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Upcoming Events
See what's happening this month.
Click on the Events Calendar to see a detailed listing of programs and events happening at SCPL.
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This program has limited spots remaining but watch for fun and exciting programs in the future! | |
1000 Books Before Kindergarten
Do you have a baby, toddler, or preschooler? If so, join SCPL's 1000 Books Before Kindergarten program to help your child be ready for school. Contact our Children's Department or Click here for more information.
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Each month SCPL will feature a new puzzle challenge. Download or pick up a January or February puzzle at any branch. Return your sheet by email or drop it off at any SCPL location. Each person who solves the puzzle correctly will be entered into a drawing for a $10 local gift card.
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Memorial and Honor Donations | |
Looking For Your Next Read? | |
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SCPL Offers BookPage
Discover this month's most exciting new books in the current issue of BookPage, provided courtesy of Spencer County Public Library.
Text Link
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February 7th at 1:00 PM at Rockport in the Small Meeting Room
Discussing The Stationary Shop by Marjan Kamali
Roya, a dreamy, idealistic teenager living amid the political upheaval of 1953 Tehran, finds a literary oasis in kindly Mr. Fakhri’s neighborhood stationery shop, stocked with books and pens and bottles of jewel-colored ink.
Then Mr. Fakhri, with a keen instinct for a budding romance, introduces Roya to his other favorite customer—handsome Bahman, who has a burning passion for justice and a love for Rumi’s poetry—and she loses her heart at once. Their romance blossoms, and the little stationery shop remains their favorite place in all of Tehran.
A few short months later, on the eve of their marriage, Roya agrees to meet Bahman at the town square when violence erupts—a result of the coup d’etat that forever changes their country’s future. In the chaos, Bahman never shows. For weeks, Roya tries desperately to contact him, but her efforts are fruitless. With a sorrowful heart, she moves on—to college in California, to another man, to a life in New England—until, more than sixty years later, an accident of fate leads her back to Bahman and offers her a chance to ask him the questions that have haunted her for more than half a century: Why did you leave? Where did you go? How is it that you were able to forget me?
-Excerpt from Amazon
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March 7th at Rockport in the Small Meeting Room
Discussing The Book of Essie by Meghan Maclean Weir
Esther Ann Hicks—Essie—is the youngest child on Six for Hicks, a reality television phenomenon. She's grown up in the spotlight, idolized and despised for her family's fire-and-brimstone brand of faith. So when Essie’s mother, Celia, discovers that Essie is pregnant, she immediately arranges an emergency meeting with the show’s producers. Do they sneak Essie out of the country for an abortion? Pass the child off as Celia’s? Or do they try to arrange a marriage—and a ratings-blockbuster wedding?
Meanwhile, Essie is quietly pairing herself up with Roarke Richards, a senior at her school with a secret of his own. As the newly formed couple attempt to sell their love story to the media through exclusive interviews with the infamously conservative reporter Liberty Bell, Essie finds she has questions of her own: What was the real reason for her older sister leaving home? Who can she trust with the truth about her family? And how much is she willing to sacrifice to win her own freedom?
-Excerpt from Amazon
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January 20th at 1:30 PM at Richland
Discussing Remarkably Bright Creatures by Shelby Van Pelt
After Tova Sullivan’s husband died, she began working the night shift at the Sowell Bay Aquarium, mopping floors and tidying up. Keeping busy has always helped her cope, which she’s been doing since her eighteen-year-old son, Erik, mysteriously vanished on a boat in Puget Sound over thirty years ago.
Tova becomes acquainted with curmudgeonly Marcellus, a giant Pacific octopus living at the aquarium. Marcellus knows more than anyone can imagine but wouldn’t dream of lifting one of his eight arms for his human captors—until he forms a remarkable friendship with Tova.
Ever the detective, Marcellus deduces what happened the night Tova’s son disappeared. And now Marcellus must use every trick his old invertebrate body can muster to unearth the truth for her before it’s too late.
-Excerpt from Amazon
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February 10th at 1:30 PM at Richland
Discussing The Five Wishes of Mr. Murray McBride by Joe Siple
With all his family and friends gone except an estranged grandson, retired Major League ballplayer Murray McBride is looking for a reason to live. He finds it in Jason Cashman, a spirited 10-year-old boy with a terminal heart defect and a list of five things he wants to do before he dies. Murray is determined to help Jason fulfill his dreams. Together, they race against the limited time each has left, ticking off Jason’s wishes one by one. Along the way, Murray remembers what it’s like to be young, and Jason fights for the opportunity to grow old. But when tragedy strikes, their worlds are turned upside-down, and an unexpected gift is the only thing that can make Jason’s final wish come true.
