A Poem for May

Library staff member, Jodi, shares a poem with us each month honoring our volunteers, the library, and reading. Here is her poem for May.  Thank you for sharing your talents with us!

Mother’s Day

This is the time we think of our moms
and everything that they do.
Moms are extremely special,
they gave birth to me and you.

They changed our diapers,
and wiped our tears.
This would go on,
for several years.

They fed us, and bathed us,
and tucked us in at night.
And if we were afraid of the dark,
they would leave on the bathroom light.

They would always read to us,
anytime night or day.
In between reading books,
they would also let us play.

For Mother’s Day, get her a book,
so she can sit down and relax.
Maybe you can do some of her chores,
to help her out perhaps?

— Jodi Aldini

A Poem for December

snowflake imageLibrary staff member, Jodi, shares a poem with us each month honoring our volunteers, the library, and reading. Here is her poem for December.  Thank you for sharing your talents with us!

Tis’ the Season

It’s finally December,
The last month of the year.
It’s the Holiday season,
And time to spread cheer.

We’ll be trimming the tree,
And making some treats.
Cookies and candy,
And everything sweet.

Shopping for presents,
To place under the tree.
I wonder which one,
Will be given to me?

The gifts will be wrapped,
With ribbons and bows.
The pile under the tree,
Grows and it grows.

Soon the ground will be covered
In a blanket of white.
Shining like diamonds
All through the night.

Making snowmen and snowballs,
And having oodles of fin.
How are we
To get any reading done?

At the end of the day,
when sleep is on your mind.
It’s the perfect time to read,
To relax and to unwind.

By Jodi Aldini-Zepeda

Happy Holidays!!

Winter Reading Program for Kids

snowflake imageREADsquared Online Reading Program invites you to our Winter Reading Program for KIDS!

As you snuggle by the warm fireplace this winter, or spend time baking delicious cookies the Youth Library invites you to participate in our READsquared Online Reading Program specially created just for you and your family.

For every 4 missions you complete you earn a reading tag. Complete all 16 missions and earn a prize! 
In this program, you will earn points by completing reading missions instead of logging books. Each mission will earn you 25 points. Once you reach 400 points, you have completed the program! 

Here is how it works!

Program Starts: December 21, 2021
Ages: 0 – 18
Visit http://iowablindreads.readsquared.com/
Select Register in the top right corner of the screen.
Select if you would like to register an Individual Account. If you would like to create a Family Account, please register yourself first and then register your children under your account.

Hope to see you soon!
Denise Bean, Youth Librarian
denise.bean@blind.state.ia.us
515-452-1338

Join the Adult Winter Reading Challenge

The Adult Winter Reading Challenge has begun! 

It’s not too late to sign up.  Go to iowablindreads.readsquared.com to register. Registration is easy!  You just need to create an account with your name and address and then choose the Adult Winter Reading Challenge to get started. If you read 7,500 minutes between January 4 – February 28, 2021, you will be entered to win a Winter Reading Themed Gift Basket.  You can log your minutes right from that website! Please call Leslie at 515.452.1329 with any questions.

These D-Lists (Digital List Including Special Titles) might help get you started on your path to 7,500 minutes.  Call the library (515-281-1323) to get signed up for one!

Reading Across America – comprised of books about or set in all fifty states

Books to Movies – includes books that have been made into movies

Plants in Name Only – includes books with a kind of plant or flower in the title.

TGAR (The Great American Read) – features the 100 books chosen during the PBS 2018 eight part series. Each cartridge will have ten of the 100 books from the Great American Read list.

VOICE (Voices Of Iowa Connecting Everyone) – features our local narrators and the great audio books they have recorded for our collection.

The Bookmark Series – 50 titles that we think would make a great movie for the Hallmark Channel.

Staff Picks  – filled with our staffs’ all-time favorite books.  As with our staff, there is a wide variety of books included, from true crime stories to romance to mystery to historical fiction.  With a little horror and fantasy thrown in there!

Adult Winter Reading Program Starting January 4, 2021!

