THE LIGHT BETWEEN OCEANS

Our June book for discussion is The Light Between Oceans by M.L. Stedman.  Stedman's debut novel is a story set on an Australian island, where a childless couple live quietly running a lighthouse, until a boat carrying a baby washes ashore.  It is a novel full of choices, dilemmas, and relationships.

 



Looking for more like The Light Between Oceans?  Try one of the books listed below.

 

When the Light Goes by Larry McMurtry

The Sandcastle Girls by Chris Bohjalian

The Secret Keeper by Kate Morton

The House I Loved by Tatiana de Rosnay

The Sea by John Banville

My Sister's Keeper by Jodi Picoult

The Language of Flowers by Vanessa Diffenbaugh

Shanghai Girls by Lisa See

The Memory Keeper's Daughter by Kim Edwards

The Cider House Rules by John Irving

 

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AUTHOR SPOTLIGHT: ROALD DAHL

Roald Dahl is a wonderful author of children's books, and next month our Book to Movie club will be discussing Matilda.  Matilda tells the story of an exceptional little girl who discovers her own remarkable powers due to the bullying of the school's headmistress.

Some other popular Roald Dahl books include:

James and the Giant Peach
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory
Charlie and the Great Glass Elevator
Danny, the Champion of the World
The Twits
George’s Marvelous Medicine
The BFG
Boy
The Witches
Esio Trot


For more information on Roald Dahl, check out his website: http://www.roalddahl.com/home

Looking for some more fun children's books?  Try one from the list below!

The Boy Who Swam with Piranhas by David Almond
Operation Bunny by Sally Gardner
City of Fire by Laurence Yep
Redwall by Brian Jacques
The New Kid at School by Kate McMullan
Wolves of Willoughby Chase by Joan Aiken
Fall of Fergal by Philip Ardagh
The Tale of Despereaux by Kate DiCamillo
The Field Guide by Tony DiTerlizzi
The Whipping Boy by Sid Fleischman
Sideways Stories From Wayside School by Louis Sachar
Everything on a Waffle by Polly Horvath


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DIVERGENT

With the movie release of Divergent in March, there has been a lot of interest in the trilogy by Veronica Roth.  Haven't read any of the books yet?  Click on the links below to place a hold today!

Book 1 - Divergent
Book 2 - Insurgent
Book 3 - Allegiant

Already read all three books and watched the movie?  Try one of these books to hold you over until the movie release of Insurgent.

The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins takes place in a future North America in which the rulers control through an annual televised event that forces young people from each district to compete against each other.  Katniss Everdeen's skills are put to the test when she volunteers to take the place of her sister.

Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card follows Andrew "Ender" Wiggin as he attends Battle School on his way through the military hierarchy.  Ender is the most talented result of Earth's attempt to create the military hero they need to win the war against an alien enemy.

Uglies by Scott Westerfeld is set in a world where everyone gets to be beautiful.  Tally is about to turn sixteen and undergo an operation that turns you from an ugly into a pretty.  However, Tally's friend Shay is not sure she wants that new life.  She would rather risk living on the outside, and when she runs away, Tally learns about a whole new side of the pretty world.  Tally must choose to find her friend and turn her in, or to never turn pretty at all.

Birthmarked by Caragh M. O'Brien: Gaia Stone is forced to make a difficult choice when her parents are arrested and taken into the city.

How I Live Now by Meg Rosoff tells the story of Daisy who leaves New York City for England to stay with her aunt and cousins.  War soon breaks out and threatens to rip the family apart.

Matched by Allyson Condie takes place in a world where the Society decides everything such as playtime, where to work, living quarters, food and clothing, and even death.  For Cassia, the most important decision the Society will make is who she will marry.  She is matched with her best friend Xander, but is left to wonder why Ky's face appeared on her match disk as well.

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AUTHOR SPOTLIGHT: CHRISTOPHER PRIEST

A few years ago I saw the movie The Prestige starring Hugh Jackman and Christian Bale.  I really enjoyed the movie, and once I found out that it was based on a book, I immediately added that book to my list of things to read.  I finally read the book a couple of weeks ago, and I have to say that even though I liked the book, I think I liked the movie more!

