Port Library, Beloit KS
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Aunt Dimity and the Summer King by Nancy Atherton

6/29/2015

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

Our July sessions of the summer library programs for kids ages 5 through 5th grade start Tuesday, July 7th. There’s still time if you want to sign your kids up!  Call the library for details.

 Generally, when an author kills off the main character of a book that’s the end of the book, and certainly no sequels are written!  However, the character of Aunt Dimity in Nancy Atherton’s series of murder mysteries proves otherwise. In the first book in the series, Aunt Dimity who lives in the English countryside is killed off and her American niece Lori is tasked with solving the murder in order to inherit the countryside British home.  

Now twenty books and twenty-one years later author Atherton has published Aunt Dimity and the Summer King. The niece Lori is still living in the family home in the tiny town of Finch. The picturesque town relies on wealthy weekenders renting out charming local cottages as vacation homes. But when the cottages go unsold Lori takes notice. In a bid to contact the local real estate agent Lori gets sidetracked with the fascinating and eccentric inventor Arthur Hargreaves, dubbed the Summer King, at his estate Hillfront Abbey. When mysterious things start happening at the Abbey Lori thinks (with the otherworldly help of Aunt Dimity!) there may be a strange connection between the inventor and the local real estate firm. The library only has a few others of this series so if you are interested be sure to ask about interlibrary loan options.

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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Miracle at the Higher Grounds Café: a Heavenly Novel by Max Lucado with Candace Lee & Eric Newman

6/22/2015

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

Chelsea Chambers is looking for a place to start over in life.  After catching her NFL superstar husband cheating on her she has taken her children back to her family’s hometown of San Antonio Texas.  Chelsea’s mother willed her the family’s previously closed coffee shop and the plan is to reopen the shop on the main floor of the expansive Victorian family home and live above.  Thus starts the first chapter of Miracle at the Higher Grounds Café: a Heavenly Novel by Max Lucado with Candace Lee & Eric Newman. If you’re familiar at all with Max Lucado’s other novels you can probably guess that this is an inspirational read. 

In this story, the internet router in Chelsea’s new coffee shop happens to route messages to an unusual place – straight to God. Add in an alternate view of the story from Chelsea’s guardian angel and this story takes a bit of the fantastic turn. But just because God is now answering messages via the internet in Chelsea’s shop does not mean that all of Chelsea’s problems are solved.  She isn’t officially divorced yet, and her estranged husband eventually comes after his football season is over to see what can be salvaged of his family.  

The characters in this story are well rounded and the reactions to the situations realistic, even if the circumstances do seem a bit far-fetched.  At under 100 pages, this is a quick read, but it does have discussion questions in the back if you’d like to use it in a group setting with your friends.

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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Smoke Jensen: The Beginning by William W. Johnstone with J. A. Johnstone

6/15/2015

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

In addition to our regular summer library programs for kids this week we’ll also have a visit from Milford Nature Center at a special time: 11:30 am on Tuesday June 16th.  Call the library if you’d like to come.

Books set in the old west became popular starting in the 1940s as pulp novels, but became legitimate reading material as mainstream interest grew. Their popularity most likely peaked in the 1970s or 1980s, but westerns are still published, albeit at a slower pace, today.  One of the most prolific writers of the subject is William W. Johnstone.  Over his 25 years as a published author Mr. Johnstone is credited with over 320 books, nearly all of them in the western genre.  In later years Mr. Johnstone’s nephew helped him with his research and writing, eventually taking over several of the western series after the author’s death in 2004.  

Published this year, Smoke Jensen: The Beginning by William W. Johnstone with J. A. Johnstone, tells the backstory of the patriarch to the Jensen family.  The Jensen family is covered well in several other series by the author, but this is the first novel to focus on the young life of Kirby “Smoke” Jensen.  Kirby was born to a hardscrabble Missouri ranching family in the mid-1800s and is a young man when the Civil War takes both older brothers and a father away from home. Violence reaches even his home, and Kirby joins Brigg’s Marauders.  Even after the war the hard life isn’t over, and this book chronicles the change from boyhood innocence to a violent young adulthood that fosters a sense of justice in the young Smoke Jensen.

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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Midwest Maize: How Corn Shaped the U.S. Heartland by Cynthia Clampitt

6/8/2015

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


Our first week of summer library programs are over, but there is still time to sign your kids ages 5 through completing 5th grade up for our July sessions.  Also, on June 11th at 1:15 pm Smoky Hills PBS will be at the library to do a program for the younger kids.  Call the library if you’d like to come.

The opening song in the musical Oklahoma may sing about corn being as high as an elephant’s eye in that state, but the crop is grown all over the Midwest. Midwest Maize: How Corn Shaped the U.S. Heartland by Cynthia Clampitt takes a historical look at how the cultivation of the crop has shaped the center of the United States. The history of corn starts probably near 8000 BC in Mexico or possibly Central America where a while a local wild grass was domesticated. It is estimated that by 500 AD corn had become so widespread in the Americas that it was being grown as far north as New York State. After Colombus’ famous voyage to the western hemisphere maize was carried back first to Spain, then to India and the rest of the world. 


Other chapters in the book focus on corn throughout the years and the influence on transportation, the creation of cities in the United States, the use of corn as a feed crop, and an entire chapter devoted solely to popcorn.  Finally the author looks at the future of corn in terms of ethanol production, genetic modification, and a growing shortage of farmers. There are several recipes at the back as well as recommendations for where to find good quality cornmeal.  


This book was published by the University of Illinois press and is a very well researched yet readable overview of corn in the US.

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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The Book of Life (DVD)

6/1/2015

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Hi!  This is Rachel Malay, director at the Port Library in Beloit.   
Our June session of summer library programs start tomorrow - there's still time to sign up for the July sessions. Call the library for more information. 

The Book of Life is a recent DVD addition to the Port Library that may satisfy an itch to see something just a little bit different that the regular thriller, romance, or comedy movie. Animated in a distinctly colorful style, The Book of Life’s characters are all articulated and independent wooden puppets. The story they tell is anything but wooden! Based on Mexican myths, the story is basically set around two young men named Manolo (voiced by Diego Luna) and Joaquin (voiced by Channing Tatum) who both vie for the heart of the beautiful Maria (voiced by Zoe Saldana). However, from there this tale is rich with many other characters, real-world and otherworldly settings, and more than one nail-biting adventurous moment! In addition to the mortal love triangle, three spirits struggle over control of their sector of the world. La Muerte rules over the underworld Land of the Remembered while Xilbalba rules the Land of the Forgotten. Meanwhile up in the land of the living, sinister bandit Chakal is ready to come with his men and take over the town where Joaquin, Manolo, and Maria live. But when the spirits place a bet as to who Maria will choose to marry one day, life (and death) get complex! This movie is a children’s tale and though the plot gets a  bit complicated everyone in the family should enjoy the vivid colors.

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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1718 N. Hersey, PO Box 427
Beloit, KS 67420

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