What's New!

Supplies and Directions

• 1 cup flour
• 2-4 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 teaspoon salt
• Water
• Food coloring
• Ziploc bags

1. Mix 1 cup flour, 3-4 teaspoons baking powder, 1 teaspoon salt, and enough water to make a dough the consistency of pancake batter.
2. Divide your dough into ziploc bags. (Snack sized ones are ideal!)
3. Add food coloring to each bag and squish to make the color you like. Squish carefully as to not pop the bag. The mixing could take several minutes.
4. Snip a tiny piece of the corner and squeeze the paint out the bag through the hole to paint on a piece of paper.
5. After painting, pop the paper in the microwave for 30-45 seconds. The paints will set and become more solid.

Check out these stats and our top title of 2021 below.

• Physical material checkouts: 3,813,688
• Additions to physical collection: 21,349 titles and 67,400 items, plus 14,525 magazines
• OverDrive checkouts: 2,541,010
• Freegal:
  • Song Downloads: 66,333
  • Songs Streamed: 222,405
• Kanopy: 61,738 videos streamed
• Hoopla: 38,028 checkouts, movies and television mostly
• New cardholders during 2021: 17,165 patrons and 36,158 students with PowerPass.

PPLD donated over 4,100 items to 20 organizations, including several schools, nine assisted living facilities, the Salvation Army shelter, Girl Scouts, Greccio Housing, and the Community Justice Center.

Top 10 Adult Titles

1. The Four Winds by Kristin Hannah
2. Hidden Valley Road : Inside the Mind of an American Family by Robert Kolker
3. A Time for Mercy by John Grisham
4. The Midnight Library by Matt Haig
5. Dark Sky by C.J. Box
6. Daylight by David Baldacci
7. A Gambling Man by David Baldacci
8. The Last Thing He Told Me : a novel by Laura Dave
9. Anxious People : a novel by Fredrik Backman
10. Ocean Prey by John Sandford

Top 10 Young Adult Titles

1. The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes by Suzanne Collins
2. Midnight Sun by Stephanie Meyer
3. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows by J.K. Rowling
4. Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince by J.K. Rowling
5. All the Impossible Things by Lindsay Lackey
6. Eragon by Christopher Paolini
7. Artemis Fowl by Eoin Colfer
8. The Giver by Lois Lowry
9. The Hate u Give by Angie Thomas
10. Shadow and Bone Leigh Bardugo

Top 10 Children's Titles

1. The Wild Robot by Peter Brown
2. Diary of a Wimpy Kid: the Deep End by Jeff Kinney
3. Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Wrecking Ball by Jeff Kinney
4. Rowley Jefferson's Awesome Friendly Adventure by Jeff Kinney
5. A Long Walk to Water: a Novel Linda Sue Park
6. The False Prince by Jennifer A. Nielsen
7. Camp Time in California by Mary Pope Osborne
8. Diary of a Wimpy Kid: The Meltdown by Jeff Kinney
9. Hatchet by Gary Paulsen
10. Indian No More by Charlene Willing McManis

Top 10 Movies

1. Wonder Woman 1984
2. News of the World
3. Soul
4. Tenet
5. The Courier
6. Minari
7. Mulan
8. Black Widow
9. F9, the Fast Saga
10. Godzilla Vs. Kong

Watch this project at: https://youtu.be/r6SIFnnWVrU

Supplies and Directions:

• potato masher
• funnel
• 2 small ripe bananas
• 1 plain biscuit
• 2 empty bowls
• 30 ml or 2 T. orange juice
• 30 ml or 2 T. water
• red and green food coloring (optional)
• Ziploc bag
• one leg from a pair of old tights
• tray or plate
• scissors

1. Place a biscuit and banana into an empty bowl and gently crush with a potato masher. (This represents food being chewed).
2. Pour the crushed biscuit and banana into an empty Ziploc bag. Add 2 tablespoons of water. (The water represents saliva).
3. Pour 2 tablespoons of orange juice (stomach acid) into the bag and tightly seal it, making sure there is no air left inside.
4. Squeeze the bag for about a minute, further crushing up the biscuit and banana. (This represents the stomach breaking down the food).
5. After about a minute of squeezing, the contents of the bag should feel like a thick liquid. CAREFULLY, cut a small a small hole in the corner of the bag and squeeze the contents into the open leg of the tights. (The tights represent the small intestines).
6. Add one or two drops of red and green food coloring into the tights. (The red food coloring represents dead red blood cells and the green represents bile that is released by the liver.).
7. Carefully holding the tights over a tray or bowl, gently squeeze out the liquid. (The liquid is the nutrients that your body absorbs and uses!)
8. What is left behind… is Poop!

Photo by Sam Moqadam on Unsplash