Port Picks, Reviews, and Announcements

Pioneer Girl by Laura Ingalls Wilder, edited by Pamela Smith Hill

5/25/2015

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

The library will be closed Monday, May 25th for Memorial Day. The library will reopen at its normal hours on Tuesday. Sign ups for our summer library programs in June or July end next Saturday. Call the library for more information.

How many of my listeners remember the television show Little House on the Prairie? I know I enjoyed reruns as a kid, although I’ve never read the children’s books they’re based on. Published in the 1930s and 1940s, the books fictionalize the childhood and young adulthood of Laura Ingalls Wilder. The book series was first written just to be a memoir for Laura’s daughter Rose Wilder. However, Rose saw the publishing potential in these remembrances being sanitized and published for children. Now for the first time Laura’s real-life first draft and notes for her memoir called Pioneer Girl have been published with numerous annotations by the South Dakota Historical Society with Pamela Smith Hill as editor. With pictures, maps, photographs, and historical documents sprinkled throughout this nearly 400 page book is rich with carefully researched information that accurately portrays Laura’s surroundings. Laura’s voice is clearly seen in her actual words as well, but the added information makes this nearly twice as wide as a normal book. Her life from birth in Wisconsin, to travels in Kansas, Minnesota, Iowa, Dakota territory, and finally retirement in Missouri are all here, and in such an engaging way that even with distractions from the footnotes you won’t be able to put this down!

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!”

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New Playaways!

5/18/2015

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Hi! This is Rachel Malay, director at the Port Library in Beloit.
Sign-ups for our summer library programs in June or July are still open! Call the library for details.

If you like to listen to audiobooks, then listen carefully to this week’s Port Pick! New to the world of audiobooks is the Playaway format. At the Port Library if you want to listen to an audiobook we offer them on CD or directly as a digital download to your device. However, a Playaway is the audiobook in digital format, all on its own dedicated player. The player is just a little larger than a full size box of tic tac breath mints, and is powered by 1 AAA battery. You plug your own earphones in, or if your vehicle has an audiojack you can plug it right in to your car’s stereo system. The player is also small enough to tuck into any pocket and can easily be taken jogging or worn while doing other work. The Port Library’s collection is small right now, although we do have a small rotating collection and can request other titles for you on interlibrary loan.

For now the library’s permanent collection consists of just four titles: Touch & Go by Lisa Gardner, Son by Lois Lowry, Confessions of a Murder Suspect by James Patterson, and Private Berlin, also by James Patterson. The Playaways will circulate for 2 weeks at a time. If you have questions about this audiobook format, digital downloads, or even our CD collections, please call, email, or stop by!

You can get the audiobooks 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!”

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Foxcatcher (DVD)

5/11/2015

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

The library will be closed next Tuesday and Wednesday so that staff can attend training. The library will reopen Thursday at its regular time. Sign ups for our summer library program are still open! Call the library for details.

Actor Steve Carrell has been known for his comedy appearances on TV and in movies. Fans may recognize him from the television show The Office or as the voice of evil mastermind turned father in Despicable Me. However, one of his most recent big screen appearances has been in the drama Foxcatcher, which is now available at the Port Library on DVD.

Foxcatcher tells the true story of 1988 Olympic wrestler Mark Schultz (played by Chaning Tatum), Mark’s brother Dave (played by Mark Ruffalo) and his wealthy benefactor John du Pont (played by Steve Carrell). John du Pont invites Mark Schultz to move to his estate, called Foxcatcher, to train for the 1988 Olympics. John is not a completely sane man and has always sought the elusive approval of his peers and his condescending mother. Meanwhile Mark suffers from self-esteem problems. After the brother Dave visits and finds Mark involved in drugs and in no shape for competition, he moves his own family to Foxcatcher to monitor the situation and help coach. Dave has the self-confidence both John and Mark lack and an unhealthy relationship forms, with John constantly paranoid of the brothers’ relationship. Although Mark eventually loses at the Olympics, Dave decides to stay on at Foxcatcher and continue his own training as a wrestler. However, after the death of John’s mother, no one could have predicted what the unstable John du Pont would do with his dreams of peer respect and Olympic glory gone.

You can get the DVD 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!”

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Gingham Mountain by Mary Connealy

5/4/2015

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

Sign-ups for our summer library programs begin on Monday. Programs will be Tuesdays in June or July from 1-2 pm and are open for ages 5 through 5th grade.

This week’s review is a title from the rotating collection, which will be here until early June before a whole new selection of books appears on the shelves.

If you’re in the mood for a fast-paced inspirational romance that veers to the fantastical situations, you’re in luck. Gingham Mountain by Mary Connealy sounds benign enough but hold on for the plot run down! Grant (no last name) is a rough and tumble rancher in the heart of Texas who has a soft spot for orphan train children, taking them in when they aren’t claimed by the last stop on the line. One cold November afternoon meets the train and takes in Libby, a limping mute, and Charlie who has a huge chip on his shoulder. Also on the train is Hannah Cartwright who takes the position of schoolteacher and determines that Grant is using his adopted children for slaves. Even though an attraction grows between Hannah and Grant, it takes Hannah quite a while to trust Grant, and she has her private reasons for both an interest in and a distrust of Grant. Meanwhile, oil has been discovered on Grant’s land and a couple of con artists in town are determined to get the rights to that oil, even if it means a forced marriage or murder! This book is full of heartfelt scenes of high emotion, so the reader should settle in with the attitude of reading the equivalent of a TV movie or light drama. Prepare to be entertained and uplifted, as this is also an inspirational read!

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!”

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Pioneer Girl by Laura Ingalls Wilder, edited by Pamela Smith Hill

New Playaways!

Foxcatcher (DVD)

Gingham Mountain by Mary Connealy

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