This summer, our friends at the Preservation Parks are celebrating 50 years in Delaware County. The Delaware County District Library is helping them celebrate by once again being a partner in the annual Summer Letterbox Adventure! Back for 2024, the Summer Letterbox Adventure – or “letterboxing” for short – is already off and running now through Sept. 11.

Begin your letterboxing adventure at any library in Delaware County, including all locations of the Delaware County District Library. Our staff will help sign your family up for the part-scavenger hunt, part-geocaching journey through nature and our local habitats. Upon signing up, participants will receive a booklet that will provide clues at eight different Preservation Parks in Delaware County. These clues will teach each adventurer about the world around them and then guide them to the final location of the letterbox.

Take a pencil, marker, etc. with you on each letterbox hunt. Once the letterbox is found, you’ll draw the final clue symbol in your booklet. Then, you can write a note to other letterboxers on the notepad inside the box. Find at least four letterboxes at any park to win a fun prize pack – just by exploring parks close to home! Prizes can then be picked up at any Delaware County library or at Deer Haven Park.

An incredibly important point to learn about letterboxing, and nature, is to leave things exactly as you found them. This helps others to have as much fun searching as you did. Visit www.preservationparks.com to read the full rules and learn more about the Summer Letterbox Adventure.

While you’re exploring the local parks, see if you stumble upon a StoryWalk® trail. These fun trails incorporate reading and nature – quite literally. A picture book will be progressively posted along a path, so readers alternate walking and reading as they complete the story and the trail. StoryWalks can be found at most DCDL locations this summer, and some are out and about in the community. Let us know what adventures you discover while you’re “in the wild.”

This summer our teens are also reading action-packed adventures! See if these books are something your teen might be interested in, then come and find them at your local library.

• “The Jump” by Brittney Morris. The best scavenger hunting team in Seattle, Jax, Yas, Spider and Han compete in a dangerous game orchestrated by The Order, who promises a reward of influence, which they see as a chance to change their families’ fates and save the city they love.

• “The Naturals” by Jennifer Lynn Barnes. Seventeen-year-old Cassie, who has a natural ability to read people, joins an elite group of criminal profilers at the FBI in order to help solve cold cases.

• “Defy the Storm” by Tessa Gratton. When an anarchistic group known as the Nihil take over a section of space called the Occlusion Zone, Jedi Knight Vernestra Rwoh and scientist Avon Starros team up to penetrate the Nihil Stormwall to save those on the other side.

• “Into the Sunken City” by Dinesh Thiru. In a world where the rain never stops, impoverished Jin Haldar is offered the score of a lifetime—a massive stash of gold hidden in the sunken ruins of Las Vegas—and must do what she promised herself she’d never do again: dive.

• “Hearts Still Beating” by Brooke Archer. Mostly dead and placed in an experimental resettlement program, 17-year-old Mara is sent to live with the best friend she hasn’t seen since the world ended, and as the girls struggle with their pasts and the people they’ve become, they must lean on each other to survive.

• “The Immortal Games” by Annaliese Avery. The Gods of Olympus randomly select humans as their tokens and then gamble with their lives. The stakes are high and survival is unlikely. 16-year-old Ara is seeking revenge on the Gods for allowing her sister to die in the games. She’s determined to be selected as a token, but when she is, she realizes that it isn’t just her life at stake, but also her heart.

If you have a question that you would like to see answered in this column, mail it to Nicole Fowles, Delaware County District Library, 84 E. Winter St., Delaware, OH 43015, or call us at 740-362-3861. You can also email your questions by visiting the library’s web site at www.delawarelibrary.org or directly to Nicole at [email protected]. No matter how you contact us, we’re always glad you asked!