Book Club Spotlight – Tell the Wolves I’m Home

Cover for Tell the Wolves I'm Home. An ornate teapot against a green background.

This year’s theme for the 35th Annual World AIDS Day was Remember and Commit, which “pays tribute to those we have lost to HIV/AIDS and emphasizes our collective responsibility to act to end the HIV epidemic.”

Today’s Book Club Spotlight, focuses on Remembering, by taking us to what could be considered the epicenter of the early AIDS crisis- 1987 New York City. Carol Rifka Brunt’s debut novel Tell the Wolves I’m Home was named “One of the Best Books of the Year” by The Wall Street Journal, and also has the distinction of winning the Alex Award in 2013. The Alex Award is presented by the Young Adult Library Services Association to adult novels that have a special appeal to young adults. Spotlight alumnus I’m Glad My Mom Died has also received this award.

Just north of New York City, June Elbus, a romantic at heart, often disappears into the woods after school to pretend she is living in the Middle Ages, wearing medieval boots specially bought by her beloved uncle and famous artist Finn Weiss. June knows Finn is gay; everyone does. But after his death from AIDS, she learns he also had a partner, Toby—the man who is blamed for Finn’s death. In the months that follow, June is torn between jealousy, love and fear, as she forges an unlikely (and secret) friendship with Toby. Reconciling how much of her uncle she really knew until the lines between Toby and Finn begin to blur until she can’t see where one ends and the other begins. All the whileJune’s older sister, Greta, slowly loses herself amid attempts to reconcile their strained relationship. But the secrets between the two sisters are overwhelming and become too much for them to overcome on their own. Not until they start to talk through Finn’s final painting. 

“Because maybe I don’t want to leave the planet invisible. Maybe I need at least one person to remember something about me.”

Carol Rifka Brunt

Tell the Wolves I’m Home revels in the language of art, which often goes hand in hand with the Queer experience, and especially the HIV/AIDS Crisis. From Finn and June’s bonding over Mozart’s unfinished Requiem, to Greta starring in the school’s production of South Pacific. The novel uses art and and illness to focus on the absurdity and fear surrounding prejudices and danger they can put people in. Taking place only a few years after the first case of HIV/AIDS was reported, not much is known about the disease, and public panic and demonization of suffering gay men was at an all-time high. Brunt spends a large portion of her book delving into this fear and the vice it had on the public conscience. June’s family loves Finn, but fear turns them to avoiding him, even as they can see him deteriorating before their eyes. Especially for readers who have memories from or connections to the initial HIV/AIDS epidemic of the 1980s, Tell the Wolves I’m Home is a great novel for adult Book Club Groups (or mature teens) to discuss prejudices and how they hold up to a modern lens. 

 And for a fitting multimedia experience, I recommend:  

Art

Music:

If you’re interested in requesting Tell the Wolves I’m Home for your book club, you can find the Request Form here. There are 5 copies and 1 Large Print available. (A librarian must request items)

Brunt, Carol Rifka. Tell the Wolves I’m Home. Dial Press. 2012.

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Friday Reads – The Labors of Hercules Beal by Gary D. Schmidt

I do read more age-appropriate books occasionally, I promise. But when my hold for The Labors of Hercules Beal became available, I tossed aside the mystery I was halfway through to dive into this instead. Whodunit? Who cares? Gary D. Schmidt is just that good.

If you have never read one of his middle-grade novels, start with The Wednesday Wars, or Okay for Now (both are available as Book Club Kits here at the Nebraska Library Commission!). If you are more familiar with Schmidt’s writing, this latest book will feel like coming home.

Hercules Beal is about to start 7th grade. But instead of joining his friends on the bus to the local public middle school, he will be walking to the Cape Code Academy for Environmental Sciences. He is not excited about this latest revelation, but not surprised. Over the last 18 months, it’s been nothing but bad news. He lost both of his parents in The Accident. His older brother Achilles reluctantly moved home, leaving his globe-trotting journalism career to run the Beal Family Farm and Nursery. His request for a pet dog was overruled in favor of a pet rabbit named “Honey Bunny.” Oh, and his new teacher this fall is a retired Marine lieutenant colonel. That’s a lot of rotten luck for a kid who hasn’t yet hit his Beal Family Growth Spurt.

