CFLoquence: News and Reviews From Your Library

Midsummer Reads

            If you’re like me, you’re cringing a bit at the sight of back to school sales. While the sale signs are meant to build hype for the upcoming school year, they remind everyone that summer flies by too quickly. By August, we’re left trying to cram every bit of seasonal fun into those last warm weeks: berry-picking, cookouts, trips to the beach, long family walks, and reading outdoors. If this sounds familiar, the Canton Free Library has many books to help you enjoy summer to the fullest, from cookbooks to guides to the Adirondack trails. Stop by to find books to plan your summer expeditions and discover new fiction to savor by the campfire.

            Pick up Bobby Flay’s Boy Gets Grill to experiment with new barbeque recipes. Feeling adventurous? Try his “Smoky-Sweet Rotisserie Apricot-Chipotle-Glazed Lamb Tacos with Goat Cheese and Salsa Cruda” or “Grilled Split Lobsters with Curry Butter.” If you prefer a more traditional barbeque, he has recipes for brisket sandwiches, steak, corn on the cob, maple-glazed sweet potatoes and much more. Flay’s cookbook also includes cocktails and simple desserts, and well as beginner’s tips and techniques.

            If you’re interested in trekking through the lovely Adirondacks this summer, check out 50 Hikes In the Adirondacks by Barbara McMartin. The author uses her vast personal experience in this comprehensive and well-organized guide. McMartin provides useful facts (distance, hiking time, maps) as well as colorful historical incidents. Before you set out, get inspired by Carl E. Heilman II’s Adirondacks: Views of an American Wilderness. Heilman’s collection is filled with gorgeous panoramic photographs of the national park we’re lucky to have in our own backyard.

            Escape through fiction to Seaview, Rhode Island with New York socialite Lily Dane in A Hundred Summers by Beatriz Williams. Lily’s idyllic summer is interrupted by the arrival of the Greenwalds, her former fiancé and best friend now married to each other. While Lily is in the midst of an emotional storm, the hurricane of 1938 hits her summer home. This novel is the perfect beach read for fans of the 1930s.

            For more great titles, come browse the shelves at the Canton Free Library. We invite you to camp out in our comfy chairs and spend the day reading. And there’s still time to join our Summer Reading Challenge! Just pick up a reading log at the Patron Services desk to keep track of your summer reading, and then place a shovel in a geological period for each book you explore. For every geological era completed, you’ll get a ticket for a chance to win a summer gift bag filled with treats: North Country red wine, New York maple syrup, maple sugar candies, Harmony Farm honey, raspberry jam, Noble Farm beef jerky, Wild Water skin and bath products, gift certificates to The Glow and The Blackbird Café, a reading mug, a library t-shirt, a Book of Secrets and a Groundbreaking Reads journal.

Local Author Donation

            Patrons Meg and Glenn Clemens have coauthored a nonfiction text titled Forgotten Algebra with Barbara Lee Bleau PhD. We’re pleased the Clemens have donated this book to our collection. Recapture algebra skills at your own pace with these lessons and exercises.

Teen Events

            Our Summer Reading Program continues into August. Go “Beneath the Surface” with the Anime Club and Young Adult Specialist Krista Briggs on Wednesdays at 3pm for a teen adventure series set in the Tokyo Underworld.

 On Monday, August 12th at 3pm, gather for a writing workshop with author Amanda Von Hoffmann. We’ll create our own fantasy heroes. This is not your ordinary English class!

The following Monday, monster movie experts Misty and Jon Hagen lead a workshop on how to survive that which lurks beneath the surface. The Hagens’ workshop was wildly popular last year. Don’t miss it!

Programs are designed for ages 13-19. For more information, email kbriggs@ncls.org or call 386-3712.

    Ms. Val would like to thank the many children and families who participated in the "Dig into Reading" Summer Reading Program. It was a fun and busy month full of books, music, movement, games, artwork, and library friends! Children's programming will resume in September when school begins. Until then, please remember to complete and return your child's Reading Record to the children's room for a prize bag.

We hope you are having many wonderful summer adventures! For a list of Canton Free Library’s recent additions to the collection and our hours of service, visit cantonfreelibrary.org and “like” us on Facebook.