Reading
Join the Club
Sturm Memorial Library has had a book club for over 10 years. We tried to recollect exactly when the club started but we really can't pinpoint the date. We know it was in the late 90s though. Through the years we've seen people come and go but always there has been a core group of readers who love to get together and discuss a book. There may be a lot of talk lately about the death of the book as we know it, but book clubs are out in force all across the country. Rough estimates are that close to five million people belong to a book club. Pretty impressive numbers. What's more interesting though is that these five million people are from all walks of life - rich, poor, democrat, republican, old, young - you get the picture. Read more »
A Night to Remember
Sunday was the 100th anniversary of the sinking of the Titanic. This event is so permanently etched in the collective imagination of the United States that I don't even have to explain what the "sinking of the Titanic" was. The maiden voyage of that magnificent ship ended way too short and way too tragically. Today, the events of that night and the legacies they produced still resonate with the public. So many lives were lost that cold April night and of course we now know that it didn't have to end that way. A majority of the more than 1500 people that perished that night died not from drowning, but from freezing to death in the ice cold Atlantic waters. This, while lifeboats from the ship were carrying sometimes half of their capacity. I became a little fascinated by these events when I was a young child and watched the movie "The Unsinkable Molly Brown" with Debbie Reynolds. It was at that time that my mother told me her parents were married in 1912 and that her father wanted to plan the wedding and honeymoon so that they could return on the Titanic. Her mother had other ideas, fortunately, for all of us that followed. This little tidbit, whether true or just family legend, held fast to my young imagination and so too, did the ship and its fate that cold dark night. The Titanic continues to fascinate succeeding generations as witnessed by the amount of books written for young and old on this subject.
The Best Of
We are decidedly well into the year 2012. I like getting to this point in January. The days are noticeably longer, the holiday hubbub is over and we delude ourselves into thinking once this month passes, winter will be a breeze. This is also the time of year when I am plotting my reading journey for the next several months or so. This journey is the result of all of the “best of 2011” lists that we’ve been reading in review magazines, online blogs and websites. This is an annual rite of passage that we eagerly look forward to here at the Library. We compare the lists against what we have, we compare the lists against what we’ve read, we voice strong opinions about what books made what list and we make plans to read the books we somehow missed.
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Seasonal Differences
I am catching up on small jobs today - tasks that need to be done but keep getting pushed aside for one or another things that come up. I'm making signs and sending out a press release about our holiday hours, I'm posting photos of our program yesterday to Facebook, I'm organizing our photos on my computer and I'm writing a long overdue blog post. While organizing the photos on my computer I came across two photos I took in June of some of the shelves in the youth section. As any user of this Library knows, the summer months are a little busy here. The beast that is the summer reading program has become a labor of love for us here. We are exhausted at the end of every day, but it is such a satisfying exhaustion. The interaction we have with area youth during these months is priceless. And the icing on the cake is that a lot of books get checked out and read. Read more »
Word Clouds
This is my review of the book The Maze Runner by James Dashner. I was able to make this out of the ordinary "word cloud" review using the web site Wordle.net. This fun web site lets you enter text and then it makes a word cloud out of it. You can format it in different fonts, colors, arrangements, etc. We hope to have a lot of these hanging throughout the Library this summer as this is just one of many activities youth who sign up for our summer program will be able to do. The fun starts June 6th and runs for eight weeks. The themes are One World, Many Stories for kids ages 3-11 and You Are Here for youth in 7th grade and up. We'll be focusing on stories of people from around the world and we'll be doing our usual convincing the brave and not so brave to eat some unusual treats from countries far and wide.
There will also be special performers throughout the eight weeks and the kick-off event is One World Many Sounds by the Planetary Ranger Bill Kehl. Mr. Kehl will be performing at the Library on Wednesday June 8th at 2pm. This interactive program will include instruments from around the world and everyone will have a chance to participate. This program, like all of our programs, is free and all ages will enjoy it. We'll also be entertained through the summer by Truly Remarkable Loon (juggler, plate spinner), Grandpa Fred Turk (singer/songwriter) and the performance of School House Rock. And don't forget our annual Rodeo Lunch with Queen Brooke and Princess Tracey! (The Princess is one of our own!)
Brochures and schedules for all events are available at the Library and the Library Director, Miss Ellen, will be visiting the schools this week and next. It's hard to believe it's here, especially after our long winter, but it's time to think summer and we hope you and your family will be spending some of your summer here with us. For more information call the Library at 920-596-2252 or visit www.manawalibrary.org.
Let's Go Fly a Kite!
