Young Adult Reading

I saw a great sign the other day that was posted in another library.  Someone thoughtfully put it up on Facebook for all to see and we have debated posting it in our young adult section here at Meinders.  It says:

“It’s Okay.  You have our permission.  These books are from our young adult section.  But it’s okay to read them even if you are no longer, by any stretch of the imagination, young.  In fact, you’ll find that they often have provocative themes and complex characters that are the equal of most of the books you’ll find on the “adult” fiction shelves these days.  So don’t sheepishly tell us it’s for your kids.  We read them and you can, too.”

Recently, I’ve picked up a few young adult novels that I think are some of the best fiction I’ve read in a long time – the plots are great, the writing is fantastic, and I don’t feel at ALL like I’m reading a book for younger readers.  I think authors are currently starting to figure out that we’ve been selling our teenagers short, and the books that are being put out for them really show how brilliant they really are.  These are good plots, people, and I highly recommend the following books – no matter how old you are!

Hunger Games, Suzanne Collins

You KNEW this one would be on the list.  No matter its popularity, which sometimes turns people off from a book, this is a great series.  The heroine is bright, gutsy, and likeable (most of the time) and someone most readers can relate with.  Her thoughts are very realistic and the events that she survives are no less than miraculous.  The basic plot of the book is somewhere between the Running Man, Logan’s Run, and the Long Walk, pitting twenty-four teenagers against each other in an arena to fight to the death.  But that is an over-simplification and anyone who skips reading this book because of that summary is really missing out.  Collins does an excellent job with inter-personal relationships and a fantastic job showing how adverse trials often have deep reaching effects.  This is not shallow science fiction, this is a book you can connect with.

Shiver, Maggie Stiefvater

A very interesting take on the werewolf legends that takes place in northern Minnesota.  A young woman discovers there is more to the wolves she watches in her woods than meets the eye.  During the summer, there are a few more people in town, but once it turns cold, those people can no longer be found in Mercy Falls.  And the wolf population grows during the winter – are some of the town residents  running on four legs when it’s cold outside?  The beginning of a great series of books, which culminates in an unexpected ending.  I highly recommend these!

Graceling, Kristin Cashore

The beginning of a series that promises to be very intriguing, Graceling centers around a girl named Katsa who is Graced with the art of killing.  Anyone who exhibits a special skill is said to be ‘Graced,’ which leads to interesting situations when you are a teenager who is capable of killing a man with your bare hands.  Since she is the niece of the King, she works as a thug for the royalty, but all that is about to change.  An unusual friendship and the knowledge of a dangerous secret threaten the destruction of her kingdom and Katsa might be the only girl to stop it.

Tiger’s Curse, Colleen Houck

Fantasy romance at its best, this novel is the beginning of a series as well.  Kelsey finds herself spending her summer vacation trying to break a 300 year old Indian curse with the help of a strange white tiger named Ren.  When she comes into contact with magic spells and forces beyond anything she ever thought existed, Kelsey takes a huge chance and risks her life to find a way to break the curse forever.

Witch and Wizard series, James Patterson

Some of the most popular adult fiction writers have turned to writing young adult fiction and Patterson is at the top of that list.  This Witch and Wizard series centers around a brother and sister who are torn away from their parents and placed into a secret prison for no reason they can understand.  The world is a totalitarian mess, but in the midst of the insanity, the two siblings discover they have powers that they never dreamed of, powers that might be able to help them save the world.

Theodore Boone series, John Grisham

The first of this series is Theodore Boone, Kid Lawyer.   Theo, 13, knows everyone involved in the law in his small town and longs to be a lawyer one day, fighting for justice.  But he ends up in the courtroom sooner than he thinks, drawn in as a witness to a murder trial.  He knows the truth, but will he be around long enough to tell it?

Event Update:  Meinders Library is taking reservations for a trip to see the Laura Ingalls Wilder Pageant in Walnut Grove on July 7^th.  The bus trip and tickets are free, but reservations are required as seating is very limited.  Stop in to fill out your waiver and sign up today!  Reservations cannot be taken over the phone as paperwork must be filled out first.

PAFL Update:  Pipestone Area Friends of the Library is looking for members – anyone who is a friend to Meinders Library is welcome to join!  The Friends group works hard to promote the library, raise money for projects, and organize their yearly book sale, in addition to the HUGE amount of support they provide throughout the year.  Call for the date of their next meeting.

Book Club Reminder:  Book club regularly meets on the fourth Thursday of each month.  The next meeting is May 17^th at 7:00 in the Meinders Library conference room and everyone is welcome (please note there is a date change this month).  The book is Nineteen Minutes, by Jodi Picoult.    Call us for a copy!

