Baby Time

For ages 6 months - 24 months with a caregiver.

We'll sing songs, do rhymes, read short stories and have lots of fun followed by a group playtime with our library friends.

This month we'll be discussing WOMAN IN RED by Eileen Goudge.

"A powerful story of love and redemption, and what one woman will do to overcome the buried secrets of her past. In a tale that weaves the past with the present, we come to know the story behind the portrait, of the forbidden wartime romance between William McGinty and Eleanor Styles, and the deadly secret that bound them more tightly than even their love for each other. A secret that, more than half a century later, is about to be unburied, as Alice and Colin are drawn into a fragile romance of their own and the ghost of an enemy from long ago surfaces in the form of his grandson, the very man responsible for sending Alice to prison." www.goodreads.com

Pick up your copy of each book at the front desk. See this e-flyer for other book discussion titles.    

Join us today to share in the festivities at our annual Holiday Open House celebration! There will be holiday treats and activites for all ages to celebrate the season!

10:30 - 12:30 - Holiday crafts with Miss Kim, Miss Tori and Miss Theresa.

We may also have a vist from a "special guest" helping with crafts and telling stories.

11 - 12:30 - A visit from Rudolph the Reindeer

Pictures will be provided from the Friends of the Firestone Park Branch Library; please feel free to bring your own camera, too.

1 - 2 Holiday in the Tropics

Ron Kerns is back with his steel drums for some holiday fun straight from the Caribbean! Listen to the music and get a chance to play a holiday tune.

1 - 2 Toy Swap

Parents, while your children are enjoying the holdiay sounds of Ron Kerns, take advantage of our toy swap. Please bring in your new or gently used toy donations to the Firestone Park Branch library by December 10 to earn your ticket for admittance. All toy donations must be in working condition and batteries should be included.

2 - 3 Cookie Swap

Adults deserve some treats as well! As you begin your holiday baking for Santa, set 3 dozen cookies aside to bring in for our first ever cookie swap. Bake your homemade special holiday cookies to exchange and share. You will get to pick and choose three dozen cookies to add to your holiday treats! Show off your baking talents, no chocolate chip or peanut butter cookies, please.

Join us for one or all of the festive activities we have planned. We look forward to celebrating the season with you!

We'll be discussing The GLAMOROUS (DOUBLE) LIFE OF ISABEL BOOKBINDER by Holly McQueen.

Join us on the fourth Wednesday of each month at 7 pm for an evening of fun, laughter, and a book discussion like no other!

Books are available for pick up one month prior to the discussion. See this e-flyer for other book discussion titles.    

Please sign up in advance.

Nearing the end of his life, Enzo, a dog with a philosopher's soul, tries to bring together the family, pulled apart by a three year custody battle between daughter Zoe's maternal grandparents and her father Denny, a race car driver.

You’re invited to join us on the second Thursday of each month at 2 pm for a lively book discussion, treats and more! Pick up your copy of each book at the front desk.

In the small river town of La Luna, Louisiana, Calla Lily Ponder enjoys a blissful childhood at her mother's side, learns the art of healing through the humble womanly art of "fixing hair," and encounters first love with a boy named Tuck. When Tuck leaves her, Calla transforms her sorrow into inspiration and heads for the wild and colorful city of New Orleans--where she realizes the full power of her "healing hands" and Tuck presents her with an offer that is colored by the memories of lost love.

Join us on the fourth Wednesday of each month at 7 pm for a lively book discussion, treats and more! Pick up your copy of each book at the front desk.

Set in modern-day India and witnessed through two compelling and achingly real women, the novel shows how the lives of the rich and the poor are intrinsically connected yet vastly removed from each other, and vividly captures how the bonds of womanhood are pitted against the divisions of class and culture.

You’re invited to join us on the second Thursday of each month at 2 pm for a lively book discussion, treats and more! Pick up your copy of each book at the front desk.

Sensible Cassia Fallon has been married to her doctor husband for seven years when her godmother leaves her a huge fortune. For the first time in her life, she is able to do exactly as she likes, and she starts to question her marriage, her past, her present, and her future. But where did her inheritance really come from and why? Too soon the windfall has become a corrupting force, one that Cassia cannot resist.

Join us on the fourth Wednesday of each month at 7 pm for a lively book discussion, treats and more! Pick up your copy of each book at the front desk.

One of the earliest Jewish religious volumes to be illuminated with images, the Sarajevo Haggadah survived centuries of purges and wars thanks to people of all faiths who risked their lives to safeguard it. Geraldine Brooks, the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of MARCH, has turned the intriguing but sparely detailed history of this precious volume into an emotionally rich, thrilling fictionalization that retraces its turbulent journey. Readers experience crucial moments in the book's history through a series of fascinating, fleshed-out short stories as Hanna pursues its secrets scientifically, and finds that some interests will still risk everything in the name of protecting this treasure.

You’re invited to join us on the second Thursday of each month at 2 pm for a lively book discussion, treats and more! Pick up your copy of each book at the front desk.

