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

The Port Library’s Christian fiction section is very popular with our patrons, and the library is always trying to add new and interesting selections. Most of the stories in the Christian fiction section seem to center around romance, marriage, Amish, or historical themes. These books always present their story centered around faith, family, and a relationship with God.  But, if you’re tired of reading the same romance story told in only slightly different ways, this week’s Port Pick may be the breath of fresh air you are looking for in your reading selections.

Eden Hill by new author Bill Higgs is set in the 1960s around two competing gas station owners. If the author’s last name sounds somewhat familiar to my Christian fiction readers out there, it is because Bill Higgs is also the husband of well-known Christian fiction author Liz Curtis Higgs. Time seems to stand still in Eden Hill, Kentucky until a new gas station moves in right across the street from the only service station in town.  The old service station’s owner, Virgil Osgood, is just fine with things staying the same in his town, his family, and his life.  The new gas station is yet another location of the Zipco chain, run by a young and ambitious family man Cornelius Alexander. However, this new gas station is a catalyst for Virgil as he faces new obstacles in his career, self-worth, and even marriage that he’s not expecting. And Cornelius is finding that owning a gas station is a lot harder than he expected, especially when the Zipco company manual for operating a new franchise location is urging him to use aggressive guidelines.  The third player in this small town drama is Reverend Eugene Caudill who just wants to show grace and forgiveness to the town, but he’s finding it very hard himself to love the new neighbor Cornelius when Cornelius’ presence is the very thing causing upset.

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!”

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

DK Publishers are known for their information guides for babies through adults done with beautiful color photography and easy to digest short paragraphs and text boxes.  While DK Publishers cover a wide range of topics, the library is happy to have a newly updated version of their previously released Encyclopedia of Herbal Medicine by Andrew Chevalier. This book covers 550 herbs and remedies for common ailments, but is not meant to replace a doctor’s opinion.  Still, if you’re family’s been using great grandma’s ancient advice on the best way to stave off allergies or a headache, it might be a good idea to consult this brick of a book to update your knowledge.

This book covers first an overview of herbal medicine from how they actually work, what the active ingredients are and quality control, to a short history of their use around the world. The main portion of this book contains a visual guide to the herbs along with where the come from, what they’re supposed to do, latest research, and a practical use guide. Each herb has it’s own full page devoted to the details, and with the 100 most well-known key herbs listed first in alphabetical order by it’s common name, and a second more condensed section with 450 less well-known herbs. A longer section toward the end of the book goes into much more detail of how to grow medicinal herbs and plants and techniques for preparing them for use.

The library has one or two other guidebooks on herbal medicine, but none are quite as up to date or as comprehensive as this book. The print is rather on the small side, so if you are used to reading larger print books you may want to consider approaching this book in a well-lit location.

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!”

Hi!  This is Rachel Malay, director at the Port Library in Beloit. Coming up on Monday Story Port returns to the Port Library.  If you know a kid ages 5 through 5th grade who might want to come to the library at 3:45 pm to hear a story and do an activity call the library to sign up.  Also, the next session of library mini golf will be happening from 7-9 PM on Monday and Tuesday night.  Call to sign up for that activity or with more questions.  Finally, on Thursday is our second movie in our monthly classic movie series, Ruggles of Red Gap, at 7 pm in the Schafer Room.
           
​If you like authors Lemony Snicket, Chris Van Allsburg, M. T. Anderson, Jon Scieszka, Cory Doctorow, Lois Lowery, Jules Feiffer, or Stephen King, I have a unique book to satisfy all those author cravings and more.  The Chronicles of Harris Burdick by Chris Van Allsburg collects 14 short stories, each with an illustration, into one book.  Aimed at older readers and teenagers, the story behind the title is that in the 1930s or 1940s a man named Harris Burdick approached a book publisher with an unusual teaser for a collection of stories; Mr. Burdick presented only the illustrations to go with his stories.  However, instead of coming back with written words Mr. Burdick disappeared without a trace.  Years later author Chris Van Allsburg received the illustrations and asked his author friends to write short stories about each picture. Privately though, this librarian believes Chris Van Allsburg did all the illustrations and came up with the idea to unite his favorite authors in one volume, published originally in 2011. Each picture and short story is a treat to the reader, ranging from just a few pages long to 10 pages or more.  The size of the book is closer to a picture book size and the pages are thick, resulting in a rather heavy volume, but this is still not too long of a read for even younger kids.
             
You can get the book reviewed hereand 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.  

The library will be closed today for Labor Day, and starting Friday at 10:15 am Mary Lou in the youth services department is trying out a new story program for toddlers called Port Tots.  Call the library for more information or to sign up.

Young boys can’t seem to get enough about big machines. If you have a toddler, and beginning reader, or even an older kid in the house still enamored of tractors, cranes, cement mixers, bulldozers, garbage trucks, or large diggers listen up to this week’s review! The Big Trucks series by D. R. Addison and published by PowerKids Press has 6 titles in the series.  Published about 7 years ago, these hardback books with full color photographs are sure to catch the eye. Each book is told in one or two easy to read sentences on each page, with a subject matter that is sure to encourage young boys and even some girls to learn to read along. Each book has less than 25 pages but still features a modified table of contents, index, and glossary.  This means that if you have even a 5th grader learning how to do research projects this would be a good resource to consult.

Of particular interest to the area farm kids will be the book focusing on tractors.  This book goes through different sizes of tractors, each with a large picture, and then various attachments that do different jobs. If you’re loyal to a particular brand of tractor, don’t worry; these books aren’t sponsored by any particular machine manufacturer. At the back of each book is a listing for a website with the most up to date information from the publisher on that particular book’s subject, online activities related to that subject, or just links to printable coloring pages.

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.