BookMyne home screen

After you download it, you can select your library.  It does give you a list of nearby libraries, so that makes it fairly easy to select the Dwight Foster Public Library and then access the catalog and your account (assuming you aren’t on vacation in some tropical paradise when you do this step) simply by entering your library card number and PIN.

The app has some neat features, including an interface with a social site for readers called Goodreads.   It also displays the number of issues that need attention (for example overdues to return or holds to pick up)  by displaying a red number in the “My Account” area on the home screen.  In the image above, their are 12 such items.   Pretty nifty way to remember that you need to get to the library!

Please let us know if you have any questions or issues.

So here’s the deal. Karou, a mysterious girl with electric blue hair, leads a double life. On one hand, she attends art school inPrague, filling sketchbooks with realistic drawings of fantastic creatures. On the other hand, she often slips through a portal to another world where she runs errands for the creatures from her sketchbook, who are very real indeed. Raised by these creatures, Karou has no idea of her parentage or heritage but a fateful meeting with a beautiful and vengeful angel is about to change that.

However, and you have to trust me on this, a brief plot description is not going to cut it. Daughter of Smoke and Bone is a book you will want to live in. The atmosphere and exotic landscapes are so vivid and Taylor’s use of language is breathtaking. For example, Karou is described to us lushly as “Creamy and leggy, with long azure hair and the eyes of a silent-movie star, she moved like a poem and smiled like a sphinx.” (18)

This is a fantasy novel accessible to non-fantasy readers and a young adult novel accessible to adults and young adults alike. So what are you waiting for? Check this book out and see for yourself!

Almost 20 years ago now, Mrs. Shelly became the children’s librarian at the Dwight Foster Public Library.  Mrs. Shelly was hired just prior to the computerization of our operation, before we had even begun planning for our library’s expansion, and when e-books were nothing more than a figment of a science fiction writer’s well-developed imagination.  Many things have changed over these last 20 years in our library.  But one thing surely hasn’t.

Mrs. Shelly’s warm heart and fun-loving spirit has never wavered.  No matter what was happening in the world around her, Mrs. Shelly always could be counted on to be genuinely interested in the well-being of the young people placed in her care.  She spent 20 years getting to know children in Fort Atkinson, seeking to inspire their love of learning and reading as well as teaching them how to find answers, have fun, and feel good about themselves.  As a former children’s librarian, I can report that’s no easy task; Mrs. Shelly made it look effortless.

Mrs. Shelly has read stories, taught important skills, collected and shared books and information, played games, made crafts, and organized more events than one could ever dream.  She’s guided, applauded, and even reprimanded.  Whatever lesson needed to be learned, Mrs. Shelly has delivered it faithfully.  And always with graciousness and charm.

Two decades of children have been inspired by Mrs. Shelly.   For her passion and compassion, for her dedication and outstanding efforts, we are grateful beyond words.

Mrs. Shelly is set to retire on December 31^st .  Please join me in thanking her at a public reception held in her honor at the library on Saturday, December 3^rd  from 1 to 3 p.m.    Also, please consider stopping by the library anytime before December 14^th to record your favorite Mrs. Shelly memory in the book we are creating for her so she has something unique and memorable to read in her retirement.

• How to use the library catalog
• Get a free email account
• How to use your email account
• Finding information on the Web
• Basic Microsoft Word skills (we have Word 2007)
• How to download ebooks
• How to download audiobooks
• Great information sources for homework
• Getting familiar with your laptop computer

These are some of the things that we can help you learn. If you are interested contact the library at (920) 563-7790 to set up your appointment.

On a Clear Day I can Read Forever  this blog is expertly written/produced by Nancy Pate.  Nancy describes herself  as a  reader, writer, recovering  journalist, and book critic for Orlando Sentinel 1985-2005, when lupus forced her to stop working.  Nancy mostly reads fiction but does review some memoirs and essays.  I love the way Nancy writes.

The Story Siren features mainly young adult literature. Reviews, interviews, giveaways, book news, and anything else that strikes the fancy of the blogger, Kristi from Indiana.   I have always enjoyed reading literature written especially for teens.  I think writing for that audience is much harder to do well than writing for adults.  If you want to try reading a young adult book, give this website a look.

Cindy Reads… a lot!  I enjoy her selection of books.  It makes me want to read more.