Let's go fly a kite
Up to the highest height
Let's go fly a kite
And send it soaring
Up through the atmosphere
Up where the air is clear
Oh, let's go fly a kite
I sang these words often as a child. Mary Poppins was one of my favorite movies and my sister had the soundtrack album (remember albums?) and we would play it all the time and sing along. I loved this song as it was so jolly and just made you want to go outside and have some fun flying a kite. And I did fly kites as a child and I wonder why I quit doing it. I'm reminded of all of this because April, among other things, is National Kite Month and board member Laura Langman has decorated the Library with a number of kites that add a splash of pizazz to the place. Kids who are inclined to spending a breezy afternoon keeping a kite aloft in the spring air can enter a drawing to win one of these beauties if they check out a read one of the books in our April display. The books deal with kite flying and other activities you find people doing as the winter months give way to spring and summer. (It will happen, it will). We have grown to love having the kites hanging in the Library and will surely miss them if they find new homes. We hope they do, however, because that will mean kids have spent some time reading. And thoughts of kids reading keeps this place flying.
Jerry Apps event canceled
The author event with Jerry Apps scheduled for tonight, March 29th, has been canceled due to an illness the author has. We hope Mr. Apps has a speedy recovery and wish him well. We're a little sad about this recent development because so many of you rallied around the book, In a Pickle, and you were looking forward to meeting the author.
We are still so glad we picked this book for our One Book/One Community program as it resonated with so many of our readers. The plot, the setting and the characters of In a Pickle had a little something for everyone who chose to read the book and many of you did. At this point in time there is no re-schedule date, nor do we even know if we will re-schedule.
We love doing these One Book/One Community programs because it's like having one big community book discussion for several months. We were tickled (pickled?) to learn how many of you had pickle picking, pickle growing, and of course, pickle eating experiences in your past - we loved hearing those stories. We will continue to offer this program in years to come and we'll continue to focus on Wisconsin authors because there is such a wealth of talent right here in our great state.
Please help us pass the word about the program cancellation. And thank you for supporting our efforts.
In a Pickle
No, we aren't in a pickle here at the Library, but we want you to read In a Pickle by Wisconsin author Jerry Apps. This book is our featured read for the revival of the One Book/One Community program here at the Library. We are very excited to revive this program that has taken a hiatus for couple of years. Mr. Apps is a well-known Wisconsin author who is originally from Waushara County. In a Pickle takes place in the fictional Ames County, Wisconsin but every reader from these parts will be able to discern that it's really Waushara County the author is writing about. There is nothing quite so enjoyable than reading a book that takes place close to home, a book that has a plot that resonates with your own experiences and a book that has characters that resemble the people we live and work with every day. Read more »
Holiday Books Redux
It seems like just yesterday I was writing about my Christmas of one year past and how much (or how little) books figured into my Holiday. I was concerned at what I perceived as a decline in the amount of book gift giving I saw in my family and in talking about books in general. I pledged that in 2010 all of my gifts would be books and while this did not completely come to pass I did make a good faith effort to achieve this goal. And this holiday also found me discussing quite a few books with family members and friends so as the Holiday week-end came to a close I felt a contentment that was missing somewhat last year at this time. Here are the books that played a part of my holiday: Read more »
Snowstorm Casualty
The week-end snowstorm that just blew through Wisconsin was actually quite fun for a change. The fact that it occurred on a week-end and I didn't have to travel the snow drifted roads allowed me to sit back and read a book, watch some movies and listen to the howling winds from the comfort of my couch. On Saturday I had a fleeting thought at one point that the weather might keep me from my Sunday papers but I quickly put that thought out of my head. Best not to think disturbing thoughts until you absolutely need to. Sunday morning, our neighbor arrived with his plow and Husband got his truck started and ventured out to get our reasons for living on a Sunday morning. While we subscribe to the Post-Crescent during the week, on Sundays we opt for the Milwaukee and New York City newspapers and living in these parts means neither of them gets delivered to our door. Husband always rises early and gets the job done, and by the time I open my eyes for good the papers are laying at the foot of the bed and a cup of coffee is on my bed side table. So, when Husband returned empty handed yesterday the disappointment surprised even me. Of course we should not expect people to put their lives in danger just for some Sunday papers the rational side of me thought. But a little panic set in thinking about a Sunday without newspapers. "They might come in later" we were told and so we had to turn to other objects of reading desire until later came, which you can guess never did. 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 • 130 North Bridge Street, Manawa, WI 54949 • (920) 596-2252 | Contact Us
Sturm Memorial Library is a member of the Outagamie Waupaca Library System (OWLS)