@ Your Library
This Saturday, October 12th from 10:30 – 12:30 is the Comic Character Workshop with Trisha Speed Shaskan and Stephen Shaskan the creators of the book Art Panels, BAM! Speech Bubles, POW! Writing and Illustrating Your Own Graphic Novel. Anyone in fifth grade and above interested in learning more about creating and drawing their own comic book are welcome to attend this program sponsored by the Arrowhead Library System and funded with money from Minnesota’s Arts and Cultural Heritage Fund.
October is the third month of the year when we participate in the National Campaign to encourage every parent to read to every child for at least fifteen minutes every day. This month the slogan is “Get in the Habit of Asking Questions” and encourages parents to spend time asking questions of their kids. They ask questions of us to gain information (especially 2 and 3 year olds), so turn the tables and ask them questions and let them try to figure out answers. The point is to keep them thinking, noticing the world around them and wondering how things work. Watch our Facebook page for ideas.
The weather has definitely cooled off and that makes me think about curling up with a good book, a warm cup of tea, under a blanket (and maybe a cat) reading. Cozy reading can be different for all of us as our experiences will make different things cozy but here are some of my authors and titles that I reach for when I need a cozy evening read. I like to read science fiction and sometimes the more unbelievable the better. Two series that I am always up for reading as they are set hundreds if not thousands of years in the future are Jack McDevitt’s Alex Benedict series set a thousand or so years in the future when mankind is spread across the universe and antiquity dealers search for remnants of human society. A series about historians and archaeologists far in the future is Kristine Kathryn Rusch’s series that begins with Diving into the Wreck as historians try to figure out what happened to an abandoned space ship.
If mysteries are more your go-to when looking for a cozy read then try the classic British authors Agatha Christie, Dorothy Sayers or G.K. Chesterton. More modern authors to try include Ruth Ware with her first title In a Dark, Dark Wood and The Woman in Cabin 10 the title that catapulted her to fame. Try John Sandford’s Lucas Davenport series with the word ‘prey’ in each title or his Virgil Flower’s series, both of which are set in Minnesota.
Cozy reading is also possible with historical fiction and local author Mary Casanova doesn’t disappoint with Frozen and Ice-Out. Tracie Peterson has a series called “Land of Shining Water” that is set in Minnesota and Heather Young’s The Lost Girls set on a remote Minnesota lake in the 1930’s will satisfy fans of historical fiction, thrillers and titles with a local bent.