Winter is Coming
Thursday December 5th, 2024
December has officially started and, with winter coming, our exciting Winter Reading Challenge is officially live for teens and adults at Bradford Memorial Library! If you’ve never participated in one of our reading challenges, there’s no more perfect time than the present to get started! Patrons can register themselves or their teens for challenges on Beanstack.
For ages 12 and up, the Bundled Up in Books Reading Challenge is available. This challenge started on December 1st and concludes on February 28th. Registered patrons will have the opportunity to earn winter-themed reading badges, each of which will earn them an entry into the grand prize drawings at the end of the challenge. The badges include Read a Cozy Romance Book, Read a Chilling Mystery Book, Read a Book That Takes Place During a Winter Holiday, Read a Book with a Blue or White Cover, and Read a Book That Was Adapted Into a TV Show or Movie. Upon registration, participants are eligible to receive a free color-changing Bradford Memorial Library cup and will also receive an extra entry into the grand prize drawings. The more challenges you complete, the more entries into the grand prize drawing you will receive. The more reading the better! There will be a teen grand prize and an adult grand prize.
The Children’s Department has an ongoing fall/winter reading challenge that will end on December 13th. Children ages 0-11 are eligible for their “A Book and a Blanket Challenge.” To complete the “A Book and A Blanket Challenge,” registered kids must read (or have parents read to them) a total of 300 minutes. Completing this challenge will allow kids to receive a free book of their choice and a prize from our children’s treasure chest.
What better way to spend a cold winter’s night than to snuggle up and read a nice book? Happy Reading!
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Banned Books Week Celebration
Monday September 23rd, 2024
It’s that time of the year again! Join us in celebrating and honoring Banned Books Week 2024 (Sept. 22-28). Banned Books Week is an annual event that focuses on threats to remove or restrict access to books and draws national attention to the harms of censorship. Each book highlighted in this game is one that has been challenged for varying reasons.
This year, we are holding a fun little challenge to celebrate. At the front desk, you will find a jar full of slips that feature text from 5 commonly challenged books. Participants have to guess at least one of the books in order to be entered into a drawing that will be pulled at the end of the event. There will be a mystery prize for the winner of the game.
In our new section, you can also find a display featuring 25+ historically banned or commonly challenged titles that were chosen to highlight this important event. Each of the books selected for this display feature a piece of paper on the front that will describe why the titles are challenged for removal. Fear not though! None of these titles are in danger of being removed from our collection here at the library. They are simply being used as examples of why censorship is harmful.
Enter the challenge or check out one of the books on display to celebrate Banned Books Week with us!
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Goodbye Summer, Hello Fall!
Wednesday September 4th, 2024
With the start of September, fall reading is officially live for all ages at Bradford Memorial Library! With challenges for everyone, this is the perfect chance to get involved with reading challenges at Bradford. Patrons can register themselves or their children for challenges on Beanstack.
Children ages 0-11 are eligible for the Children’s Department’s “A Book and a Blanket Challenge,” which began on August 15th and goes until December 13th. To complete the “A Book and A Blanket Challenge,” registered kids must read (or have parents read to them) a total of 300 minutes. Completing this challenge will allow kids to receive a free book of their choice and a prize from our children’s treasure chest.
For ages 12 and up, the Autumn Skies: Fall Reading Challenge is available. This challenge started on September 1st and concludes on November 30th. Registered patrons will have the opportunity to earn autumn-themed reading badges, each of which will earn them an entry into the grand prize drawings at the end of the challenge. The badges include Read a Supernatural Book, Read a Dark Academia Book, Read a Book by an Author You’ve Never Read Before, Read a Book with a Red, Orange, or Yellow Cover, and Read a Historical Fiction Book. Upon registration, participants are eligible to receive a free color-changing Bradford Memorial Library cup and will also receive an extra entry into the grand prize drawings. There will be a teen grand prize and an adult grand prize.
Summer Reading has Arrived!
Thursday June 6th, 2024
Summer reading has officially begun at Bradford. There are several challenges for all ages! For kids 0-11 they can register in the Children’s department. Sign up for the “Bradford Bucks” challenge at the Library or participate in a reading challenge through Beanstack. For Teens 12-17 they can register in Beanstack to participate in the summer reading challenge. There will be a weekly drawing for teens that are registered on Beanstack as well as a grand prize drawing. For Adults 18 and up they can also register on Beanstack for the Adventure Awaits summer challenge. There will be a grand prize drawing at the end of the challenge. The children’s program lasts til July 26th and teens and adults will go through August 31st!
