By the time you read this it will be early March and the days will be much lighter and brighter and all being well, the possibility of available vaccinations will be on the horizon. It’s been a long, cold winter (brutal cold snap in early February) and we need to give ourselves multiple pats on the back for getting through it and the COVID-19 lockdown.
In all reality our library will probably only be open in late March, IF we can meet all the guidelines for re-opening. The library continues to offer online and curbside service and the activity in the library has been constant with at least as many books going in and out as in a regular year. Many patrons have been renewing their memberships. If you want to renew your membership (or open a new membership) you can call 404-931-3919 and leave a message, or call during library hours (Tuesday 9-12, Wednesday 1-7:30). Remember that you can also check out DVDs, video games and audiobooks, good for cold, snowy evenings around the fire.
Everyone seems to be reading more and local book clubs are not only meeting via Zoom to discuss particular books but also sharing favourite reads, podcasts, movies and series.
Here are a few book suggestions for you:
Like Rum-Drunk Angels by Edmonton author Tyler Enfield is about Francis Blackstone, a 14-year old gun-slinger with a heart of gold. Hailing from Nowhere, Arizona, he has fallen for the Governor’s daughter. “My father is Governor Whitmore,” she tells him. “He won’t allow some poor nobody to come sweep me away.” To which he replies,”Then I’ll find money.” “Just like that?” she asks. “Just like that.”
Francis, who doesn’t even know the name of his beloved, hooks up with Bob Temple, an infamous outlaw, and the Blackstone Temple Gang begins to cut a swath across the American West.
What follows is a surreal, often hilarious romp across the country, en route fracturing many traditional Western tropes. There are the required Western train jobs, shootouts, long talks around the fire as well as a leap into comic magic realism with a magic lamp, pianos raining from the sky and more. Quill and Quire describe the book as a “hoot with a tender heart at its core.” It’s impossible not to get sucked in to the mischievous possibility of this crazy premise as we cheer Francis on in his mad race to the end. It’s a “break-neck gallop of a book.”
And here’s a children’s book reviewed by Kate Grusendof, a grade 4 student at the Millarville school. Thanks Kate!
A Tale of Magic is a prequel to The Land of Stories series by Chris Colfer. A Tale of Magic is about a girl named Brystal Evergreen and some others she meets. Brystal lives in the Southern Kingdom in which women are not allowed to read books and the use of magic is banned. She didn’t follow the rule banning her to read. Later Brystal found a sign outside of the library saying, “Maid Wanted”, she was able to get the job, and used it as an opportunity
to read library books. No one saw her because she was cleaning after hours and was alone. When cleaning and reading she found a secret room with banned books. There was one book, The Truth About Magic, that let her test if she was a witch or a fairy. She needed to use magic to test. The first time she tested she turned out to be a fairy! The second time she tested as a fairy once again, but she was caught and sent to Bootstrap Correctional Facility for doing
magic. She was rescued by Madame Weatherberry who took her and a few other children to an academy of magic! After teaching some magic to the children Madame Weatherberry left the academy to help with an important problem. When she doesn’t return, Brystal and her classmates go after their teacher, maybe never to return…
If you want to read this book, I recommend reading the first two books of The Land of Stories beforehand, then you can know a character whose backstory is explained. A Tale of Magic may explain another thing about how something came to be in The Land of Stories. No spoilers! You will have to do some reading to find out more.
Some of the reasons I liked this book are that I could learn more about the people from The Land Of Stories, and I could understand where some things came from in the world where A Tale of Magic and The Land Of Stories are set. On a different subject there is a sequel to A Tale of Magic, called A Tale of Witchcraft.
Submitted by Kate Grusendorf age 10