But middle school begins, as sure as the sun rising over the dunes of Cape Cod, and Hercules does grow, both in his statute and in his understanding of what great possibilities life still has in store. Lt. Colonel Hupfer gives each student in his class a yearlong assignment based on a mythological topic. Our “hero” is tasked with performing the Twelve Labors of Hercules, or as close to them as he can manage. As he struggles through each labor, he receives help from some unexpected sources. Many things go wrong… so very, very (often hilariously) wrong! But many more go just heart-breakingly right.

That is my favorite aspect of Schmidt’s novels; how wonderfully he captures the ups and downs of adolescent life. He makes me laugh out loud, and then burst into tears in the next chapter. Will he have the same affect on actual adolescents? Maybe, maybe not. Maybe I’m more susceptible to the tear-jerking scenes because I’ve already been through this part of life and I know how it turns out. But even if you are a 13 year old kid and you don’t cry when the [redacted so you can find out for yourself], I hope you can at least recognize that when Schmidt’s characters feel alone, but they are not actually alone; there are people looking out for them, cheering them on, ready to help when things get tough. And if you are well past middle school, as I am, I hope you can remember what those years were like, and keep an eye out for those kiddos that might need a supportive grownup in their corner.

Schmidt, Gary D. (2023). The Labors of Hercules Beal. Clarion Books.

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#BookFaceFriday “Chasing Bright Medusas” by Benjamin Taylor

O #BookfaceFriday!

This week’s BookFace is brand new to our collection! Next week, December 7th, we’ll be celebrating Willa Cather’s 150th birthday. What better way to get the party started than with highlighting all of Cather’s works, as well as nonfiction titles about Willa Cather, like “Chasing Bright Medusas: A Life of Willa Cather” by Benjamin Taylor (Viking, 2023.) This title is available as an eBook and Audiobook on Nebraska Overdrive Libraries, we also have several of Cather’s books on Nebraska Overdrive Libraries, including My Ántonia, Death Comes for the Archbishop, and Song of the Lark. NLC also has nine of Willa Cather’s books available as Book Club Kits. Let us know your favorite book by or about Willa Cather as we celebrate one of Nebraska’s most treasured authors.

“…Taylor provides a remarkably revealing account of the life and creative output of Willa Cather…Taylor’s connection of Cather’s personal life and her literary inventions is consistently astute, and the exuberant force of her imagination emerges vividly…the author presents a rewarding and perceptive portrait, providing a valuable assessment of Cather’s intriguing character and the enduring importance of her oeuvre. Keen, insightful commentary on a literary master.”

Kirkus Reviews

Speaking of celebrations, today’s Bookface model is being honored today as she ends her time with us here at the Nebraska Library Commission and begins her retirement! Kay Goerhing, our Senior Readers Services Advisor with the Talking Book & Braille Service, is a 44 year veteran of the Library Commission, and will be truly missed by staff and patrons alike. Congratulations Kay!

Find this title and many more through Nebraska OverDrive! Libraries participating in the Nebraska OverDrive Libraries Group currently have access to a shared and growing collection of digital downloadable audiobooks and eBooks. 191 libraries across the state share the Nebraska OverDrive collection of 21,696 audiobooks, 35,200 eBooks, and 3,964 magazines. As an added bonus it includes 130 podcasts that are always available with simultaneous use (SU), as well as SU ebooks and audiobook titles that publishers have made available for a limited time. If you’re a part of it, let your users know about this great title, and if you’re not a member yet, find more information about participating in Nebraska Overdrive Libraries!

Love this #BookFace & reading? Check out our past #BookFaceFriday photos on the Nebraska Library Commission’s Facebook page!

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Throwback Thursday: Stock Pens, South Omaha

Happy #ThrowbackThursday from Nebraska Memories!

Few industries say “Omaha” like the stockyards. The stockyards began in 1883 when Wyoming cattle baron, Alexander Swan, wanted a livestock market closer than Chicago. Together with six local businessmen, he formed the Union Stockyards on December 1, 1883. The livestock pens covered acres of land. Between 1907 and 1910, most of the old pens were rebuilt with elevated walkways. Buyers could then view the animals without threading their way through the pens. In the early 20th century, Union Stockyards was the world’s largest sheep market. The stock yards were dependent upon Union Pacific Railroad to bring livestock to market. On average, 20,000 animals per day arrived at the Union Stockyards.

This 14 x 9 cm color postcard is published and owned by Omaha Public Library. The items in this collection include early Omaha-related maps dating from 1922 back to 1825, as well as over 1,000 postcards and photographs of the Omaha area.

See this collection and more on the Nebraska Memories archive.