Teens and Adults can earn badges throughout the challenge to earn more entries in the grand prize drawings. The badges include books about a romantic adventure, a fatherhood adventure, mystery adventure, a nonfiction adventure, science fiction or fantasy adventure, and a travel adventure!
Those wanting to register can follow the link here!
Happy Reading!
Wednesday May 8th, 2024
Prepare for Summer Reading!
We are wrapping up our Spring Reading challenge this month! Which means summer reading is upon us. We will have several programs as well as a summer reading challenge. Be on the look out to register on Beanstack to earn entries into the Grand Prize drawing!
Don’t forget to check out the Children’s schedule for the summer and as a reminder we will not have any programs for the month of May while they prepare for summer reading!
SRPChildren’sJUNE Library NewsletterCalendar (4)
SRPChildren’s Library Newsletter Summer2024
Thursday, January 4th, 2023
New Year, New Reading Goals!
As we continue with our Winter Reading challenge don’t forget to mark you completed books in Beanstack! Here are recommendations for Romance Reads and books that represent Black History Month.
Two weeks have passed since Iris Winnow returned home bruised and heartbroken from the front, but the war is far from over. Roman is missing, and the city of Oath continues to dwell in a state of disbelief and ignorance. When Iris and Attie are given another chance to report on Dacre’s movements, they both take the opportunity and head westward once more despite the danger, knowing it’s only a matter of time before the conflict reaches a city that’s unprepared and fracturing beneath the chancellor’s reign. Since waking below in Dacre’s realm, Roman cannot remember his past. But given the reassurance that his memories will return in time, Roman begins to write articles for Dacre, uncertain of his place in the greater scheme of the war. When a strange letter arrives by wardrobe door, Roman is first suspicious, then intrigued. As he strikes up a correspondence with his mysterious pen pal, Roman will soon have to make a decision: to stand with Dacre or betray the god who healed him. And as the days grow darker, inevitably drawing Roman and Iris closer together…the two of them will risk their very hearts and futures to change the tides of the war.
‘The thing about books,’ she said ‘is that they help you to imagine a life bigger and better than you could ever dream of.’
On a quiet street in Dublin, a lost bookshop is waiting to be found…For too long, Opaline, Martha and Henry have been the side characters in their own lives. But when a vanishing bookshop casts its spell, these three unsuspecting strangers will discover that their own stories are every bit as extraordinary as the ones found in the pages of their beloved books. And by unlocking the secrets of the shelves, they find themselves transported to a world of wonder… where nothing is as it seems
Wednesday, December 6th, 2023
Winter Reading
The winter reading challenge has begun! Patrons can register on Beanstack if they wish to participate. This challenge will be from December to the end of February, with the grand prize drawing at the end of February. The badges that can earned are A Cozy Mystery, Fresh Starts or New Beginnings, Black History Month, From your To Be Read List, A Romance, or A Young Adult Novel. Below are recommendations for some cozy mysteries and fresh-start novels.
In Bookshops & Bonedust, a prequel to Legends & Lattes, New York Times bestselling author Travis Baldree takes us on a journey of high fantasy, first loves, and second-hand books. Viv’s career with the notorious mercenary company Rackam’s Ravens isn’t going as planned. Wounded during the hunt for a powerful necromancer, she’s packed off against her will to recuperate in the sleepy beach town of Murk—so far from the action that she worries she’ll never be able to return to it. What’s a thwarted soldier of fortune to do?
Prodigal Summer is about nature and self-discovery, but it’s also an excellent book about new beginnings. The beautifully written story has three parallel plots, all focused around a farming community in the Appalachians, including Lusa, a young woman from the city who must unexpectedly start over and find her own way.
Pema Chödrön’s writing feels like a balm for the soul. Eternally wise and comforting, Pema draws on time-honored Buddhist teachings on shenpa (all the attachments and compulsions that cause us suffering) in this book. In Taking the Leap, she shows how certain habits of mind tend to “hook” us and get us stuck in states of anger, blame, self-hatred, addiction, and so much more – and, most of all, how we can liberate ourselves from them for a new way of beginning.
