Books
At the Lake
I had a relaxing week-end at the Lake with family and friends. In between the boat rides, the swimming, the great food and the laughs, the talk was often about what we were reading, what we had read or what we would read if we didn’t have day jobs. When discussion turns to reading and books I’m generally in a good state of mind.
Ginger arrived Friday night with two magazines in hand. And what week-end at the Lake is complete without some magazines? A magazine worthy of a stay at the Lake will inspire lots of conversation and that’s just what the issue of People with Elin (Now Nordegren) Woods on the cover did. Ginger also had the latest issue of Rolling Stone with the stars of the vampire show on HBO on the cover. Read more »
Getting Spooked
I leave for Isle Royale National Park next week for a few days of island wilderness living in the splendor of Lake Superior. With an address of Michigan, the park is actually closer to Canada and Minnesota and is completely uninhabited except for moose, wolves, snowshoe hares and the few park rangers and employees of the one lodge that exists. Yellowstone Park sees more visitors in one day than Isle Royale sees in one year. The remoteness of the place makes getting there an adventure. The being there is just icing on the cake. In preparation for any trip I try to read as much as I can about the place I’m going to be visiting. There is not a whole lot of literature on Isle Royale but I’ve been able to find a few interesting books on the history and environment that will enhance my stay there. In my quest I always try to find a novel that takes place in the locale I’m visiting. So for this trip, that means two mysteries in Nevada Barr’s Anna Pigeon series.
Read more »
Olive Kitteridge
I finished reading this book last week and I'm still thinking about it. I love a book that sticks with me for awhile. Olive Kitteridge, by Elizabeth Strout, won the Pulitzer Prize for fiction in 2009. This book has engaging characters and a good sense of place. Since those are two things I really need in a book it was a good read for me. Read more »
This is what it's all about
The Library sees a lot of action during the summer months. The action taking place in this photo is the best kind there is. This is exactly what we hoped having the boat would inspire. Reading is fun all by itself, but giving kids a unique place to do it makes it even more so. Take books to the beach, to the cabin, to the campsites, to the picnics, to the park. Take the books, the reading will follow.
Happy days are here again!
Today we started another session of Story Hour and Babygarten. Though we need the time off to re-charge, when we start up again we realize how much we miss the programs and the kids who attend. Today for Story Hour we read The Easter Egg by Jan Brett and another wonderful book by Wisconsin's own Kevin Henkes titled Old Bear. Brett's book is a wonderfully complicated story about a rabbit who is in search of the best Easter Egg in order to win a contest. Brett's layered drawings tell several stories and the kids delight in being able to forecast what will happen next. Old Bear has all the Henkes hallmarks - excellent, brief verse and exquisite illustrations. Both of these books are great for reading to children. A special activity today was finding books in the stacks that had giant paper Easter eggs in them. The kids got to hang the Easter eggs on the tree in the Library...and they got to keep the book. I figured they would get enough candy over the next several days. I decided to "book em" instead. Read more »
Booktalking
Sandy Porter, the School Library Media Specialist, and I did booktalks yesterday at Manawa Middle School for the 7th and 8th grade classes. Booktalks are short, but highly interesting, presentations about books designed to pique the interest of listeners so much so that they want to read the book. They take a lot of work to prepare but they are worth the effort. We had lots of visual effects and Mrs. Porter did a great job of incorporating audience participation into her booktalks. We had a great time doing them. I must say though that I was exhausted by the end of the day (we did 6 presentations doing three books each) and I don't know how teachers do what they do. Really, they have my utmost respect. It was a good exhaustion though as our audiences were respectful and engaged. I love spending time with this age group and was grateful for the opportunity. And...by 4:30pm, two of the books I featured had already been checked out from the Library. Here are the books we featured - all of them are books that can be enjoyed by adults as well as youth.
Chasing Lincoln's Killer by James L. Swanson
http://www.infosoup.org/record=b1719806~S30
The Greatest: Muhammad Ali by Walter Dean Myers
http://www.infosoup.org/record=b1408943~S30
Twelve Rounds to Glory: the story of Muhammad Ali by Charles Smith, Jr.
