In this Issue

• Bitter Creek with Teow Lim Goh

• Sensory Time & Social Hour: LOVE

• This Week at the Library

• Upcoming Program Highlights

• Staff Review: National Geographic

• Teen Book Beat: A Tale of Two Cities

• Ask a Librarian

See our full calendar here.

Story Time: Birds

Monday, February 3

10:30 - 11:30 a.m.

Treehouse

CANCELLED THIS WEEK

Lunchtime Language with Sarita

See you next Monday, Feb. 10!

Beginning Knitting

Monday, February 3

4:30-6:00 p.m.

Library Foyer - Fireplace

Healing: Our Path to Mental Well-Being with Thomas Insel

An afternoon with psychiatrist and neuroscientist Dr. Insel, author of Healing: Our Path From Mental Illness to Mental Health. Presented in partnership with the St. Luke’s Wood River Foundation and the Blaine County’s Mental Well-Being Initiative.

Tuesday, February 4

1:00-2:30 p.m.

Lecture Hall + Livestream

The Question of God

Discussion Group

Tuesday, February 4

& Thursday, February 6

4:00-5:30 p.m.

Lecture Hall

Conversational Spanish

Practice and learn Spanish with Sara Pettit (Sarita) in a conversational environment. For intermediate-and-above speakers.

Tuesdays, February 4-March 11

5:00-6:00 p.m. | Learning Commons

English Language Learning

Tuesday, February 4

6:00-8:00 p.m.

Idaho Room

Paws to Read with Pansy

Wednesday, February 5

2:30-3:30 p.m.

Children's Library

Middle Grade Book Club:

The Color of Sound

Students in grades 5-8: Come talk about the book, make friends, and eat treats! Registration required. More/register here.

3:00-4:00 p.m., Wednesday, February 5

Midway Meeting Room

Winter Read Book Group: Chinese Stories in the American West

Wednesdays, February 5-26

4:00-5:00 p.m.

Lecture Hall

Registration required.

Book Club:

The Sound of a Wild Snail Eating

Wednesday, February 5

5:30-7:00 p.m.

Lecture Hall

Pop-In Poetry



This Week: Whose numbered ways of loving still count the heart's measures?

(Careful, it might not be who you think.)

Thursday, February 6

11:30 a.m. - 12:30 p.m.

Learning Commons

TV Discussion Group:

Presumed Innocent

Thursday, February 6

4:00-5:30 p.m.

Learning Commons

Valley Traditional Music Jams



Saturday, February 8

3:00 - 5:00 p.m.

Lecture Hall

Tiny Art Show - Pick Up!



The foyer exhibit of Tiny Art has ended and original art may be picked up now.

Pick-up Deadline: February 15

Children's Library

Circulation Supervisor Cándida Miniño recommends National Geographic magazine. 

As I found myself browsing through the pages of the December 2024 issue of National Geographic, I remembered how I used to look at this magazine when I was a kid. Up to the present, I love pictures of animals from all over the world. Today, however, what caught my attention was an archaeology article titled: “Why scientists are rethinking ancient gender roles.”

A tomb was found in Spain in 2008 filled with riches from around 5,000 years ago. Experts were convinced that this was the grave of an especially important man. Turns out that in 2023 a team of researchers used protein in a tooth to conclude that the man was a biological woman.

Proteomics is the new tool used to study proteins made by either an X or Y chromosome. It is a cheaper technique than DNA analysis that can save the more expensive tests to answer more specific questions.

In this case, the finding led the scientists to see that women could have been leaders in the Copper age in Iberia, changing conventional assumptions...

Read Cándida's entire review here.

Find more staff book recommendations here.

Hi! My name is Madeline. I am twelfth-grader living in the Wood River Valley. I enjoy playing the violin, reading, and writing. For my Book Beat review,

I read A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens.

“It was the best of times, it was the worst of times…” This famous opening sentence comes from A Tale of Two Cities, by Charles Dickens.

The story follows characters from two French families of very different backgrounds: one from an aristocratic family and one who is a victim of aristocratic power. Both decide to leave France and start afresh in London.

The story bounces between Paris and London during the time of the French Revolution. The characters are drawn away from their tranquil life in London and into the very heart of the Revolution, where they must face its chaotic brutality.

A Tale of Two Cities explores themes such as mob mentality and violence, redemption, vengeance, and love. It expertly weaves these themes into a tale full of drama and mystery that will keep its readers turning pages...

Read Madeline's entire book review here.

See all Book Beat Reviews here.