At the stroke of midnight on her last day on earth, Nora finds herself transported to a library. There she is given the chance to undo her regrets and try out each of the other lives she might have lived. This leaves her with the all-important question: what is the best way to live? The Midnight Library is a book about fresh starts that will inspire you to think about the decisions you make every day, as well as your big-picture vision for life. That said, it will also help you to realize that you can’t do and be everything (because that’s impossible).
HAPPY READING!
Wednesday, September 13th, 2023
Fall Reading
September started our Fall Reading Challenge. Patrons can register for the challenge on beanstack from September through November. Patrons can earn 6 different badges to receive entry into the prize drawing a the end of the challenge. Below are the 6 badges that can be earned and recommendations for each badge.
Celebrate Hispanic Heritage Month by reading a book by a Hispanic Author
One Hundred Years of Solitude tells the story of the rise and fall, birth and death of the mythical town of Macondo through the history of the Buendiá family. Inventive, amusing, magnetic, sad and alive with unforgettable men and women—brimming with truth, compassion, and a lyrical magic that strikes the soul—this novel is a masterpiece in the art of fiction.
Read Banned Book to celebrate Banned Book Week in October
Tuesday, August 15, 2023
Back to School
August is here which means it’s time to go back to school. The Children’s Summer Reading program has come to an end and the Teen and Adult program is winding down. We will be drawing for prizes in the Adult and Teen Challenge after August 31st. This means that we are about to gear up for the Fall Challenge. Be on the lookout for information on the Fall Challenge coming up. If you are still finishing up the summer challenge were are some recommendations to finish off the summer!
They broke up five months ago. And still haven’t told their best friends. Which is how they find themselves sharing a bedroom at the Maine cottage that has been their friend group’s yearly getaway for the last decade. Their annual respite from the world, where for one vibrant, blissful week they leave behind their daily lives; have copious amounts of cheese, wine, and seafood; and soak up the salty coastal air with the people who understand them most. Only this year, Harriet and Wyn are lying through their teeth while trying not to notice how desperately they still want each other. Because the cottage is for sale and this is the last week they’ll all have together in this place. They can’t stand to break their friends’ hearts, and so they’ll play their parts. Harriet will be the driven surgical resident who never starts a fight, and Wyn will be the laid-back charmer who never lets the cracks show. It’s a flawless plan (if you look at it from a great distance and through a pair of sunscreen-smeared sunglasses). After years of being in love, how hard can it be to fake it for one week…in front of those who know you best?
It’s been a minute—or five years—since Jordan Vargas last saw his college friends, and twenty-eight years since their graduation when their adult lives officially began. Now Jordan, Jordy, Naomi, Craig, and Marielle find themselves at the brink of a new decade, with all the responsibilities of adulthood, yet no closer to having their lives figured out. Though not for a lack of trying. Over the years they’ve reunited in Big Sur to honor a decades-old pact to throw each other living “funerals,” celebrations to remind themselves that life is worth living—that their lives mean something, to one another if not to themselves. But this reunion is different. They’re not gathered as they were to bolster Marielle as her marriage crumbled, to lift Naomi after her parents died, or to intervene when Craig pleaded guilty to art fraud. This time, Jordan is sitting on a secret that will upend their pact. A deeply honest tribute to the growing pains of selfhood and the people who keep us going, coupled with Steven Rowley’s signature humor and heart, The Celebrants is a moving tale about the false invincibility of youth and the beautiful ways in which friendship helps us celebrate our lives, even amid the deepest challenges of living.
Spanning the years 1900 to 1977, The Covenant of Water is set in Kerala, on South India’s Malabar Coast, and follows three generations of a family that suffers a peculiar affliction: in every generation, at least one person dies by drowning—and in Kerala, water is everywhere. At the turn of the century, a twelve-year-old girl from Kerala’s long-existing Christian community, grieving the death of her father, is sent by boat to her wedding, where she will meet her forty-year-old husband for the first time. From this unforgettable new beginning, the young girl—and future matriarch, known as Big Ammachi—will witness unthinkable changes over the span of her extraordinary life, full of joy and triumph as well as hardship and loss, her faith and love the only constants. A shimmering evocation of a bygone India and of the passage of time itself, The Covenant of Water is a hymn to progress in medicine and to human understanding, and a humbling testament to the difficulties undergone by past generations for the sake of those alive today. It is one of the most masterful literary novels published in recent years.
