Hello,
Do any of you write a newsletter or include information in your bulletin to promote books and other media in the library? If so, do you find it to be successful? I would love to see examples of what you do.
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New to Our Shelves
by Jean Lefurgey
I rarely enter a book store with any specifics in mind. I suppose I am driven by the thrill of the hunt, although I have come to realize that the best books somehow find me, rather than vice versa. Such is the case with a non-fiction book newly added to our church library. Kristen Schell’s The Turquoise Table was a lovely surprise for me. The book’s subtitle is “Finding community and connection in your own front yard” and that is, indeed, an apt description. It is the kind of book that — like a fine sermon— makes me want to walk out the door and do something good. Schell and her family had moved to a new home a few years ago and she was looking to make new friends. Following the French tradition that life is best around a table, she bought a wooden picnic table and painted it a cheery turquoise blue. But rather than place it in the backyard, she put it in her front yard, under a magnolia tree near the cul-de-sac. Then she put a vase of flowers on it. As she sat there in the coming days reading a book or just sipping coffee, strolling neighbors began to stop by to meet the newcomer. Noticing that some people were walking their dogs, she added a water bowl under the tree, and more neighbors and their pets stopped for an introduction and a visit. From there, the whole idea of the turquoise table and its intent became like Topsy in Uncle Tom’s Cabin who, when asked how she had gotten so big, replied, “I don’t know. I just growed.” The Turquoise Table is a delightful read as it expands on how the whole concept spread far and wide. There are wonderful stories of how some people (introverts or those with no yard, for instance) of necessity found their own amazing ways to spread the sense of friendship and community.
By book’s end, I was jotting down ways to implement my own ideas, spurred on by author Schell’s reminder that “It takes each of us to make a difference for all of us.”
Help for grieving kids
From the Berlin Mennonite Library
One of the hugely painful times in a family’s life is the death of a beloved pet. Helping your child through the first few days without their furry friend can be a bit easier with two new books soon to appear at the Berlin Mennonite Church library. Dog Heaven and Cat Heaven are separate books, both by author/illustrator Cynthia Ryant. Both were written more than 20 years ago, but remain popular because of their comforting simplicity in helping children accept the death of their faithful pet. Cat Heaven is written in a charming sing-songy rhyme approach that delights and heals the mind with all the loveliness that awaits kitty in heaven. It ends with “All cats love Heaven, they know the way there, they know where the angel cats fly. They’ll run past the stars and the moon and the sun, to curl up with God in the sky.” Dog Heaven is written in a less lyrical prose style, but is just as satisfying in its verbal description of all the wonders of a dog’s hereafter. After all, how can you forget the imagery of God carefully turning a big white cloud inside out so that your pup can have a soft fluffy bed in heaven?
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