The Nebraska Memories archive is brought to you by the Nebraska Library Commission. If your institution is interested in participating in Nebraska Memories, see http://nlc.nebraska.gov/nebraskamemories/participation.aspx for more information.

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“The Home Place” Now Available on BARD

“The Home Place” by Wright Morris is available on cartridge and for download on BARD!

First published in 1948, this novel, written in the first person, describes the one-day visit of Clyde Muncy to “the home place” at Lone Tree, Nebraska. This tale of a New York family’s visit to a Nebraska farm has been acclaimed for its human interest and humor, stemming from the quiet collision of ways of life going in opposite directions. It was selected as the 2010 One Book One Nebraska and is listed on the 150 Greatest Nebraska Books list — a list that represent the best literature produced from Nebraska during the past 150 years.

A fine piece of Americana.

Library Journal

TBBS borrowers can request “The Home Place,” DBC02005, or download it from the National Library Service BARD (Braille and Audio Reading Download) website. If you have high-speed internet access, you can download books to your smartphone or tablet, or onto a flash drive for use with your player. You may also contact your reader’s advisor to have the book mailed to you on cartridge.

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Friday Reads: Cat + Gamer by Wataru Nadatani

I am a gamer, and I have had cats as pets for almost my entire life. So, obviously, I had to read this book.

Cat + Gamer is the first volume of the English translation of the Japanese manga, written and illustrated by Wataru Nadatani. Dark Horse Comics is releasing the collected volumes in North America. So far three volumes are available, with five more to come.

The manga tells the story of Riko, an incredibly efficient office worker. She always goes above and beyond when it comes to her job, and leaves work promptly at 5pm every day. Her co-workers try to invite her to join them for after work hours socializing, but she’s never available. Some of them think she’s anti-social, others say she’s just a very private person.

But, they are all curious – what is her secret life? Well, Riko has a passion for video games! All of her free time is spent playing video games, researching all of the side quests and boss fights, making sure she doesn’t miss a thing. As far as she’s concerned, it’s the most fun and rewarding thing to do.

Until one day her life changes forever. A stray kitten is found in the parking lot of her office building, and for reasons she doesn’t understand, she agrees to take it home.

The book alternates between her viewpoint and the cat’s viewpoint, as they both learn about each other. Riko uses her gaming skills to raise the kitten, ‘leveling up’ the tiny animal, vowing to ‘max out this cat!’.

Cat + Gamer is a story that will obviously appeal to gamers and cat owners. But, anyone looking for a fun, quirky read will appreciate it, too. And don’t worry, the gaming parts of the book are described in a way that I think anyone can understand.

I’ve only read the first volume so far, but I enjoyed it so much, I’m definitely going to be picking up the others.

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NCompass Live: Pretty Sweet Tech: Internet Librarian 2023 Highlights

Highlights from Internet Librarian 2023 will be shared on next week’s Pretty Sweet Tech NCompass Live webinar, on Wednesday, November 29 at 10am CT.

Special monthly episodes of NCompass Live! Join the NLC’s Technology Innovation Librarian, Amanda Sweet, as she guides us through the world of library-related Pretty Sweet Tech.

Just in case you missed it, this Pretty Sweet Tech will offer some highlights from Internet Librarian 2023 that ran from October 17-19. Internet Librarian is a great big tech conference for librarians. If you’ve attended one of these recaps before, you know that I love to choose some major themes and pluck out the sessions that really stood out to me for various reasons. Here are this year’s themes, as chosen by me, not the conference coordinators:

  • AI, XR & Emerging Tech: Explore how emerging tech is shaping our world, and how the library can not only keep up, but set the stage for the future of tech in our communities
  • Digital Presence: Tips and tricks for improving digital materials, going all digital, or connecting with your community online. This trend is here to stay.
  • Handling Change: The world is just going to keep moving faster, so these sessions covered some tips and techniques to help both individuals and libraries adapt and thrive.
  • Tech Tools, Resources & Gadgets: As always there were a motley assortment of helpful tools, services, resources & gadgets. I will share my highlights here.

As always, I couldn’t make it to every session, but these are the ones I caught or heard about after the fact. There’s only so much time in the day, so I did my best!

Upcoming NCompass Live shows:

  • Dec. 6 – Using Creativity to Grow & Develop
  • Dec. 13 – Canvaholic
  • Dec. 20 – Summer Reading Program 2024: Adventure Begins at Your Library
  • Jan. 17, 2024 – Auditing Library Websites
  • Jan. 24, 2024 – Best New Teen Reads of 2023

To register for an NCompass Live show, or to listen to recordings of past shows, go to the NCompass Live webpage.

