Library Notes for the Week of July 30th

Our Summer Reading Program is almost over.  I can hardly wait to see who wins the bike!!  With that done, we will start planning some computer classes for our adult patrons.  Let us know if you are interested or just look for information at the library and sign up.

When you are in, you might want to check out one of these books from our new book shelves.

Implosion: Can America Recover from Its Economic and Spiritual Challenges in Time? by Joel Rosenberg.  In the midst of financial turmoil, political uncertainty, declining morality, the constant threat of natural disasters, and myriad other daunting challenges, many wonder what the future holds for this nation. Will history’s greatest democracy stage a miraculous comeback, returning to the forefront of the world’s economic and spiritual stage? Can America’s religious past be repeated today with a third Great Awakening? Or will the rise of China, Russia, and other nations, coupled with the US’s internal struggles, send her into a decline?

Love, Life and Elephants by Daphne Sheldrick.  Daphne Sheldrick, whose family arrived in Africa from Scotland in the 1820s, is the first person ever to have successfully hand-reared newborn elephants. Her deep empathy and understanding, her years of observing Kenya’s rich variety of wildlife, and her pioneering work in perfecting the right husbandry and milk formula have saved countless elephants, rhinos, and other baby animals from certain death. In this heartwarming and poignant memoir, Daphne shares her amazing relationships with a host of orphans.

Prague Winter by Madeleine Albright. Before Albright turned twelve, her life was shaken by the Nazi invasion of Czechoslovakia—the country where she was born—the Battle of Britain, the near total destruction of European Jewry, the Allied victory in World War II, the rise of communism, and the onset of the Cold War. Albright's experiences, and those of her family, provide a lens through which to view the most tumultuous dozen years in modern history.

Library Notes for the Week of July 23rd

Summer Reading activities are continuing for a few more weeks.   

As we finish up our Summer Reader activities for this year don’t forget the Reptile Man is our last program, Thursday, August 2^nd at 6 p.m.  He will be performing outdoors in the field next to the old hardware store on the corner of 6^th and Morris (or inside if the weather turns ugly).  Join us for the first library activity on our new property!  

 Be sure your child has his reading record minutes in on Friday, July 27^th .  He must have 700 minutes to get his name in the drawing for the countywide bike drawing; and 800 minutes if he wants to get in on our bike drawing.

When you come to report those minutes, check out one of our new books.  Here are a few you might be interested in.

Never Tell by Alafair Burke.  Sixteen-year-old Julia Whitmire appeared to have everything: a famous father, a luxurious town house, a spot at an elite prep school. When she is found dead, a handwritten suicide note left on her bed, her parents insist that their daughter would never take her own life. Seems Julia's enviable world was more complicated. Abuse of prescription antidepressants and ADHD medication ran rampant among students; an unlabeled bottle of pills in Julia's purse suggests she had succumbed to the trend. And a search of Julia's computer reveals that she was engaged in a dangerous game of cyberbullying.

The Demands by Mark Billingham. Helen Weeks enters her local news agent's shop to buy her customary candy bar and ends up, along with another customer, as a hostage to the proprietor, who then demands that Detective Thorne find the murderer of his son. Some months before, Thorne had been the arresting officer when the boy surrendered for killing another lad in self-defense. While in prison, he was attacked and taken to the hospital where he was later found dead of an overdose of drugs. Forced to reopen the case and "find the truth," Thorne fights against time and Helen's predicament.

Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn.  It is Nick and Amy’s fifth wedding anniversary. Presents are being wrapped and reservations are being made when Nick’s wife disappears from their rented McMansion on the Mississippi River. Under mounting pressure from the police and the media—as well as Amy’s fiercely doting parents—Nick parades an endless series of lies, deceits, and inappropriate behavior. Nick is oddly evasive, and he’s definitely bitter—but is he really a killer?  As the cops close in, every couple in town is wondering how well they know the one that they love. Nick stands by his innocence. Trouble is, if Nick didn’t do it, where is his wife? And what was in that silvery gift box hidden in the back of her bedroom closet?

Library Notes for the Week of July 2nd

We had lots of fun at the Mad Hatter Tea Party, Sunday, June 24^th.  Several people wanted the instructions for KJ’s peanut butter dessert.  Stop by the library and pick up a copy of the recipe.  We are looking forward to making a mosaic trivet on the 10^th of July and Andy Locke, the ventriloquist, will be here on the 12^th.  You won’t want to miss either of those Summer Reading Program events. Both will be a 10 a.m. at the library.

When you stop by the library, check our new books.  Here are some you might be interested in checking out. 

Blood Line by James Rollins.  Somali pirates hijack a yacht off the coast of the Horn of Africa, kidnapping a young pregnant American woman. Commander Gray Pierce is enlisted for a covert rescue mission into the African jungle. The woman is no rich tourist: she's Amanda Gant-Bennett, daughter of the U.S. president. Suspicious that the kidnapping masks a far more nefarious plot, Gray must confront a shadowy cabal which has been manipulating events throughout history...and now challenges the current presidency.  

Mission to Paris by Alan Furst.  It is the late summer of 1938, Europe is about to explode, the Hollywood film star Fredric Stahl is on his way to Paris to make a movie for Paramount France. The Nazis know he’s coming—a secret bureau within the Reich Foreign Ministry has for years been waging political warfare against France, using bribery, intimidation, and corrupt newspapers to weaken French morale and degrade France’s will to defend herself. For their purposes, Fredric Stahl is a perfect agent of influence, and they attack him. What they don’t know is that Stahl, horrified by the Nazi war on Jews and intellectuals, has become part of an informal spy service being run out of the American embassy in Paris.

Tuesday’s Child by Fern Michaels.  On the eve of her retirement, Georgia attorney Mikala Aulani is eagerly anticipating a happy future with her partner, Ben.  When Adam Star turns up at her office, confessing to the long-ago murder of his wife, Kala must return to a notorious case that has never stopped haunting her. On the verge of his death, Adam exonerates Sophie and also leaves her a huge fortune in atonement. Released from prison, Sophie retreats to Kala's house. Kala is determined to help her client make her way back into the world. Yet for both, there are still revelations in store - about the nature of redemption, the strange workings of fate, and the power of forgiveness.