Islington Branch Library hosts mini golf

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By Laura Drinan
Hometown Weekly Reporter

Who would have imagined that a one-room library could turn into a six-hole mini golf course in just a couple of hours?

Well, for the second year in a row, Westwood’s Islington Branch Library transformed their cozy library into a challenging golf course for families to enjoy on August 23.

To wrap up the summer reading program with a enjoyable event for families, the Islington Branch Library celebrated with six holes whose themes coordinated with the genre of books nearby. Volunteers for the event helped librarian Jenny Durant set up the course, then handed out soft golf balls and a club for each family to share. They also supervised the course and gave helpful tips for holding the club and overcoming each hole’s challenges.

The first hole, which proved to be difficult for even the most professional mini golfers, was located in the nook of the room where the children’s books belonged, and was named “The Pigeon Hole” because of the many pigeon books by Mo Willems that were on display. Alex and Adrienne (5) of Norwood, who frequently come to the Islington Branch Library with their mother, stopped by for a round of mini golf but were almost stumped by “The Pigeon Hole.”

As Alex and Adrienne advanced to the next holes, Isabel (8) and Fabian (5) of Westwood were just beginning their mini golf adventure. Eventually conquering “The Pigeon Hole,” Isabel and Fabian moved on to hole two, appropriately called “Where do you want to go?”, which was located with the travel and destination books and required a skilled swing of the club to get a hole-in-one.

While holes three and four, “Now We’re Cooking” and “It’s a Mystery,” seemed to be easier than the previous ones, mini golfers were once again flummoxed by hole five, “All for Love,” in the romance section. But with the last challenge in sight, all of the golfers completed it and succeeded on the sixth hole, “Last But Not Least,” in the new fiction section. As each child finished, Durant’s volunteers gave out scratch-and-sniff stickers for a fun prize.

The Islington Branch Library provided the perfect evening activity to celebrate the end of the summer reading program, showing their young readers that the possibilities at their local library are endless.