NCompass Live is broadcast live every Wednesday from 10am – 11am Central Time. Convert to your time zone on the Official U.S. Time website.

The show is presented online using the GoTo Webinar online meeting service. Before you attend a session, please see the NLC Online Sessions webpage for detailed information about GoTo Webinar, including system requirements, firewall permissions, and equipment requirements for computer speakers and microphones.

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#BookFaceFriday “The Leftover Woman” by Jean Kwok

Pass the #BookfaceFriday!

This week’s BookFace selection is all about what to do with those pesky Thanksgiving leftovers. Just kidding, “The Leftover Woman: A Novel” by Jean Kwok (William Morrow, 2013) is all about motherhood and identity.

This title is a must for your TBR list. “The Leftover Woman” is available as an eBook and Audiobook on Nebraska Overdrive Libraries!

“An utterly riveting novel about two very different mothers, The Leftover Woman is not only an absolutely propulsive thriller but also a profound exploration of poverty and privilege, oppression and escape, desire and the self. This spellbinding narrative of immigration and hidden identity proves in so many ways that love has no boundaries.”

Lan Samantha Chang, author of The Family Chao 

Find this title and many more through Nebraska OverDrive! Libraries participating in the Nebraska OverDrive Libraries Group currently have access to a shared and growing collection of digital downloadable audiobooks and eBooks. 189 libraries across the state share the Nebraska OverDrive collection of 21,696 audiobooks, 35,200 eBooks, and 3,964 magazines. As an added bonus it includes 130 podcasts that are always available with simultaneous use (SU), as well as SU ebooks and audiobook titles that publishers have made available for a limited time. If you’re a part of it, let your users know about this great title, and if you’re not a member yet, find more information about participating in Nebraska Overdrive Libraries!

Love this #BookFace & reading? Check out our past #BookFaceFriday photos on the Nebraska Library Commission’s Facebook page!

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Throwback Thursday: Outdoor Picnic

It’s a Thanksgiving themed #throwback from Nebraska Memories!

This week, we have a black and white postcard from the early 1900s featuring a group of men, women, and children having a picnic.

This image was captured by John Nelson and is published by History Nebraska.

History Nebraska digitized content from the John Nelson collection. John Nelson was born in Sweden and came to Nebraska at 17 years old alongside his parents. His photos show small town life in Nebraska during the early 20th century. He shot photographs of local businesses, community activities, and automobiles.

Check out this collection and many more on the Nebraska Memories archive.

The Nebraska Memories archive is brought to you by the Nebraska Library Commission. If your institution is interested in participating in Nebraska Memories, see http://nlc.nebraska.gov/nebraskamemories/participation.aspx for more information.

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Book Club Spotlight – Rising Voices

Cover of Rising Voices: Writing of Young Native Americans. A triangle pattern adorns the cover, bringing to mind a quilt

With Thanksgiving finally here, I was pulled toward a recent donation in our collection that I found to be a fantastic and thought-provoking read for closing out Native American Heritage Month. Curated by Arlene Hirschfelder and Beverly R. Singer, Rising Voices: Writings of Young Native Americans is a collection of essays, poems, and stories from the late 1880s to the early 1990s. Hirschfelder speaks of the young authors featured in the collection: “their words bear vivid, often eloquent witness to the realities of their lives over the past hundred years. They have much to tell us”. 

Separated into the categories of Identity, Family, Homelands, Ritual and Ceremony, Education, and Harsh Realities. Each section includes writings that exemplify a part of the youth’s life. From gorgeous descriptions of mesas to warm and comforting home lives, there is also the truth of the hardships and poverty Native Americans were forced into, and many still live in today. The young writers’ strong sense of awareness and personal values ring throughout the collection, especially as we move into modern times.

The Bighorn River flows
through the reservation.
As it goes, it meets the 
Little Bighorn. They are like 
a big brother and a little
brother together.

The sound of it makes
the reservation special.
It seems as if it protects
the reservation with happiness 
And care. The reservation 
knows it has a close friend
and that’s the river.

The river wants to flow
to all the four winds but
knows it can just flow one way 
with the same wind. 

