The Borrower by Rebecca Makkai

In this delightful, funny, and moving first novel, a librarian and a young boy obsessed with reading take to the road. Lucy Hull, a young children's librarian in Hannibal, Missouri, finds herself both a kidnapper and kidnapped when her favorite patron, ten- year-old Ian Drake, runs away from home. The odd pair embarks on a crazy road trip from Missouri to Vermont, with ferrets, an inconvenient boyfriend, and upsetting family history thrown in their path. But is it just Ian who is running away? Who is the man who seems to be on their tail? And should Lucy be trying to save a boy from his own parents?

First Friday event!

This Friday, December 2, you can be part of Downtown Red Wing Main Street's latest First Friday event: Holiday Helping Hands.

Start at the Red Wing Public Library at either 4:00, 4:30, 5:00, or 5:30 and hear a story and receive a bag and blank card. Instructions will be on the bag for where to continue on for more supplies and the chance to create a card to be given to an elderly or homebound person. A special "mailbox" will be set up for those who would like a "Meals on Wheels" participant to receive theirs.

V is for Vengeance by Sue Grafton

From Library Journal: "Kinsey Millhone doesn't look the other way when she sees trouble, so when she spots a woman shoplifting, she immediately informs store authorities. This sets off a chain of events, as the woman is soon found dead of an apparent suicide. Her fiance doesn't believe she killed herself, and Kinsey's quest to find the truth puts her on the trail of a major shoplifting ring. Grafton's latest alphabetical mystery brings Kinsey into contact with a number of shady characters, from gangsters and gamblers to unhappy and unfaithful spouses. Grafton's pioneering sleuth is as clever and witty as ever."

Happy Thanksgiving!

The library will be closed on Thursday, November 24 due to the Thanksgiving Day holiday. We will be open our regular hours on Friday (10am-6pm) and Saturday (9am-3pm).

Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Cabin Fever is here!

From the publisher: "Greg Heffley is in big trouble. School property has been damaged, and Greg is the prime suspect. But the crazy thing is, he's innocent. Or at least sort of. The authorities are closing in, but when a surprise blizzard hits, the Heffley family is trapped indoors. Greg knows that when the snow melts he's going to have to face the music, but could any punishment be worse than being stuck inside with your family for the holidays?"

eBook class for iPad owners

Due to demand, we've added an eBook class just for iPad owners (though the process is quite similar to getting eBooks on an Android device or phone, so if you own an Android device, feel free to come as well!). It will be held Tuesday, Nov. 22 at 5:30 and will last about 30-45 minutes, though staff will stay to answer questions. Find out how to check out free eBooks and downloadable audiobooks from Red Wing Public Library. If possible, please bring your device. Registration is required - space is limited. Please email rwpl@selco.info or call 385-3645 to register.

Unscrewed by Ed Sobey

From the Publisher: "Unscrewed is the perfect resource for all UIYers - Undo It Yourselfers - looking to salvage hidden treasures or repurpose old junk. Author Ed Sobey will show you how to safely disassemble more than 50 devices, including: Laser Printer, Radio-Controlled Car, Zip Drive, Videocassette Recorder, Paper Shredder, Audiocassette Player, Electric Drill, Computer Mouse, Keyboard, Fax Machine, Joystick, Floppy Drive, Videocassette Camera, Electric Clock, and more! Each deconstruction project includes a "treasure cache" of the components to be found, a required tools list, and step-by-step instructions, with photos, on how to extract the working components. It also includes suggestions on how to repurpose your electronic finds. Why pay good money to an electronics store when you probably already have what you need in that old VCR, printer, or hair dryer? Fight the mindset of planned obsolescence-there's technological gold in that there junk!"

Best Fiction of 2011

Kirkus Reviews, known (accurately, I think!) as The World's Toughest Book Critics, have released their list of the best fiction of 2011. Check it out and then check them out from us!

Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children by Ransom Riggs

From School Library Journal: "Sixteen-year-old Jacob, traumatized by his grandfather's sudden, violent death, travels with his father to a remote island off the coast of Wales to find the orphanage where his grandfather was sent to live to escape Nazi persecution in Poland. When he arrives, he finds much more than he bargained for: the children from his grandfather's stories are still at the orphanage, living in a time loop in 1940. The monsters that killed Jacob's grandfather are hunting for "peculiar" children, those with special talents, and the group at the orphanage is in danger. Jacob must face the possibility that he, too, has certain traits that the monsters are after and that he is being stalked by adults he trusted. This complex and suspenseful story incorporates eerie photographs of children with seemingly impossible attributes and abilities, many of whom appear as characters in the story. The mysterious photographs add to the bizarre and slightly creepy tone of the book. Jacob is a strong and believable character, though only a few of the secondary characters are fully realized. The pacing of the story is good, alternating action sequences with Jacob's discoveries of his grandfather's long-hidden secrets. Readers will find this book unique and intriguing. Grades 8 & up."

The Huckleberry Murders by Patrick McManus

From Publishers Weekly: "In McManus's amusing, folksy fourth Bo Tully mystery, the 43-year-old Blight County, Idaho, sheriff is headed for his favorite remote spot to pick huckleberries when five frantic women inform him that they've spotted bodies nearby. Tully finds three young men, apparently farm laborers, lying by a huckleberry patch, each shot in the back of the head. Tully has his hands full with the rare triple murder as well as the disappearance of rancher Orville Poulson, whose so-called caretaker, Ray Crockett, has entrenched himself on Poulson's property. Meanwhile, various women need the sheriff's attentions, including putative psychic Etta Gorsich, deputy Daisy Quinn, FBI agent Angela Phelps, and nurse Scarlett O'Ryan. Tully once again proves an unorthodox and effective lawman, while McManus's storytelling, be it about a haunted lake or a modern mountain man, never flags."

Theodore Boone; The Abduction

From the Barnes & Noble review: "Theodore Boone, the eighth-grade legal beagle of John Grisham's Kid Lawyer is back for another round of crises in and out of the courtroom. Young Theo's problems are just theoretical: His best friend April has vanished from her bedroom in the middle of the night and no one in town seems capable of penetrating the mystery. It's up to young Boone to piece together the story behind her disappearance and bring any culprits to justice. An engaging suspense story by one of America's most famous authors."

The Wisdom of the Radish by Lynda Hopkins

From the publisher: "Early in The Wisdom of the Radish, Lynda Hopkins admits that she's not a farmer. She’s not even a farmer's wife. She's an aspiring farmer's girlfriend. With this tentative start, she and her boyfriend become the country's newest sodbusters. Their goal is to earn a living wage selling the fruits of their labor at the local farmers' market in Healdsburg, California. What at first sounds pastoral and idyllic quickly devolves into disaster: crop failures, worm-riddled corn, flood, and an episode involving a fox that's right out of Aesop's Fables. But with perseverance, Mother Nature's strong inclination for plants to grow, and sage counsel from Internet message boards, a working farm rises from humble soil. Hopkins is a winning storyteller, and her account of seedlings, harvests, chickens, and goats is gripping. Ultimately, the farm becomes home and not just an endless set of chores. Sometimes it just takes a little heart to become more than an aspiring farmer's girlfriend."

The Leftovers by Tom Perrotta

From Library Journal: "October 14 looked like any other day in the leafy New England enclave of Mapleton-until it didn't. Eighty-seven townspeople and millions more around the world simply disappeared. Cars careened with no one behind the wheel, school kids were without teachers, food went uneaten on dinner tables, and lovers found themselves abandoned. The Rapture? No one knows. What we do know is that the psychological trauma for those left behind is overwhelming, and who better than Perrotta, known for his ability to zero in on the vicissitudes of middle-class America to grapple with the impact? Three years after "The Sudden Departure," Kevin Garvey's wife has joined a cult, son Tom has ditched college to follow guru Holy Wayne, and lovely daughter Jill has shaved her head and taken up with stoners. Nora Durst's life is in a holding pattern as she awaits the return of her husband and child, while Reverend Jamison, enraged at being passed over, publishes a newsletter exposing the failings of the missing. Perrotta has taken a subject that could easily slip into slapstick and imbued it with gravitas. Like Richard Russo, he softens the sting of satire with deep compassion for his characters in all their confusion, guilt, grief, and humanity."