Library offers free summer programs for teens

Rising sixth- through 12th-grade students can take part in a wide variety of free teen programs at Rowan Public Library this summer beginning Monday.

Metamorphosis @ RPL events take place from 5:30-7 p.m. Mondays at the South branch in China Grove, Tuesdays at the East branch in Rockwell and Thursdays at headquarters in Salisbury.

Back by popular demand this year is a digital illusions computer class. Other programs invite teens to get close to bugs and reptiles, create their own comic books and enjoy a makeover. The series ends July 31 with a cookout at the South branch in China Grove.

Teens also receive raffle tickets for checking out books, with new prizes drawn weekly.

Planned events include:

- Monday, Tuesday and Thursday: Metamorphosis Digital Photography Illusions.

- June 30, July 1, 3: Bug Rap: Create Rhythm and Poetry with a Book.

- July 7, 8, 10: Dan Nicholas Creatures Come Alive.

- July 14, 15, 17: Comic Book Creations .

- July 21, 22, 24: Your Fashionable Transformation.

- July 31: The summer concludes with a Monarch Cookout at South with free food, games, raffle, water balloons and a band.

For more information, contacts for each branch are — headquarters 704-216-8234, South 704-216-7728, and East 704216-7842.

The children's summer reading program, "Catch the Reading Bug," continues throughout the summer at all locations.

Teacher publishes book

"The Alphabet Monster" began as a singing teaching tool Sharon Johnson used to teach Windsor Park Elementary kindergartners the alphabet.

It is a rhyming, musical story about a color-changing, hungry monster who is looking for an animal to eat that begins with the letter A.

Johnson, a North Carolina teacher for 10 years, with ties to Salisbury, began singing the story to her students almost two years ago and most recently has turned it into a published children's book.

Johnson asked the school's art teacher, Thomas Jackson, to help bring her words to life.

"The Alphabet Monster" costs $31.99 hardcover or $21.99 in paperback and is available at https://www2.xlibris.com or call 888-795-4274 or e-mail ORDERS@xlibris.com.

Another newly published work

Frede' Rica has published her first book, "A Burden Has Been Lifted," with Publish America.

Frede' Rica lives in Salisbury.

"A Burden Has Been Lifted" is about a politician who encounters cult representatives at a Chicago convention, changing his life forever, according to a press release. The group convinces him to go to Israel with his wife. Although his family strongly objects, he moves his family to Israel and joins the cult.

The group paints a beautiful picture of their way of life for the politician. As time goes by, he then realizes the painting is just a dream. The ordeal destroys the once close-knit family forever.

The paperback book is available through www.publishamerica.com.