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Weekly Program eNews

January 27, 2025

In this Issue

• Spotlight: Winter Read Kickoff

• Spotlight: New Foyer Exhibit: "Tracks & Traces"

• Spotlight: Dog Man Party

• This Week at the Library

• Upcoming Program Highlights

• Staff Review: Top Ten Reads of 2024

• Teen Book Beat: One of Us Is Next

• Ask a Librarian

See our full calendar here.

ABOVE RIGHT: The Question of God discussion group will explore two diametrically opposed views of human existence through the lives of Sigmund Freud and C.S. Lewis. This four-part discussion group will be led by Don Liebich. More/register here.

In the Spotlight

To kick off the 2025 Winter Read of Four Treasures of the Sky by Jenny Tinghui Zhang, we'll be opening a new exhibit, celebrating the Lunar New Year, enjoying light refreshments, and sharing how you can participate in this annual community-wide read! The Winter Read is a collaboration with the Hailey Public Library, Bellevue Public Library, and Stanley Community Library. More here.

Thursday, January 30

5:30 p.m. • Library Foyer

A new exhibit in the Library's foyer explores Chinese culture in the 1800s with artifacts from daily life that include an iron, jars, bottles, a Mahjong set, and an abacus. These traces of the Chinese community offer windows into the lives of the miners, laundry workers, farmers, and cooks who once called this region home, but of whom very few traces remain. Tracks & Traces is part of the 2025 Winter Read of Four Treasures of the Sky by Jenny Tinghui Zhang. More here.

Exhibit Opens Thursday, January 30

Library Foyer

Calling all Dog Man fans!! Come join us in the children's library to celebrate the release of the Dog Man movie with a variety of fun activities. More here.

Friday, January 31

1:00-2:30 p.m. • Children's Library + Treehouse

This Week at the Library

Story Time: Dance

Monday, January 27

10:30-11:30 a.m.

Treehouse

Lunchtime Language: Spanish

Monday, January 27

12:00-1:00 p.m.

Idaho Room

Let's Build! for Kids

Monday, January 27

3:00-4:00 p.m.

Children's Library

Beginning Knitting

Monday, January 27

4:30-6:00 p.m.

Foyer Fireplace

The Question of God

Discussion Group Begins

The Question of God explores two diametrically opposed views of human existence through the lives of Sigmund Freud and C.S. Lewis. This four-session series will be moderated by Don Liebich. Registration requested.

Tuesdays & Thursdays

Beginning January 28

4:00-5:30 p.m. • Idaho Room

English Language Learning

Tuesday, January 28

6:00-8:00 p.m.

Idaho Room

Virtual Creative Writing Workshop

Wednesday, January 29

12:00-1:00 p.m.

Zoom

Paws to Read with Pansy

Wednesday, January 29

2:30-3:30 p.m.

Children's Library

Tech Help Desk

Wednesday, January 29

5:00-7:00 p.m.

Learning Commons

Pop-In Poetry

This week: "My life, it seems,

was but a dream within a dream."

Thursday, January 30

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

Learning Commons

TV Discussion Group:

Presumed Innocent

Four-week discussion group. Led by Mimi Avins. Registration is required.

Thursday, January 30

4:00-5:30 p.m.

Learning Commons

Footlight Dance: Literacy/Creativity

Footlight Dance company perform children's books that they have set to dance.

Thursday, January 30

7:00-8:00 p.m.

WRHS Community Campus, Hailey

Wood River Writers'

Focused Writing Group

Saturday, February 1

10:30 a.m. - 1:30 p.m.

Idaho Room + Zoom

Upcoming Program Highlights

February 4: Conversational Spanish with Sarita begins

February 4: Healing: Our Path to Mental Well-Being with Dr. Thomas Insel

February 5: Middle Grade Book Club: The Color of Sound

February 5: Winter Read Book Group begins: Chinese Stories and American West

February 5: Library Book Club: The Sound of a Wild Snail Eating

February 7: WINTER READ: Bitter Creek with Teow Lim Goh

February 11: State of the Valley Forum: Supporting Youth Mental Well-Being

February 12: Bedrock: Immigration’s Role in the Wood River Valley panel

February 13: Hemingway’s Passions with Nancy Sindelar

February 17: The Library will be CLOSED in observance of Presidents Day

February 18: WINTER READ: The Light of a Hundred Fires: Chinese Experiences in Idaho’s Gold Rush Era with historical archaeologist Dr. Renae Campbell

February 19: Restoring the Dignity of Our Rivers with Dr. Colin Thorne

February 21: Reel Love Film Screening with The Advocates Every Teen Counts (ETC) Interns

February 25: Behind the Start Gate 2: Steve Porino on Being a Color Commentator for FIS World Cup Ski Racing

February 26: Reframing Women's Health and Aging with Dr. Jennifer Garrison

February 27: WINTER READ Keynote with Jenny Tinghui Zhang

See our full calendar of events/register here.

Book Review

Top 10 Reads of 2024

Collection Manager Aly Wepplo compiled a list of the Top 10 Reads of 2024, many of which our staff has reviewed! Find your faves below.

The Covenant of Water reviewed by Librarian Andrea Nelson
Demon Copperhead reviewed by Director of Library Operations Pamela Parker
The Demon of Unrest reviewed by Director of Library Operations Pamela Parker
The Heaven & Earth Grocery Store reviewed by Director of Library Operations Pamela Parker
Lessons in Chemistry reviewed by Librarian Andrea Nelson
Tom Lake reviewed by Children’s Librarian Ellen O’Dell

Find the Top 10 Reads of 2024 here.

Find more staff book recommendations here.

Book Beat: Student Book Review

My name is Reese. I like playing softball and volleyball, skiing, and hanging out with family and friends. My favorite genre of book is mystery and some subtle horror. For my Book Beat review, I read One of Us is Next by Holly Jackson.

One of Us is Next is the sequel to one of my favorite books One of Us Lying. This book is exhilarating and exciting and makes you want to keep reading. My favorite quality of the book is how entertaining it is.

This book is about when a new game is created at Bayview High School, truth or dare, but has fatal consequences. If you pick truth or don’t respond, then your biggest secret gets released to the whole school. If you pick dare, then you get a challenge.

Phoebe Lawton is the first to get picked. She ignores it and her secret gets out about sleeping with her older sister’s boyfriend. That’s when people know this game is serious. Knox Myers, and Maeve Rojas are next. The three of them select truth. Brandon, Phoebe’s boyfriend, chooses dare and dies in an accident at a construction site. The game has gone too far...

Read Reese's entire book review here.

See all Book Beat Reviews here.

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