Category Archives: Check it Out:

Book Bouquet: Libraries!

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Each week we assemble a collection – a bouquet, if you will – of books you can read for yourself, or use to build into a display in your library. As always, the books we link to have info from Amazon.com. If you click a link and then buy anything at all from Amazon, we get a small percent of their profits from your sale. Yay!!! Thanks!!! We really appreciate the assistance! 💕😊

This week we are celebrating National Library Week!! Join us in celebrating this great event to honor our wonderful resources and staff!

Library Lion, by Michelle Knudsen

“Miss Merriweather, the head librarian, is very particular about rules in the library. No running allowed. And you must be quiet. But when a lion comes to the library one day, no one is sure what to do. There aren’t any rules about lions in the library. And, as it turns out, this lion seems very well suited to library visiting. His big feet are quiet on the library floor. He makes a comfy backrest for the children at story hour. And he never roars in the library, at least not anymore. But when something terrible happens, the lion quickly comes to the rescue in the only way he knows how. Michelle Knudsen’s disarming story, illustrated by the matchless Kevin Hawkes in an expressive timeless style, will win over even the most ardent of rule keepers.” [Note: this is available in other languages, too!]

Escape from Mr. Lemoncello’s Library, by Chris Grabenstein

“When Kyle learns that the world’s most famous game maker, Luigi Lemoncello, has designed the town’s new library and is having an invitation-only lock-in on opening night, he’s determined to be there! But the tricky part isn’t getting into the library—it’s getting out. Because when morning comes, the doors stay locked. Kyle and the other kids must solve every clue and figure out every secret puzzle to find the hidden escape route!”

The Library Book, by Susan Orlean

On the morning of April 29, 1986, a fire alarm sounded in the Los Angeles Public Library. As the moments passed, the patrons and staff who had been cleared out of the building realized this was not the usual fire alarm. As one fireman recounted, “Once that first stack got going, it was ‘Goodbye, Charlie.’” The fire was disastrous: it reached 2000 degrees and burned for more than seven hours. By the time it was extinguished, it had consumed four hundred thousand books and damaged seven hundred thousand more. Investigators descended on the scene, but more than thirty years later, the mystery remains: Did someone purposefully set fire to the library—and if so, who?


In The Library Book, Orlean chronicles the LAPL fire and its aftermath to showcase the larger, crucial role that libraries play in our lives; delves into the evolution of libraries across the country and around the world, from their humble beginnings as a metropolitan charitable initiative to their current status as a cornerstone of national identity; brings each department of the library to vivid life through on-the-ground reporting; studies arson and attempts to burn a copy of a book herself; reflects on her own experiences in libraries; and reexamines the case of Harry Peak, the blond-haired actor long suspected of setting fire to the LAPL more than thirty years ago.

The Book of Speculation, by Erika Swyler

Simon Watson, a young librarian, lives alone in a house that is slowly crumbling toward the Long Island Sound. His parents are long dead. His mother, a circus mermaid who made her living by holding her breath, drowned in the very water his house overlooks. His younger sister, Enola, ran off six years ago and now reads tarot cards for a traveling carnival.

One June day, an old book arrives on Simon’s doorstep, sent by an antiquarian bookseller who purchased it on speculation. Fragile and water damaged, the book is a log from the owner of a traveling carnival in the 1700s, who reports strange and magical things, including the drowning death of a circus mermaid. Since then, generations of “mermaids” in Simon’s family have drowned–always on July 24, which is only weeks away.

As his friend Alice looks on with alarm, Simon becomes increasingly worried about his sister. Could there be a curse on Simon’s family? What does it have to do with the book, and can he get to the heart of the mystery in time to save Enola?

The Librarian of Basra: A True Story from Iraq, by Jeanette Winter

Alia Muhammad Baker is a librarian in Basra, Iraq. For fourteen years, her library has been a meeting place for those who love books. Until now. Now war has come, and Alia fears that the library–along with the thirty thousand books within it–will be destroyed forever.

In a war-stricken country where civilians–especially women–have little power, this true story about a librarian’s struggle to save her community’s priceless collection of books reminds us all how, throughout the world, the love of literature and the respect for knowledge know no boundaries. Illustrated by Jeanette Winter in bright acrylic and ink.

Browsing Books: Zippel Bay State Park

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We are the Central Minnesota Libraries Exchange, a multitype library system serving all types of libraries.

You can check out our show notes page, to get links to to the books we are sharing here!

This season we are suggesting books you might enjoy for our Goodreads group: Armchair Travel to Minnesota State Parks. We give you a prompt connected to each state park, and you find a book to fulfill the challenge. You can use one of our suggestions, and you should feel free to read any book!

