Make time stand still with a good Labour Day read
Have you ever read a book that made it seem like time stopped? Or have you enjoyed a novel worth devouring in one sitting? One out of a million books can be classified as a time-stopper and a time-stopper is the very best way to spend an hour or 12 of your leisure time.
With the Labour Day Weekend coming up, we here at the Clearview Public Library would like to recommend a couple of books and one movie where a library plays a role as a character in the story (spoiler alert) if you are looking for something special to read or watch.
Before We Were Yours by Lisa Wingate is a fictionalized tale about a true story of poor children kidnapped and then sold to wealthy families all over the United States from the 1920s through 1950. For over 30 years, Georgia Tann as the director of the Tennessee Children’s Home Society and her network rescued many children from dangerous and deplorable conditions or simply accepted unwanted children and adopted them out to loving homes. In Wingate’s book, these experiences are retold as Rill Foss and her four siblings are literally plucked from their houseboat while their mother is at the hospital giving birth to twins. They are removed to Mrs. Murphy’s home where they endure life as described in witness reports from children who were taken from their families. In one scene, Rill’s bedtime reading of The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain supplied by the local library’s bookmobile is the only reason for these children to make it through the awful times before the dreaded viewing party with their potential new parents. This is a book that believes in letting the historical truth be what it is. It may be ancient history to some but it does demonstrate the undeniable fact that generations are affected by the strange twists of fate and the choices that were made many decades ago which had the effect of influencing lives when times were very different from today.
Now, what do a turtle, a blue heron and a library have in common? Rock the Boat by Beck Dorey-Stein is a wonderful beach read where the classic children’s book of The Story of Ferdinand by Munro Leaf makes a guest appearance at the Rock Star Readers Story Hour that takes place in the local library. In this novel, Kate Campbell returns to her home town in Sea Point, New Jersey after her life goes “south” in Manhattan, re-encounters her high school friends as well as reconnects with her small-town life of trials and tribulations. Both the turtle who only travels in a straight line and the blue heron who can double in size are involved as they are indicative of Kate’s decisive choices in life. You will have to read this book to find out exactly how and why.
Did you know that The Story of Ferdinand by Munro Leaf was banned by Adolf Hitler as degenerate propaganda? This is one of my favourite children’s stories and I was shocked to find out that it would have ended up on one of book burning fires in Nazi Germany. As one of the scenes in the thrilling screen epic of Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (Paramount/Lucasfilm Ltd) features a bonfire decreed by the feuerspruche (fire decrees), this beloved tale could have been one of the books going up in flames. Another of the scenes takes place in an Italian library and there is nothing quite like Professor Henry Jones and Indy arguing over “what book” in a pivotal moment of this movie.
All titles can be found in the Creemore Branch of the Clearview Public Library, at 165 Library St. Call 705-466-3011, email creemorebranch@clearview.ca or visit www.clearview.library.on.ca.
We hope to see you soon!
Contributed photo: Rita Madill (Creemore Branch Circulation) and Michele McKenzie (Deputy CEO) are pleased to announce that Colin Foley of Nottawa is the winner of the CPL Summer Teen Reading Program prize basket.