The Bighorn River – Len Plenty, 1988

Rising Voices is a beautiful and unique collection that spans multiple viewpoints and lives of young Native Americans throughout the last century. Readers are treated to breathtaking poetry and heart-wrenching essays that stick with you long after. This collection includes work from elementary schoolers to graduating seniors, making this the perfect selection for any aged Book Club Group. There is a wealth of continued reading and discussions to be had, especially on the different backgrounds and viewpoints of each author. Some have a deep sense of self and justice, while others bask in the love from their families. My favorite reading, If I Were a Pony, is a collaborative poem by Navajo children where the speaker wishes they were a pinto pony so they could run away to live a carefree life out on the mesa. It is a good exercise to delve into what the author’s were feeling, and what purpose does each excerpt serve in this wider narrative created by Hirschfelder and Singer.

For a further example of discussion topics, one particular section that stood out to me was Education—pieces included covered topics from US Indian Boarding Schools that worked to assimilate Native American youth from their culture to more modern school efforts to reintroduce students to what has been lost. 

Carlisle Indian School, whose mission was to “Kill the Indian, save the Man,” often published propagandist essays and stories from their students as a way to fundraise and maintain a good social image. One essay titled Opportunity, written by Alvis M. Morrin in 1914, extols the virtue of the off-reservation school. He speaks on famous Native Americans, such as former Vice President Charles Curtis, and shows his reverence towards the perceived landscape of progress while still maintaining his heritage: 

“Our lot is easier than theirs [our forefathers], for race prejudice has been overcome, and a beneficent Government is giving the Indian youth the opportunities which once belonged only to the white man. Open doors to any vocation are waiting for the Indian to enter.”

In stark contrast, a more modern excerpt included from 1996 when Holy Rosary High School in South Dakota introduced a new course called Modern Indian Psychology in an effort to teach their young Lakota students the importance of their history and the cultural values of their people. In Something Really Different, students reported feeling a sense of belonging and pride they had never had before, highlighting the importance that young Native Americans continue to learn about their history.

“Before this course, we didn’t even know that Indians were important or that it was important for us to know Indian history and values.” – Patrick Kills Crow and Mary Crazy Thunder 

 “Now I am glad I am an Indian. Before I was ashamed of it.” – Francis Clifford

How are these student’s voices being used? And are they being promoted for their benefit or someone else’s? And what purpose do they serve in the anthology?

If you’re interested in requesting Rising Voices for your book club, you can find the Request Form here. There are 7 copies available. (A librarian must request items)

To see more of our Native American Voices book club titles, visit the link here.

Hirschfelder, Arlene & Singer, Beverly. Rising Voices. HarperPerennial. 1996.

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Central Community College Announces LIS Classes for Spring 2024

Central Community College Logo

Library and Information Services (LIS) class registration at Central Community College for Spring 2024: January 16, 2024 – May 9, 2024. Enrollment for the spring semester opens on November 20, 2023.

Classes include:

LIBR 2100 Reference Resources and Services
Marty Magee, Instructor
  • Professional competencies including legal and ethical responsibilities
  • Reference interview process
  • The Reference collection
  • Evaluation and use of digital resources, including databases, and websites
LIBR 2150 Develop and Organize Collections
Patty Birch, Instructor
  • Basics of collection management including terminology and models
  • Community and collection analysis
  • Selection, Acquisition, Deselection/Weeding
  • Intellectual Freedom and Copyright
  • Cataloging instruction including classification systems, subject headings, MARC records, and RDA

For more information on the Library and Information Services program, see: www.cccneb.edu/lis/

For information concerning Admissions or Registration, contact:
Dee Johnson, djohnson@cccneb.edu
402-562-1418 or Toll Free at 877-222-0780

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What’s Up Doc? New State Agency Publications at the Nebraska Library Commission

New state agency publications have been received at the Nebraska Library Commission for September and October, 2023.  Included are reports from various Nebraska Legislative Committees, the Nebraska Foster Care Review Board, the Nebraska Department of Transportation, and new books from the University of Nebraska Press, to name a few.

Most items, except the books from the University of Nebraska Press, are available for immediate viewing and printing by clicking on the highlighted link above, or directly in the .pdf below.  You can read synopses of the books received from the University of Nebraska Press in the Book Briefs blogposts.

The Nebraska Legislature created the Nebraska Publications Clearinghouse in 1972 as a service of the Nebraska Library Commission. Its purpose is to collect, preserve, and provide access to all public information published by Nebraska state agencies.  By law (State Statutes 51-411 to 51-413) all Nebraska state agencies are required to submit their published documents to the Clearinghouse.  For more information, visit the Nebraska Publications Clearinghouse page, contact Mary Sauers, Government Information Services Librarian; or contact Bonnie Henzel, State Documents Staff Assistant.

