The library has some great additions to the collection that just couldn't wait for another weekly item review!  I know this librarian (Rachel) is pretty excited, and I hope you will be too.  

Do you or a loved one have a severe vision problem?  Maybe you're holding a magnifying glass to everything you read (even with glasses) to see the teeny-tiny print.  Beyond glasses and magnifying lenses, is a piece of equipment called a video magnifier.  This machine can magnify print up to 60 times and display it on a large screen.  Solomon Valley Hospice recently donated one to the Port Library, and we'll have it set up in the library for anyone to come in and use.  It looks a bit like the picture above.

Next big announcement: the Port Library has added Playstation 3 video games to the collection!  After a few patron requests, the library has added the following titles to the collection, and they are on the shelves awaiting check out (at least as of this morning!).

• Mass Effect Trilogy
  
• Little Big Planet 2
  
• Mortal Kombat Komplete Edition
  
• Tomb Raider Trilogy
  
• Metal Gear Solid HD Collection
  
• BioShock and BioShock 2: Ultimate Rapture Edition
  
• Disney Universe
  
• Assassin's Creed: Ezio Trilogy
  
• NBA 2K13
  
• Lego Star Wars: The Complete Saga
  
• Ratchet & Clank Future: A Crack in Time
  

Do you have suggestions for future additions to the library video game collection?  Let us know!  We also have PS2, Wii, Game Cube, XBox, and XBox 360 games for check out.  You can always check our online catalog from home to see if the item you want is on the shelves.  Or, give us a call! (785-738-3936)

Hi!  This is Rachel Malay, director at the Port Library in Beloit. Our summer library programs for every age of young person continue in July, and in honor of that my reviews for June will be of books new to the children’s department.

Most of my young adult and adult listeners will know who Waldo is of Where’s Waldo? fame.  For those of you not familiar with the nearly wordless picture books, Waldo is a cherry character in blue pants, red striped shirt and hat, and brown walking stick created and drawn by Martin Handford.  The point of the Where’s Waldo? books is to find him in several full color, richly illustrated pictures.  Even as a younger person it routinely took me 20 minutes or more to find Waldo in a picture from his book.

Now seven of the original Waldo adventures have been published in The Totally Essential Travel Collection.  This book is about two-thirds the size of the original Waldo books, and the illustrations have been shrunk down to fit the page.  Younger people may have no problem squinting to find Waldo, but if you’re an adult enthusiast, you many want to have a magnifying glass handy.  On each page the viewer can find Waldo, his dog Woof, Waldo’s female counterpart Wenda, Wizard Whitebeard, and Waldo’s nemesis Odlaw (which is Waldo spelled backwards).  Wenda, Wizard Whitebeard, and Woof share Waldo’s color scheme of red, white, blue, and a touch of brown, while Odlaw is dressed in black and yellow.  Follow the group through parties, gardens, movie sets, and other exotic locales!  With 75 scenes to peer at, there are more than enough to keep the reader occupied.  This book was published as a distraction for long car rides, so as long as the reader doesn’t get carsick, this is a must-see for the next family vacation!

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!”


Where's Waldo? The Totally Essential Travel Collection by Martin Handford
ISBN: 9780763661786 (No page length given; seven separate titles included.)
Children's non-fiction collection

Hi!  This is Rachel Malay, director at the Port Library in Beloit. Our summer library programs for every age of young person have started, and in honor of that my reviews for June will be of books new to the children’s department.

Lemony Snicket is an author best known for his Series of Unfortunate Events books, read by grade school aged kids and kids at heart.  The first book was even made into a movie a few years ago starring Jim Carrey.  Snicket’s writing style is a little dark, as the series title suggests.  While the setting is not sunny and cheery, his characters are undaunted, and find a practical and fearless way out of their troubles.  Lemony Snicket (whose real name is Daniel Handler) has now come out with a new book, called The Dark.

As a picture book illustrated by Jon Klassen, The Dark is not as thick as Mr. Snicket’s recent novels, but the story line is just as engrossing.  The same feel of his other books is present, as you might have guessed from the title.  Our main character is Laszlo, a young boy in footed pajamas, facing a real dilemma.  He is afraid of the dark.  The dark, however, is not afraid of Laszlo.  Laszlo’s house is large and old, with many rooms, and the dark happens to live in the basement.  Well, during the day the dark lives in the basement, and occasionally hides in other corners of the house.  At night it presses up against the windows.  However, it has never visited Laszlo’s room.  The viewer can see in the illustrations this is because of a very prominent night light.  The night Laszlo’s night light burns out, the dark visits his room and takes on a speaking voice, entreating Laszlo to follow it down to the basement.  Laszlo, in a show of courage and with a flashlight, follows the dark to an old dresser in the basement where opening a bottom drawer reveals new light bulbs.  In the morning Laszlo tries to visit the dark again, but with no answer.  Even with silence from the dark, Laszlo and the dark remain friends.  This is a good title for any young reader who has not made friends with the dark yet.

            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.  Just come down the drive and look for the old limestone and wood sign, close to the ground.  This is director Rachel Malay, saying “Thanks for checking us out!”


The Dark by Lemony Snicket, illustrated by Jon Klassen.
ISBN: 9780316187480, illustrated
Children's picture book fiction (red tape)

Hi!  This is Rachel Malay, director at the Port Library in Beloit. I’ve got a new-to-the library video game review for this week.

Younger brothers and sisters often want to imitate their older siblings’ activities. Where video games are concerned, this can be hard for parents to accommodate.  Sometimes the content of the video game is just not suitable for younger audiences, and many times the controls are too complex for little hands and minds to master enough to enjoy the gameplay. The Lego Company, long known for making its toys accessible and fun across the ages, have made video games for years that appeal to all, but most importantly are easier for younger or inexperienced gamers to play.

The library’s latest Lego related video game is Lego: Lord of the Rings for the Xbox 360 game console. As a player you’ll follow the storyline of the movies, but everything you see and do is Lego-fied. Characters appear in the iconic brick form with cylindrical heads and blocky bodies. All the scenes are built out of Lego blocks. And when you “kill” an enemy he simply breaks apart into his component brick pieces. After accomplishing a task to move the storyline along, the game usually has a “cut scene” featuring a short animation, usually involving classic slapstick Lego humor. 

At its most simple, the player has only two main controls to master: the joystick to walk around and one button to smash things. After that there are one or two buttons to learn to build items, or pick them up. As an added bonus, two people can play at a time. This is a great game for a parent or grandparent to play with a child. And don’t forget you can return video games in the media side of our book drop, located on the outside front of the building, to the western end.

You can get the video game 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!”


Lego: Lord of the Rings published by Warner Brothers Interactive Entertainment
1 disc, XBox360 platform
Video games