Library aims to promote literacy within county

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Earlier this week, book lovers across the nation celebrated a “holiday” we hold dear to our hearts. Read A Book Day was observed on Thursday, and many celebrated by carving out reading time when they might normally have forgone it. The bookworms on social media, however, agreed that every day is Read A Book Day to us. This is an unusually bookish week, though, as today is National Literacy Day.

One of the missions of the library is to promote literacy within our communities. We do so for the younger members of society by providing opportunities for parents to work on early literacy skills in storytimes, programs, and activities in the children’s area. Our adult staff has many tools for increasing literacy, both traditional and technological, in adults as well. All you ever need to do is ask.

A tried and true method for growing and maintaining literacy in people of all ages is simply to read. Read whatever you like! From a chunky classic like “War and Peace” to your weekly Sports Illustrated, reading is reading, and it’s all good for you. Listen to books in the car. Read to the kids in your life. Catch a few pages before catching some z’s. Consider it part of your life wellness plan.

So, if you haven’t guessed already, I’ll be reading this weekend. I’m currently working on an advanced reader copy of “The Dreamers” by Karen Thompson Walker about a mysterious sleeping illness that takes grip over a small college town. I’m about a quarter of the way through and every minute not spent reading it is making me antsy to get back in my corner reading chair and tear through it.

Here are some new and notable titles available at DCDL if you’d like to get to reading this weekend:

• “Desolation Mountain” by William Kent Krueger: Cork and his son, Stephen, investigate a plane crash that has killed a senator, a case that is further complicated by the baffling disappearances of several first responders.

• “In Search of Mary Shelley” by Fiona Sampson: Published to coincide with the 200th anniversary of Frankenstein, a major new biography of Mary Shelley, written by an award-winning poet, shares literary insight into Shelley’s firsthand experiences throughout her infamously turbulent life.

• “Where the Crawdads Sing” by Delia Owens: Viewed with suspicion in the aftermath of a murder, Kya Clark, who has survived alone for years in a marsh near the North Carolina coast, becomes targeted by unthinkable forces.

• “A Simple Favor” by Darcey Bell: A single mother’s life is turned upside down when her best friend vanishes, an inexplicable event that prompts her to reach out to her blog readers and the missing woman’s handsome husband before nightmarish realities come to light.

• “I’d Rather Be Reading” by Anne Bogel: Popular blogger and host of the What Should I Read Next? podcast offers a charming, relatable, and highly readable essay collection for book lovers everywhere, examining the magical and maddening aspects of the reading life.

• “The Dinner List” by Rebecca Serle: In a novel imbued with magical realism, when Sabrina Nielsen arrives at her 30th birthday dinner in New York City, she finds at the table not just her best friend, but also her favorite professor from college; her father; her ex-fiancé, Tobias; and Audrey Hepburn.

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By Hannah Simpson

Glad You Asked

If you have a question that you would like to see answered in this column, mail it to Hannah Simpson, Delaware County District Library, 84 E. Winter St., Delaware, OH 43015, or call us at 740-362-3861. You can also email your questions by visiting the library’s website at www.delawarelibrary.org or directly to Hannah at [email protected]. No matter how you contact us, we’re always glad you asked!

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