IndieBound is a fabulous resource created by independent bookstores.  This website not only gives you great reading ideas, it also links you to places where you can buy that are independently owned.  For example, our very own fantastic bookstore in Fort Atkinson…

The Velveteen Rabbit Book Shop is a great resource of events, specials, and ideas for reading.  Be sure to check out the staff picks.

She is too fond of books…and it has addled her brain is so much fun.  How can you not smile at a blog with this title?  This one includes children’s books too.  But it also ad-heavy.

And, of course, there’s Book Page.  This is the digital resource created by the folks who publish the hard copy newspaper we distribute for readers in our library.  I’m a big fan of their author interviews, which the website has in abundance.  Reading about the author always makes me want to read the book!

Need more ideas?  You’ll find a short list of book blogs mentioned in the Wall Street Journal by Cynthia Crossen here.

If you have a favorite blog, feel free to comment about it here.   Sharing your favorites is much appreciated by readers who are looking for great reading ideas.  Blog authors also love the traffic to their website.

• What is an ADRC?
• Who do we serve?
• What are I & A specialists?
• What is Long Term Care Programming and Funding?
• How does the ADRC promote health and wellness?
• What are Benefit Specialists and how can they help me if I am over the age of 60 or have a disability?
• How does having a Power of Attorney for Health Care and/or POA for Finance help me?
• How is guardianship different than POA for Health Care?
• Adult Protective Services role in the ADRC

This program is free and open to the public. For further information contact Amy Lutzke at (920) 563-7790.

I’m excited to be able to report that New York Times bestelling author James Grippando will be visiting our library on Thursday, August 18th.  He will be giving a presentation and autographing books beginning at 7 p.m.  in the FCCU Community Room of  Fort Atkinson’s Dwight Foster Public Library.

I’m pretty sure we wouldn’t have convinced this well-known author to come to Fort Atkinson if not for his sister, Sue.   Sue lives in Fort Atkinson and helped convince Mr. Grippando’s publicist that a trip to the land of cheddarheads was in order.

Thank you, Sue!  We are excited to welcome Mr. Grippando to our newly renovated and expanded library and to our community.

Here are the details:

Come and spend an evening at Fort Atkinson’s Dwight Foster Public Library with author James Grippando on Thursday, August 18^th at 7 p.m.  Sponsored by the Friends of the Library, this event promises to be a rare opportunity to hear from and meet a bestselling author.  Grippando’s program begins at 7 p.m. in the FCCU Community Room.  A book signing will follow.  The Velveteen Rabbit is handling the book sale and encourages pre-orders at the store in advance or via their web site.  http://www.velveteenrabbitbookshop.com. 

Grippando is the bestselling author of more than seventeen novels of suspense including Afraid of the Dark, Money to Burn, Intent to Kill, Born to Run, Last Call, Lying with Strangers, Got the Look, Hear No Evil, and The Pardon, many of them part of his Jack Swyteck series.  He is also the author of a thriller for younger readers, Leapholes (ABA), and in 2006 contributed a short story to the acclaimed Thriller collection.  James is now Counsel to Boies, Schiller & Flexner, LLP, one of the nation’s leading litigation law firms. 

The Wall Street Journal recently ran an investigative series on one of the fastest-growing businesses on the Internet called “data mining,” the process of pulling data on individuals used for marketing, advertising, and even business development.  To New York Times bestselling author James Grippando, who likes to use real-life events and trends to color his novels, data mining and other nefarious Internet dealings seemed like the perfect backdrop for Jack Swyteck’s anticipated return in his newest thriller Afraid of the Dark.

According to Grippando, “One of the reasons I continue to practice law, and in particular one of the reasons I enjoy being a part of David Boies’ law firm, is because I get to work on cutting-edge cases that involve people who are at the top of their industry.  That keeps me plugged into what’s relevant in a way that someone locked in a cabin, writing a manuscript, could never be.  Right about the time I was doing my research for Afraid of the Dark I was also doing legal work for one the recognized pioneers of data mining—a man named Hank Asher, who was one of the data miners that the FBI turned to in 2001 to help track down the terrorists who were responsible for the 9/11 attacks.  This novel isn’t about him or his company.  That’s not the way stories come to me.  When I research my novels, the least effective “research” is when I sit down with someone in an interview and try to get them to answer my two, or ten, or twenty question on some subject matter.  Observation is what my research is about—getting a feel for who people are and why they are successful.  That’s my inspiration.”

The meeting area will open at 6:30 p.m.  An opportunity to purchase books for autographing will follow the program as well as a chance to enjoy refreshments provided by the Friends of the Library.