Christopher Priest is an English author who has published many books and short story collections.  He has won the Arthur C. Clarke award as well as the BFSA award.  His most recent work, The Adjacent was published in April 2014 in the United States.  For more information on Christopher Priest visit http://www.christopher-priest.co.uk/

Works by Christopher Priest:
The Adjacent
The Islanders
The Separation
The Dream Archipelago
The Extremes
The Prestige
The Book on the Edge of Forever
The Quiet Woman
The Glamour
The Affirmation
An Infinite Summer
A Dream of Wessex
The Space Machine
Inverted World
Real-Time World
Fugue for a Darkening Island
Indoctrinaire

Looking for something similar to The Prestige?  Try one of these books:

Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norell by Susanna Clarke
The Poisoned Island by Lloyd Shepherd
The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern
Vicious by Victoria Schwab
Life After Life by Kate Atkinson


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Celebrate Evansville History

This week Evansville celebrates local history with the debut of the new town walking tour guide! Join the Grove Society and other community groups at Creekside Place on Friday, May 2^nd for a reception, short presentation, and a walking tour of historic Evansville. The events kick off at 5:00 p.m. and wrap up between 7 and 7:30. Can’t make it to the walking tour debut? You can pick up one of these brochures at Creekside Place, City Hall, and Eager Free Public Library at any time!

To celebrate the historical celebration happening this week, I’m going to point you to a blog post that was written in 2012 about the various local history resources the library has to offer:

LOCAL HISTORY on the Eager Free Public Library blog.

The Central Hotel in Evansville, WI. The building was at the corner of Main and Madison streets and was razed in the 1930's.

Make sure to check out the digital collection of local photographs that capture many of the ways that Evansville and the surrounding areas have changed – or in some cases, really haven’t! – over the last century.

Poetry in the Library

April is National Poetry Month. Here at Eager Free Public Library we have a lot of poetry "stuff", from books of poetry to poetry programs.

At April's meeting of the Young Writers group, the group created bookspine poems that - you guessed it - use titles on the edges of books for lines of poetry. Given the limited amount of time they had, their final products were pretty great!

Below is a list of just some of the poetry books you can find at our library. Here's a tip: don't feel like you have to sit and read any of these cover-to-cover; dip in and out and try reading a new poem every day for a week.

Poetry for Kids

Poetry for Young People: Robert Louis Stevenson

The Poet’s Corner: the one and only poetry book for the whole family compiled and performed by James Lithgow (audiobook)

Edward Lear: poetry for young people by Edward Mendelson

Forgive me, I meant to do it: false apology poems by Gail Carson Levine

Noisy poems for a busy day by Robert Heidbreder, illustrated by Lori Joy Smith

Giggle Poetry is a fun website that’s chock-full of poems and poetry activities for kids and families to try together!

Poetry for Young Adults & Adults

Wisconsin History in Poetry edited by Henry C. Spear

The Cassell Book of English Poetry selected and introduced by James Reeves

The Variety of Poetry: an anthology collected by Edward A. Bloom, Charles H. Philbrick, and Elmer M. Blistein

Poetry out of Wisconsin edited by August Derleth

The Spoken Word Revolution: slam, hip-hop, and the poetry of a new generation edited by Mark Eleveld

How to Write Poetry

The poetry home repair manual: practical advice for beginning poets by Ted Kooser

The shape of poetry by Peter Meinke

Writing poetry: suggestions for young writers by Marie Gilchrist

Happy National Library Week!

Happy National Library Week! We like to think of every week as being a time to celebrate libraries, but in honor of the "official" week, we're going to zero in on some fun library-themed picture books from our library and others in Rock County.

If you're interested in one of these books, you can order it by signing in to RockCat, the library's online catalog, or you can always give the library a call at 608-882-2260 and we'd be happy to put it on hold for you.

• No Pirates Allowed! Said Library Lou by Rhonda Gowler Greene, illustrated by Brian Ajhar. A fun rhyming picture book about pirates, libraries, and reading!
• Library Mouse series by Daniel Kirk. This series of picture books explores many aspects of libraries, from library buildings to the "stuff" on the shelves, told through the eyes of a small mouse who lives in a library.
• Amelia Bedelia's First Library Card by Herman Parish, illustrated by Lynne Avril. The beloved character from the classic easy reader series appears in this picture book about libraries.
• My First Trip to the Library by Katie Kawa. A non-fiction book follows a young boy on his first trip to a public library.
• Library Lily by Gillian Shields, illustrated by Francesca Chessa. A picture book about Lily, who loves reading at the library, and her friend Milly, who dislikes reading but loves adventure.
• Spot Goes to the Library by Eric Hill. This board book featuring Spot the dog is a perfect way to introduce the library to very young readers.
• Homer, the Library Cat by Reeve Lindbergh, illustrated by Anne Wilsdorf. Homer is a quiet-loving cat who needs to find a new spot to sleep.
• Kevin Goes to the Library by Liesbet Slegers. This charming book emphasizes the library routine of finding books, checking them out, reading them, and returning them.
• Dinosaur Visits the Library by Dan Shea. With a mighty roar, Dinosaur heads to the library, meeting several animal and bird friends along the way. Perfect for practicing animal sounds and dinosaur roars.

We hope you enjoy these library library books as much as we do!