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NCompass Live: Best New Children’s Books of 2023

Hear about the ‘Best New Children’s Books of 2023’ on next week’s NCompass Live webinar on Wednesday, November 22, at 10am CT.

Sally Snyder, the Nebraska Library Commission’s Coordinator of Children and Young Adult Library Services, will give brief book talks on titles published in the last year that could be good additions to your library’s collection. Titles for pre-school through elementary school will be included.

Upcoming NCompass Live shows:

  • Nov. 29 – Pretty Sweet Tech: Internet Librarian 2023 Highlights
  • Dec. 6 – Using Creativity to Grow & Develop
  • Dec. 13 – Canvaholic
  • Dec. 20 – Summer Reading Program 2024: Adventure Begins at Your Library
  • Jan. 17, 2024 – Auditing Library Websites
  • Jan. 24, 2024 – Best New Teen Reads of 2023

To register for an NCompass Live show, or to listen to recordings of past shows, go to the NCompass Live webpage.

NCompass Live is broadcast live every Wednesday from 10am – 11am Central Time. Convert to your time zone on the Official U.S. Time website.

The show is presented online using the GoTo Webinar online meeting service. Before you attend a session, please see the NLC Online Sessions webpage for detailed information about GoTo Webinar, including system requirements, firewall permissions, and equipment requirements for computer speakers and microphones.

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#BookFaceFriday “Everything We Keep” by Kerry Lonsdale

Get swept away with #BookFaceFriday!

We love adding new titles to our collection, just like his week’s #BookFace, “Everything We Keep: A Novel” by Karen Abbott (‎Lake Union Publishing, 2016.) It’s such good book karma when book clubs or libraries donate to us after they’re done reading a book, and allows us to pass it on to all the other book clubs across the state. Thanks to Kearney Public Library, we have twelve copies of this title available as your next book club read – add it to your to-be-read list today!

“In Everything We Keep, Kerry Lonsdale brilliantly explores the grief of loss, if we can really let go of our great loves, and if some secrets are better left buried. With a good dose of drama, a heart-wrenching love story, and the suspense of unanswered questions, Lonsdale’s layered and engrossing debut is a captivating read.”

— Karma Brown, bestselling author of Come Away With Me

Book Club Kits Rules for Use

  1. These kits can be checked out by the librarians of Nebraska libraries and media centers.
  2. Circulation times are flexible and will be based upon availability. There is no standard check-out time for book club kits.
  3. Please search the collection to select items you wish to borrow and use the REQUEST THIS KIT icon to borrow items.
  4. Contact the Information Desk at the Library Commission if you have any questions: by phone: 800/307-2665, or by email: Information Services Team

Love this #BookFace & reading? Check out our past #BookFaceFriday photos on the Nebraska Library Commission’s Facebook page!

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Friday Reads: A First Time for Everything by Dan Santat

Announced yesterday, A First Time for Everything has won the National Book Foundation Award for Young People’s Literature.

It is on my Summer Reading Program list for 2024 and is a memoir of a three week school trip to Europe in 1989, the summer after 8th grade.     In middle school Dan learned to be “…quiet. Small. … invisible.”  (p. 11)  Then one day, at the end of a school assembly Dan was unexpectedly asked (forced) to give his speech as practice for the speech tournament.  It was a poem by A. A. Milne.  He was ridiculed.

Then he took the three week school trip to Europe.  Quiet at first, he slowly begins to have fun with some of the other students.  And actually enjoying the trip.  He does get lost in the middle of the night in France, but manages to steal a bike and find his way back (not proud of stealing the bike).     Kirkus says, “Full of laughter and sentiment, this is a nudge for readers to dare to try new things.” (12/15/22)

Other Finalists for the Award for Young People’s Literature were:

Gather by Kenneth M. Cadow
Huda F Cares? by Huda Fahmy
Big by Vasti Harrison
The Lost Year: A Survival Story of the Ukrainian Famine by Katherine Marsh

Visit their web page to learn more. You can also see the winners and finalists in the other four categories on this web site.

Dan Santat is an author and illustrator of a variety of children and teen books, including After the Fall (How Humpty Dumpty Got Back Up Again), The Aquanaut, Sidekicks: A Graphic Novel, and Lift by Minh Lê and illustrated by Dan Santat.

