Starting Monday and throughout the month of February in the children’s department we’ll be hosting a LEGO creating contest. If you’re feeling constructive and creative stop on by any time we’re open and enter your masterpiece in our contest! For the next few weeks I’ll be highlighting older books in our collection that are from non-American authors. With the cold weather outside, now is the perfect time to do some arm-chair traveling to distant places.

This week’s review comes from a Christian fiction author from the Netherlands, Johanna Verweerd.  The Winter Garden in its original Dutch version was published in 1995, with the English version following a year later. The book is set in the not-too-distant past, but the era is never specifically stated.  Ika Boerma has always had a complicated relationship with her mother. As an adult, after a fifteen year estrangement from her family, Ika receives a letter from her sister that their mother is dying, and that if Ika wants to see her mother again to visit soon. In the intervening time Ika’s father has died and her sister has married and had two children, but Ika was absent from those events. However, when Ika goes home it’s as if nothing has changed. The story of Ika’s reconciliation with the mother she never connected with unfolds slowly between flashbacks to Ika’s childhood. Although this Christian fiction has plenty of references to Bible verses the faith that is portrayed may seem foreign to American readers. A translation to English hasn’t thinned Dutch culture present throughout the book, from the description of the places, to how the characters interact and talk with each other. This is an engrossing and emotional read, perfect for a warm drink on a dull winter day.   

You can get more great titles to watch, read, listen to, or play with at the Port Library at 1718 N. Hersey in Beloit.

As a reminder our after school program for grade school age kids, Story Port, is starting up again Monday. If you haven’t signed up yet, come by the library any time before the program starts at 3:45 pm on Monday. For the next few weeks I’ll be highlighting older books in our collection that are from non-American authors. With the cold weather outside, now is the perfect time to do some arm-chair traveling to distant places.

Like Water for Chocolate by Laura Esquivel was first published in 1989, became a bestseller in Mexico in 1990, and was made into a movie in 1992. It tells the love story of Tita and Pedro at turn-of-the-20th-century De la Garza Ranch in rural Mexico.  The book itself is arranged into 12 chapters, with recipes at the beginning of the chapter that relate to the scenes in the book.  January starts with the story of Tita’s birth and a recipe for savory Christmas Rolls, February with Chabela Wedding Cake and the real start to Tita’s love story. Pedro and Tita fall in love at first sight but Tita, according to tradition, is denied marriage by her tyrannical mother. Tita is the youngest daughter and all her life expects to remain single and at home to care for her mother. So, Tita’s mother arranges the marriage of Pedro to Tita’s older sister Rosaura. The chapters (and months of the year) continue with the story of Rosaura and Pedro’s marriage, Tita’s continued tortured life at the hands of her mother, and of the oldest sister’s Gertrudis own adventures at home and away. There are fantastical elements to the lives of these characters, but each unusual event is described in a way that doesn’t veer this into fantasy at all. The book is a shorter read at under 250 pages and could be finished in a couple hours, although the story covers the main character, Tita’s, entire life.

You can get more great titles to watch, read, listen to, or play with at the Port Library at 1718 N. Hersey in Beloit.

I’m sure many of my listeners out there are very familiar with the Harry Potter series by J. K. Rowling.  Seven books, eight movies, short stories, and now a play have all been written and enjoyed by fans all over the world.  But did you know after the world of Hogwarts, the author of the series has written an entirely new series? You may not, because the series is written under a pen name: Robert Galbraith.

Now the third in the murder mystery Cormoran Strike series has been published: Career of Evil.  Cormoran Strike is a private detective in London with a pretty private secretary, Robin Ellacott.  The two have been working together for a while, but when a mysterious package arrives at the detective agency containing a woman’s severed leg, Robin is horrified.  Cormoran is less surprised, but equally alarmed.  He instantly thinks of four people in his past that could have done an act this evil.  After taking the matter to the police, Cormoran becomes increasingly worried as the police focus on the one suspect Strike is sure did not commit the crime.  So Cormoran Strike and Robin Ellacourt take matters into their own hands, However, more horrendous acts occur as the two delve deeper into the twisted world of the remaining three suspects, and time is running out.  Lest you think this book is all blood and guts and no substance this story does continue the budding relationship between detective and secretary.  The library has the first two books in this series also: The Casual Vacancy and The Cuckoo’s Calling available for check out.

You can get more great titles to watch, read, listen to, or play with at the Port Library at 1718 N. Hersey in Beloit.

Happy 2016 to all the library patrons and everyone else listening out there! I hope everyone has made it part of their New Year’s resolutions to visit the library a little more often!  The activity in the newly created activity room this month is coloring pages for grown-ups. No, nothing naughty is pictured, but these coloring pages are quite a bit more intricate than ones you remember growing up. Coloring for adults has been shown to have the same benefits as meditation, so if you need a time to relax after all the hustle and bustle of the holidays, stop on by any time we’re open.

Each year the State Library of Kansas chooses “Notable Books” written by Kansas authors. In 2014 and 2015 the library was able to buy most of these books through a grant program.  From 2015 Michael Pearce’s Taste of the Kansas Outdoors is a lovely cookbook both cooks and hunters will enjoy. The spiral bound book will lay flat on a counter or can be bent all the way around to expose just one page. Gorgeous full color photographs of Kansas landscapes are interspersed with the usual appetizing photographs of the recipes. Each recipe takes up a whole page, with the cookbook being divided into sections on big game, waterfowl, upland game, wild turkey, fish, and even a section called from the earth about Kansas native plants. Each section also has instructions on finding and preparing the star ingredient. This cookbook is so lovely even non-kitchen minded folks will enjoy flipping through for the visual tour of Kansas

You can get more great titles to watch, read, listen to, or play with at the Port Library at 1718 N. Hersey in Beloit.