Hi! This is Rachel Malay, director at the Port Library in Beloit.

The library takes donations of recently published books and older items in good condition, as well as donations of DVDs, video games, and audiobooks.  This week's review is of a donated children's book.

Everyone knows the great contributions men like George Washington, Benjamin Franklin, and James Madison made to the founding of this country. They are known as the founding fathers.  But what of the founding mothers? Founding Mothers: Remembering the Ladies by Cokie Roberts and illustrated by Diane Goode tells the stories of women like Martha Washington, Deborah Franklin, and Dolley Madison.  In addition, less well known historical women are featured for their great additions to the founding of this country.  Mercy Otis Warren, a prominent citizen of Massachusetts, wrote eye-witness accounts of the mistreatment of colonists by the British ruling class, and sent those to the first Continental Congress, giving fire to the cause for independence.  And Esther DeBerdt Reed wrote a famous newspaper article, "Sentiments of an American Woman," that urged American women to support their troops.  She even went door to door and raised over $300,000 to help in the war effort.

Illustrated in quill and sepia-toned ink with colored drawings, each woman featured has a two-page spread.  Sprinkled throughout are pages setting the context and providing additional information about the time period to the reader. You may have recognized the author's name too: Cokie Roberts is a political commentator for ABC News and National Public Radio.

You can get the book reviewed here and more great titles to watch, read, listen to, and play with at the Port Library at 1718 N. Hersey, on the North Campus.  This is director Rachel Malay saying, "Thanks for checking us out!"

Founding Mothers: Remembering the Ladies by Cokie Roberts and illustrated by Diane Goode.
ISBN: 9780060780029, 37 pages, fully illustrated
Children's Non-Fiction books, history and geography section

Hi! This is Rachel Malay, director at the Port Library in Beloit.  The calendar showed spring started last Thursday, and I know the weather will soon cooperate.  As you're getting out and about in warmer weather, don't forget the library has many good books on gardening, home improvement, vacation planning, and even a good novel or two for rainy days indoors.

Unlike many popular crime novelists today, author P. D. James' work has spanned many, many years. She is known for her character Adam Dagliesh, who first appeared in 1967. There have been fourteen total novels in the popular series, the final one appearing in 2008.  Adam Dagliesh is a British Commander Inspector with New Scotland Yard.  The previous novels feature Dagliesh solving difficult cases with analytical calm.

The last Dagliesh novel, The Private Patient, is now available at the Port Library as an audiobook on CD.  In Dorset, England sits a very lovely old house, Cheverell Manor, now renovated into a private plastic surgery clinic and recovery center.  In her previous career investigative journalist Rhoda Gradwyn sustained a disfiguring facial scar, and has now come to the manor-turned-clinic to have the injury fixed.  It is a routine operation and she expected to take two weeks to recover.  However, two days later she is dead.  Dagliesh is called in and what at first seems an unsolvable mystery soon turns up more than just one or two suspects to examine!  Looking into the clinic and manor's past turns up more clues indicating a history of madness and even a lunching.  Then, a second murder occurs.  Dagliesh is under even more pressure to resolve the multitude of clues surrounding his last case. 

You can get the audiobook reviewed here and more great titles to watch, read, listen to, or play with at the Port Library at 1718 N. Hersey in Beloit, on the North Campus.  This is director Rachel Malay saying, "Thanks for checking us out!"

The Private Patient by P. J. James
ISBN: 9780739376911, 12 discs, 15 hours.
CD Audiobooks, Adult Fiction

Hi! This is Rachel Malay, directer at the Port Library in Beloit.

Jennifer Chiaverini is a popular author among local readers, and with good reason.  She has penned the successful Elm Creek Quilt books, a series focusing on the lives and struggles of the women who run and visit a quilting retreat called Elm Creek Manor. Written with warmth and heart, the series resonates with many readers,

Now Mrs Chiaverini has begun writing historical fiction with the same warmth and depth of character.  Her first foray was titled Mrs. Lincoln's Dressmaker and explored the life of Elizabeth Hobbs Keckley, Mrs. Lincoln's personal dressmaker.  The second book by Jennifer Chiaverini is in the same vein and is titled Mrs. Lincoln's Rival and is today's Port Pick.  This story explores the fascinating rivalry between Mary Todd Lincoln and Kate Chase Sprague, a woman determined to propel her man to the White House.  Kate Chase Sprague was the second daughter born to the second wife of Salmon P. Chase, an ambitious lawyer eventually elected as Secretary of the Treasury in Lincoln's cabinet.  After Mr. Chase's third wife passed away, his daughter Kate took up the role of organizing her father's social life - quite a feat in high society in the mid-1800s.  She eventually married wealthy William Sprague, governor of Rhode Island.  Everyone attended the wedding, including President Lincoln.  However, Mary Todd Lincoln was not in attendance.  Author Chiaverini has chosen to focus on the political rivalry between these two fascinating women - Kate Chase Sprague and Mary Todd Lincoln - and how the personal and social lives of these women influenced the political scene of the time.  Narrated from the third person point of view, the story officially ends as Mary Todd Lincoln leaves the White House, but an afterward fills the reader in on the reset of Kate Chase Sprague's life. 

You can get the book reviewed here and more great titles to watch, read, listen to, or play with at the Port Library at 1718 N. Hersey in Beloit.  This is director Rachel Malay saying, "Thanks for checking us out!"

Mrs. Lincoln's Rival by Jennifer Chiaverini
ISBN: 9780525954286, 432 pages.
Adult Fiction

Hi!  This is Rachel Malay, director at the Port Library in Beloit.  

Pheasant hunting season in Kansas ended about a month ago.  If you have younger hunters in the house whose interest in the sport was sparked last winter, or if you want to introduce your younger kids to the idea before the upcoming hunting season, you might want to try this week’s Port Pick.

Common Pheasant by Shelia Griffin Llanas is a short book with plenty of photographs. About two thirds of the book is taken up with a description of the bird, while the last few pages cover hunting the birds. Two pages are devoted to each short topic. The topics range from general information, history of the bird, basic physical makeup, and general daily activities. For example, did you know that pheasants are not native to Kansas? They were successfully introduced in 1906.  The birds were thriving in the 1940s, but expansion of farming into formerly open prairie decreased the number and since then pheasant farming has been the most successful way of keeping the population large enough to hunt enjoyably. The hunting section of the book lists a few bag limits for examples, and the best weapons and shot to use to bag the bird. The final few pages offer advice on what to do at the end of a successful hunt, but doesn’t go into specifics of dressing the bird. There is an emphasis throughout on how a pheasant lives in the Midwestern U.S. states. There is also a glossary in the back of the book that gives a quick definition for vocabulary words that have been printed in bold print throughout the book. This title is best suited for readers in second through sixth grade, although if any high school students are doing a research project, this would be a good quick resource.

You can get the book reviewed here and more great titles to watch, read, listen to, or play with at the Port Library at 1718 N. Hersey in Beloit, on the North Campus. This is director Rachel Malay, saying “Thanks for checking us out!”


Common Pheasant by Shelia Griffin Llanas
ISBN: 9781624031076, 32 pages, full color photographs
Children's non fiction books