With a Mesa County Libraries card you can now check out a backpack with binoculars, educational materials, and a pass to any of the 42 state parks in Colorado! Our library is participating in the brand new Check Out Colorado program. The backpacks can be checked out at the Central Library for 7 days. It is a […]
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Quite a few residents of Western Colorado know about the ghost town called Carpenter. Some people might have actually visited the site of the old mining community. What is not as well-known is that Carpenter was officially named Poland Springs from 1892 to 1897. It was frequently misspelled Polen or Pollen Springs by locals and […]
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If you’re a good and enthusiastic cook or baker, you’ve probably been told “you should sell these!” And maybe you’ve given it some thought. We’ve got a new book, Good Food, Great Business, to provide you the know-how to make that thought a reality. The subtitle, “How to take your artisan food idea from concept to […]
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In my next life I want to be a cartographer. More specifically, a cartographer in the time of Columbus, Magellan and de Gama. In 1992, to coincide with the 500th anniversary of Columbus’ voyage to what turned out to be the West Indies, Rand McNally published Atlas of Columbus. This beautiful book is a collection […]
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Mesa County Libraries are launching “1,000 Books Before Kindergarten,” an ambitious effort to encourage a love of reading in young children. Because parents are their child’s first and best teachers, “1,000 Books Before Kindergarten” gives parents a framework for reading with their children. Children who read with their parents extensively in the years before kindergarten […]
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Libraries are a place with something to offend everyone. They are also places of discovery, wonder, enrichment, and understanding. Throughout this week dedicated to bringing Banned (and Challenged) Books to people’s attention, we have had some heart-warming moments: Listening to a mother tell her child the reasons given for banning Green Eggs and Ham, an […]
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I first read Maus when I was in 7th grade and I can recall the experience almost like it was yesterday. The book was created by Art Spiegelman and has been nominated for over 10 national and international book awards. In the graphic novel, Spiegelman retells the account of his father, Vladek Spiegelman, a Polish Jew who […]
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The past is a fearsome ghost hanging over Sethe’s life. It is 1873, slavery has been abolished, and while she now lives a safe and seemingly peaceful life, she remains haunted by a dark act she committed 20 years ago. She has stayed sane by “beating back the past” , but the horrendous legacy of […]
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I don’t remember much about my high school English classes (it was a long time ago), but I do remember studying The Canterbury Tales. That work, by Geoffrey Chaucer, sparked in me a lifelong interest in the history of the English language and medieval history. It is a piece of literature that continues to […]
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Eleanor and Park is an ultimately hopeful Young Adult novel grounded in some harsh realities that probably won’t feel unfamiliar to many teen readers. The characters face bullying, domestic abuse, and racism. The book still manages to feel light and romantic in spite of the obstacles the characters are facing and illustrates that change is possible […]
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