Mighty Twig

Please join us at The Mighty Twig

Celebrate six months of success and kick-start 2012!

Enjoy live Jazz, art by area students., and the excitement of an iPad2 Raffle!
Help us raise $25K by December 15th!
Saturday, November 5, 2011 5:00 to 8:00 p.m.
Appetizers & Drinks will be served.

Big Numbers Tell Our Story of Success: 

In just 6 months 

18,017 visitors,

3481 computer users.

2591 toddlers at storytime

509 children checked out 6062 books

15,297 free books distributed to 11 locations across Evanston.

Run with 3,431 volunteer hours, with volunteers ranging from ages 9 to 89.

The Mighty Twig welcomes Evanston author Sam Park, who will read from his celebrated first novel, “This Burns My Heart,” on Friday, September 23 at 7:00 p.m. Acclaimed author Audrey Niffenegger (“The Time Traveller’s Wife”) describes the book as “quietly stunning — a soft, fierce story that lingers in the mind. Samuel Park is a deft and elegant writer; this is a very exciting debut.”

According to the publisher, “This Burns My Heart” is equal parts classic romance, page-turning literary drama, and cultural history. Set in South Korea in the 1960s, it centers on Soo-Ja Choi, an ambitious young woman who finds herself trapped in an unhappy marriage. Faced with adversity and oppression, she struggles to protect her daughter and to fulfill her own dreams—all against the backdrop of a society caught between tradition and modernity.

Kirkus Reviews calls THIS BURNS MY HEART “captivating” and a “first-rate literary effort,” saying, “Park’s novel can be read as a contemplation of loss and the angst of unrequited love, much like Dr. Zhivago.”

Please join us at The Mighty Twig, 900 Chicago Ave. on Thursday, September 22 at an open house to celebrate Hispanic Heritage Month. Between 6-7 pm, there will be craft tables set up to make mini-piñatas (stuffed with candy, of course), decorate maracas, and more…

- Beginning at 6:30, Abuelo Isidro will tell classic stories from several Spanish-speaking countries, and provide the audience with some interesting facts about the Hispanic culture

- At 7:00 pm, we are going to pick up the pace, turn up the music, and learn to dance the Bachata! Dance instructor Veronica Quiroz will show us a few basic moves that will get everyone up and dancing!

We hope to see you there!

Family Events and Open Houses:
Celebrate Hispanic Heritage Month with song, dance, and storytelling. Thursday 9/22 from 6-7:30pm
Thomas the Tank Engine Night. Thursday, 10/13 from 6-7:30pm. Toot. Toot. The track is back!
Howling Hallowe’en. Saturday, 10/31 from 3-5pm. Parade, stories, and treats. Wear your costume!
National Gaming Day. Saturday, 11/12 from 3-5pm. Got game? Bring it on!
Holiday Open House.Thursday, 12/15 from 6-7:30pm. Celebrate the season, Mighty Twig style.

Teen Scene
Get your Latino Dance Moves shaking at The Mighty Twig tonight. Thursday, 9/22 from 7-7:30 pm.
It’s Teen Read Week from October 16-22. After school snacks all week, plus check out the book suggestions from YA librarian Nori. She picked them just for you.
NO PARENTS ALLOWED EVENT. Friday, 10/21. All day. Music, Fun, ‘Nuff said.

Mighty Author Night. Join us for a reading. Spend an evening with Sam Park, author of This Burns My Heart, an Amazon Best Book of the Month. Friday, 9/23 at 7pm.

Adult Book Club. Thursday, 10/20 7PM, All the King’s Men by Robert Penn Warren
Thursday, 11/17, 7PM, Blame by Michele Huneven

Computer How-to Class Learn to Search the Internet for What You Need, Faster. Looking for a job? Need information? We’ll offer tips and techniques for maximizing the time you spend searching. Thursday, 10/6, 6-7PM.

Holiday Closures for 2011: November 20-28, December 16-31

Yikes … A gingerbread man is loose at The Twig!  Kick off the new school year at The Mighty Twig – 900 Chicago Avenue, this Thursday night.  Join the scavenger hunt for the ginger cookie man, decorate gingerbread cookies, and work on back-to-school crafts. Listen to super Storyteller Jane Stenson spin tales based on the children’s picture book, “Gingerbread Man Loose in School,” by Laura Murray  Everyone is welcome.

