Local schools tour library's Lincoln exhibit

by Michael Nowotny

Mountain Home News

Last Thursday, the Mountain Home Public Library welcomed two fourth-grade classes from Mountain Home Base Primary to view the new Lincoln Bicentennial exhibit, get a guided tour of the library and to be a part of the "Ye Olde Library Abraham Lincoln Scavenger Hunt."

Mr. Henke and Mr. Burgess's class met with Mountain Home Librarian Luise House for the first of several scavenger hunts the library will be hosting for classes throughout the Mountain Home School

District.

House took time to talk to the children about the library.

Juvenile Specialist Robin Murphy talked about the Lincoln Exhibit and how it celebrates Lincoln's birthday. "The (current) library is not quite that old, but this year the library is celebrating it's 100th birthday" (the original Carnegie Library, now the museum, was built in 1908).

Murphy also told the children about upcoming events scheduled for the library, which include a Video Game Day on April 5 and an American Girl Tea Party on April 12. House added that to learn more about those events and others, check out the library web site at www.mhlibrary.org.

Before House guided the children through the library she said. "I didn't bring you here just for fun, I'm gonna make you work." To which the kids let out a big, "Ahhhhhh!"

House then told the children the stakes for the scavenger hunt. If no one can find the items on the list they would all have to owe her a hot fudge sundae.

"If you win, I'm gonna give you all a nice pencil," said House jokingly. In response, the kids booed. House then told the youths that the real prize for the scavenger hunt was ice cream on a stick.

House assigned each child to a team, divided into the green, white, pink, yellow and orange teams.

Then House explained the rules of the scavenger hunt, how no child could ask any of the librarians or their teachers for help.

House began the tour of the library showing the children areas such as the computer room, the senior's lab and what she called "the messiest place in the whole library," her office, to which one of the kids replied, "It couldn't be as messy as my room."

Following the tour, House asked the children to get back into their teams and she handed out the scavenger hunt sheet with five questions and a special bonus question.

The children were asked: Where was Abraham Lincoln born; What part of Lincoln's history was linked to a piece of wood in the exhibit; did Abraham Lincoln chop down a cherry tree (for those scoring at home it was George Washington); What jobs Lincoln had before becoming president and what item out of a dollar bill, a penny, a library card and a pack of Lincoln ZippyBlupper bubblegum features a picture of Lincoln?

The bonus question was a fill-in-the-blank version of the Gettysburg Address.

House sent the children out on the hunt, the children frantically ran through the library in search of the information. In the end, two teams officially finished the scavenger hunt, the orange team in first place and the pink team in second place.

House then gathered the children together and handed out ice cream to everyone.

"The scavenger hunt was fun and hard at the same time and the exhibit was very cool," said Wyatt Conrow.

"It was cool, I learned a lot while on the scavenger hunt," said Aaron Ray Brown.

"It was good, the scavenger hunt was really challenging," said Patrick Beaty.

"Both classes need to be commended," House said. "They were fun to be around, well behaved and I hope they had as much fun as we did."