Happy Reading!
Thursday July 6th, 2023
July Readings
For those that are still doing the summer challenge here are some recommendations to help fill your badges.
After Tova Sullivan’s husband died, she began working the night shift at the Sowell Bay Aquarium, mopping floors and tidying up. Keeping busy has always helped her cope, which she’s been doing since her eighteen-year-old son, Erik, mysteriously vanished on a boat in Puget Sound over thirty years ago. Tova becomes acquainted with curmudgeonly Marcellus, a giant Pacific octopus living at the aquarium. Marcellus knows more than anyone can imagine but wouldn’t dream of lifting one of his eight arms for his human captors—until he forms a remarkable friendship with Tova. Ever the detective, Marcellus deduces what happened the night Tova’s son disappeared. And now Marcellus must use every trick his old invertebrate body can muster to unearth the truth for her before it’s too late.
Welcome to Charon’s Crossing. The tea is hot, the scones are fresh, and the dead are just passing through. When a reaper comes to collect Wallace from his own funeral, Wallace begins to suspect he might be dead. And when Hugo, the owner of a peculiar tea shop, promises to help him cross over, Wallace decides he’s definitely dead. But even in death he’s not ready to abandon the life he barely lived, so when Wallace is given one week to cross over, he sets about living a lifetime in seven days. Hilarious, haunting, and kind, Under the Whispering Door is an uplifting story about a life spent at the office and a death spent building a home.
After a long and eventful life, Allan Karlsson ends up in a nursing home, believing it to be his last stop. The only problem is that he’s still in good health, and in one day, he turns 100. A big celebration is in the works, but Allan really isn’t interested (and he’d like a bit more control over his vodka consumption). So he decides to escape. He climbs out the window in his slippers and embarks on a hilarious and entirely unexpected journey, involving, among other surprises, a suitcase stuffed with cash, some unpleasant criminals, a friendly hot-dog stand operator, and an elephant (not to mention a death by elephant). It would be the adventure of a lifetime for anyone else, but Allan has a larger-than-life backstory: Not only has he witnessed some of the most important events of the twentieth century, but he has actually played a key role in them. Starting out in munitions as a boy, he somehow finds himself involved in many of the key explosions of the twentieth century and travels the world, sharing meals and more with everyone from Stalin, Churchill, and Truman to Mao, Franco, and de Gaulle.
There are secrets you share, and secrets you hide… What if your beloved fiancé, he of the crinkly smile and irresistible British accent, had kept a life-changing secret from you? And what if, just a week before your dream wedding, you discovered it? Georgia Ford, bride-to-be, hops in her car and drives through the night, from Los Angeles to Sonoma, to her safe haven: her family, and the acclaimed family winery. Georgia craves the company of those who know her best, and whom she truly knows. Better yet, it’s the eve of the last harvest—the best time of the growing season, and Georgia knows she’ll find solace—and distraction—in the familiar rituals. But when Georgia arrives home, nothing is at all familiar. Her parents, her brothers, the family business, are all unrecognizable. It seems her fiancé isn’t the only one who’s been keeping secrets…
Happy Reading!
Tuesday June 6th, 2023
Summer Reading
Summer reading has officially kicked off. Our theme this year is All Together Now. The adult and teen challenge contains 6 badges that can be earned if you read books about community, love, joy, teamwork, kindness, and helping others. There are also several events throughout the summer that can earn you extra entries into the grand prize drawings including Book Club and a Nature Poetry Walk. We are also continuing with our Catching Up with the Classics Challenge. Reading Jane Eyre this summer.
Five Skies is the story of three men gathered high in the Rocky Mountains for a construction project that is to last the summer. Having participated in a spectacular betrayal in Los Angeles, the giant, silent Arthur Key drifts into work as a carpenter in southern Idaho. Here he is hired, along with the shiftless and charming Ronnie Panelli, to build a stunt ramp beside a cavernous void. The two will be led by Darwin Gallegos, the foreman of the local ranch who is filled with a primeval rage at God, at man, at life.
