Welcome to the Season of Light!

As the coldest winds begin to blow and the days become shorter, the celebration of light begins with the Winter Solstice on December 21. Cultures worldwide have recognized this day for centuries as it receives the least sun and is the beginning of longer days to come.  

Many winter holidays celebrate with candles and light, beginning with Hanukkah this year starting on December 24, Christmas on December 25, and Kwanzaa beginning on December 26 and lasting until New Year's Day.  
Light celebrations continue in many Asian communities around the world with Chinese New Year beginning on the second new moon of the new year. This year the celebration begins on January 28 and traditionally lasts for two weeks until the full moon. This welcome to spring comes with longer days and dreams of warmer temperatures.

Pick up some books to pass the short, cold days and long nights of winter.  


The Latke Who Couldn't Stop Screaming by Lemony Snicket
This "Christmas tale" by the author of the Series of Unfortunate Events combines humor and facts about Hanukkah to tell the story of the latke who ran away from hot oil only to find out "there's no place like home."  Unfortunately, at home there will be someone who wants to eat him!

Lively illustrations and simple haiku fill Hanukkah Haiku by Harriet Ziefert with celebration and color. After reading this try writing holiday haiku of your own.



Do you have a tablet? Download a copy of The Miracle Jar by Audrey Penn and discover the Hanukkah miracle. You will need to install Overdrive to explore the many eBooks that Richmond Public Library has to offer.




Read together Merry Christmas, Mr. Mouse by Caralyn Buehner. The mouse family learns about the meaning of Christmas while staying cozy under the stove. Find the hidden pictures on each page.










The Gift of the Magi by O. Henry has been adapted as a picture book in Boris and Stella and the Perfect Gift by Dara Goldman, who adds a touch of Hanukkah to this story.




Patricia Polacco is a master of autobiographical storytelling in pictures. Her holiday book The Trees of the Dancing Goats remembers a Hanukkah in Michigan with her grandparents where many of their rural neighbors have scarlet fever and are unable to prepare for and celebrate Christmas. Discover how her Jewish grandparents develop a generous solution and bring healing and joy to their neighbors.











For older readers the new, graphic novel Snow White by Matt Phelan is a noir gem. Set in the late 20s and early 30s in New York City this adaptation includes all of the classic characters with a dark twist. In Phelan's characteristic muted tones the images, full of just enough detail, pull the reader into the world of Samantha White, her Wall Street father, her stepmother "the Queen of the Follies" and the seven street urchins who protect her. 
Christmas? Look for the classic, holiday department store windows.





Popular illustrator Shane Evans partnered with author Donna Washington on Li'l Rabbit's Kwanzaa. Gramma is sick and Li'l Rabbit surprises her with the best gift of all.  Includes the The Nguzo Saba - The Seven Principles of Kwanzaa.

My First Kwanzaa by Karen Katz introduces younger children to the celebration of this contemporary holiday.

However you celebrate, make sure to include some time for reading during the holidays ahead.

"This book is a gift from the Small Press Expo"

You may have noticed these popping up on Richmond Public Library shelves--bookplates bearing the title of this post appearing inside some of the cleverest and most exciting new graphic novels you've ever seen.

We are thrilled to be recipients of the Small Press Expo's Graphic Novel Gift Program, which aims to:

"Expand the reach of graphic novels to readers of all ages utilizing public and school libraries. Promote learning and literacy through the availability of graphic novels at local libraries. Provide library systems with additional resources by which they can purchase graphic novels and comics."  

Children's graphic novels:

Cave In by Brian Ralph, Korgi by Christian Slade, The Kurdles by Robert Goodin, Maddy Kettle by Eric Orchard, Astrid Lindgren's Pippi: the Strongest in the World! by Astrid Lindgren and Ingrid Vang Nyman, S.F. by Ryan Cecil Smith, Yam: Bite-Size Chunks by Corey Barba

Young Adult:

Aya: Life in Yop City by Marguerite Abouet and Clément Oubrerie, Beautiful Darkness by Fabien Vehlman, The Heart of Thomas by Moto Hagio, Incredible Changebots by Jeffrey Brown, Infinite Kung-Fu by Kagan McLeod, The Story of Roberto Clemente by Wilfred Santiago

Adult:

Underwater Welder by Jeff Lemire, Moving Pictures by Kathryn and Stuart Immonen, 5,000 km per second by Manuele Fior, Earthling by Aisha Franz

This is only a sample of what's available--check out the collection at every branch! 

