What's New!

The 2016 Student Literary Award Anthology, publishes poems, letters, and artwork of state and national winners of the River of Words and Letters About Literature. These are two free competitions that are coordinated in Colorado. Check out the what you need to do to enter here:

• River of Words competition
• Letters About Literature competition

Both competitions are free to join and each website includes the entry form, short videos, and additional information.

So what is River of Words? It is an international poetry and art contest on the them of "Watersheds" designed to help youth explore the natural and cultural history of the place they live and to express what they discover through poetry and visual art.

Letters About Literature is a national reading and writing competition in which readers in grades 4-12 write a personal letter to an author they admire or whose work has inspired them. Readers respond by exploring the relationship between their personal experiences and the book's characters or themes and describing how the author's work changed them personally or altered their view of the world. Student may write their letter to any author, living or dead, form any genre- fiction, nonfiction, or poetry.

So please, check out these cool competitions coming up in Colorado and get involved!

PPLD's Artist in Residence for September and October 2016 was Deb Bartos, an oil painter who loves exploring the natural world and teaching students about color. She continues to develop her knowledge about how light and color work together, and is fascinated by the process.

Visit PPLD's Maker/Artist in Residence page for more information about this program.

Comedic icon Gene Wilder, star of Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory, Young Frankenstein, Blazing Saddles, among many others, has died of complications from Alzheimer's disease. He was 83. Mr. Wilder is probably best remembered as the sweet but subversive title character in Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory where he won over countless young hearts, but it was his work with Mel Brooks in Young Frankenstein and The Producers that brought him critical acclaim, garnering two Oscar nominations. Wilder rarely worked after the death of his third wife, Gilda Radner, in 1989, but his legacy endures as the world remembers him as one of the comedic greats.

  "Gene Wilder-One of the truly great talents of our time. He blessed every film we did with his magic & he blessed me with his friendship." - Mel Brooks  

Click here to search Gene Wilder in the Catalog