Storyhour changes

Big changes are in store for this fall's storyhours! Beginning the first week of October and continuing through March, both baby storytime (birth to 18 months) and toddler tales (18 months to 36 months) will be offered weekly instead of monthly. Due to popular demand, we will again be offering Family storytimes on the first and third Saturdays of Jan., Feb. and Mar. And to make things easier and more convenient for you, all weekday storyhours will be at 10:30am and no registration is required! See our web page or call 385-3645 if you have any questions. See you in October!

Minnesota State Fair begins today!

For information about this year's fair, including event schedules, visit their web site. For the history of the fair, check out either of these two great books: State Fair: The Great Minnesota Get-together or Minnesota State Fair: An Illustrated History.

Critically acclaimed writer Sean Elliot has come up with another winner in Safer, a "taut, claustrophobic thriller" about a couple who move from the East Coast to a seemingly idyllic neighborhood in a small Midwestern town. The tension ratchets up as a quarrel with a neighbor leads to a situation where the couple's careers, marriage and even lives are at stake. Check it out!

Great book you may have missed

In honor of the 400th anniversary of the first demonstration by Galilei Galileo of his telescope, we are featuring a wonderful book about Galileo. Titled Galileo's daughter : a historical memoir of science, faith, and love, Dava Sobel's book is "[b]y turns a moving portrait of the loving relationship between a father and daughter, a riveting chronicle of one of the most intensive battles between scientific truth and religious belief, a fresh revelatory biography of one of the most magnificent minds the world has ever known, [and] a masterful weaving of the lives of the mind, the body, and the soul." Check it out!

What a day for birthdays!

A bit of trivia for you: August 19 marks the birthdays of Coco Chanel, Bill Clinton, Ogden Nash, Malcolm Forbes, Gene Roddenberry, Orville Wright, and many other amazing people! If you are interested in notable birthdays, historical anniversaries, holidays and such, you should come to the library and browse through Chase's Calendar of Events. You never know what you'll find!

Dealing with aging parents

Many of us are dealing with the issues surrounding aging parents. Learn how other families have addressed these issues in the book When the time comes: families with aging parents share their struggles and solutions by Paula Span. Difficult issues but an engaging and informative read.

Everything you think you know about running...

could be wrong. Check out the amazing story of the Tarahumara Indians, who make your average marathon runner look like a couch potato. Christopher McDougall's new book Born to Run: A Hidden Tribe, Superathletes, and the Greatest Race the World has Never Seen just may make you look at running in a whole new way. Check it out!

On the night of the annual Perseid meteor shower, it seems an excellent time to mention one of the library's many great books about stargazing: The 50 best sights in astronomy and how to see them: observing eclipses, bright comets, meteor showers, and other celestial wonders by Fred Schaaf.

Read to Feed results

Thanks to all the kids (and their parents!) who participated in our Read to Feed summer reading program! Thanks to them and the generosity of the Friends of the Library, enough money was raised to buy three trios of rabbits, 1 flock of hope (chicks, ducklings and goslings) and 1/3 share of a pig from Heifer International. Great job!

Why we make mistakes

Prepare to be entertained, informed and maybe even improved - all that just from reading Jospeh Hallinan's new book: Why we make mistakes: How we look without seeing, forget things in seconds, and are all pretty sure we are way above average. Check it out!