June 2022

Get ready to register for Summer Reading Club 

The coundown is on for this year's All Together Now Summer Reading Club.

Summer Reading Club is a fun, free program that engages kids with libraries and reading to maintain and improve their literacy skills over the summer. Little readers keep track of their progress in reading records while taking part in fun activities and events along the way. At the end of summer, they can celebrate their achievements with a Summer Reading Club medal. There's also the chance to win great prizes!

Registration opens June 21 and Summer Reading Club kicks off July 5. 

Learn more

10 fun summer crafts 

It’s been a long wait for summer and what better way to get in the spirit than with some fabulous crafts from CreativeBug?

CreativeBug is a free library eResource with video courses on all types of crafts for different age and skill levels.This month, we've pulled together our favourite 10 tutorials for summer crafts, from cool outfits to backyard décor, bags and book art.

To get started, all you need is your library card.

Start crafting!

It's National Indigenous History Month!

June is National Indigenous History Month. This month, and every month, we encourage you to celebrate, learn about and honour the rich history, heritage, resilience and diversity of First Nations, Inuit and Métis Peoples across Canada. 

We have created a hub of fantastic resources to help you learn more about Indigenous peoples and engage with amazing Indigenous content makers, artists and creators. We are also very excited to host professional storyteller and author Kung Jaadee on June 22 for an evening of Haida and Squamish stories for all ages in celebration of National Indigenous History Month.

Over the past 28 years, Kung Jaadee has performed traditional Haida legends, while also sharing vivid personal stories about her clan’s survival of the smallpox epidemic, and the history and culture of her people. She has performed at hundreds of festivals, schools and Aboriginal celebrations across Canada and is the author of the popular children’s books, Raven's Feast and Gift's from Raven. The free virtual event starts at 6 pm.

For the second year, we have commissioned art from an Indigenous artist in our service area. Zacheriah Edward (Tuqa) Nelson has created the art piece Medicine Spirit, which you can download for free. Learn about the artist, our event with Kung Jaadee and tap into great resources on our website.

Learn more

Read our recommended titles for Pride Month! 

Happy Pride Month! While our libraries are always safe spaces for everyone and we share great LGBTQ+ reads all year long, this month we're putting a spotlight on our top picks. 

Start reading

Teen Summer Challenge kicks off

This summer teens will be transported to the world of VIRLmanji.

During this year's jungle-themed teen summer challenge, youth aged 12-18, can pick up an activity board and check off as many challenges as they can for the chance to win prizes. Prizes include a Canon Ivy Mini Photo Printer, AirPods, a JBL Go2 Portable Bluetooth speaker and more.

Registration opens June 21. The adventure begins July 5. 

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Learn how to create a fire smart garden 

Learn about fire smart gardening during our Virtual Gardening Series event, at 6:30 pm on June 6. 

The popular series is back with a new workshop that will cover design components of landscaping, xeriscaping, fire resistant plants, mulches and more. 

This is a free virtual event done in partnership with the Vancouver Island Master Gardeners Association.

Register now

Heat pump webinar

Considering a heat pump for your home? Join our free webinar at 12 pm on June 21 to learn what a heat pump is, the benefits, how to find a registered contractor and what rebates,  financing offers and supports are available to help you upgrade your heating system. The webinar is in partnership with CleanBC Community Energy Coach Program. 

Register now

Start saving seeds! 

Learn how to harvest seeds during a free webinar on June 13. 

Join Matthew Kemshaw, garden coordinator for the Edward Milne Community School Society, at 7 pm to learn how to successfully save seeds from your garden. Matthew has been seed saving for more than a decade and has supported the creation of several seed libraries.

Register now

Taurus biblioscope

Hey Book Lover! What's Your Sign? 

Hey Gemini. All signs point to a year of success in many areas of your life with the loving support of family. Business is also good, but predictions suggest there may be more than the usual expenses this year so it could be time to curb that spending. One way to cut back is to indulge in the fantastic and FREE books at the library and we have selected a few just for you.  

Biblioscope
Legit Librarian Hack

EBooks for teen readers 

School’s out for summer this month and many students are excited to read a book that isn’t assigned by a teacher. By high school, most students have their own smart phones or other devices, perfect for accessing our eBook and eAudiobook collections from any place with an internet connection.

Our main e-collection, OverDrive, has more than 2,500 young adult eBooks and eAudiobooks, as well as adult books for teens to choose from. Access it with a library card and the Libby app for iOS and Android. Teen Book Cloud is an always-available young adult collection with no holds, waits or check outs and it includes novels, graphic novels and classics. 

Tell me more

The Prairie Chicken Dance Tour by Dawn Dumont

Indigenous Collection

Glorious Frazzled Beings, by Angélique Lalonde, Sep 2021

From the publisher, Astoria/House of Anansi Press:

Home is where we love, suffer, and learn. Some homes we chose, others are inflicted upon us and still others are bodies we are born into. In this astounding collection of stories, human and more-than-human worlds come together in places we call home.Four sisters and their mother explore their fears while teeny ghost people dress up in fragments of their children’s clothes. A somewhat-ghost tends the family garden. Deep in the mountains, a shapeshifting mother must sift through her ancestors’ gifts and the complexitie s of love when one boy is born with a beautiful set of fox ears and another is not. In the wake of her elderly mother’s tragic death, a daughter tries to make sense of the online dating profile she left behind. And a man named Pooka finds new ways to weave new stories into his abode, in spite of his inherited suffering.

A startling and beguiling story collection, Glorious Frazzled Beings is a love song to the homes we make, keep, and break.


Place a hold now

Vancouver Island Regional Library   |    90 Commercial St. Nanaimo BC  |   info@virl.bc.ca