Summer Wonder brings participants a spectacular summer of outdoor discovery, scavenger hunts, reading, STEAM activities – and lots of fun for everyone (Courtesy, KDL)
Summer Wonder’s “WonderFold” contains a tracking log for participants (Courtesy, KDL)
Kent District Library is taking readers on a Summer Wonder journey of reading, learning and experiencing!
The Summer Wonder challenge is designed for multiple learning styles and abilities to keep readers of all ages engaged and inspired. The program brings participants a spectacular summer of outdoor discovery, scavenger hunts, reading, STEAM activities – and lots of fun for everyone.
Summer Wonder is a great opportunity to limit the “summer slide” that negatively affects learning between the end and start of the traditional school year. Extensive research shows that children involved in summertime reading programs sponsored by public libraries are more likely to maintain their academic skills.
Participate in Summer Wonder, running from June 2 – Aug. 8, by picking up a Wonderlog at any KDL branch or signing up online at kdl.beanstack.org. It is free and includes adventures and prizes for all ages.
“Earning prizes for reading and having fun – what could be better?” said Leigh Verburg, Branch Programming and Outreach Specialist. “Summer Wonder includes stories, activities and discovery for all ages, so sign up together and let the fun begin!”
More free summer programs!
KDL offers a great line-up of free summer programs and presenters including singing, magic, animals, puppets, STEAM activities and more. For a complete listing, visit kdl.org/events.
For more information on the Summer Wonder program, visit kdl.org/summer.
Cellar Bird Books offers visitors a wide variety of books, locally made gifts, and book club experiences (Courtesy, Deborah Reed WKTV)
By Deborah Reed
WKTV Managing Editor
deborah@wktv.org
For former Paramount Animation production manager Lea Kocurek, owning a bookstore was a decade-long dream that recently became a reality.
Located on the west side of Grand Rapids, Cellar Bird Books opened its doors at 415 Bridge St. NW on Nov. 18, 2024. Kocurek offers a carefully curated selection of new books for all ages, literary-themed gifts, monthly books clubs, author readings and more.
Rekindling a former passion…
Kocurek says she fell away from reading for pleasure during college but recently rediscovered her love of books – and began to dream.
“Opening a bookstore has been a dream of mine for about a decade or so,” says Kocurek. “I kind of got out of reading for fun, and once I discovered it again, I became a really avid reader.”
(Courtesy, Deborah Reed WKTV)
Between animation projects, Kocurek began researching what it would take to open a bookstore. A few months later, she felt the pull to make her dream a reality.
Already harboring a desire to move away from Los Angeles, Kocurek and her husband began looking at other parts of the country to see what appealed to them. After settling on Michigan, they narrowed it down further and arrived in Grand Rapids in 2021.
(Courtesy, Deborah Reed WKTV)
“We bought a house sight-unseen, and our first time stepping foot in Michigan was moving across the country,” says Kocurek. “We love it. We’re definitely putting down more roots with opening this store and everything, but I really love it.”
Falling in love…
(Courtesy, Deborah Reed WKTV)
Originally from Texas, Kocurek had moved to Los Angeles with her husband in 2015 to work at Paramount Animation. As she looks back, Kocurek realizes her world has always revolved around her love of storytelling.
“That dawned on me last summer when I was looking at both career paths,” says Kocurek. “I’m not necessarily the one telling the story, but I love bringing stories to people.”
Kocurek has fallen in love with Grand Rapids and the community, and stocks unique items made from local companies and independent artists. She also features books from several local authors.
“I’m trying to build that up a bit more as I get a little more established. I had to figure things out a little bit; this is all so new to me,” Kocurek says with a laugh. “It’s taken me a little bit of time to know how to even run a bookstore.”
(Courtesy, Deborah Reed WKTV)
When asked why she decided on the name Cellar Bird Books, Kocurek admitted the name was inspired by the times she found birds flying around in her basement.
“When I was looking for a name for the bookstore, I liked the ring of it and it fit the cozy/darker vibe I want the store to have.”
Kocurek says she loves all aspects of owning her own bookstore, but some things have caught her by surprise.
“I think the part that surprised me the most is the community aspect of it, and that it’s not just a store,” says Kocurek. “I’m starting to put together events and book clubs, and I enjoy it. I knew that aspect was there but didn’t quite understand how much of a foundation of the store it was.”
