The Librarians' Bedside Table, March 24th issue

OSCAR GRADY PUBLIC LIBRARY

THE LIBRARIANS’

BEDSIDE TABLE

MARK YOUR CALENDARS! Our annual BOOK SALE IS BACK!

May 17th to the 21st.

Oscar Grady Public Library

Is Money Tight?

Tuesday, April 5th, 6PM Do you want to learn more about FoodShare and the QUEST Card, find out if you are eligible, and get help submitting an application?

Join us for a informative session conducted FoodShare Outreach Specialist Nancy Arce-Aguilar, a FoodShare Outreach Specialist to learn more about this resource.

www.oscargradylibrary.org Oscar Grady Public Library 151 S. Main Street Saukville, WI 53080 (262) 284-6022

The QUEST card is a debit-like card that is loaded with your FoodShare benefits on the same day each month. It can be used at most grocery stores and some Farmers’ Markets to purchase groceries. It can even be used for qualified Community Support Agriculture (CSA) shares and Meals on Wheels!

This presentation is made possible thanks to a partnership with

FEEDING AMERICA EASTERN WISCONSIN. Registration is encouraged. Please, share this information with your family, friends, neighbors and anyone you think could benefit from this presentation.

Oscar Grady Oscar Grady Public Library Public Library

Toddler & Preschool Dance Party Clifford the Big Red Dog

Tuesday, April 5, 10:30 a.m.

Get ready to dance the morning away!

Oscar Grady Public Library 151 S. Main Street Saukville, WI 53080 (262) 284-6022

Toddler & Preschool Dance Party is a fun, interactive music program featuring music, movement and more!

Children ages 2-5 and their caregivers are invited to listen, move, jump and dance with Miss Julie.

www.oscargradylibrary.org

We are thrilled to announce that our book sale will take place this year.

Monday, May 16th (Set up day) Tuesday 17 to Saturday 21 (OPEN TO THE PUBLIC) Our book sale proceeds benefit our future programming and activities, so please consider to sign up to volunteer (if you have not already) or to simply stop by and purchase books, Cds, audiobooks, movies and more, all for a good cause.

The Annual Book Sale will take place during the library’s hours of operation.

Oscar Grady Public Library Mission Statement:

The mission of the Oscar Grady Public Library is to provide high interest, high demand materials and make them readily available from the Library’s collection or through interlibrary loan. The Library supports lifelong learning, information and recreational needs for people of all ages and abilities. Special emphasis is placed on stimulating children’s interests and appreciation for reading and learning. The integration of new technology with traditional library resources is used to expand service beyond the Library’s physical walls.

On this new issue of our “Librarians’ Bedside Table”, we compiled a list of really good titles recommended by your library friends. Each title can be accessed in electronic format for your convenience. Click or tap in the hyperlinks attached to each title that will take you right to them in the Monarch Catalog. We hope you enjoy this selection of books from your

librarians at the Oscar Grady Public Library!

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Jen Gerber, our Library Director, would like to recommend the following title:

AROIDS: plants of the Arum Family

by Deni Bown Originally published in 1988 as the first truly comprehensive review of one of the largest and most popular plant families, Aroids was enthusiastically welcomed by botanists and horticulturists alike for its attention to scientific detail and delightful writing style.

Now in this completely updated second edition, we learn of discoveries made in the last decade as the family has grown from about 2500 species to nearer 3200. The latest taxonomic and nomenclatural revisions are noted in the checklist of genera, and all the original drawings are included plus twice as many color photos. A new guide to the cultivation of ornamental aroids completes this well-rounded introduction to a remarkable family.

This title is available through the WISCAT request system. Please inquire about it next time you visit us.

Debra Jo, Library Assistant and ILL Specialist would like to recommend the following title:

The Institute by Stephen King In the middle of the night, in a house in suburban Minneapolis, intruders murder Luke Ellis's parents and load him into a black SUV. Luke will wake up at The Institute, in a room that looks just like his own, except there's no window. Other kids with special talents -- telekinesis and telepathy -- are also here. Some, like Luke, are in Front Half, while others graduated to Back Half. In this most sinister of institutions, the director and her staff attempt to extract from these children the force of their extranormal gifts.

As each new victim disappears to Back Half, Luke becomes desperate to get out and get help. But no one has ever escaped from the Institute. Description from publisher.

