Who doesn’t love a ghost story?
Iola Reads and the Iola Public Library will offer spooky stories through the end of this month, with a storyteller, a youth book selection and even a haunted library.
It starts with “The Girl in the Locked Room: A Ghost Story,” a young adult novel by Mary Downing Hahn. It’s a supernatural mystery about two lonely girls. One has been trapped in a room for more than a century. The other moves to the house with her family and is determined to solve the mystery of the ghostly girl upstairs, with the help of a new friend.
The book is the Iola Reads Young Adult Selection for 2022. Copies are available at the library. Read the book and pass it on, or keep the book for a $2 donation.
Then, on Oct. 20, a Lawrence storyteller will share spooky stories. Priscilla Howe, who spent a few weeks in Iola about 15 years ago as a storyteller in residence, returns to give presentations to Iola elementary and middle school students.
Howe is a former children’s librarian who has been telling stories across the world since 1988. She has shared stories in Mexico, Belgium, Germany, Brazil, Romania and more. In 2015, she spent five months on a Fulbright Scholarship in Bulgaria, searching for folktales to tell.
Be prepared for audience participation, humor and, of course, a little spookiness.
Later that evening, starting at 7, Howe will give a public presentation at the Creitz Recital Hall at the Bowlus Fine Arts Center. There is no charge, and refreshments will be available.
Finally, just in time for Halloween, spooks and spirits will transform the Iola Public Library to a Haunted Library for ages up through 11. Visit from 7 to 8:30 p.m. … If you dare.
There is no charge for any of the events. Funding is provided by the Helen Gates Whitehead Trust. Iola Reads is a project of the Iola Public Library, USD 257 and the Bowlus.
