@ Your Library
No fooling here! Mary Casanova has a new book releasing on Tuesday, April 6th from the University of Minnesota Press. It is her third book set on Rainy Lake of the 1920’s. Waterfall focuses on Trinity, the young artist whose family summers on the lake. Trinity has spent much of the past two years in an asylum in St. Peter. She is home at the lake for the summer before hopefully heading back to Paris to study art.
The Arrowhead Library System is pleased to present the WATERFALL Book Launch – A Webinar with Mary Casanova on Thursday, April 8, 7-8 p.m. This online event via Zoom will be moderated by Margi Preus and is free and open to the public. Join Minnesota author Mary Casanova for a virtual book launch of her new historical novel, Waterfall, set on Rainy Lake in northern Minnesota in 1922. This title is aimed at adults and is a recommended crossover for older teens. Mary writes about drug and alcohol addiction, abuse and racism. As we were talking about it, she said she didn’t want to talk about it with students when she does class visits. The pacing is very similar to Frozen and Ice Out but the seriousness definitely goes up a notch. The subjects are all important conversations to have but as an author, I wouldn’t want to have to talk about these issues with teens in a school or public setting.
Pre-registration is required for this event. To sign up, please visit https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/alslegacywaterfall or call ALS at 218-741-3840. Zoom log-in information will be sent out 24 hours prior to the online workshop. The registration deadline for this event is Monday, April 5, 2021. This program, sponsored by Arrowhead Library System, was funded in part or in whole with money from Minnesota’s Arts and Cultural Heritage Fund. If you are interested in purchasing a copy of Waterfall, please visit the Zenith Bookstore (Duluth) link https://www.zenithbookstore.com/waterfall or call 218-606-1777. The library is also purchasing a copy of the book and will have it available as soon we get it and can get it processed. It is listed in the catalog and requests are being taken.
It has been interesting to compare the life of the characters in Waterfall to the life of the characters in The Cold Millions by Jess Walter, set in Spokane in the 1910’s and then compare to our lives today. Class and race definitely play a large role in the opportunities one has to advance oneself. We have made headway, but it definitely isn’t equal. Reading, learning and understanding others will continue to help us move toward a more equitable society. I also read The Women of the Copper Country by Mary Doria Russell which fleshes out the Copper Miners’ Strike of 1913-1914 in Michigan, again dealing with the exploitation and underpayment of workers.
Ending on a more cheerful note, check out these new novels for elementary students, Katie the Catsitter by Colleen A.F. Venable and Stephanie Yue or Saucy by Cynthia Kadohata.