How can you know someone you've never met? Justin Hitchcock is divorced, lonely and restless. He arrives in Dublin to give a lecture on art and meets an attractive doctor, who persuades him to donate blood. It's the first thing to come straight from his heart in a long time. When Joyce Conway leaves the hospital after a terrible accident, with her life and her marriage in pieces, she moves back in with her elderly father. All the while, a strong sense of déjà vu is overwhelming her and she can't figure out why.

Join us on the fourth Wednesday of each month at 7 pm for a lively book discussion, treats and more! Pick up your copy of each book at the front desk.

In Jackson, Mississippi, in 1962, there are lines that are not crossed. With the Civil Rights movement exploding all around them, three women start a movement of their own, forever changing a town and the way women--black and white, mothers and daughters--view one another.

You’re invited to join us on the second Thursday of each month at 2 pm for a lively book discussion, treats and more! Pick up your copy of each book at the front desk.

Sophia Giambelli has never worried about competition. For three generations, the Giambelli wines have been renowned for their quality throughout the world. The pride of the Giambelli family and a top PR executive, Sophia loves her job—and excels at it. But things are about to change at Villa Giambelli. And when acts of sabotage threaten both the family business and the family itself, Sophia’s quest will be not only for dominance, but also for survival.

Join us on the fourth Wednesday of each month at 7 pm for a lively book discussion, treats and more! Pick up your copy of each book at the front desk.

In this account of the wars of the Plantagenets, a woman of extraordinary beauty and ambition, Elizabeth Woodville, catches the eye of the newly crowned boy king, marries him in secret and ascends to royalty. While Elizabeth rises to the demands of her exalted position and fights for the success of her family, her two sons become central figures in a mystery that has confounded historians for centuries: the missing princes in the Tower of London whose fate is still unknown.

You’re invited to join us on the second Thursday of each month at 2 pm for a lively book discussion, treats and more! Pick up your copy of each book at the front desk.

Spanning more than three decades and playing out across the ever-changing face of the Pacific Northwest, FIREFLY LANE is the poignant, powerful story of two women and the friendship that becomes the bulkhead of their lives.

Join us on the fourth Wednesday of each month at 7 pm for a lively book discussion, treats and more! Pick up your copy of each book at the front desk.

Rosemary Mahoney was determined to take a solo trip down the Egyptian Nile in a small boat, even though civil unrest and vexing local traditions conspired to create obstacles every step of the way. Mahoney endures extreme heat during the day, and a terror of crocodiles while alone in her boat at night. Whether she's confronting deeply held beliefs about non-Muslim women, finding connections to past chroniclers of the Nile, or coming to the dramatic realization that fear can engender unwarranted violence, Rosemary Mahoney's informed curiosity about the world, her glorious prose, and her wit never fail to captivate.

You’re invited to join us on the second Thursday of each month at 2 pm for a lively book discussion, treats and more! Pick up your copy of each book at the front desk.

ENCHANTED, INC is a magical story featuring Katie Chandler, a 20something, small-town Texas girl, who finds that being average in New York City is anything but. Katie is still adjusting to life in the big city while working a for a nightmare boss when she gets a fantastic offer to work for a mysterious company, MSI, Inc. Through her new job and the magical folk she meets, Katie comes to find out she isn't quite as average as she thought; and the fairy tale life she has longed for begins to come true in surprising ways. What Katie doesn't realize is how rare and important being ordinary can be. In fact, it is her ordinary characteristics that make her the perfect secret weapon for MSI, Inc. Now she has magicians and fairies meddling in her attempted romances, a secret life she needs to keep hidden from her non-magical friends, not to mention that dangerous pull she feels for Owen, an attractive but shy wizard who might be the most powerful magic man since Merlin.

http://www.shannaswendson.com/enchanted.html

Join us on the fourth Wednesday of each month at 7 pm for a lively book discussion, treats and more! Pick up your copy of each book at the front desk.

Soon after the fall of the Taliban, in 2001, Deborah Rodriguez went to Afghanistan as part of an humanitarian aid group. Surrounded by people whose skills--as doctors, nurses, and therapists-- seemed eminently more practical than her own, Rodriguez, a hairdresser and mother from Michigan, despaired of being of any real use. Yet she found she had a gift for befriending Afghans, and once her profession became known she was eagerly sought out by Westerners desperate for a good haircut and by Afghan women, who have a long and proud tradition of running their own beauty salons. Thus the idea for the Kabul Beauty School was born. Within that small haven, the line between teacher and student quickly blurred as these vibrant women shared with Rodriguez their stories and their hearts, ultimately giving her the strength to leave her own unhealthy marriage and allow herself to love again, Afghan style.

Join us on the second Thursday of each month at 2 pm for a lively book discussion, treats and more! Pick up your copy of each book at the front desk.

When the two grown daughters of Elizabeth Marshall discover an old diary of their mother's in her attic, it comes as a shock to learn that the true love of Elizabeth's life was not their father.

Join us on the fourth Wednesday of each month at 7 pm for a lively book discussion, treats and more! Pick up your copy of each book at the front desk.

