American Library Karlsruhe

Recent Library Activities

Another wonderful afternoon at the American Library with tea, scones, stories, poetry, and great conversations!

The American Library in Karlsruhe participated in the "Nacht der Bibliotheken" with a Reading Party. Our guests grabbed a cocktail or mocktail, found something to read, found a comfy place to sit and read! After 30 minutes, drinks could be refreshed, legs could be stretched and then we had another 30 minutes of quiet reading. Most people find it hard to set aside time to read, so we are very glad we could fill this need. Another reading party is coming soon!

After reading Marmalade the Orange Panda by David Walliams, we made panda masks. Do you recognize your friends?

Singing, drawing, being silly, socializing, more singing, music... A fun time was had by all! Thanks to our musicians, participants and audience!

An afternoon of delicious tea and homemade scones, madeleines and cucumber sandwiches; stories about tea, Great Britain, scones, idioms, and poetry and lovely conversations. A great way to spend a Saturday afternoon!

Halloween celebrations at the American Library!

Kids (and some adults) dressed up for our regular Friday afternoon events (Stories for Kids 6&Up and Teen Time) followed by the annual Hogwarts Halloween Night!

A scary time was had by all. Until next year!

1. Claire, the witch, explaining a gruesome game.
2. Pin the tail on the cat - not so easy when blindfolded.
3. To catch a ghost in the ghostly game you have to be very fast!

In a special combined Stories for Kids 6&Up and Teen Time, we had the pleasure to greet author Courtney Kelly, who read from her book Celeste Saves the City.
Courtney Kelly experienced Hurricane Katrina as a child when living in New Orleans. After attending numerous engineering and math camps in high school, she now holds degrees in civil engineering and math. Her book is about a child experiencing devastating loss due to flooding and figuring out a way to help, so that such disasters don't strike again.

Thanks to the generosity of The Friends of the American Library, all attendees took home autographed and personalized copies of Celeste Saves the City or Celeste Tunnels Underground in English or German!

The puppet theater Figurentheater Grinsekatze was thoroughly enjoyed by our youngest readers (those 4 and up)!

Die neugierige Maus Tilda Apfelkern will herausfinden, wo es den besten Käse gibt, warum der Regenwald Regenwald heißt und ob es auch in Japan Mäuse gibt. Außerdem macht sie spannende Bekanntschaften in Afrika, Amerika oder Australien – von denen sie ihren Freunden daheim gleich berichten muss.

A quartet of acoustic multi-instrumentalists performed classics as well as Anglo-American and Irish favorites - sing along!

Another round of Among Us as part of a special evening Teen Time! The crew is looking forward to next year!

A fun time was had by all at the annual American Library Baseball Workshop! The basics were explained by our baseball-loving Bernie "DiMaggio". Everyone had a chance to try their hand in a game between The Black Panthers and The Green Dragons. New this year:  American-style hot dogs after the game! See you next year!

Full house at the American Library for our first ever celebration of Star Wars Day - May the 4th (May the Force) be with you!

Our wise librarian, Julia "Obi-Wan" Arnold, protected us the entire day from evil forces.

The team from the Saber Academy Karlsruhe wowed us with show fighting and stunt choreographies with light sabers.

Michael Koepff, producer, director, set designer and builder, and more, of the fan film Wingman:  An X-Wing Story introduced his film to an enthusiastic audience and then answered questions and showed props from the film. Highly recommended!

Many of our guests dressed up as their favorite Star Wars characters.

Galactic food and drink (homemade bagels, Wookie cookies) were a big hit.

Crafts, a quiz, and a book display rounded out the wonderful day at the American Library in Karlsruhe.

Another wonderful afternoon spent at the library this past Saturday - the second American Library Tea Time!

Scones, hot cross buns, cucumber sandwiches, etc., and, of course, tea!

We learned a bit about the history of traditional afternoon teas, what low tea is (as opposed to high tea) and how to properly drink tea - all the information was found in our very own library books!

For additional entertainment, poetry and short stories were read aloud. The conversations were equally good.

Thanks to Steffi, Becci and Vanessa! Looking forward to the next one, because all those present agreed there should be a next one!

