All Iowa Reads

What a change a day can bring?  This afternoon the sun is shining and the snow is melting.  Contrary to last night when I drove home in a snowstorm.  Don't you love Iowa?

Speaking of love, don't you just love your friends?  I do.  And I love my library friends group.  To celebrate the month of love (we have to think of something pleasant in February, right?), the Friends of the Dubuque County Library are hosting a series of open houses at each of our branches.

Tomorrow stop by our Drexler Middle School location in Farley.  It is a beautiful space with convenient parking.  From 10 am to noon, Friends members will be there to greet you with light refreshments.  They would love to talk to you about what the friends do for the library and you can enter to win a "cornucopia" of prizes including books, games, and a Nook tablet.  There will be free books for the kids courtesy of Bryce Parks at Community Incorporated. 

Next up on Saturday, February 16th the open house moves to our Epworth branch.  You won't want to miss the festivities.

On February 21st, our library book group will be discussing the 2013 All Iowa Reads selection, "The Year We Left Home" by Jean Thompson.  Here is how one Amazon reviewer described the book, "The novel is bookended by two wars - the Vietnam War and the Iraqi War. It begins in 1973 when the Erickson family of Grenada, Iowa, gathers to celebrate the marriage of the eldest daughter, Anita. As some family members - the parents, Anita and her new husband Jeff - get ready to take their place in pre-defined roles, others are restlessly searching for a way out of Iowa - notably, her brother Ryan.  As this fiercely American novel takes this family down the road of its personal setbacks and triumphs, the country, too, is going through its own weaving road: from war to peace to war again, through economic booms to heartbreaking farm crises, from conventional values to sweeping changes. As the family disperses, each must strive to get back to that central core, a place to feel at ease. "  Don't we all want to go home?

The book discussion will begin at 6:30 at our NICC/Peosta branch.  Copies of the novel are available for loan at each of our branches.  There is also a list of discussion questions to guide you through the reading.

All Iowa Reads is a program sponsored by the Iowa Center for the Book at the State Library of Iowa.  The program encourages readers all across the state to discuss the same book.

Enjoy the sunshine while you can, have a great weekend.   Dawn