Want to get started with a new book while you’re stuck at home but not sure where to start? Try one of these series with (currently) no wait time.
3 Series You Can Start Reading Right Now
Exploring Your Family History
Now that you have watched all the cat videos ever created you may have some spare time on your hands. Consider spending some of that time searching for information about your family. Here are some resources to help you get started.
Ancestry Library Edition– This is a great place to get started on your search. You can type in names and locations and Ancestry will search birth, marriage and death records, census records, and military records. Normally you would only be able to access this inside of the library, but Ancestry is temporarily allowing you to use this in your home. You will need to sign in with your Mead Library Card.
Heritage Quest-“Powered by” (but not owned by) Ancestry.com. This partnership has dramatically expanded its half-dozen collections to a sort of “Ancestry.com lite,” including the complete US census, military and immigration records, and city directories. Click Search and scroll all the way to the bottom to unlock more US records as well as selected foreign databases.
Newspaper Archive– From here you can look at Sheboygan Press articles from 1909-1976. Type a name into the search field and then narrow your search to a location. I found out my great-uncle won a marble contest at Mapledale School. You can find more than just the Sheboygan Press. They have papers from all over the United States and the rest of the world. You will need to sign in with your Mead Library Card.
List of Wisconsin Newspapers in Badgerlink– Great place to look for obituaries outside of Sheboygan. You can access more newspapers by going to Mead’s Genealogy page.
UW Digital Collections– Features a large section of digitized books from Sheboygan County, including military records, city histories, and city and county directories from 1875-1920. Go to “Browse Sheboygan County Historical Documents” from this link to see the list of items.
FamilySearch– More than 2,200 online collections (and growing) make this the internet’s largest home to free genealogy data, with recent updates spotlighting Italy, South America and US vital records. You can share and record your finds in family trees and a “Memories Gallery,” and get research help from the wiki.
Perhaps you are saying that you already know about all these resources. Did you know that with your library card you can read Family Tree Magazine online through RBDigital?
“Lucky Day” eBooks
You may already know that Mead has a “lucky day” collection of books and movies – new items that are first-come, first-served but have no waitlist. But now, you also have access to Lucky Day ebooks and audiobooks through WPLC/Overdrive/Libby! “No waiting required – these popular titles are available now! 7 day loan period for ebooks and 14 day loan period for audiobooks.”
Looking for something to read right away? Like with the physical Lucky Day items, the selection may change, but here are three that I’ve read and enjoyed that were available as of Monday morning. You can also browse everything in the Lucky Day collection that’s currently available with this link: https://wplc.overdrive.com/wplc-89-116/content/collection/1046004
Blind Justice by Anne Perry
Anne Perry has multiple mystery series, but the William Monk series is my favorite – he is a London detective and later commander of the Thames River Police in Victorian England. If you can bear to wait, I would start with the first book in the series – The Face of a Stranger – but there’s enough background given that you’ll have no trouble jumping in here, either.
Continue reading ““Lucky Day” eBooks”School is Out Never!
Welcome back to Mead’s blog! This week I figured I would talk about Gale courses. Gale courses are online classes that can either give you accreditation for your career or give you new skills for your personal growth. I wanted to share with everyone some of the courses I’m considering enrolling in.
Drawing for the Absolute Beginner
Way back, in the long-ago of my childhood, I wanted to be a comic book artist. I stopped practicing, though, and eventually, that dream was left behind. Recently, I’ve decided I want to work on improving my rusty drawing skills, but I don’t expect DC will be hiring me. The next session start date is April 15th.
Continue reading “School is Out Never!”Social Distancing with a Book Club
“Social Distancing” is an ubiquitous term these days with the spread of COVID-19, coronavirus, because it affects all of us. In simple terms, it means that we should avoid physical contact and close proximity to each other.
Book clubs are gatherings of readers sharing in discussion, and in the case of the Book to Art Club, sharing art supplies. Due to the spread of coronavirus many of us are cancelling in-person meetings for the foreseeable future. This is disappointing to do, but it helps protect you and your club members from getting sick, and that is extremely important. However, cancelling isn’t your only option. Clubs can meet virtually via video chat, like Skype, Zoom, Facebook Messenger, or Microsoft Teams, just to name a few, or through a conference telephone call.
The Mead Library Romance on the Rocks book club met this week over Skype, and it worked well. It was new for many of us, so we struggled slightly with connecting to the group, versus everyone connecting individually with me because they connected through my Skype invitation, but that was easy to fix.
What you need to make this work is to create a group in Skype for your book club. Next, invite your members by email through the group to join. You can also add members to the group manually after they’ve created a Skype account. Then, all you and your participants need to do is click on the camera or phone icon at your designated meeting time. Skype allows participants to connect by video or phone, and covering your camera is always an option, for those who want to join the discussion but not be on camera.
The Moonlight & Murder book club will meet on Skype in April to discuss Alexander McCall Smith’s The Department of Sensitive Crimes, and the Book to Art Club will meet on Skype in April and May. These discussions are open to teens and adults.
The Book to Art Club discusses books while making hands-on projects, so to keep the making element, I have asked participants to work on a project at home during the discussion, and I hope to share pictures of the projects in our group Facebook album. April’s Book to Art Club read will be Etiquette & Espionage by Gail Carriger, which will inspire steampunk projects related to a girls’ dirigible finishing and assassin school, and May’s discussion will be Nevermoor: the Trials of Morrigan Crow by Jessica Townsend, a Harry Potter-like fantasy featuring a curse, a talent competition, umbrella traveling, a giant cat and magical rooms. I’ve included links on the book titles to make it easy to join these discussions, and I hope you will. Digital book copies may be available through digital sources such as Overdrive/Libby and RB Digital.