Santat, Dan. A First Time for Everything. First Second/Macmillan, 2022.

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Throwback Thursday: Fairmont, Nebraska

It’s another #ThrowbackThursday from Nebraska Memories!

This week, we have an early 1879 drawing of Fairmont, Nebraska by J.J. Stoner. It is published and owned by Fairmont Public Library. Together in partnership with the Fillmore County Historical Society, the Fairmont Public Library digitized photographs from their collections depicting the history of Fillmore County. The photographs in this collection include images of local businesses, schools, and churches, as well as the Fairmont Army Airfield, which was used during World War II.

Check it out on the Nebraska Memories archive.

The Nebraska Memories archive is brought to you by the Nebraska Library Commission. If your institution is interested in participating in Nebraska Memories, see http://nlc.nebraska.gov/nebraskamemories/participation.aspx for more information.

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NCompass Live: Redesigning a Library Website

‘Redesigning a Library Website’ can be a tricky process. Learn how one library is doing it on next week’s NCompass Live webinar on Wednesday, November 15, at 10am CT.

Developing a website that meets branding guidelines, prioritizes student-focused user needs, and caters to library professional user quirks can be tricky and, at times, downright impossible. This session explores redesigning a library homepage, including planning, building, implementing, and assessing a new library website. A robust resource list is provided to help start the redesign process, along with guidance on developing a unique website schema and layout. Conflict between university branding guidelines and EDU platforms is discussed. Attendees with zero coding experience, those with little to low budget for web redesign, and those from small libraries are all encouraged to attend.

Presenter: Virginia Cononie, Associate Librarian, Coordinator of Research Services, University of South Carolina Upstate.

Upcoming NCompass Live shows:

  • Nov. 22 – Best New Children’s Books of 2023
  • Nov. 29 – Pretty Sweet Tech: Internet Librarian 2023 Highlights
  • Dec. 6 – Using Creativity to Grow & Develop
  • Dec. 13 – Canvaholic
  • Dec. 20 – Summer Reading Program 2024: Adventure Begins at Your Library
  • Jan. 17, 2024 – Auditing Library Websites
  • Jan. 24, 2024 – Best New Teen Reads of 2023

To register for an NCompass Live show, or to listen to recordings of past shows, go to the NCompass Live webpage.

NCompass Live is broadcast live every Wednesday from 10am – 11am Central Time. Convert to your time zone on the Official U.S. Time website.

The show is presented online using the GoTo Webinar online meeting service. Before you attend a session, please see the NLC Online Sessions webpage for detailed information about GoTo Webinar, including system requirements, firewall permissions, and equipment requirements for computer speakers and microphones.

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#BookFaceFriday “Women in White Coats” by Olivia Campbell

Paging #BookFaceFriday, Stat!

This nonfiction account of Victorian-era medicine and female doctors makes for an incredible #BookFaceFriday! You might have noticed this week’s title is new to the Book Club Kit collection, on the New York Times Bestseller list, or in our Browse New Additions section. Check out “Women in White Coats: How the First Women Doctors Changed the World of Medicine” by Olivia Campbell (Park Row, 2022.) We currently have eleven copies available in our Book Club Kit Collection. It’s also available as an ebook in Nebraska OverDrive Libraries.

“An engrossing portrait of a transformative moment in Victorian medicine, when women doctors demanded the right to heal and be healed. Their battle was collective, and their hard-won triumph is ours. Women in White Coats is a timely reminder of just how many hands it takes to move mountains.”

Claire L. Evans, author of Broad Band: The Untold Story of the Women Who Made the Internet

Book Club Kits Rules for Use

  1. These kits can be checked out by the librarians of Nebraska libraries and media centers.
  2. Circulation times are flexible and will be based upon availability. There is no standard check-out time for book club kits.
  3. Please search the collection to select items you wish to borrow and use the REQUEST THIS KIT icon to borrow items.
  4. Contact the Information Desk at the Library Commission if you have any questions: by phone: 800/307-2665, or by email: Information Services Team

Find this title and many more through Nebraska OverDrive! Libraries participating in the Nebraska OverDrive Libraries Group currently have access to a shared and growing collection of digital downloadable audiobooks and eBooks. 189 libraries across the state share the Nebraska OverDrive collection of 21,696 audiobooks, 35,200 eBooks, and 3,964 magazines. As an added bonus it includes 130 podcasts that are always available with simultaneous use (SU), as well as SU ebooks and audiobook titles that publishers have made available for a limited time. If you’re a part of it, let your users know about this great title, and if you’re not a member yet, find more information about participating in Nebraska Overdrive Libraries!

