Winter Solstice Cheers!

Today is the winter solstice, which happily means our nights will start to get shorter. Here in eastern South Dakota, the winter solstice takes place at exactly 5:38pm today.

This is also the first time in 372 years that a full lunar eclipse coincided with the winter solstice. For those that did not or could not see the eclipse, NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory has a Flickr group with over 600 pictures (so far!) of last night's lunar eclipse. Very neat!

To find out more about past, present, and future lunar eclipses, check out NASA's Lunar Eclipse Page.

Happy and Safe Thanksgiving!

The Library wishes everyone a great Thanksgiving Day!

We will be closed Thanksgiving Day, but will be open on Friday for those who want to avoid the shopping crowds or want a place to relax after shopping since 5am.

And for your turkey questions, Butterball still has their famous phone line - 1-800-BUTTERBALL. Or you can go to their website and fill out an online form with your question(s) or email them at talkline@butterball.com. They also have frequently asked questions on their website that might answer your question(s) without having to contact them.

Enjoy!

2010 - The Year of the Book

It is the time of the year when the lists of the best book of 2010 start coming out. Amazon has their lists, including Top 100 Editor Picks and Top 100 Customer Favorites.

The top editor pick was The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot - our call number is 616.02774 SKL.

The top customer favorite was The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest by Stieg Larsson - our call number is Fic Larsson.

Publishers Weekly posted their Best Books of 2010 today.

The book at the top of their list is A Visit From the Goon Squad by Jennifer Egan - our call number is Fic Egan

What are your favorite reads of 2010?

Scary Story Contest Winners

Here are some of the winners of our Ninth Scary Story writing contest who attended our Scary Story Event on October 29.  The winners were
Grades K-2 1st place - Ainsley Shelsta, 2nd place – Mollie Moore, Hon. Men. – Madison Pantzke, Hon. Men. – Tess Pantzke

Grades 3-4 1st place – Daulton Meadows, 2nd place – Ryan Treiber, Hon. Men. - Luke Timmerman, Hon. Men. - Shawna Rumpza

Grades 5-6 1st place – Elise Becker, 2nd place – Kashfia Rahman, Hon. Men. – Bastienne Baggett

Grades 7-8 1st place – Grace Timmerman, 2nd place – Lucas Abraham, Hon. Men. – Kevin Wu

Grades 9-12 1st place – Zarin Rahman, 2nd place – Trinity Koch
Adult 1st place – Michael Ropp, 2nd place – Matthew Jacobsen


We're looking forward to next year!

Elvita

Don't Look Under Your Bed!!

In the mood for some horror and fright? See if you can survive one of these reads...


Handling the Undead by John Ajvide Lidqvist
The dead are waking up in Stockholm and now their families have to deal with their grief and mixed emotions as they confront those they had lost. The Library also has the beautifully made film version of Lidqvist's frightening vampire debut, Let the Right One In.







A Dark Matter by Peter Straub
Lee is writing a book about a personal event that happened 40 years ago that left one person dead and another missing. Can he untangle that horrifying night so that he and his friends can confront what really happened?







The Dead Path by Stephen Irwin
Since the night of his wife's death, Nicholas has been seeing ghosts. And not just the ghosts, but also the re-enactment of their violent deaths. Now back in his home town, he must use this strange gift to help solve the murders taking place in the local woods.







Mr. Shivers by Robert Bennett
It is the the middle of the Great Depression and a man follows the murderer of his daughter from town to town to seek vengeance. On his quest, he finds and joins two others who have been horrifyingly linked to this man. But they soon start to wonder, is it a man they seek, or something more evil?







The Passage by Justin Cronin
A government experiment has been unleashed and alters the world overnight. Brad Wolgast is determined to keep the child with him safe. The child, Amy, knows it is up to her to stop this experiment from claiming all of humanity.

Scary Scary!

Join us for our Scary Story Event Friday October 29 at 7 pm in the Cooper Room Cript.  We will read the winning entries from our scary story writing contest, hear strange and wonderous riddles, eat spooky food, and have a good time.

Here's a picture from a past year's event.  Don't miss out on the fun!

Elvita

Election Information

The 2010 Election is November 2nd, less than two weeks away. To help with your election decisions...

The Internet Public Library has put together a fantastic list of election and voting resources. They include local and state resources along with national news, political party sites, and historical information links. http://www.ipl.org/div/election/

You can go to the SD Secretary of State website to see if you are registered to vote and to find out the location of where you vote. They also have a 2010 candidate list and ballot questions.

Nita