All the Devils Are Here by Louise Penny On their first night in Paris, the Gamaches gather as a family for a bistro dinner with Armand's godfather, the billionaire Stephen Horowitz. Walking home together after the meal, they watch in horror as Stephen is knocked down and critically injured in what Gamache knows is no accident, but a deliberate attempt on the elderly man's life. When a strange key is found in Stephen's possession it sends Armand, his wife ReineMarie, and his former second-in-command at the Surete, Jean-Guy Beauvoir, from the top of the Tour d'Eiffel, to the bowels of the Paris Archives, from luxury hotels to odd, coded, works of art. A gruesome discovery in Stephen's Paris apartment makes it clear the secrets are more rancid, the danger far greater and more imminent, than they realized.

Description from publisher.

Hope would like to recommend this title:

Rushing Waters by Danielle Steel Ellen Wharton, an interior designer, travels from her home in London to visit her mother, Grace Madison an architect in New York City. Although there are hurricane warnings, the two women are sure it will not reach New York City.

On Ellen’s flight to New York, she meets Charles Williams who is very stressed about the flight. When turbulence starts, he grabs Ellen’s arm and tells her of his divorce and the daughters he is traveling to see. Once they land, he offers her a shared taxi ride to her location. Little does Ellen think they will meet again.

Grace Madison and her neighbor, Bob Wells, had lost most of their belongings and had to completely redo their apartments following Hurricane Sandy. As Hurricane Ophelia grew in strength, Bob chose to evacuate as directed. Grace planned to stay but did move as much of her valuables as possible to the second floor. Ellen had no choice but to stay with her mother.

As the hurricane hits and the water is starting up the stairs, Grace and Ellen are rescued and taken to a shelter. There they once again meet Charles, his ex-wife, and daughters. Bob Wells finds then there also after searching for them.

When Hurricane Ophelia subsides, Ellen calls her husband in London. Now her personal storm begins as he tells her their marriage is over and he will have moved out when she returns home.

Like all of Danielle Steel’s books, this is a quick but pleasant read.

APRIL IS NATIONAL HUMOR MONTH and Miss Julie wants you to celebrate it by reading some really fun books!

Every week new books get added to our collections for your enjoyment. This week, Miss Julie is happy to share her book shelf, full of books of fun books celebrating one of the funniest months of the year.

To see them and request them, click on the following:

Miss Julie’s BOOKSHELF and click/tap on each title to learn more about them.

Check it out!

Hope, our Collection Developer would like to recommend this title:

Born a Crime by Trevor Noah

I especially like the audio book version because it is read by the author and it really makes the stories come alive.

Trevor Noah’s unlikely path from apartheid South Africa to the desk of The Daily Show began with a criminal act: his birth.

Trevor was born to a white Swiss father and a black Xhosa mother at a time when such a union was punishable by five years in prison. Living proof of his parents’ indiscretion, Trevor was kept mostly indoors for the earliest years of his life, bound by the extreme and often absurd measures his mother took to hide him from a government that could, at any moment, steal him away. Finally liberated by the end of South Africa’s tyrannical white rule, Trevor and his mother set forth on a grand adventure, living openly and freely and embracing the opportunities won by a centuries-long struggle.

Born a Crime is the story of a mischievous young boy who grows into a restless young man as he struggles to find himself in a world where he was never supposed to exist. It is also the story of that young man’s relationship with his fearless, rebellious, and fervently religious mother—his teammate, a woman determined to save her son from the cycle of poverty, violence, and abuse that would ultimately threaten her own life.

The stories collected here are by turns hilarious, dramatic, and deeply affecting. Whether subsisting on caterpillars for dinner during hard times, being thrown from a moving car during an attempted kidnapping, or just trying to survive the life-and-death pitfalls of dating in high school, Trevor illuminates his curious world with an incisive wit and unflinching honesty. His stories weave together to form a moving and searingly funny portrait of a boy making his way through a damaged world in a dangerous time, armed only with a keen sense of humor and a mother’s unconventional, unconditional love. (Description from publisher)

The Complete Maus (Graphic Novel)

by Art Spiegelman The definitive edition of the graphic novel acclaimed as “the most affecting and successful narrative ever done about the Holocaust” (Wall Street Journal) and “the first masterpiece in comic book history” ( The New Yorker) • PULITZER PRIZE WINNER • One of Variety’s “Banned and Challenged Books Everyone Should Read” A brutally moving work of art—widely hailed as the greatest graphic novel ever written—Maus recounts the chilling experiences of the author’s father during the Holocaust, with Jews drawn as wide-eyed mice and Nazis as menacing cats.

Maus is a haunting tale within a tale, weaving the author’s account of his tortured relationship with his aging father into an astonishing retelling of one of history’s most unspeakable tragedies. It is an unforgettable story of survival and a disarming look at the legacy of trauma.