If you have questions or have a book you’d like to reserve or renew, please don’t hesitate to give us a call at (507) 825-6714.  The hours for Meinders Library are Monday through Thursday from 10 AM – 8 PM, and Friday and Saturday from 10 AM – 5 PM.  Meinders Community Library is located at 1401 7^th Street SW, on the south side of the high school.

Laura Ingalls Pageant Trip - July 7th, 2012

The Plum Creek and Pioneerland Library Systems have partnered with The Wilder Pageant Board to provide a FREE chartered bus tour to the Laura Ingalls Wilder Pageant in historic Walnut Grove.  Step back in time and experience firsthand what life was like for early prairie settlers and learn more about Laura Ingalls, noted author of the Little House book series and the rest of the Ingalls family. The Wilder Pageant is a family-oriented outdoor drama based on the life of Laura Ingalls Wilder.  It is a live performance with all characters from the Walnut Grove area.  Laura narrates the story, reflecting on her life in Walnut Grove in the 1870’s. 

            Registration is required and bus seats are limited so sign up early: Meinders Library only has 34 seats available on a first come, first serve basis.  Register for the Pageant Bus Tour and complete the required waiver of liability form at Meinders Community Library (to leave from Pipestone) or contact the Plum Creek Library closest to you to sign up at a different location.   Reservations for the tour cannot be taken over the phone as the waiver must be signed in person.  Your local library will have bus seats and pick-up times available.  Stop by and reserve your seat today! 

            For additional information about the Laura Ingalls Wilder Pageant bus tour contact Chris at the Plum Creek Library System via e-mail at clang@plumcreeklibrary.net or by phone at (507)376-5803.

            This project is funded in part or in whole with money from Minnesota's Arts and Cultural Heritage fund.

Spring Books, April 2012

Lawnchairs for me mean reading outside. Now that the weather has turned a little more balmy (After that ridiculously warm March), I find myself wanting my kids to go outside so I can join them with a good book. Here’s a few that are new to the library this month. Not all are fiction – travelogues are great in the spring, when you’re feeling a sense of adventure!

  Wild: From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail, by Cheryl Strayed Her mother has just passed away, her family lives all over the country, and her marriage has just gone down the toilet. What does a young woman do to recover? Cheryl Strayed decided to hike the entire Pacific Crest Trail, from the Mojave Desert to Washington State and she decided to do it all by herself. She must be an experienced hiker, right? Wrong – she had no experience, only a vague dream of needing to do something that made her life more meaningful. This book chronicles her journey with humor as she speaks about a journey that ultimately tore her apart and put her back together again.

  Kitty Cornered, by Bob Tarte Bob’s first book, Enslaved by Ducks, is fantastic, but Kitty Cornered is even more so. For anyone who lives with cats in the house knows that they have a tendency to take over. Bob tells it all, from how his household grew from one cat to six, and how those furry felines began to dictate the shape the human lives would take. Cats managed to dictate sleeping arrangements, furniture texture and placement, and even the dining habits of everyone in the house. As Bob’s life is overtaken by his catty friends, he realizes they have a special way of showing him how to achieve contentment, even dealing with injury and illness. A touching story that’s a must read for cat lovers. The Innocent, by David Baldacci Sometimes even the government needs someone else to solve their problems. Will Robie is a killer, one that never questions orders and always follows through. Except for this once, when a job seems a little off and Robie refuses to complete the mission. Now his life is in danger, and to top it off, he’s found himself rescuing a teenage girl who may be the center of a vast conspiracy. For a man who lives mostly in the shadows, Robie is about to step into the spotlight to blow a really big whistle.

  The Wind Through the Keyhole, by Stephen King For the fans of King’s Dark Tower series, this book fills in some gaps in the history of the Gunslinger, Roland Deschain. When he and his friends need to find shelter from a horrendous storm on their way to the Outer Baronies, Roland tells two stories that shed light on his dark past, stories that fans of the series (which concluded in 2004) will dearly love. Though this book takes place in the Dark Tower world, it is a stand alone novel for those who have not read the others. Take a chance, read something a little different.

  Betrayal, by Danielle Steel Tallie Jones is a famous Hollywood director. Her award-winning films consistently achieve great praise and her name is fast becoming legendary. Yet she doesn’t like the lime-light, preferring her family and close friends instead. Her relationships are strong and trusting, vastly different from others in her profession. But things are not what they seem. An audit calls to light that someone has been stealing money – and that’s not all. Now, shockers after shocker, Tallie must figure out which one of her personal relationships is not what it seems to be. Which of her closest family and friends is betraying her?