http://www.infosoup.org/record=b1676763~S30
The Long Gone Lonesome History of Country Music by Bret Bertholf
Read more »Good Grief
I attended a visitation last night for the mother of two of my childhood friends. As these things always are it was bittersweet. Good to see everyone, sad that the death of their mother was why we were together. As I approached the casket and the line of family members standing next to it, a child around the age of 3 or 4 kept coming up to the casket and asking my friends' sister (her grandmother) "is this Great Grandma?" She was not scared, she had no problem approaching the casket and she seemed so genuinely curious and concerned. "Yes", her grandmother kept assuring her. I was reminded of the daunting task parents face when trying to explain the concept of death and dying to young children. We all need help understanding it no matter how old we get, but try to put yourself in a young child's head and imagine how you would figure it all out. The Library does have books for children of all ages that deal with the subject of death and saying goodbye to those we love. The books for preschoolers are picture books and for older youth there are fiction and non-fiction titles. Reading these books or having them read aloud might help children go through the process of grief. Sometimes we just don't know how to talk about death so perhaps the books will be helpful to adults too. Avoiding the subject does a disservice to children though. As much as we may try to shield them from the sad side of life, they know it is there and when we try to pretend it isn't it only confuses them and teaches them not to trust what they're feeling. Below are links to just some of the books we have on this subject. If you know of any others, or have had success with particular titles please add a comment below and I'll purchase them for the Library.
Remembering Grandpa by Uma Krishnaswami
http://www.infosoup.org/record=b1639980~S30
What's Heaven? by Maria Shriver Read more »
The Great Thing About January
January can sometimes be a tough month to get through - the letdown of the holidays, facing the bills from said holidays, paying your property taxes, starting to work on your income taxes, the inevitable numbing cold snap... need I say more? Here at the Library January is one of my favorite months. It's a month where we are completely and blissfully immersed in books preparing for the adult reading program, Biblio Bingo. The program started Monday and we have close to 20 people signed up already. Now an established tradition at Sturm Memorial Library, Biblio Bingo is a form of Bingo that allows readers age 16 and up to read some good books and win a prize or two. Weeks ahead of the starting date we come up with 16 categories, arrange them carefully on a Bingo card and then find books in the Library to match the categories. It is a lot of fun for staff coming up with the names of the categories and finding the books for each one is a great exercise for us. It makes us more prepared to help you find the next good book and it helps us see what books we don't have too. Every January, the USPS man delivers a box of books that include old classics, contemporary books that just didn't get on our radar the first time around and books by authors new to us that we learned about in the course of preparing for the program. We always try to have a place that's in the news for one of the categories and this year the obvious choice was Haiti. We also try to include a literary term and this year it's Picaresque (not to be confused with Picturesque). Also this year we're going to give people a pass on one of their categories if they read Ayn Rand's Atlas Shrugged or Cervantes' Don Quixote. Some of the other categories include "Shorts" ( Short Stories), "Vampires", "Wheel of Fortune" (the rise and fall of the rich), "I" (books that begin with the word I), "Weather" and "Small Town Life". Read more »
A book is a gift you can open again and again
My memories of Christmas as a child usually involve books. Every Christmas from early on I was given books as gifts and cherished each and every one of them. I always looked forward to opening these gifts. I could usually tell by the shape and feel of the package that it was going to be a book. I loved opening the pages for the first time, reading a snippet and looking ahead to the uninterrupted reading time I was going to have during vacation from school. I still have many of the books I received during my childhood Christmases - the Little House Books by Laura Ingalls Wilder (I received the complete boxed set one year - I was ecstatic), Harriet the Spy, Little Women and Eight Cousins by Lousia May Alcott, The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett and many others. My mother would always inscribe the books she gave to me. Reading those inscriptions all these many years later is a caress from the past now that she's no longer living. I always think I have the inscriptions memorized but I'm pleasantly surprised by something I forgot each time I read them.
I received only one book gift this Christmas. It was a copy of the Where the Wild Things Are Storybook. I am crazy about all things "Where the Wild Things Are" so Husband knew it was a sure bet. I did not, however, receive any books that I can get lost in over the next few weeks. As a matter of fact, I had to borrow a book from one of my sisters to have something to read at our Hotel on Christmas night. (Animal Dreams by Barbara Kingsolver -it was very good) I had a book along of course, but Husband commandeered it after he realized he'd forgotten his. Read more »
Library Hours
| Mon | 9:30 - 5:30 |
| Tue | 9:30 - 5:30 |
| Wed | 9:30 - 8:00 |
| Thur | 9:30 - 5:30 |
| Fri | 9:30 - 5:30 |
| Sat | 9:00 - Noon* |
| Sun | Closed |
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* The library is closed on Saturdays from Memorial Day through Labor Day. |
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Sturm Memorial Library is a member of the Outagamie Waupaca Library System (OWLS)