Love this #BookFace & reading? Check out our past #BookFaceFriday photos on the Nebraska Library Commission’s Facebook page!

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Friday Reads: Goldenrod by Maggie Smith

I am going to come out and say it: when our license plates were the meadowlark and the goldenrod, I loved them. I thought they were beautiful. Goldenrod may look like the allergy sufferer’s nemesis, ragweed, but is it innocent, blameless, unfairly maligned! A lovely, important part of our ecosystem, and a worthy state flower.

That was not why I chose to read Maggie Smith’s 2021 poetry collection, Goldenrod, but it was a point in her favor. One of my favorite poems is actually Smith’s “Good Bones.” My copy of Goldenrod was gifted to me from a friend and former mentor; it is possible that I have shared “Good Bones” to my social media so often that I have become associated with Maggie Smith (high praise).

Goldenrod is composed of three sections of poetry, the themes of which are: birth, death, nature, motherhood, and life. There’s a sprinkling of an homage to Mary Oliver — just a hint, just a flavor; to me, no one can hold a candle to Mary. But Mary was just one part of the conversation, and there must be other voices now.

A couple of poems that stood out after my reading were: “For My Next Trick” and “Wild.”

“For My Next Trick” centers around a conversation between the narrator — a mother — and her daughter, who asks

“Where was I …
before I was in your body?
–What was I?”

It’s a conversation about where we (might) come from, and what (might) happen after we die, and the connection between death and life, and what (might) go on after us. The (maybe) answer comes in the last stanzas of the poem-conversation:

I tell her the stars

are the exception–
burned out but still lit.
No, not ghosts,

not exactly. Nothing
to be scared of.

That final sentence “Nothing to be scared of” is so poignant in its simplicity, the tone perfectly set for talking to a child — and as a result, it is comforting regardless of age.

“Wild” really called to mind the Mary Oliver homage for me; there is so much to loving the world, and struggling to love it, and just existing despite the brutality of man and nature. “Wild” also feels like a worthy companion to “Good Bones.”

I’ve talked so much about loving the world
without any idea how to do it.

The world I’m trying to love
is all teeth and need, all gray mange

All poetry is conversation, and I hear these lines as speaking towards “At the River Clarion“, specifically one of my favorite lines, which itself spins back to Tennyson, and nature, red in tooth and claw (In Memoriam A. H. H.):

If God exists he isn’t just butter and good luck.
He’s also the tick that killed my wonderful dog Luke.
Said the river: imagine everything you can imagine, then keep on going.

Overall, a delightful and meditative collection of poetry that can be read in an afternoon — but probably should be read slowly, and savored like a good cup of tea.

Maggie Smith is the author of several other poetry collections, as well as her 2023 memoir, You Could Make this Place Beautiful.

Smith, Maggie. Goldenrod: Poems. One Signal Publishers/Atria, 2021.

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Throwback Thursday: Ernie Nozicka

Happy #ThrowbackThursday from Nebraska Memories!

This week, we have a 3″ x 5″ on-site photograph of Ernie Nozicka at his home near Bruno, Nebraska. Ernie was born near Bruno on June 11, 1898, the son of Matej and Frances Smejkla Nozicka. He married Rose Krepcik and after she died in 1972, married Julia Strudl. He farmed northeast of Bruno for 60 years and his place was known as the “Wagon Wheel Farm”. He had over 300 white wagon wheels with fencing lining both sides of the lane to his home and along the main road north of his farm. He started farming with six head of horses and never owned a tractor. In the 1930’s and 1940’s he broke horses for riding and farm work. He supplemented his income by working as the township overseer of Skull Creek. He was also a real estate broker and served on the Bruno School Board. He entertained people with his accordion music for over 75 years and often drove a team of horses or mules with a decorated buggy in local parades.

This 1950’s image is published as part of the Boston Studio Project and is owned by the Thorpe Opera House Foundation. The Boston Studio Collection consists of over 68,000 negatives that record life in and around David City, Nebraska from 1893 to 1979.

If you like history, check out the Nebraska Memories archive!

The Nebraska Memories archive is brought to you by the Nebraska Library Commission. If your institution is interested in participating in Nebraska Memories, see http://nlc.nebraska.gov/nebraskamemories/participation.aspx for more information.

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