100-year-old Murray McBride finds new meaning in life, and starts a positive butterfly effect on the lives of those around him, in this series about coming of age, friendship, purpose.
-Excerpt from Amazon
March 10th at 1:30 PM at Richland
Discussing All Good People Here by Ashley Flowers
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Everyone from Wakarusa, Indiana, remembers the infamous case of January Jacobs, who was discovered in a ditch hours after her family awoke to find her gone. Margot Davies was six at the time, the same age as January—and they were next-door neighbors. In the twenty years since, Margot has grown up, moved away, and become a big-city journalist. But she’s always been haunted by the feeling that it could’ve been her. And the worst part is, January’s killer has never been brought to justice.
When Margot returns home to help care for her uncle after he is diagnosed with early-onset dementia, she feels like she’s walked into a time capsule. Wakarusa is exactly how she remembers—genial, stifled, secretive. Then news breaks about five-year-old Natalie Clark from the next town over, who’s gone missing under circumstances eerily similar to January’s. With all the old feelings rushing back, Margot vows to find Natalie and to solve January’s murder once and for all.
But the police, Natalie’s family, the townspeople—they all seem to be hiding something. And the deeper Margot digs into Natalie’s disappearance, the more resistance she encounters, and the colder January’s case feels. Could January’s killer still be out there? Is it the same person who took Natalie? And what will it cost to finally discover what truly happened that night twenty years ago?
-Excerpt from Amazon
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February 12th 3:30 PM at Hatfield Branch
Discussing The Four Winds by Kristin Hannah
Texas, 1921. A time of abundance. The Great War is over, the bounty of the land is plentiful, and America is on the brink of a new and optimistic era. But for Elsa Wolcott, deemed too old to marry in a time when marriage is a woman’s only option, the future seems bleak. Until the night she meets Rafe Martinelli and decides to change the direction of her life. With her reputation in ruin, there is only one respectable choice: marriage to a man she barely knows.
By 1934, the world has changed; millions are out of work and drought has devastated the Great Plains. Farmers are fighting to keep their land and their livelihoods as crops fail and water dries up and the earth cracks open. Dust storms roll relentlessly across the plains. Everything on the Martinelli farm is dying, including Elsa’s tenuous marriage; each day is a desperate battle against nature and a fight to keep her children alive.
In this uncertain and perilous time, Elsa―like so many of her neighbors―must make an agonizing choice: fight for the land she loves or leave it behind and go west, to California, in search of a better life for her family.
The Four Winds is a rich, sweeping novel that stunningly brings to life the Great Depression and the people who lived through it―the harsh realities that divided us as a nation and the enduring battle between the haves and the have-nots. A testament to hope, resilience, and the strength of the human spirit to survive adversity, The Four Winds is an indelible portrait of America and the American dream, as seen through the eyes of one indomitable woman whose courage and sacrifice will come to define a generation.
-Excerpt from Amazon
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March 12th 3:30 PM at Hatfield Branch
Discussing Flashback by Iris Johansen
Chloe and Sloane Morgan were only children when their mother was the second victim of the Bayside Strangler. Now, after spending fifteen years trying to discover his identity, the sisters have suddenly vanished. Were they getting too close to the truth? The police consider their interest in the crime to be just a coincidence and have little motivation to pursue the cold case.
Armed with the box of photos, videos, police reports, and notes gathered by the sisters over the years—plus the extraordinary senses from being blind before recovering her sight via a revolutionary surgical procedure—Kendra follows the sisters’ trail of clues. Little does she realize that her search is about to unleash a long-dormant killer on San Diego. With help from government agent-for-hire Adam Lynch, Kendra must race to discover the identity of an infamous killer, not only to save the lives of the two sisters but also untold others.
-Excerpt from Amazon
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Take the Fun Home this Winter with Board Games from SCPL!
Don’t let the cold keep you inside—make the most of those cozy nights with board games you can check out and enjoy from the comfort of your home!
We have a huge selection of games for all ages, from family-friendly fun to strategy challenges that will keep you entertained for hours. Whether you’re building cities in Catan, racing trains in Ticket to Ride, or solving mysteries in Clue, there’s a game for everyone to enjoy!
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Check out the SCPL Sourdough Group page on Facebook! This group allows members to share tips, tricks, and recipes. Join today! | | | | |
