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

For the next few weeks I’ll be reviewing books new to our children’s department in honor of summer library program. You still a few more days to sign your school age kids up for our regular program or toddlers up for our Summer Port Tots program.  Call the library for days and times starting in June. The library is closed Monday for Memorial Day.                   

If you’ve ever played the guessing game, or twenty questions, you’ll be familiar with the pace of this week’s review: What Are You Waiting For? by Scott Menchin with pictures by Matt Phelan. In this softly illustrated tale a badger and brown bunny play throughout their day in their green and brown forest home. In the morning sunlight the friends stop and look at a caterpillar.  In the afternoon they explore a cave, count tree rings, and go swimming in a pond.  All the while Bunny is waiting for something and won’t tell Badger exactly what, although Badger asks lots of questions.  Bunny says if Badger falls asleep he’ll miss it.  At sunset the activity of a long day is too much and Badger’s eyes close, but Bunny wakes him up just in time…but for what?  The reader is treated to a gorgeous two-page illustration.  And my listeners out there will have to come check out this book to find out exactly what it was. But here’s a hint: this would be a fantastic bed time book for little ones who always seem to ask questions right at bed time.

You can get the item reviewed here, which was What Are You Waiting For? by Scott Menchin with pictures by Matt Phelan, 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!”
 

Hi!  This is Rachel Malay, director at the Port Library in Beloit.  
           
With the recent rise in popularity of super hero movies in theaters, the public at large has become aware of some of the pantheon of Norse mythological gods, especially Thor and Loki. Those two are part of a much larger and more complex mythology from what is now the northernmost part of Germany, Denmark, Norway, Sweden, and Finland. The Norse myths are complex and sometimes contradictory.  They don’t follow a modern storytelling structure, even in epic form, but they have inspired many modern novelists such as J RR Tolkein, C. S. Lewis, and of course the comic book writers whose works have been made into movies.

Now fantasy and fiction author Neil Gaiman has attempted to rationalize and envision a novelistic arc to the Norse myths and collected them into a reasonably sized novel.  With witty prose, modern sounding dialogue, and even a glossary of characters, author Gaiman makes these myths very approachable and entertaining to even younger readers.  The myths start at the beginning of creation, of course, and continue through the Norse version of the apocalypse. In between are thirteen chapters gathering the most well-known myths, weaving them in an order most coherent to this book, including the story of how Odin lost an eye, and how Thor impersonated a bride to get his famous hammer back from an ogre. If you enjoy Neil Gaiman’s storytelling style the library has several other books from grade school age to adult in the collection.

​You can get the book reviewed here, which was Norse Mythology by Neil Gaiman, 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!”

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

What do you think is the most widely read type of book?  Is it the cozy mysteries?  Those certainly are checked out a lot at the library! What about self-help books?  The “Dummies” series certainly has published a wide variety of topics to help with nearly every situation in life. Actually, the answer is romance.  This makes sense when you think of all the locations you see little paperback romance books for sale: WalMart, Dollar General, even roadside gas stations.

And no one has tried to produce a comprehensive documentary on that behemoth of the publishing industry until now.  Love Between the Covers may not have been produced by any huge studio, yet since being released about a year ago at film festivals it has earned award after award. The film follows the lives of five published romance authors and one unpublished author as they navigate the changes to the publishing industry and the content of their own genre over the course of the past three years or so. Several names you may not recognize, but nearly any reader out there of contemporary fiction has heard of Nora Roberts – who is featured here.

​The film is insightful and engaging, certainly an enrichment to the reading lives of anyone who peruses romance books in any way.  Woven between interviews with the featured authors is the story of why people love romance stories so much and how literary fiction plays such an important role in informing people about society and their place in it.

You can get the DVD reviewed here, which was Love Between the Covers, 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!”

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

I may be a couple days late, by Happy Star Wars Day back on May 4th! This day has been so designated because of a pun that relates to one of the movie franchise’s most famous tag lines – "May the force be with you." The movie series certainly hasn’t decreased in popularity over the years and the studios are planning to release one new Star Wars related movie per year well into 2019.

Last year saw Rogue One in theaters, and now at the library you can go into the movie in greater detail with Star Wars: Rogue One, the Ultimate Visual Guide by Pablo Hidalgo and illustrated by Kemp Remillard. A coffee table sized book filled with full color movie stills, costume and character photographs, and diagrams of other ships, homes, and planets, this guide will immerse you in the visual world of Star Wars, combining space exploration, exotic locations, culture, and military life of the fictional universe. You can follow along the movie’s storyline but also see glimpses behind the scenes of how they accomplished some of the live and virtual special effects.  This book has been published by DK, which is known for information dense full color books for both children and adults.  This publication is no exception, and could be enjoyed at the same time by both older and the youngest fans of the movie series.

You can get the book reviewed here, which was Star Wars: Rogue One, the Ultimate Visual Guide by Pablo Hidalgo with illustrations by Kemp Remillard, 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!”

Hi!  This is Rachel Malay, director at the Port Library in Beloit. Last week was the final week for our school-year programs for kids at the library; summer library program registrations will be available starting Monday for those who want to continue the reading fun into the summer!  Call or stop by the library for more details.

After nearly 14 years one of children’s literature’s most beloved modern characters finally has a sequel.  Duck on a Tractor, written and illustrated by David Shannon brings back the curious and bold duck from the farmyard to explore yet another mode of locomotion. Before it was a bike, but now Duck has a chance to break free of the rural life when he discovers a tractor unattended with the key in the ignition.  Duck may not know how to drive, but that doesn’t stop him from starting up the tractor and inviting all the other animals on the farm for a ride into town. Somehow a cow, a goat, a cat, a dog, a sheep, a chicken, a horse, a mouse, a duck and TWO pigs all fit onto the tractor.  It’s a fantastic ride all the way past Lily’s Diner where the farmer is having lunch.  And then uh-oh! The tractor runs out of gas! 

Colorful paintings from unusual angles accentuate the silly and fun attitude of this picture book, which will be sure to get at least a giggle from your little ones. If you want to read up on Duck’s other adventures on a bike the library has that title too. If you like author/illustrator David Shannon’s sense of humor the library has several other stories by him, including probably his most famous, No, David!

​You can get the book reviewed here, which was Duck on a Tractor, written and illustrated by David Shannon, 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!”