Library cookbook a great gift for the baker on your list
Friends of the Library Cookbook
Looking for a holiday gift? How about a Friends of the Library cookbook? The cookbook is full of wonderful recipes from Friends of the Library and library staff. It costs $7.50, and proceeds benefit the Newton Public Library Friends organization. Purchase one during normal library hours at the check-out desk.
Healthy Eating Through the Holidays
Jenny Thompson, registered dietitian and certified diabetes educator, will present a program at 6:30 p.m. Monday, Dec. 3, in the library meeting room. The program will be about healthy eating throughout the holidays and will include a cooking demonstration and tasty samples for attendees. Jenny is employed at Skiff Medical Center and the Newton Hy-Vee and has 17 years of experience working with people of all ages and helping them with their nutritional needs. This program is free and no pre-registration is required.
Story Times at Newton Public Library
• Enjoy stories about snow with Youth Services Librarian Phyllis Peter during Preschool Story Time, for children ages 3 to 5, at 10:30 a.m. Thursday, Nov. 29. There will be no story time on Thursday, Nov. 22. Each story time includes books, music, fingerplays and a simple craft.
• Toddlers and Twos Story Time, which is for children ages 18 months to 36 months old, will be at 10:30 a.m. Tuesday. A second Toddlers and Twos Story Time will follow at 11 a.m. Choose to attend one session, but not both as back-to-back sessions are offered so neither will be too large. All story times meet in the Carousel Horse Room, except on holidays, and are free and open to all children and their caregivers. Contact Youth Services Librarian Phyllis Peter at (641) 792-4108 with questions.
Iowa Country School
Milestones
Join the Newton Noon Kiwanis and the Newton Public Library for a meet-and-eat program in the library meeting room at noon Wednesday, Nov. 28. Bring a sack lunch and learn about Iowa Country School Milestones from Humanities Iowa Speakers Bureau expert William Sherman.
William Sherman worked as a publications/public relations specialist for the Iowa State Education Association for more than 35 years. Now retired, he continues to research, write and speak nationally and internationally on topics related to country schools. Sherman has organized annual conferences on country school preservation for the Iowa Historic Preservation Alliance since 2000. Audiences are encouraged to share experiences they have had with country schools and to bring teaching certificates, maps showing locations of country schools, books, photographs, diaries and related items that can be displayed and shared with participants.
ABC Author Book Club
The ABC Author Book Club will meet from 1 to 3 p.m. Wednesday, Dec. 12, in the library’s conference room. Call or stop by the library’s information desk to choose from a list of books by this month’s featured author, Agatha Christie. New members are always welcome, and the book club meets on the second Wednesday of each month.
Book Review of the Week by Library staff member Sarrah Knight
If you enjoy historical fiction, “Blue Asylum” by Kathy Hepinstall could be a good read for you.
During a time when a woman couldn’t sit on a jury, plantation wife Iris Dunleavy is judged insane for publicly embarrassing her husband and consequently finds herself deposited at the Sanibel Asylum for Lunatics. Iris quickly realizes that the small-scale hypocrisies she suffers as a patient strongly resemble her treatment in the outside world. “Blue Asylum” examines the blurred lines between madness and sanity and also includes a touching love story. A brief but poignant novel, “Blue Asylum” transports readers to an obscure but fascinating chapter in Civil War and women’s rights history.
First Grade Tours
of the Library
All first graders in the Newton Community School District are visiting the library this November to learn about the many services the library offers, and to learn about being a responsible library patron by taking good care of the books. The Friends of the Library sponsors the costs of the bus transportation, and each child receives a paperback copy of “Don’t let the Pidgeon Drive the Bus” by Mo Willems. The Friends of the Library sponsored the purchase of these books through Scholastic’s Literacy Partnership program. Thank you to individual volunteers who also are helping with the tours: Eugene Bryant, Susan Hawk and Nan Schmidt.