(Description from publisher)

Oscar Grady Public Library

Morning Storytime

Tuesdays starting April 19, 10:30 a.m.

Waddle over for storytime this spring!

Oscar Grady Public Library 151 S. Main Street Saukville, WI 53080 (262) 284-6022

Come and enjoy weekly storytimes filled with rhymes, songs, dancing and, of course, wonderful stories specially designed for preschoolers ages 2-5 years old. The fun begins April 19 and runs through May 24.

As always, Storytime is free to attend, though Registration is required. Sign up starts March 21 and can be done in person or over the phone. See you there!

www.oscargradylibrary.org

Oscar Grady Public Library

Evening Storytime

Wednesdays starting April 20, 6:30p.m.

Enjoy stories and songs with friends before hopping into bed!

Oscar Grady Public Library 151 S. Main Street Saukville, WI 53080 (262) 284-6022

Join us for weekly storytimes filled with rhymes, songs, dancing and, of course, fun-filled stories . Children can come dressed in their pajamas and bring a stuffed animal if they would like.

The fun begins April 20 and runs through May 25. Storytime is free to attend, though registration is required. Sign up starts March 21 and can be done in person or over the phone.

Families welcome!

www.oscargradylibrary.org

Oscar Grady Public Library

It Happened in Wisconsin:

Firestorm at Peshtigo

Monday, April 25th, 6PM Join us for a discussion around the book:

Firestorm at Peshtigo: A town, it’s people and the deadliest fire in American history.

by Denise Gess Limited copies available for check out.

Calling all history buffs to join us for “It Happened in Wisconsin”, our very own history club at the library dedicated to

On October 8, 1871―the same night as the Great Chicago Fire―the lumber town of Peshtigo, Wisconsin, was struck with a five-mile-wide wall of flames, borne on tornado-force winds of one hundred miles per hour that tore across more than 2,400 square miles of land, obliterating the town in less than one hour and killing more than two thousand people.

Oscar Grady Public Library 151 S. Main Street Saukville, WI 53080 (262) 284-6022

www.oscargradylibrary.org

Martin, our Collection Developing and Adult Services Coordinator would like to recommend this title:

The Last Wild Horses: a novel by Maja Lunde The latest book from renowned Norwegian author and activist figure in the climate change cause, Maja Lunde, takes us into three different stories, one of them looking to the future (2064), while the other two looking back: one set in 1881 and the other one set in 1992, and while the eras in which this book takes place are way different, they do share a common thread in the form of a horse breed known as the Prezwalski's horse (or thaki) dubbed to be the last true wild horse.

With this in mind, the novel uses this emblematic horse to makes us thing about the multitude of species that have and are disappearing as consequence of human actions and how we are the owners of our own destiny when it comes to climate change and its predictable future, while exploring different inter-personal issues and narratives that the main characters of this book find themselves confronted with. From identity issues, convoluted past and uncertainty about the future, each one of the three main characters navigates this compelling story trying to find their way and their place in the world.

A very recommendable read for anyone interested in books in which climate change is the central point to the story, as it is the case of Charlotte McConaghy’s MIGRATIONS or Michael Christie’s GREENWOOD, both worth reading books.

Rita would like to recommend these titles:

Are you looking to improve your gardening game?

The following two books may be of interest to you:

The well-tended perennial garden: the essential guide to planting + pruning techniques (2017) by Tracy DiSabato-Aust includes topics such as, basic perennial garden planting & maintenance, pruning perennials, preparing for winter, and perennials by maintenance needs. At the back of the book is a planning and maintenance schedule to keep gardeners on track throughout the season. With large, lush photos of perennials throughout, this book is a pleasure to look at, as well as read. Each perennial listed included is given a description of its appearance, height, sun requirements, blooming time, zones, pruning, other maintenance and related plants. Before the growing season begins, read this book and dream.

This book was donated to the Oscar Grady Library by Ozaukee Master Gardeners.

DiSabato-Aust is an award-winning garden designer and best-selling author with more than 40 years horticulture experience.

The well-tended perennial garden is available through Monarch.

Wanting to learn a new language?

Transparent Language Online provides a fun, effective, and engaging experience for learners of all levels looking to build their listening, speaking, reading, and writing skills in a foreign language. All you need is your library card barcode number and an e-mail address.

Propagating Plants: How to Create New Plants for Free (2019), Alan Toogood, editor, is an encyclopedic guide to propagating plants.

