A Game of Murder and Intrigue

Okay not really, that's just what was going on at one point while we ate cookies in the dark and made sure nobody broke the library.

Everyone was organized into teams for the somethingth annual APL-Y Overnighter, a party rewarding the hard work and dedication of a MILLION BILLION youth volunteers (actual numbers may vary). Team leaders were all staff, and I was quickly voted the unofficial Most Boring Team Leader Ever. What can I say, devising entertainment for smallish groups is not my strong point.

The kiddies (some of whom were worrisomely close to my own age) didn't have to stay in their assigned groups for anything but the Organized Games, a couple little competitive bits of fun using Common Library Objects. First off was the giant tower of books. Thanks to a solidly built foundation from a longtime volunteer and some clever ideas about which books to use (I'm pretty sure everyone started following our structural lead after a few minutes), our tower was totally the tallest.

There was admittedly an equally-tallest tower (the night was full of ties), but I have no pictures of it that do not also include a whole bunch of kids who may or may not want their faces on my blog. So let's show ours again, in relation to the fellow who got to measure the towers:

He's not holding a flag, it just looks like he is.

Honorable mention was team #4 (alphabetically by team leader), who bears the distinction of having built by far the most towers in the allotted time. Props also to the team who built the tower just out of sight in the above pic, next to the pillar numbered 5. The guy stacking the books in that one was more or less trapped between the pillar and the book tower the entire time, as it was much taller than he was and to squeeze between the two structures to escape would have most likely meant an utter collapse of the building project. Now that's dedication!

All in all a pretty cool night, though I sort of wish I'd gotten a picture of myself at some point. The mess made was astounding, but so was the speed with which it was all cleaned up. By the time the library opened at 9AM, everyone was out the doors and on their way back home - or more specifically, on their way to bed. Fifteen hours of partying can have that effect on a person!