Thursday, July 14th 6 – 7:30 pm
All ages welcome!

KIDS!!! (and kid-like parents) Join the Friends at The Mighty Twig – 900 Chicago Avenue, Thursday Night for Anti-Boredom Night…decorate-it-yourself pinwheels, telescopes , picture frames — big posters kids can color in all about themselves, sidewalk chalk, bubble blowing stuff — and one amazingly long rope for tug-of-war.… PLUS our Super Storyteller, Jane Stenson!

Thursday, July 14th 6 – 7:30 pm
All ages welcome!

Four award-winning authors, including long-time Evanston resident Paul McComas (Unforgettable: Harrowing Futures, Horrors, and (Dark) Humor; Walkabout Publishing, 2011), will appear together at The Mighty Twig, 900 Chicago Avenue, Evanston, at 7 p.m. on Wednesday, June 15^th.  The authors are in the midst of a five-city Midwestern book tour.

Joining Paul for the event are novelists Douglas Armstrong (Even Sunflowers Cast Shadows), and Angela Woodward (End of the Fire Cult), and former Wisconsin Poet Laureate Marilyn L. Taylor. The event is free and open to the public. For more info, see TribLocal article here.

So, an amazing thing happened on Saturday, and we’re proud you played a part in it. One month ago the Evanston Library Board voted not to fund the continuation of the South Branch Library. Undaunted, EPL Friends stepped up and decided to fund our own experimental space while the Library Board continues its visioning process. Without missing a beat, or running the risk of losing the interest and enthusiasm of our members and the SB community, EPL began work in an empty storefront at 900 Chicago Ave. That space, less than one month later, became the Mighty Twig. Smaller than a branch, (but mighty) the Twig provides kids and adult books, internet, computers, storytime and a community space for everyone.

More than 500 people came to check out the Twig on Saturday, and more than 300 of you took out books on our Honor system of lending. No cards, no fines, no fees, no fooling. Kids fill out a reading log to help them (and parents) get into a good habit of being responsible for the books they check out, and to help parents know which books they are looking for amongst the dust bunnies under their beds.

We’re thrilled — seriously couldn’t be happier — with the initial community reaction, and we hope that this success will carry over as a model that makes sense for elsewhere in Evanston.  If you haven’t seen the space yet, you have to come by. Twig is open Tues – Sat. 10 – 5, with later nights until 8PM on Thursdays beginning in mid-April.  Check out some of our press here: Evanston Now, Trib Local, take a video tour with Evanston Patch .

Lots of things are still in motion for The Mighty Twig, and we still welcome donations of time, books, and financial contributions. All in, we figure it costs approximately $154 per day to run the Mighty Twig, with our entirely volunteer staff.  We welcome your input and suggestions and thank you for your continued support!

Mighty Twig volunteers get MT ready for her debut performance on Saturday

We had more than 83 volunteers come out to help us last Friday and Saturday, with more than 420 volunteer hours logged over the course of the two days as people cleaned and labeled and shelved our collection at the Mighty Twig.

This week we’ve had about 10 people there every day putting the finishing touches in place, and it’s enormously gratifying to see such strong community support. It’s remarkable the stuff that Evanston is made of.

The Grand Opening fast approaches on Saturday and Team Twig continues to inspire! Today’s Library Heroes of the Day… Cheryl Chamberlain and Ed Lally who custom-built our computer table extraordinaire! Cheryl’s worked tirelessly to whip the Mighty Twig into shape for Saturday’s grand opening. Come see it in action Saturday 10 – 5PM. Signs are up, rugs are down, books are ready to be read. Saturday’s the day… be there!

It’s almost here…! The Grand Opening Event for Mighty Twig will be held:

Saturday March 26th

10AM – 5PM

Children’s Party

1PM – 3PM

Come Celebrate this Exciting Day with us. We know it’s a busy day around town with a number of other events also happening, but we hope you’ll take some time to swing by and say hello.