Iryna Kupchynska read from her essays and poetry dealing with her "schizophrenic" existence between war torn Kiev (and Ukraine) and the peaceful vineyards of the Pfalz, where she was a Writer in Residence in 2022 — black humor included! Insightful. Heart wrenching.

Full house at the American Library!

We were so pleased to welcome such a great turnout at the Christmas carol singalong on December 1. The event was first held in 2015 but underwent an involuntary three-year hiatus because of the pandemic, so there was a lot of excitement about finally being able to resume a beloved holiday tradition at the Library. As ever, Michael's piano accompaniment kept the crowd in good cheer, and in between singing plenty of evergreen favorites, we enjoyed a recitation of How The Grinch Stole Christmas, a performance by a budding musician, a quiz and a holiday game. Please reach out if you'd like to contribute something to next year's singalong! We'd love to have you participate.

It was great to see so many happy faces at the American Library for our famous and fabulous Book and Bake Sale!

At the Bake Sale we sold American classics like Apple Pie and Rice Krispies Treats, German classics like Käsekuchen and Apfelkuchen, and great additions such as Australian Lamingtons and Food for the Gods from the Philippines. Steve even set up a Bagel Table! Thanks to everyone for baking!

The Book Sale saw young and old finding treasures! A mother was looking for books for her daughter. The mother said: "I found the perfect book for you." The daughter saw the book and hugged it with a huge smile on her face! Absolutely heart-warming. See you again in spring!

MovieTalk was all about gorillas this time around! First we watched a film about Dian Fossey. As a special guest we welcomed the author Elisa Jakob, whose new novel (Die Mutter der Berggorillas) about Dian Fossey just came out. Elisa answered questions about the differences between Fossey's real life and the movie.

After a long Covid break, we hope MovieTalk will be a regular event again starting in January.

Halloween fun at the American Library.

Stories for Kids 6&Up with help from the TeenTimers in the afternoon.

The famous Hogwarts Library Halloween Night was held in the evening.

On Friday, September 22nd, the American Library welcomed crew members and Impostors aboard the Library Spaceship for a real life game analogous to the online game Among Us.

The teens take on roles in a spaceship crew and have to complete a variety of tasks on board the spaceship — in our case, in the appropriately decorated library. They have to prove their physical fitness with push-ups in the Energy Booster, produce alien slime in the Space Lab or shoot down asteroids with a Nerf gun. The task is made more difficult by the previously drawn Impostor, whose goal it is to eliminate the crew members. If the crew manages to expose the Impostor, the crew wins...otherwise the round goes to the Impostor.

Good thing crew and Impostors could fortify themselves with galactically good astronaut food from Planet Pizza during this tricky task!

For all the teens who unfortunately couldn't fit in the spaceship, next year there will be another Among Us Space Mission at the American Library! Stay tuned!

Many adults wanted to sign up as well - should we do an adult version at the library?

Another great Storytime for Kids 3-5!

Wonderful to see the Dads reading and crafting!

The Kids 6 & Up and the Teens both made the same craft on the last meeting before the summer break - decorating their very own book tote bags.

The younger ones drew their own designs using markers.

The teens used stencils and spray paint.

Did they fill them up with books to read over the summer?

Not yet - the bags needed time to dry.

After reading Noah's Seal by Layn Marlow, the kids had fun making seals and other animals. Join us for the next Stories on July 21st!

The best coaches ever:  Berni DiMaggio and Julia Mantle!

Another great event brought to you by the American Library in Karslruhe. Lots of happy people and smiling faces bringing a good old American tradition to Karlsruhe.

See you next year!

The Teens always find new things to do!

Here crayons are melted and drip paintings are created.

Please join the TeenTimers if you are in grade 5 or older!

It's always a pleasure seeing our smallest guests enjoying a good book!

Last Saturday was all about ART and MUSIC at the American Library — the opening of the exhibition "American Southern Landscapes" by American artist Fred Goraieb with musical guests The Bluegrass Library Project. It was a great opportunity to see old friends, make new friends, eat, chat, listen to music, and look at art! If you missed the opening, the paintings are on display during regular library hours until December 23rd.

Happy library volunteers (and two librarians) after a tour through the Nordstadt and the former Smiley Barracks.