Start the New Year with a fun challenge!  The Adult Winter Reading Challenge will begin on January 4, 2021.  Go to iowablindreads.readsquared.com to register.  If you read 7500 minutes between January 4 – February 28, 2021, you will be entered to win a Winter Reading Themed Gift Basket.  You can log your minutes right from that website! Please call Leslie at 515.452.1329 with any questions.

Here are the top fiction books downloaded from BARD this month that might help get you started.

The return by Nicholas Sparks DB100846

Thick as thieves by Sandra Brown DB100485

Hush by James Patterson and Candice Fox DB99916

The coast-to-coast murders by James Patterson and J.D. Barker DB100857

Choppy Water by Stuart Woods DB100390

The silent wife by Karen Slaughter DB100185

Half Moon Bay by Jonathan Kellerman and Jesse Kellerman DB100241

Cajun justice by James Patterson and Tucker Axum DB100128

Fair warning by Michael Connelly and Peter Giles DB99807

The book of two ways by Jodi Picoult DB100856

The midwife murders by James Patterson and Richard DiLallo DB100127

Book Reviews from Deena

Check out these book reviews from Deena, a member of the Library’s Patron Service Team. Let us know if you would like any titles added to your book list or head over to BARD (Braille and Audio Reading Download) to download the titles now.  Need more information about BARD?  See our BARD Page.

Finding Dorothy by Elizabeth Letts (DB94079)
The story flips back and forth from the making of the movie of The Wizard of Oz in 1939, to the love story of L. Frank Baum, the author of The Wizard of Oz and Maud Gage.  Maud, a long time widow in 1939, goes to the studio to see that the movie being filmed stays true to the story written by her husband.  Frank Baum was a man before his time, always imagining what the future would hold. He enthralled children with his stories of fantasy. Frank and Maude were deeply in love, but struggled financially until Frank wrote his first book of nonsense poetry. He later found greater success with the book The Wizard of Oz. This book was well researched and although fiction, much of the story is based on fact. Recommended for those who grew up seeing the movie The Wizard of Oz on television once a year.
Link to Title on BARD

Mistaken Identity by Don and Susie Van Ryn and Newell, Colleen and Whitney Cerak (DB66537)
In 2006, in Indiana a Taylor University van carrying five students and one staff member was hit by a semi that crossed the median and struck the van.  The lone survivor was a female student, Laura Van Ryn. Laura was taken to a hospital with a broken collar bone, elbow and leg and severe head trauma. The Van Ryn family rushed to the hospital in Fort Wayne, Indiana and the family stood by Laura, while she endured physical therapy as well as, speech therapy.  Her sister, Lisa learned how to perform simple procedures to make Laura more comfortable. Laura at first, was in a coma and as the weeks past she became more aware and talkative. Five weeks after the accident the physical therapist asked Laura to write her name. She wrote Whitney.  The nurses assured the Van Ryn’s that the head trauma can cause the brain to misfire.  The next day as Lisa was wheeling Laura down the hall she asked Laura her name and she said Whitney.  She then asked for her last name and who her parents were. Lisa was convinced that for the last five weeks they had been loving, praying for mistakenly been identified as Laura Van Ryn. The Van Ryns were devastated and the Cereks were questioning how this happened as they drove to the hospital. Whitney was glad to see her family. The Van Ryns and the Cereks formed an unbreakable bond in caring for Whitney and both knowing what it was like to lose a child.
Link to Title on BARD

A Man Called Ove by Fredrik Backman (DB84392)
Ove is a curmudgeon.  He keeps to himself and does not involve himself with anyone.  Having been let go at a job he held for many years, he feels useless.  His wife has died and he just wants to be with her.  He visits her grave frequently. He decides to end his life, but every time he tries to commit suicide he is interrupted by neighbors wanting to borrow tools or needing rides.  Ove eventually becomes involved with his neighbors and is teaching one neighbor to drive. A group of neighbors bans together to prevent one neighbor from being sent to a nursing home.  This book is written with humor and compassion.  It can be enjoyed by all ages.
Link to Title on BARD