A compelling emotional mystery about family secrets and the magic of books and storytelling. A dying writer bids a young bookshop assistant to write her biography.

Join us on the second Thursday of each month at 2 pm for a lively book discussion, treats and more! Pick up your copy of each book at the front desk.

Nothing ever goes right for Eloise. The day she wears her new suede boots, it rains. When the subway stops short, she's the one thrown into some stranger's lap. And she's had her share of misfortune in the way of love. So, after deciding that romantic heroes must be a thing of the past, Eloise is ready for a fresh start. Setting off for England, Eloise is determined to finish her dissertation on two spies, the Scarlet Pimpernel and the Purple Gentian. But what she discovers is something historians have missed: the secret history of the Pink Carnation-the most elusive spy of all time. As she works to unmask this obscure spy, Eloise has more and more questions. Like, how did the Pink Carnation save England from Napoleon? What became of the Scarlet Pimpernel and the Purple Gentian? And will Eloise Kelly escape her bad luck and find a living, breathing hero of her own?

Join us on the fourth Wednesday of each month at 7 pm for a lively book discussion, treats and more! Pick up your copy of each book at the front desk.

In the small river town of La Luna, Louisiana, Calla Lily Ponder enjoys a blissful childhood at her mother's side, learns the art of healing through the humble womanly art of "fixing hair," and encounters first love with a boy named Tuck. When Tuck leaves her, Calla transforms her sorrow into inspiration and heads for the wild and colorful city of New Orleans--where she realizes the full power of her "healing hands" and Tuck presents her with an offer that is colored by the memories of lost love.

Join us on the second Thursday of each month at 2 pm for a lively book discussion, treats and more! Pick up your copy of each book at the front desk.

Recently divorced Holly Frick is still in love with her ex and woefully depressed, but that doesn't mean her friends will stop asking her for relationship advice. Her best friend is on the verge of having an affair, and another woman wants her help too--getting with Holly's ex! So what's a girl to do? Get two new men at once, of course--one a lovable dog, and the other a much younger lover.

Join us on the fourth Wednesday of each month at 7 pm for a lively book discussion, treats and more! Pick up your copy of each book at the front desk.

When college sophomore Laurel Estabrook is attacked while riding her bike through Vermont's back roads, her life is forever changed. Formerly outgoing, Laurel withdraws into her photography and begins working at a homeless shelter. There she meets Bobbie Crocker, a man with a history of mental illness and a box full of photos he won't let anyone see. When Bobbie dies suddenly, Laurel discovers that he was telling the truth; before he was homeless, Bobbie Crocker was a successful photographer who worked with such legends as Chuck Berry and Eartha Kitt.

As Laurel's fascination with Bobbie's former life begins to merge into obsession, she becomes convinced that his photographs reveal a deeply hidden, dark family secret. Her search for the truth will lead Laurel further from her old life-and into a cat-and-mouse game with pursuers who claim to want to save her. http://www.chrisbohjalian.com/bohjalian-double-bind.htm

You’re invited to join us on the second Thursday of each month at 2 pm for a lively book discussion, treats and more! Pick up your copy of each book at the front desk.

From bestselling author Anne Rivers Siddons comes a bittersweet and finely wrought story of friendship, family, and Charleston society. Poignant and emotionally compelling, Anne Rivers Siddons's Sweetwater Creek draws you into the luminous landscape of the Low country. http://tinyurl.com/yl85neg

Join us on the fourth Wednesday of each month at 7 pm for a lively book discussion, treats and more! Pick up your copy of each book at the front desk.

Seventeen year old Veronica "Ronnie" Miller's life was turned upside-down when her parents divorced and her father--a former concert pianist and teacher--moved from New York City to Wilmington, North Carolina. Three years later, she remains angry and alientated from her parents, especially her father ... until her mother decides it would be in everyone's best interest if she spent the summer in Wilmington with him. An unforgettable story of love on many levels.

***Please note this month's date change. Pick up your copy of each book at the front desk.

Here's a tale reminiscent of "Hamlet," that also celebrates the alliance between humans and dogs. The novel follows speech-disabled Wisconsin youth Edgar, who bonds with three yearling canines and struggles to prove that his sinister uncle is responsible for his father's death.

***Please note this month's date change. Pick up your copy of each book at the front desk.

Paris, July 1942: Sarah, a ten year-old girl, is brutally arrested with her family by the French police in the Vel d'Hiv' roundup, but not before she locks her younger brother in a cupboard in the family's apartment, thinking that she will be back within a few hours.

Paris, May 2002: On Vel d'Hiv's 60th anniversary, journalist Julia Jarmond is asked to write an article about this black day in France's past. Through her contemporary investigation, she stumbles onto a trail of long-hidden family secrets that connect her to Sarah. Julia finds herself compelled to retrace the girl's ordeal, from that terrible term in the Vel d'Hiv', to the camps, and beyond. As she probes into Sarah's past, she begins to question her own place in France, and to reevaluate her marriage and her life.

Join us on the second Thursday of each month at 2 pm for a lively book discussion, treats and more! Pick up your copy of each book at the front desk.