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!”

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

Most of my listeners out there should be familiar with the series of adventure books for children written by J. K. Rowling, starring that famous boy-wizard Harry Potter.  The library has all the books and movies, up to and including the movie Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them. 

Now the original set of seven books is being republished in fully illustrated format. The ink drawings by Jim Kay add just the right touch with both small illuminations and full page background washes plus several gorgeous full page paintings.  Some pictures are fairly faithful to the movie adaptation, while others take a movie version of a character and mold them a little closer to the author’s original book description. These illustrated volumes are no small pocket version either. Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone is nearly casserole size at nine by eleven inches and over an inch thick with glossy pages.

The illustrated volumes began publication in 2015 and the library has the first two in the series with plans to purchase all seven as they become available. And just in case you are unfamiliar with the story line, it starts out with an eleven year old orphan living with an uncaring aunt and uncle in England, when an owl messenger delivers an invitation to start school at the country’s premiere wizarding school. Harry’s life is never the same.

You can get the book reviewed here, which was Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone, written by J. K. Rowling and illustrated by Jim Kay 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 this Thursday at 6 pm is the last Classic Movie Night until the fall.  We'll be watching Showboat from 1938. If you can’t make it but are curious let us know so we can plan the best movie line-up for our audience again later this year, starting in September.

Yesterday was Easter, and I do hope you had at least a great meal planned with family or friends. If you’re still in the church-viewing type mood after this holiday, the library has a new DVD in our non-fiction DVD section you may want to try out. Great Churches and Cathedrals takes the viewer on a grand an majestic journey through some of the world’s most beautiful Catholic and Protestant churches with a majestic music score in the background. Both video and photo stills are used to take the viewer on a stately journey through time and place. The narrator guides the viewer through the history of the architecture involved with church building over the centuries and also the details that make these buildings truly unique. Churches are known for being places packed with symbols from the stained glass meant to convey the faith message, stone carvings showing the struggle between good versus evil, and much more. 

This DVD is just over an hour long, perfect for someone who would like to do a little arm chair traveling, or someone who has that vacationing bug that seems to strike around this time of year but may be a little tight on money. And if you would like more documentary type films to watch, the library is slowly building a collection.  Come on by to see what else we have that you might like, or suggest an addition to our collection!

You can get the DVD reviewed here, which was  Great Churches and Cathedrals produced by World Wide Multi Media, 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.  

Easter Sunday is a week and a day away, which means those who like to prepare for the holiday are probably doing so this upcoming week especially. Liz Curtis Higgs is a well-known author in our Christian Fiction section with both historical and contemporary fiction. Her husband has also recently started writing faith based fiction stories.In addition to fiction, Liz Curtis Higgs has also the popular penned Bad Girls of the Bible and two sequels, plus several other devotionals and Bible study guides. And now just in time for Easter the library has The Women of Easter by Liz Curtis Higgs available for check out.

This slim volume is part fictionalized biblical account, and part bible study. Author Higgs follows three Marys, Mary of Bethany, Mary of Nazareth, and Mary Magdalene, through the last week of Jesus’ life, fleshing out the scripture passages with dramatized sections of how each Mary was probably feeling, research  and details on what life was probably like at that moment, and commentary on the whole situation. The story unfolds organically, (we don’t even meet the third Mary until the second to last chapter!) even with all the research and commentary embedded within the narrative. A study guide is included at the back with at least four in depth questions for each chapter. Though small, this book is clearly meant to be digested thoroughly, probably best done in a Bible Study setting. And a notes section covers just how many resources the author has consulted to bring a well-rounded viewpoint to the resurrection story. 

You can get the book reviewed here, which was The Women of Easter by Liz Curtis Higgs, and more great titles to watch, read, listen to, or play with at the Port Library. This is director Rachel Malay, saying “Thanks for checking us out!”