Zippel Bay park was founded in 1959. https://www.dnr.state.mn.us/state_par… This park has miles of white sand beaches for visitors to enjoy. Find a beach read, and enjoy a book about a beach vacation.

We give you links to each of these books on our show notes page, taking you to Amazon.com. If you click on any of them, and buy anything at all – including a nice book – Amazon will send us a small percent of the profits they made on these sales. Thank you for supporting CMLE!

We Are Celebrating #STEAM Projects This Week!

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We are working to produce material for our member libraries – and for any library!

One of our often-shared sets of materials are our “What Are We Doing Today?” pages. Every day the schools in Minnesota are closed, we are producing a page of activities. They are aimed at kids, and are fine for kids of all ages!

Last week, we celebrated a small holiday every day. When things are difficult all around us, it’s good to take a little time to remember to do some celebrating and some good things that we also have each day.

This week, we are celebrating #STEAM projects! Monday through Friday this week, we will look at five projects each day, one in topic: Science, Technology, Engineering, Art, and Math.

Here is Monday’s page, with the first five activities.

Join us! Share this link with your students. Give it to your staffers to share. Tell parents about this resource.

We are here to help you. Please let us know if there is anything else we can provide for you and your community!

CMLE Resources for You!

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We don’t know how long we will all be working at home, but it’s going to be a while. Getting settled into the routine of working this way is harder now. We are past the excitement of trying new things, and working to be positive in a scary time. And now, we are hitting the harder part: it’s not new, it’s just frustrating. The technology is slow, things do not work the way you want them, and when you most need it – whatever you are working on will just not work right.

It happens. It’s okay – this is part of it all. Take a deep breath, and let’s just keep moving forward.

CMLE has an assortment of resources for you – and things you can share with your community members! Just because our physical facilities are closed, we are not helpless. There is a lot of work that any type of library can do, to keep providing information and resources to our community members.

You can take this and put a link on your website. Give your patrons access to book discussions, new genres, and beverages for all!

We want this to be fun – like an in-person book group! Instead of making book assignments, we just want to hang out with you and chat. We are inviting in guests to be part of each episode, to get a diverse set of ideas and suggestions. We will talk about our favorites, or be baffled about the genre. We will share titles we loved, we will talk about the books we just couldn’t finish, and everyone will leave with ideas for at least a new book or two to read!

And of course, we will have the one thing that really makes a book group complete: beverages. As we start each episode, we will be enjoying our beverages; and as you – the listener – are also members of this book group, you should also have a beverage!

Share this page with your patrons, especially if you are working with kids and families. Every single day while schools are closed, we will post a set of activities for kids. (And it’s appropriate for kids of all ages, so don’t be shy about trying out a few daily activities for yourself!)

Part of staying at home is staying busy, and doing some fun things, or trying new things. So each day we will have a new page for you, filled with ideas for projects you can try.

We have art projects, food ideas, writing ideas, dance party ideas, game ideas, science projects, and more. Check back each day to find new things to try!

  • Goodreads Book Challenges

    Armchair Travel to Minnesota State Parks: And as we are Minnesota library people, we want you to connect your enjoyment of reading, and visiting libraries, to the fun of visiting these parks. Join us for some reading!

    High School Reading Challenge: Are you looking for some new titles? Wanting to revisit some old favorites?? We challenge YOU to read more books, explore new ideas, and enjoy yourself!

    We have ten prompts – one for each month of the school year, plus a bonus book. (Ten is a more interesting number than nine!)

Episode 508: Books for Springtime

Episode 508 Books for Springtime logo

Thank you for joining us on Reading With Libraries! We are so glad you are here to join our book group podcast!

This week we’re embracing the season and talking about books to enjoy during spring. Thank you so much to frequent Guest Host Ariel for joining us!

Each week we like to connect the theme of our books with our beverages. Today we have drinks that channel the excitement of springtime! All the recipes for beverages are on our show notes page.

We’re excited to share books with spring themes like flowers and gardens, or simply books that are even more enjoyable in the spring.

You can click on any of the links on our show notes pages to go to Amazon.com for more information about the books we shared this week. If you buy anything while you are there, Amazon will give us a small percent of their profits from your purchase. Thanks in advance for helping to support the mission of CMLE – we appreciate it!

Spring is such a relief after long Minnesota winters so we hope we’ve shared some books that can make your enjoyment of the season even better!

Thank you to Ariel for joining us again for a great discussion!

Join us next Thursday with another genre, more guest hosts for our book group, and more books to share and discuss. Be sure to subscribe to our podcast so you don’t miss a single episode! And if you want to hear more about the work we do in libraries or expand your library skills, check out our podcast Linking Our Libraries!

Bring your book ideas, bring your beverages, and join us back here on Thursday!