The Blanco Library has a new and improved look inside and out. Our new website is filled with information and photographs; library hours, events, exhibits, programs, collections , best sellers, etc. Check it out at www.blancolib.org. Our new software, enabling patrons to view, renew and reserve on-line, has arrived and after the initial set-up and staff training, we’ll be good to go. Stay tuned. The front of the library has had a face lift and is colorful and welcoming. Our Large Conference Room is filled with creative and colorful storybook quilts; the art of quilters of the Wimberley Valley Quilt Guild. Each unique quilt coordinates with a popular storybook and after the exhibit will be donated to a woman’s shelter to keep a child warm inside and out.

Christine Bailey, Youth Librarian, has created several programs for toddlers, pre-schoolers, tweens and teens. TODDLER TIME is held on Mondays at 10:30 AM and is designed for our youngest listeners ages 1-3 years, lasting 45 minutes. PRESCHOOL STORYTIME is a perfect fit for children between the ages of 3-5years and is held every Friday at 10:30 AM with stories and activities . Fall teen events are : GAME DAY, held every 2nd Tuesday at 4PM-6PM. The TEEN ADVISORY BOARD meets every 2nd Wednesday from 4-6 PM and TEEN VOLUNTEER DAY is Saturday, October 11th at 10 AM-a great opportunity for NJHS and NHS students to earn up to 4 volunteer hours. MONTHLY MOVIE MADNESS is a teen themed movie held every 2nd Friday from 4-6 PM with snacks provided. A special HALLOWEEN MOVIE NIGHT, with a classic, silent horror movie film, NOSFERATU (1922) will be featured on Saturday, November 1st 7-9 PM. All of the above are free and open to the public. Call the library at 833-4280 or email: blancochildrenslibrarian@yahoo.com for more information.

We have selected the student and adult books for the annual ONE BOOK ONE COMMUNITY event with this year’s theme of German Immigration in the Hill Country. An exhibit from Humanities Texas and related programs will enhance the shared, community reading experience. If you have suggestions for programs, speakers or resources we welcome them.

Here are some book reviews from Becky Macaluso and Jan Redmond:

THE GUERNSEY LITERARY AND POTATO PEEL SOCIETY by Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows is on top of the Best Seller List and is an indicator of the enthusiasm readers have for books that are charming, witty, poignant and life-affirming. Told in a series of letters, it is a book-lovers delight with lovable characters, a history lesson and inspiration. I think I see a future movie but the book is always better.

Another well-received book by Blanco readers is HERE IF YOU NEED ME by Kate Braestrup. This is a short yet pithy memoir of one of the first chaplains ever appointed to the Maine Warden Service. Braestrup’s stories of her widowhood are intermixed with stories of her theological studies and of her work as a chaplain to the warden service. This book is up-lifting and heart-tugging as well as having some surprises, just as life sometimes has for us.

THE WORST HARD TIME by Timothy Egan. This was read by the library’s Men’s Book Club which meets on the first Friday of the month. “Black Blizzards” were like biblical plagues and turned America’s great, grassy plains into dust-whipped up by ferocious winds. This was a man-made disaster created by the Depression, drought and poor farming practices. On April 14, 1935, the biggest dust storm on record descended over five states, from the Dakotas to Amarillo, Texas. Egan tells a story of endurance and heroism told by those who stayed and survived. It is rivoting history and a National Book Award winner.