Propagation techniques such as taking cuttings, division, grafting, layering of climbers and shrubs, and seed collecting are all discussed. The book is arranged by types of plants, and tips for success are given for each plant. Many photos and/or drawings are given for the plants and techniques, as helpful visual guides. Introductory sections that include tools & equipment, soils & growing media, and plant problems, will also help ensure growing success.

Do you have a gorgeous coleus that you would like to replicate? Take stem-tip cuttings. A conifer that you want copied? Take cuttings or collect seeds. Do you want to learn how to hybridize roses? How to get the best success from your beet seeds? Check out this book before the growing season begins and get the most from your gardening efforts.

Propagating Plants is available through Monarch.

Some of the titles listed in these pages are

available in electronic format through the Libby app.

Sharyn would like to recommend this title:

The End of the World is Bigger than Love by Davina Bell "In the midst of winter, I found there was, within me, an invincible summer. And that makes me happy. For me it says that no matter how hard the world pushes against me, within me, there's something stronger--something better, pushing right back" ~ Albert Camus Some books you are compelled to read more than once as they are just that good. Some, however, you can't bear to, because they are even more! 'The End of the World is Bigger than Love' may be one of the toughest recommendations I have written, not because it is not deserving, but because it is so much so that I am not sure I can do it justice. This achingly beautiful young adult, near future, love story is hard to sum up because it offers so much.

Through a dystopian lens that tiptoes into the thriller genre including in its storyline aspects of terrorism and the impact of environmental degradation in the midst of a global pandemic, a fictional work that began more than ten years ago shares an eerily similar truth with what we are living, today.

The story of identical twin sisters, Summer and Winter, living alone on a deserted remote island due to a global pandemic that has laid waste to the rest of the world, shares a grim picture of the ultimate sacrifice at the hands of technological progress and climate catastrophe. Similar in nature to the poignant work, 'The Giving Tree', by Shel Silverstein, however, the storyline is not in the words you read, but in what they make you feel as you read them. Bell's achingly beautiful work can not be fully understood in the context of the horrific past that leads to a potentially bitter end, but by reaching past that darkness to the beauty and the light found beyond. Though a complex and crazy reflective read shared through snippets of 26 brilliant classical novels, in the end the message to the reader could not be more simple...

You are loved. You have worth. The world is better with you in it.

Steven would like to recommend this title:

Walker Season 1, TV ON DVD The TV show Walker is nothing like its name’s sake, Walker Texas Ranger. Even though the show revolves around Texas Ranger Cordell Walker, there is a lot less roundhouse kicks and fight scenes. This show relies more on the family virtues, family struggles, and the danger that being in law enforcement brings. I think the best part of this show is that it doesn’t just revolve around Cordell, it revolves around the entire cast.

When a reboot can separate itself from the original completely, especially when it comes to the storyline and plots, it is my opinion that it is a show that is worth checking out.

A Family Apart by Joan Lowery Nixon Orphan Train Quartet Series is by far my favorite historical fiction series. The series depicts what life was like for kids who took the train ride west on the infamous orphan trains and what life was like for them after they were adopted. As the first book in the series, A Family Apart, goes deeper into what true love, sacrifice, and doing what is right isn’t always obvious or in some cases lawful. From a mother’s act of love to the underground railroad this book isn’t just a good read, its eye opening and heartbreaking at the same time. The entire series sheds light on some rather important aspects of American history that are rarely talked about in our society today. As The New York Times Book Review says this book is “Filled with just plausible historical figures and incidents” and I would say that is definitely the case with not just this book, but the entire series.

Oscar Grady Public Library

Adult Book Discussion All are welcome to attend!

Tuesday, April 19th, 6:30 pm The Exiles

By Christina Baker Kline Limited copies of this book will be available at the circulation desk. All are welcome to attend!

www.oscargradylibrary.org Oscar Grady Public Library 151 S. Main Street Saukville, WI 53080 (262) 284-6022

The author of the #1 New York Times bestseller Orphan Train returns with an ambitious, emotionally resonant novel about three women whose lives are bound together in nineteenth-century Australia and the hardships they weather together as they fight for redemption and freedom in a new society.

In this gorgeous novel, Christina Baker Kline brilliantly recreates the beginnings of a new society in a beautiful and challenging land, telling the story of Australia from a fresh perspective, through the experiences of Evangeline, Hazel, and Mathinna. While life in Australia is punishing and often brutally unfair, it is also, for some, an opportunity: for redemption, for a new way of life, for unimagined freedom.

Told in exquisite detail and incisive prose, The Exiles is a story of grace born from hardship, the unbreakable bonds

www.oscargradylibrary.org