As they endeavor upon this simple, grand project, the three reveal themselves in cautiously resonant, profound ways. And in a voice of striking intimacy and grace, Carlson’s novel reveals itself as a story of biblical, almost spiritual force.
Jane Eyre. A classic Women’s History Month book that presents the story of a brave female survivor named Jane who grew up as an orphan and faced extreme cruelty and injustice. Yet she manages to emerge as a strong and spirited independent woman by following her conviction. This heart-throbbing novel was written by English writer Charlotte Brontë and although it was published in the year 1847, Jane’s story is relevant even today because of the way it realistically depicts a women’s emotions while she struggles for finding purpose and love in her life.
“Listening to Place: Nature and Poetry Walks,” a presentation and discussion by Megan Kaminski. Members of the community are invited to attend the free program. The program is made possible by Humanities Kansas.
Connecting with the natural world can provide a wellspring of knowledge and inspiration, enabling us to (re)discover strategies for living in the world, to grieve and heal after loss, and realign our thinking toward kinship, community, and sustainability. This beginner-friendly nature and poetry walk will be oriented to connecting with the more-than-human world through literature in the environmental humanities. By the words of poets, writers, and our own senses, this hike will engage with diverse habitats throughout Kansas to help participants listen to the often-unseen wisdom around us.
Happy Reading!
Thursday May 11th, 2023
It’s beginning to look a lot like Summer
We are wrapping up the spring challenge this month. Only a couple more weeks and the winner will be drawn. Don’t forget to add your book entries in Beanstack for them to count! June 1st starts SUMMER READING, which means new a new challenge and new programs! This summer’s theme is All Together Now. We will be focusing on helping others, teamwork, and community! You can register on Beanstack for this upcoming challenge.
Thursday February 2nd, 2023
Book Lovers Month
It’s February also known as Book Lovers Month! Be on the look out for our new display featuring Blind Dates! We will have a variety of books, audiobooks, and movies that will be wrapped to disguise the titles. Pick at random or pick based on the fun description that is provided.
We are wrapping up another challenge. The Winter challenge will close at the end of this month. You still have time to claim your badges and be entered into the drawing at the end of the challenge. Be on the lookout for our Spring Challenge starting in March! In the meantime here are some fun Romance Novels to get you through this month!
The Time Traveler’s Wife is the debut novel by American author Audrey Niffenegger, published in 2003. It is a love story about Henry, a man with a genetic disorder that causes him to time travel unpredictably, and about Clare, his wife, an artist who has to cope with his frequent absences.
People We Meet on Vacation follows Poppy and Alex, two best friends who are opposites in every way. She is a wild child with insatiable wanderlust while he is laidback and would rather stay home with a book. Every summer they come together for a week long vacation. Until one trip where everything is ruined and they stop speaking for two years. Now, in order to find happiness Poppy convinces Alex to take one last vacation, in order to fix everything between them.
The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo is a historical fiction novel by American author Taylor Jenkins Reid and published by Atria Books in 2017. The novel tells the story of the fictional Old Hollywood star Evelyn Hugo, who at age 79 gives a final interview to an unknown journalist, Monique Grant.
Happy Reading!
Monday, January 9th, 2023
New Year New Reading Goals!
This year we have a lot of fun events coming up. Including some new challenges. Instead of doing the year-long challenge, we have decided to mix things up and do seasonal challenges.
We are still in our Winter Challenge which started in December and ends at the end of February. The badges for the Winter Challenge are a Christmas Tale, A Classic Read, A Romance, An Old Favorite, A Book about Family, and A Book with Snow in the Title. There is still plenty of time to complete this challenge. Register on Beanstack to participate! 
Be on the lookout for news on the Upcoming Spring Challenge that will run from March to the end of May.
We are bringing back the Catching up with the Classics Challenge as well! Instead of trying to complete the books in a couple of months, we are spreading them throughout the year. We will be focusing on the Bronte Sister this year, starting with Anne and The Tenant of Wildfell Hall. You can still sign up to get yourself a copy and it is also available on Libby and hoopla. The first meeting will be on February 7th and will look at the first half of the book (chapters 1- 27).
Happy Reading!