Find Your Calm During the Storm
I want to acknowledge all of the parents and caregivers that are adjusting to this whirlwind of lifestyle changes due to the pandemic, while trying to hold yourselves together for the kids in this uncertain time. If your social media feeds are anything like mine, you are being bombarded by free educational resources for families right now – which is pretty great! But it also may feel overwhelming at a time when you are simply trying to mentally process what is currently happening in your life. Aside from protecting ourselves and others from illness, we all need to pay attention to our overall wellness. This can be hard to do while in the midst of these major changes and while feeling cooped up inside. If you are experiencing feelings of anxiety, stress, or grief over the current situation – please, acknowledge your feelings and allow yourself to feel them. Something that has given me a sense of peace is knowing we are all going through this together, even at a social distance. Try to take some time to yourself and trust that things will eventually fall into place with new routines. Some suggestions you may want to consider to help give your mind a break: go for a walk, meditate, listen to music, read a book, create something with your hands, journal, or exchange funny memes with friends – laughter is a great stress reliever! We have many ebooks about mindfulness and mental wellness that can currently be accessed through our catalog that may be helpful to you during this time. I’ve highlighted a few below. You can also view videos to help with stress management through Kanopy’s movie streaming site – I’ve included the link to one I’ve found helpful below as well.
5-Minute Mindfulness: Parenting: Essays and Exercises for Parenting from the Heart by Claire Gillman
This book promotes methods of mindfulness that allow parents to acknowledge their emotions and to be present in the moment. It is broken down into small subject areas that make for easy reading. There are tips for creating a relaxing home, dealing with emotions, handling change, handling loss and grief, the benefits of spending time outdoors, and many other subjects that are relevant to families. You will find these methods helpful with managing stress at home during this time, and any time going forward.
Continue reading “Find Your Calm During the Storm”Aleah's Feel-Good Movie Picks
Thanks for the following to my co-worker Aleah! I asked her to recommend some feel-good movies to me, and she sent me the following along with the little descriptions. Now you, too, can “occupy your mind with these feel-good movies you can find through Kanopy’s movie streaming site!”
What We Do In The Shadows
Introducing Viago, Deacon, and Vladislav. Follow these 3 out-of-date vampires while they navigate modern day nightlife as well as figuring out their relationship as roommates. This movie takes thrills and chills to a whole new comedic level! Anneliese’s note: YES, this movie is absolutely hilarious! WATCH IT!
Continue reading “Aleah's Feel-Good Movie Picks”Books to Watch for in March, Part 2
A flood of highly anticipated new titles are sweeping through the book world in March. In fact, it’s such a busy time for new books, we had to break our post down into two parts.
All these titles are available through our digital lending service, Overdrive. Need help getting started? Instructions are here.
The Mirror and the Light – Mantel – March 10 (||||)
Wow, No Thank You – Samaantha Irby – March 31 (||)
The City We Became by N.K. Jemisin
Continue reading “Books to Watch for in March, Part 2”Cooking in a Time of Social Distancing
Due to Mead Library closing for the coronavirus outbreak, I decided my blog post would be a bit different. All of the cookbooks in this post are available through Hoopla and Libby, so you can still check them out with us closed! Though, I will also include a link to our main catalog in case you find this post after the pandemic has died down. All of these books were selected because they were related to either food storage or cooking on a budget. I’ll include the description from Libby or Hoopla about each of the books.
Good and Cheap: Eat Well on $4/Day by Leanne Brown (Libby/Hoopla/Monarch)
“While studying food policy as a master’s candidate at NYU, Leanne Brown asked a simple yet critical question: How well can a person eat on the $4 a day given by SNAP, the U.S. government’s Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program informally known as food stamps? The answer is surprisingly well: Broiled Tilapia with Lime, Spicy Pulled Pork, Green Chile and Cheddar Quesadillas, Vegetable Jambalaya, Beet and Chickpea Salad—even desserts like Coconut Chocolate Cookies and Peach Coffee Cake. In addition to creating nutritious recipes that maximize every ingredient and use economical cooking methods, Ms. Brown gives tips on shopping; on creating pantry basics; on mastering certain staples—pizza dough, flour tortillas—and saucy extras that make everything taste better, like spice oil and tzatziki; and how to make fundamentally smart, healthful food choices.”
Continue reading “Cooking in a Time of Social Distancing”March 2020 Releases: Part 1
March 2020 is shaping up to be a huge month for new releases. Huge enough, in fact, that we’ve had to split it into two blog posts. Below, you’ll find the first seven of our trending new books. They are all in the library system already, so get on those waitlists quick! Descriptions below are provided by the publishers.
These Ghosts Are Family by Maisy Card – March 3
Stanford Solomon has a shocking, thirty-year-old secret. And it’s about to change the lives of everyone around him. Stanford Solomon is actually Abel Paisley, a man who faked his own death and stole the identity of his best friend.
And now, nearing the end of his life, Stanford is about to meet his firstborn daughter, Irene Paisley, a home health aide who has unwittingly shown up for her first day of work to tend to the father she thought was dead.
These Ghosts Are Family revolves around the consequences of Abel’s decision and tells the story of the Paisley family from colonial Jamaica to present day Harlem. There is Vera, whose widowhood forced her into the role of single mother. There are two daughters and a granddaughter who have never known they are related. And there are others, like the house boy who loved Vera, whose lives might have taken different courses if not for Abel Paisley’s actions.
These Ghosts Are Family explores the ways each character wrestles with their ghosts and struggles to forge independent identities outside of the family and their trauma. The result is an engrossing portrait of a family and individuals caught in the sweep of history, slavery, migration, and the more personal dramas of infidelity, lost love, and regret. This electric and luminous family saga announces the arrival of a new American talent.
Continue reading “March 2020 Releases: Part 1”
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