Read-alikes* for movie lovers

*That's librarian-ese for recommending books one might also like based upon their favorites. For another fine piece of reader's advisory I recommend this article from Bustle: "14 Books from Wes Anderson movies we wish were real", complete with real life read-alikes! I too wish I could read all the fake books from Wes Anderson movies.

Since I wrote recently about books I wished were movies, I thought I would take this week to mention movies I wish I could read as books. Have you ever experienced that? The feeling that a movie was so amazing that surely it must be a really great book, too? And then searching for the book only to discover that it was not inspired by one at all?
(You know, sometimes it's hard to come up with good blog themes week after week. Coming soon: "Novels about Ikea I read in the past year". There were several.)
Here's a list of books to keep you busy reading while you wait for the movie to start:

Speaking of Wes Anderson...

Fans of Wes Anderson's films will find a lot to love in Bellweather Rhapsody, a darkly funny charmer about a haunted old hotel, a music competition, thwarted promise, ambition, and young love. This is the kind of book you'll want to create a mix-tape soundtrack for. I think there might even be a role for Bill Murray in this murky, quirky tale of teenage musicians.

If the hilarious adventures of neurotic, hapless romantic male protagonists like those in Woody Allen's films appeal to you, you are sure to love the books of Jonathan Ames. Both writers understand well that there is humor to be found in pain.

How about The Babadook! This limited release Australian import about a boy and his mother getting wrapped up in a demented picture book was totally terrifying. As a lifelong devotee to the genre I can say that truly good, really scary horror films are rare. But when they do get to you with more than cheap startles and shaky cameras, or senseless splatter, when they really manage to get under your skin and follow you home, make you turn on every light in the house and look under the beds? That's what keeps horror fans coming back. A Good and Happy Child by Justin Evans is a super creepy psychological thriller about a new father afraid to hold his newborn son that hits a lot of the same haunting notes as The Babadook. A Turn of the Screw by Henry James will also get your creepy kid thrill on, if in a more proper late-Victorian English nanny story gone horribly awry kind of way. Highly recommended for folks who get that sometimes kids can be creepy.

Haruki Murakami and David Lynch both have great taste in music and a fondness for showing us dreamlike, earnest young people caught up in the surreal and nightmarish underbellies of seemingly ordinary settings. Anybody with a healthy fear and suspicion of bucolic small towns and suburban landscapes will surely enjoy both.

This scene? With the beetles?! Totally Murakami.

More Bill Murray! In Broken Flowers, aging Don Johnston tracks down his former lovers after he gets an anonymous letter claiming that he has a son.  In F: a novel, Arthur Friedland suddenly abandons his three young sons after taking them to see a hypnotist. The boys each grow up to be frauds in their own ways and struggle with their father's attempts to reconnect. Both works focus on the relationship between fathers and sons. Lovingly translated from the original German by Carol Janeway, F is not to be missed.

Both are adventure tales involving archaeology and obsession; Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark fans will get completely sucked into the The Lost City of Z, "the greatest exploration mystery of the twentieth century".

Careful with that, dude. It's cursed.

It Follows just opened and is getting some rave reviews probably because, as I mentioned above, excellent horror movies are surprising. Dire consequence is stalking teenagers in It Follows, and a nasty STD stalks teenagers in Black Hole, a graphic novel by Charles Burns, turning them into genetic mutants.

May 5th is Free Comic Book Day@ Main

Free Comic Book Day is an annual celebration to promote the joy of reading to kids by independent comic book stores. Each year, the giveaway is the first Saturday in May. Thanks to the generosity of the local comic book store, Nostalgia Plus, the Main Library will be giving away FREE comic books to kids. Come and visit the Children's Department and ask for a comic book. One book per child while supplies last!