How to get books, books…and more books!
Event and book club information can be found here. Options to pre-order new releases, place a special order, shop online or simply view staff picks are also available on the Cellar Bird Books website.
If readers are searching for their next read, Kocurek recommends The Wedding Peopleby Alison Espach, her favorite book of 2024.
To learn more about Cellar Bird Books, visit their website – or simply stop in!
Yanek Mieczkowski’s book, “Surviving War, Oceans Apart,” tells the true story of two teenagers on opposite ends of the globe fighting for survival during World War II (Courtesy, Gerald R. Ford Museum)
Professor and author Yanek Mieczkowski shares the true narrative of two teenagers destined for life together in his new book, Surviving War, Oceans Apart.
Author and professor Yanek Mieczkowski (Courtesy, Gerald R. Ford Museum)
Mieczkowski’s parents, Bogdan and Seiko, grew up on opposite ends of the globe yet both found themselves fighting for survival during World War II. Oceans Apart is their story of resilience, hope and love in the face of adversity.
“We’re so glad to be able to welcome Yanek back to the Ford Library and Museum…to share his new book Surviving War, Oceans Apart,” said Brooke Clement, Director of the Gerald R. Ford Presidential Library & Museum.
“The themes of resilience, perseverance and the power of hope are timeless and serve to embolden every reader.”
Mieczkowski, a professor at the Florida Institute of Technology, attributes his passion for history and economics to his parents. Mieczkowski has always recognized the value of his parents’ life experiences but recently realized that, with both parents aging, his family history might soon disappear.
“As my parents got older, I realized their stories had tremendous historical value and they needed to be recorded and memorialized or else they would be gone forever,” said Mieczkowski. “If I didn’t record their World War II experiences, they would vanish with them.”
Seiko: Dreams amidst tragedy
In Japan, school was suspended during the war, and Seiko worked in a wartime factory while her older brother trained as a kamikaze pilot. Then Seiko’s older sister died, leaving the teenager devastated.
Members of the Imperial Japanese Navy Kamikaze unit, Daisanryoukotai (Courtesy photo)
“My mother felt shattered after her older sister died. All she could do was continue to read, study and tend to a vegetable garden. That was her daily activity and goal: tend to the vegetables. She had a love for gardening the rest of her life.”
After the war, Seiko resumed her education and began teaching English at a Japanese junior high school in exchange for a tuition reduction. However, Seiko wanted to improve her English skills and traveled to Berea College in Kentucky to work, save money and improve her English.
Only intending to stay one year, Seiko remained long enough to obtain a second college degree. She then traveled to New York City to pursue a graduate degree in history and political science.
As Seiko worked to acquire her dream, Bogdan’s path also led him to New York City.
Bogdan: A lesson in adaptation
The son of an extremely wealthy industrialist, Bogdan experienced an affluent lifestyle…until the Germans invaded Poland.
“All that was taken away,” said Mieczkowski. “It required a lot of adaptation to a radically different life where the family is just scraping by and trying to avoid death. The game was survival.”
Bogdan’s family fled to Warsaw where he fought for the Polish Home Army. During the Warsaw Uprising in 1944, Bogdan sustained severe injuries and endured seven POW camps.
“Every step required tremendous resilience, optimism, adaptation and survival, and those are all themes that I lean into in the book,” said Mieczkowski.
Exhausted soldier of the Polish Home Army emerging from a sewer after escaping from German encirclement (Imperial War Museum)
After the war, Bogdan intended to continue the fight for Poland. “He called it the white knight syndrome,” said Mieczkowski. “He pictured himself going back to his home country, which he loved. His intention was to fight to free Poland from the grip of communism.”
Bogdan quickly realized, however, that his efforts would have been futile. Instead, Bogdan refocused his goals.
Enrolling in courses at London University, Bogdan fell in love with economics and earned a degree.
However, an aura of condescension toward Polish veterans in London unsettled Bogdan, and he immigrated to Chicago. He lived with an uncle and received his masters and doctorate in economics at the University of Illinois. A few years later, Bogdan accepted a position at a Polish research agency in New York City.
A leap of faith…
(Courtesy photo)
The title of Mieczkowski’s book portrays a sense of destiny as two paths from opposite sides of the planet converge after a war and immigration to the United States.
