellie Bly and Elizabeth Bisland’s History Making Race by Matthew Goodman
• The Brendan Voyage by Timothy Severin
• In the Kingdom of Ice: The Grand and Terrible Polar Voyage of the USS Jeannette by Hampton Sides
• River of the Gods: Genius, Courage and Betrayal in the Search for the Source of the Nile by Candice Millard
• The Journals of Lewis and Clark by Meriwether Lewis and William Clark
• Endurance: Shackleton’s Incredible Voyage by Alfred Lansing
• The Impossible First: From Fire to Ice – Crossing Antarctica Alone by Colin O’Brady
• Irresistible North: From Venice to Greenland on the Trail on the Zen Brothers by Andrea Robilant
• Tenzing Norgay and the Sherpas of Everest by Tashi Tenzing
• The Ice Master: The Doomed 1913 Voyage of the Karluk by Jennifer Niven

Biography:

• My Father, the Captain: My Life with Jacques Cousteau by Jean-Michael Cousteau

• Art Thinking: How to Carve Out Creative Space in a World of Schedules, Budgets, and Bosses by Amy Whitaker
• Alwyn Crawshaw’s Watercolour Painting Course by Alwyn Crenshaw
• How to Draw Classic Heads & Faces by Walter Foster
• The Art of the Fold: How to Make Innovative Books and Paper Structures by Hedi Kyle and Ulla Warchol
• Graphic Design for Everyone: Understand the Building Blocks So You Can Do It Yourself by Cath Caldwell
• Steal Like an Artist: 10 Things Nobody Told You About Being Creative by Austin Kleon
• The War of Art: Break Through the Blocks and Win Your Inner Creative Battles by Steven Pressfield
• Big Magic: Creative Living Beyond Fear by Elizabeth Gilbert
• Art Matters: Because Your Imagination Can Change the World by Neil Gaiman
• The Artist’s Way: A Spiritual Path to Higher Creativity by Julia Cameron
• The Creative Habit: Learn It and Use It for Life: A Practical Guide by Twyla Tharp
• The Art of Noticing: 131 Ways to Spark Creativity, Find Inspiration, and Discover Joy in the Everyday by Rob Walker

Nonfiction:

• Thunderclap: A Memoir of Art and Life & Sudden Death by Laura Cumming
• The Backyard Bird Chronicles by Amy Tan
• Con/Artist: The Life and Crimes of the World’s Greatest Art Forger by Tony Tetro

Fiction:

• My Friends by Fredrick Backman
• The Heron’s Cry by Ann Cleeves
• The Agony and the Ecstasy: A Novel of Michelangelo by Irving Stone
• Lust for Life: A Novel of Vincent Van Gogh by Irving Stone
• The Blue Hour by Paul Hawkins
• The Swan Thieves by by Elizabeth Kostova
• Messenger of Truth by Jacqueline Winspear
• Free Fall by William Golding

Tween Fiction:

• Pictures of Hollis Woods by Patricia Reilly Giff

Nonfiction:

• My Family and Other Animals by Gerald Durrell
• Mythos: The Greek Myths Reimagined by Stephen Fry

Fiction:

• The Moon-Spinners by Mary Stewart
• The Greek Treasure: A Biographical Novel of Henry and Sophia Schliemannn by Irving Stone
• The Mediterranean Caper by Clive Cussler
• Till We Have Faces: A Myth Retold by C. S. Lewis
• Circe by Madeline Miller
• Wedding Night by Sophie Kinsella
• Ariadne by Jennifer Saint
• Nights of Rain and Stars by Maeve Binchy
• Moonflower Murders by Anthony Horowitz

Adult Graphic Novel:

• Lore Olympus by Rachel Smythe

Nonfiction:

• Under the Tuscan Sun by Frances Mayes
• Eat, Pray, Love: One Woman’s Search for Everything Across Italy, India, and Indonesia by Elizabeth Gilbert
• Galileo’s Daughter: A Historical Memoir of Science, Faith, and Love by Dava Sobel
• Brunelleschi’s Dome: How a Renaissance Genius Reinvented Architecture by Ross King

Fiction:

• Tartufo by Kira Jane Buxton
• Angels and Demons by Dan Brown
• Beautiful Ruins by Jess Walter
• A Room with a View by E. M. Forster
• The Enchanted April by Elizabeth Von Arnim
• My Italian Bulldozer by Alexander McCall Smith
• The Talented Mr. Ripley by Patricia Highsmith
• The Name of the Rose by Umberto Eco
• The Instrumentalist by Harriet Constable

Fiction:

• The Bean Trees by Barbara Kingsolver
• Shutter by Ramona Emerson
• The Blessing Way by Tony HIllerman
• Ceremony by Leslie Marmon Silko
• Spider Woman’s Daughter by Anne HIllerman
• The Night Flowers by Sara Herchenroether
• Death Comes for the Archbishop by Willa Cather
• Beyond the Desert Sands by Tracie Peterson
• Desert Heat by J. A. Jance
• Blind Descent by Nevada Barr
• Bless Me, Ultima by Rudolfa Anaya

Young Adult Fiction:

• Holes by Louis Sacher

Nonfiction:

• I’ll Start Again Monday: Break the Cycle of Unhealthy Eating Habits with Lasting Spiritual Satisfaction by Lysa Terkeurst
• A Fever in the Heartland: The Ku Klux Klan’s Plot to Take Over America, and the Woman Who Stopped Them by Timothy Egan
• Arthur Ashe: A Life by Raymond Arsenault
• The Quartet: Orchestrating the Second American Revolution, 1783-1789 by Joseph J. Ellis

Fiction:

• Disco for the Departed by Colin Cotterill
• The Bartender’s Tale by Ivan Doig
• The Party Crasher by Sophie Kinsella
• The Apartment by Danielle Steel
• Carte Blanche: 007: The New James Bond Novel by Jeffery Deaver
• Darth Maul: Shadow Hunter by Michael Reaves
• Smart Move by Melanie Jacobsen

Adult Graphic Novel:

• The Cartoon History of the Universe by Larry Gonick

Nonfiction:

• Turn Right at Machu Picchu: Rediscovering the Lost City One Step at a Time by Mark Adams

Fiction:

• 7 Deadly Wonders by Matthew Reilly
• Beneath a Marble Sky: A Novel of the Taj Mahal by John Shors
• Armageddon: The Cosmic Battle of the Ages by Tim LaHaye
• The Mummy Case by Elizabeth Peters

Young Adult Fiction:

• Iron Widow by Xiran Jay Zhao

Tween Fiction:

• The Tomb of Shadows by Peter Lerangis
• The Curse of the King by Peter Lerangis

• Everybody Matters: My Life Giving Voice by Mary Robinson
• Daughter of Destiny: An Autobiography by Benazir Bhutto
• Long walk to Freedom: The Autobiography of Nelson Mandela
• The Dalai Lama: An Extraordinary Life by Alexander Norman
• Suffering into Joy: What Mother Teresa Teaches About True Joy by Eileen Egan
• Gandhi: The Years That Changed the World 1914-1948 by Guha Ramachandra
• The Autobiography of Martin Luther King
• Zen and the Art of Saving the Planet by Thich Nhat Hanh
• God is Young: A Conversation with Thomas Leoncini by Pope Francis
• Amazing Grace: William Wilberforce and the Heroic Campaign to End Slavery by Eric Metaxas
• Eleanor (Eleanor Roosevelt) by David Michaelis
• What Is at Stake Now: My Appeal for Peace and Freedom by Mikhail Gorbachev