Mission: We provide a welcoming environment to grow and strengthen connections for everyone in our community.

Vision: We are dedicated to exceptional customer service and engaging our community. We enrich lives through access to resources, programs, and collections that encourage lifelong learning and the love of reading.

We hope you enjoy our latest VPL Newsletter; to subscribe, email library@vintonia.gov. See you at the library!

Benton County Iowa Public Health Department is happy to announce we will be offering another session of our popular SafeSitter Babysitting Course at the Vinton Public Library on January 20th, 2024 from 9am-3:30pm.

The cost of the course is $30, and students will receive a student workbook, drawstring bag, band aid dispenser, flashlight and information booklet to take home. Students will be able to learn about behavior management, diapering, basic first aid, learn and practice infant & child CPR, as well as learn leadership and job skills. This class combines instruction with hands-on learning, group work and fun videos.

To register your child, please fill out the following registration form: https://safesitter.org/.../02/Student-Registration-Form.pdf, and email to gschmidt@bentoncountyia.gov.

Payments can be cash or check (made out to Benton County Public Health) and taken to the Auditor’s office on the 2nd floor of the Benton County Courthouse.

Any questions, please call our office at (319) 214-2601 - we hope to see you soon!

We here at the library have started a new book club designed with the young reader in mind. This club is for patrons 7 to 12 years of age, and an older teammate. This can be a parent, grandparent, caregiver, etc. The Club is called ‘Joined Forces’ and meets on the last Thursday of the month at 5:00PM in the Juvenile Fiction section of the library. Both members of the team will read the same book, then come to the Club to discuss likes, dislikes, and other opinions. This will hopefully provide socialization, as well as fostering a love of reading, and the ability to communicate recommendations.

I wrote all of that to give a review of the well-known Harry Potter series by J.K. Rowling. Believe it or not, I had not read a single book in this series, nor seen any of the movies! A nine-year-old young lady in Joined Forces recommended it to me, and here we are!

I began reading rather reluctantly, thinking that I wouldn’t enjoy the book, but was pleasantly surprised! Yes, the storyline is all about young people in a private school for young wizards. However, the main theme is the mistreatment and loneliness of a young orphan boy who doesn’t even remember his parents. He is dropped off at the doorstep of an unloving aunt, uncle, and cousin and endures much mistreatment at their hands. He is forced to live in a closet, has nothing of his own, and is constantly mocked about his dead parents. However, at the age of eleven, Harry receives a letter from Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry (delivered by an owl!), inviting him to enroll. His relatives are more than happy to send him away (anywhere!) just to be rid of him.

Harry has serious doubts about his abilities but is overjoyed to find that he can make friends, and is truly accepted, and treated with kindness. Soon, he is excelling at nearly everything and has everyone’s attention. The ‘fly in the ointment’ turns out to be a few jealous students, and some of the teachers who knew and hated Harry’s father when they were students together.

I am now finishing Book Four of the series and am fully invested in finishing ALL of them. A word of warning: the books may be too intense for younger readers as the books progress, but if they realize it is a fantasy, and is all make-believe, they can probably read and enjoy this series.

The Vinton Public Library has books one through seven, as well as the entire series on DVD. The books and DVDs are in our Children’s Library. I am reading the books electronically, and that is working splendidly. All titles are available on Libby and Hoopla. I highly recommend this series. Thumbs Up!

Photo Credit: Afton Marie Photography

VPL Note: We have 'The Vacation' by John Marrs available in regular type. It currently has 4/5 stars on Goodreads.

How far would you run to escape your past?
For eight strangers in a Los Angeles backpacking hostel, even the other side of the world isn’t far enough.
The craving for a new identity and the chance to start again is something they have in common. But the search for a fresh start isn't as easy as they'd imagined.
And they soon discover that it doesn't matter where you are or who you are - if you can't lay the past to rest, coincidence, fate and deception have a way of catching up with you when you least expect it.

Source: www.goodreads.com/book/show/60322612-the-vacation

The Vinton Public Library Board has a variety of magazines available to check out, including the titles below; stop in and check them out today!

• Our Iowa
• Better Homes & Gardens
• The Smithsonian
• Consumer Reports
• People
• Magnolia Journal
• MaryJane's Farm
• Birds & Blooms
• Woman's Day
• ...And More!

Hours of Operation:

Mondays: 9a-5p

Tuesdays: 9a-6p

Wednesdays: 9a-5p

Thursdays: 9a-6p

Fridays: 9a-4p

Saturdays: 9a-Noon

Sundays: Closed

Copy services: $0.20 per black and white, $0.25 per color

Fax services: $1.00 for 1-2 pages, $2.00 for 3+ pages

Notary services: No charge, call 319-472-4208 for availability

Free Wifi

Boardroom available at no charge; reservations required

Email: library@vintonia.gov
Website: vinton.lib.ia.us
Location: 510 2nd Avenue, Vinton, IA, USA
Phone: (319) 472-4208
Facebook: facebook.com/heartofvinton