Book Nook Celebrates
Anniversary
By Barbara McCreary
Open space on the Book Nook shelves is a welcome sight for
volunteers—and then the space is immediately filled with new
offerings.—P/?oto by Barbara McCreary
The old adage “time flies when you’re having fun” is certainly applicable in the case of
the Book Nook. How can it already be one year since we opened our first floor location
in the Bogue Banks Public Library building? I remember the weeks and weeks the
board spent planning the big move from upstairs to our more spacious location and our
grand opening ceremony with its yellow ribbon-cutting on August 7, 2016.
The Book Nook,
sponsored by the Friends f|
of the Bogue Banks
Public Library, is our
primary way of raising
funds to help support
the library. The profit
from our book sales,
along with our ongoing
silent auctions, supports
programs such as July’s
annual Storytelling
Festival and the summer
reading programs for
children and adults. We
also support the library
by providing funds for
the purchase of audio
visual equipment, DVDs
and books.
We are grateful to our community for donating the gently used books that we
carry in the Book Nook. Our shelves are full of titles by popular authors such as James
Patterson, Nicholas Sparks and Nora Roberts that make great beach reading. These
you would probably expect, but what you may not expect are the unusual, esoteric,
sometimes-quirky, hard-to-find books that we also carry. We stock shelves of military
history, biographies and memoirs, books about gardening, sports, cooking, business/
finance, hobbies, health and travel. We carry poetry, drama, inspirational books,
psychology, psychiatry, classics and humor. One bookcase is devoted to large print books.
We have a large selection of children’s books, including picture books, chapter books and
selections for young adults. There is something for everyone, young and old alike.
We are proud of the positive comments left by visitors to our Book Nook. One visitor
^rote: “Great resource” while another said, “Love this place, very neat and orderly.” We
'velcome suggestions and have implemented some of the public’s beneficial ideas.
So if your TBR (to be read) pile is beginning to shorten, if you need a cool, quiet
*^6spite from the summer heat, and if you love a good bargain, please stop by the Book
hlook to browse. Our selections turn over quickly, so be sure to stop by often. Perhaps
you’ll run into a friendly face such as Pine Knoll Shores residents and board members
^ay Howe, Judy Henry, Jeanette Jenkins or Betsy Mercer as they restock the shelves,
handyman board member Steve Flora may well be there sprucing up the place. You
*^ay catch Treasurer Bill Johnston collecting money or Vice President Stacey Veros
picking up new membership forms. I am often there sorting and putting together ideas
ior future silent auction packages. Any of us will be glad to help you or to chat about
of our favorite pastimes—reading. You can also pick up a free bookmark from our
S^'ceting table.
So what is my favorite part about volunteering in the Book Nook? That’s hard to say.
a retired librarian, it lets me keep my hand in a profession I love. It’s fun to think of
Creative book display ideas. I enjoy entering the room and finding empty gaps in the
bookcases. That means someone has found treasures to take home and that we can refill
*^fiose spaces with other good books.
TTe Book Nook is open Monday through Saturday from 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m., the same
^ours as the library. We use an honor system for payment. If you need change, just ask
the library desk.
Turtle Season Begins in PKS
By Peggy Deneau
The 2017 sea turtle season in Pine Knoll
Shores is off to a terrific start. Our first nest
came in before the end of May, and by now (July
10) there are already seven nests on our beach.
When a new nest is found, we search for the
eggs, digging carefully by hand, wearing gloves.
When the eggs are located, one egg is removed
and opened. The contents are emptied into the
ocean, or into a hole dug on the beach. The shell,
which is the only part of the egg exclusively from
the mother turtle, is then folded up and placed in
a test tube of alcohol. The test tube is labeled with
the nest location and date, and sent to a lab. The
resulting DNA analysis tells us which female laid
a particular nest, and if she also laid others in the
area. It will also prove conclusively which type of
turtle laid the nest.
Things are a bit unusual this year. We have at
least one, and possibly two, green turtle nests.
These turtles
normally nest in
late August and
September, later
in the season
than our usual
loggerheads.
They also lay far
fewer nests in
our area, with
years going
by without a
single one. I
have also heard
that Salter Path/
Indian Beach
has two Kemps Volunteer Linbe Blackford (top) holds an egg to be used for DNA
Ridley nests analysis, and volunteer Lisa Park is pictured standing between
These turtles entrance and exit crawls of Nest #6.—Photos by Peggy Deneau
are endangered,
and do not normally nest here at all. The blustery, stormy weather offshore, excessively
high tides or the changes from cool and dry to hot and humid may have something to
do with these strange happenings. Maybe the turtles are confused, but it is certainly
exciting for the volunteers.
I would like to take this opportunity to welcome back all our great volunteers,
and our 10 new ones: Kim Elliott, Anne Charlton, Libby and John Gallagher, Robbin
Talley, Norine McLean, Amy Quinn, Brian McGovern, Rebekah Foley and John Davis.
John comes from Havelock to walk our beach (as does our librarian/volunteer Donna
Freeman). Rebekah comes to us from Morehead City. Brian McGovern is our newest
turtle patrol driver, and also is a volunteer with VIPS (Volunteers in Police Service)
here in town. Volunteer Cary Spencer, who joined our program last year, deserves
special mention. She has been known to make special trips to check on our nests, and
in addition to her own section of the beach, is also willing to walk for others who can’t.
She is extremely enthusiastic, and comes from Beaufort to walk our beach.
There is nothing more exciting for me than to see a new volunteer find something
for the first time. What a thrill for both of us. We have a really wonderful program
now with all our dedicated volunteers, as well as the turtle patrol vehicle, courtesy of
Police Chief Ryan Thompson. We are all looking forward to the nesting and hatching
for the next couple of months. With luck, we won’t lose any nests to tropical storms or
hurricanes. I hope our luck from last season holds out.
August 2017 I The Shoreline
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