 The Witness, by Nora Roberts One night, Elizabeth lets loose. Though her controlling mother would not approve, she lets a strange man with a strange accent lure her to a strange house and her life changes forever. Twelve years later, Brooks Gleason, the sheriff of a small town in the Ozarks, is intrigued by Abigail Lowery, a woman who lives outside of town with a huge dog and a large gun collection. She designs security systems, but manages to reveal nothing of herself or her past. Gleason believes she needs protection from something, but without getting close to her, he’ll never figure it out. One of Nora’s best yet, with a strangely appealing heroine and a plot that will keep you at the edge of your chair.

  Event Update: April 25 at 6:00, Meinders Library will be hosting Sheryl Peterson, an author and illustrator of some wonderful non-fiction books for younger readers. Sheryl has written several books on dinosaurs and others on fantastic places to be, including Minnesota and Machu Picchu! Come and join us for a great author-in-residence!

  PAFL Update: Pipestone Area Friends of the Library is looking for members – anyone who is a friend to Meinders Library is welcome to join! The Friends group works hard to promote the library, raise money for projects, and organize their yearly book sale, in addition to the HUGE amount of support they provide throughout the year. Call for the date of their next meeting.

  Book Club Reminder: Book club regularly meets on the fourth Thursday of each month. The next meeting is April 26th at 7:00 in the Meinders Library conference room and everyone is welcome. The book is The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald.

 If you have questions or have a book you’d like to reserve or renew, please don’t hesitate to give us a call at (507) 825-6714. The hours for Meinders Library are Monday through Thursday from 10 AM – 8 PM, and Friday and Saturday from 10 AM – 5 PM. Meinders Community Library is located at 1401 7th Street SW, on the south side of the high school.

Easter Calculations

Everyone knows how the date for Easter is chosen, right? Well, probably not. It took me awhile to figure it out and, honestly, the complete computation for the actual date is really confusing if someone with a scientific mind were to try and explain it. Since I don’t understand it myself, we’ll go the easy way.

Easter falls on the first Sunday after the first full moon after the vernal equinox. The vernal equinox falls on March 20 or 21 every year in the Northern Hemisphere (which is the date that counts according to the church) and so the date for Easter is chosen by figuring out the next full moon (April 6th) and then placing Easter on the following Sunday, which is April 8th this year.

It might surprise you to know that Easter can ONLY fall on 35 different dates, from March 22 (if the full moon is the SAME day as the equinox AND the equinox happens to be a Saturday) to April 25th (if the full moon was the day before the equinox). Easter last fell on March 22 in 1818 and will not fall on that Sunday again until 2285. It fell on April 25th in 1943 and will not be that late again until 2038. The cycle of Easter repeats itself every 5,700,000 years and the most common date for Easter is April 19th. That would by why I remember my birthday falling on Good Friday several times, though I have NEVER had an Easter birthday. According to the calendar, my birthday will fall on Easter in 2022 for the first time since I’ve been alive (I’ll be 49), and then it will repeat again in 2033 and 2044.

Now if you REALLY want to get technical, the Eastern and Oriental Orthodox churches use a different calendar to figure out the date for Easter, so not only is Easter movable, but it moves in different patterns depending upon the sect of Christianity that you follow. Confused yet?

The Jewish holiday of Passover usually falls shortly before Easter. The rules governing the start of Passover are nearly as complex as those placing the date of Easter, so I won’t go into much detail. Because of those rules, in three out of every nineteen years, Passover falls nearly a month after Easter, instead of a few days prior. There is no rule requiring that Easter follow the start of Passover, it is simply the way the calendars work out most of the time.

Whether you celebrate Easter, Passover, another holiday, or none at all, I wish you a happy season as we welcome the spring, the warm weather, and the sight of the sun. Spring fever is contagious and I think we all have it – celebrate being able to go for a walk without your coat on if nothing else! Happy April!

Event Update: April 25 at 6:00, Meinders Library will be hosting Sheryl Peterson, an author and illustrator of some wonderful non-fiction books for younger readers. Sheryl has written several books on dinosaurs and others on fantastic places to be, including Minnesota and Machu Picchu! Come and join us for a great author-in-residence!

PAFL Update: Pipestone Area Friends of the Library is looking for members – anyone who is a friend to Meinders Library is welcome to join! The Friends group works hard to promote the library, raise money for projects, and organize their yearly book sale, in addition to the HUGE amount of support they provide throughout the year. Call for the date of their next meeting.

Book Club Reminder: Book club regularly meets on the fourth Thursday of each month. The next meeting is April 26th at 7:00 in the Meinders Library conference room and everyone is welcome!

If you have questions or have a book you’d like to reserve or renew, please don’t hesitate to give us a call at (507) 825-6714. The hours for Meinders Library are Monday through Thursday from 10 AM – 8 PM, and Friday and Saturday from 10 AM – 5 PM. Meinders Community Library is located at 1401 7th Street SW, on the south side of the high school.