@ Your Library
Storytime on Thursday, February 20th at 10:30 am will explore the world through the five senses. Each week library staff share stories, rhymes and more around a common theme followed by free play. Any young child is welcome to join storytime with their caregiver and discover the wonder of books, reading and libraries.
And if you miss storytime check out our Facebook page each Wednesday afternoon as we share a recording of one of the stories from the previous weeks storytime. We have had several folks asking about Dial-a-story lately and while that is no longer around, we offer this as an alternative. Check out the stories on the International Falls Public Library Facebook page under videos. We will add a new story each week. Let us know your favorite story.
Library staff have the mid-February doldrums and went looking for books to help us escape the cold and gray.
Of course baseball makes us think of warmer weather and Tales from the Minnesota Twins Dugout by Kent Hrbek is a collection of the greatest twins stories ever told. We loved browsing Ballpark Baseball in the American City by Paul Goldberg for a cool architectural history.
Gardentopia by Jan Johnsen is a winter must! It provides ‘design basics for creating beautiful outdoor spaces’ and had me plotting and planning and even better feeling warm and definitely ready to get outside into the yard.
Here is what else helped us deal with our blah feelings. Where the Light Enters by Sara Donati is a epic tale of two trailblazing female doctors in nineteenth century New York. The Most Fun We Ever Had by Claire Lombardo spans a half century of life with Marilyn Connolly and David Sorenson from the days of falling in love in the 1970’s to 2016 when their four daughters all have a lingering fear that they will never love quite like their parents. Susan Mallery is sure to make one feel warm with her book The Summer of Sunshine and Margot, a great tale of family and a wish-you-were-there setting.
Great escapism can be found in the ‘Mrs. Murphy Mystery’ series. Whiskers in the Dark by Rita Mae Brown and Sneaky Pie Brown is set at the National Beagle Club and Harry must rely on her crime-solving cats Mrs. Murphy and Pewter and the Tee Tucker the corgi to sniff out the foes among friends.
I’ll end this week with two bookish novels a little different than my usual fare, but that is often needed to kick those winter doldrums to the curb. The Accidental Beauty Queen by Teri Wilson is a silly tale of identical twin sisters who couldn’t be more different. Ginny is the flamboyant Instagram beauty queen and Charlotte is a elementary school librarian content to experience life through books. Abbi Waxman has written a novel tale (or maybe not so novel) of a bookish young lady who discovers that just maybe there is more to life than books. I mean really.