“Surviving the war was a feat itself,” said Mieczkowski. “And then meeting – it was a stroke of sheer serendipity.”
Mieczkowski has always admired his parents for their resilience and achievements in the face of adversity. Writing Oceans Apart only increased Mieczkowski’s appreciation for what his parents lived through.
“I got a real appreciation for the hardships, the adversity, my parents lived through, and their ability to bounce back from all that and have a sense of optimism and perseverance through it all.”
Daily survival…
When recording their stories, Mieczkowski individually asked his parents what allowed them to survive the war when everything seemed so bleak. Their responses were identical: It was a day-to-day instinct for survival.
“You get up in the morning, you don’t set huge goals for yourself, you just try to make it through the day,” Mieczkowski said. “You knew in the back of your mind that the war would have an end, but to get to that end you just have to focus on the short-term. And the short-term is just making it through the day.”
A sense of family and the importance of education also sustained Bogdan and Seiko.
“Throughout the war they never gave up on learning,” said Mieczkowski, adding that his mother continued learning about music, chemistry, and other subjects while working at the factory. His father learned English and Italian from fellow POW soldiers and read every newspaper he could find.
“This is amazing, what my parents did, coming from a loss of everything in the war and refocusing, setting new goals of getting educated. I really admired that in my parents and always will.”
A labor of love…
“This was a real labor of love,” said Mieczkowski about Oceans Apart. “This book really hit home [and] by far was the most personal.”
Soldier of the Home Army laying his rifle down after the Uprising’s surrender (Imperial War Museum)
While writing Oceans Apart, Mieczkowski utilized newspapers and magazines from that time period while also reading secondary literature. During that research, he realized how few books explained the Japanese home front experience.
“That’s one of the real contributions of my book, that it gives readers a window to what Japanese citizens experienced during the war, as well as Polish citizens,” said Mieczkowski.
Mieczkwoski also visited the hometowns of his parents in Poland and Japan.
“I got a real sense for the environment in which my mother grew up,” said Mieczkowski. “It was a beautiful city with a latticework of canals that wind through the city. I got a real sense for the placid life my mother led up until the war.”
Bogdan’s family home in Bydgoszcz, Poland – built by Mieczkowski’s grandfather – was still standing.
“I got a real feeling for what my father lived with when he was growing up, this very comfortable life, and then having to leave suddenly,” Mieczkowski said. “Being in those countries really helped me to write and narrate my parents’ stories a lot better than I could if I had never gone there.”
A unique contribution…
Mieczkowski said Oceans Apart is a unique contribution to World War II literature because it offers a transnational experience. It is also as personal as it is factual.
“Readers can hear my parents’ voices through this, and I hope readers can be inspired by this book and by my parents’ experiences,” said Mieczkowski.
Bogdan Mieczkowski passed away in 2020 at the age of 95. Seiko is approaching her 96th birthday and resides in Cocoa Beach, FL with Yanek.
Event registration and additional resource links:
Register for the freeOceans Apart book discussions with Yanek Mieczkowski below:
Kent District Library is launching new booster packs that will help kids develop an early love of reading – and is asking for community assistance!
“Early literacy is the foundation for so many aspects of life and developing an early love of reading helps children in school and throughout life,” said KDL Executive Director Lance Werner in supplied material. “This, in turn, has a huge impact on our community. By supporting activities that are fun and effective, you are transforming lives.”
About KDL booster packs
(Courtesy, KDL)
Each $100 gift covers the cost of a typical booster pack, which is tailored for preschool and school-age kids in home-based activities. They include educational games, books and activities that make learning fun for children in kindergarten through third grade.
According to the KDL website, booster packs were created in response to the Read Before Grade 3 law, opens a new window. The kits were crafted to help improve specific reading areas including fluency, phonemic awareness, phonics, vocabulary, and comprehension.
The 600 booster packs KDL already provides across their 20 branches are exceptionally popular, which means that the activities are well used and need to be replaced from time to time so they are fresh.
Also, additional funding can help KDL expand the availability of booster packs. Currently, most booster packs are checked out and have a waiting list, so having the ability to add more packs will have a profound impact.
How to sponsor booster packs
To sponsor one or more booster packs, give online and designate your gift for “Booster Packs.” For more information, contact Randall Goble, Kent District Library Director of Engagement, at rgoble@kdl.org.