Library Program

Earth Day, Every Day

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Founded in 1970 as a day of education about environmental issues, the first Earth Day saw rallies held in held in Philadelphia, Chicago, Los Angeles and most other American cities, including here in Cleveland, Ohio.

Earth Day is recognized annually on April 22 and is considered to be the largest secular observance in the world, marked by over a billion people every year as a day of action to change human behavior and create global, national and local environmental policy changes.

Rocky River Public Library will celebrate Earth Day this Saturday, April 23 from 10:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. on our Front Lawn. We’ll have representatives from green-friendly organizations who’ll be here to help you learn ways you can be kinder to our planet, opportunities for recycling, seedlings for planting, crafts to make, a plant swap from 2:00 to 4:00 p.m., and more!

The good, clean Earth Day fun will continue on Sunday, April 24, with a volunteer opportunity to help clean up Rocky River Park. Meet us there, starting at 9:00 a.m.

Sure hope to see you there.

– Carol

Sculpting Stories: The Grim History of Fairy Tales with The Scholarly Banana.

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Fairy tales are a staple of childhood-damsels in distress, magic, and happy endings, right? Wrong. Grimm’s tales were the things of nightmares and author and artist Karly West is here to tell the REAL stories. If you are a fan of dark history, dark humor, and the macabre in general, pay attention, this post is for you!

The Scholarly Banana (check out those glasses) is your tour guide on a journey into the real, gruesome, and down right bonkers origin of both well known and lesser known Grimm’s fairy tales. Fitcher’s Bird was one of the latter for me. It involves a kidnapping/murderous wizard, village girls whose curiosity leads to their downfall, and a girl dipped in honey and covered in feathers who saves the day. Seriously. The Juniper Tree stars an insanely evil stepmother who turns her murdered stepson into a lawn ornament AND a human stew. Seriously. Dark. Stuff. And yet, the claymation figures are adorable! Everything about these tales are delightfully macabre and charming and the storytelling with commentary is snarky and droll.

In conclusion, “THINK FAIRY TALES MEETS CLIFFS NOTES MEETS ADULT SWIM CLAYMATION…MEETS A BANANA!” ~Karly West

Want to learn MORE? You know you do! Karly West will be joining us in person to talk more about the dark history of fairytales while we make our own grim characters. Join us on Saturday, March 26, 10:00am-12:00pm for Sculpting Stories: The Grim History of Fairy Tales with Karly West. This program is part of our new Intergenerational series for teens and their favorite adult! Registration is required, polymer clay will be provided, and participants will be entered into a raffle to win copies of Karly’s books.

New Books Tuesday @ RRPL

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Here some of the new exciting releases for you to take a look at this week!

The 1619 Project: A New Origin Story by Nikole Hannah-Jones & New York Times Magazine – This ongoing initiative from The New York Times Magazine that began on the 400th anniversary of the beginning of American slavery reimagines if our national narrative actually started in late August of 1619, when a ship arrived in Jamestown bearing a cargo of 20-30 enslaved people from Africa.

The Left-Handed Twin by Thomas Perry – When Jane, who helps disappear people, agrees to help a woman escape a crazed ex-boyfriend who is friends with members of a Russian organized crime brotherhood, thus begins a bloodthirsty chase through the northeast where nothing—and no one—can be trusted.

Guild Boss by Jayne Castle – After being kidnapped and drugged in the colony world of Harmony, Lucy Bell’s safe return is met with skepticism while she is still being hunted by a potential killer in the latest addition to the series following Illusion Town.

The Wolf by J.R. Ward – Forced into bartering drug deals for the infamous Prison Colony, wolven Lucan finds things getting hot when he meets Rio, the second in command for the shadowy Caldwell supplier who needs his protection—and his love.

Clive Cussler’s the Devil’s Sea by Dirk Cussler – Dirk Pitt discovers a 60-year-old, forgotten plane crash in the Philippe Sea while recovering a failed hypersonic missile from Luzon Strait, in the latest addition to the long running series from the author known as the “grand master of adventure.

Mercy by David Baldacci – As the long search for twin sister Mercy reaches its conclusion, FBI agent Atlee Pine, when the truth is finally revealed, will face the greatest danger yet, one that could cost her everything.

Termination Shock by Neal Stephenson – In near-future world plagued by superstorms, rising sea levels, global flooding, heat waves, and deadly pandemics, one man has a big idea for reversing global warming despite the possible consequences for the planet and all of humanity.

Tom Clancy Chain of Command by Marc Cameron – To implement his most ambitious plan of all, a ruthless billionaire must get President Jack Ryan out of the way and assembles the most ruthless mercenaries alive to kidnap the First Lady.

Lesser Evil by Timothy Zahn – The Chiss, led by the Nine Ruling Families, feel their bonds of fidelity, stability and integrity are being eroded by a cunning foe trying to sabotage the Ascendancy in the third novel of the series following Greater Good.

The Dickens Boy by Thomas Keneally – The son of England’s most famous author, Edward Dickens is sent to Australia to make something of himself—or at least fall out of the public eye—where he works hard to prove to his parents and himself that he can succeed in this vast and unfamiliar wilderness.

~Semanur

New Books Tuesday @ RRPL

semanurLeave a comment

There are many exciting new book releases coming and you don’t want to miss it…

Will by Will Smith with Mark Manson – A product of a profound journey of self-knowledge, and a reckoning with all that your will can get you and all that it can leave behind, in this memoir, one of the most dynamic and globally recognized entertainment forces of our time opens up fully about his life.

The Sentence by Louise Erdrich – The Pulitzer Prize and National Book Award-winning author presents this unusual novel in which a small independent bookstore in Minneapolis is haunted from November 2019 to November 2020 by the store’s most annoying customer.

A Christmas Legacy by Anne Perry – After her friend gets unceremoniously fired with no references right before the holidays, Gracie takes the recently-vacated job herself to try and figure out what happened in the latest novel of the series following A Christmas Resolution.

The Dark Hours  by Michael Connelly – LAPD Detective Reneé Ballard, investigating a New Year’s Eve murder along with an unsolved murder, teams up Detective Harry Bosch once again when their two cases—one old and one new—intersect, while an undetected killer watches their every move.

Dark Tarot by Christine Feehan – An ancient Carpathian, Sandu Berdardi, finally finds his life-mate when Adalasia explodes into his mind seamlessly and guides him on a dangerous quest while consulting her deck of cards in the latest addition to the series following Dark Song.

Heard It in a Love Song  by Tracey Garvis Graves – Newly divorced and lonely, Layla Hilding cautiously gets to know a newly-separated dad whose daughter attends the elementary school where she teaches music in the new novel from the best-selling author of The Girl He Used to Know.

Five Tuesdays in Winter by Lily King – A collection of short stories from the best-selling author of Writers & Lovers explores desire, heartache, loss and love in tales about a neglected teenage boy befriended by housesitting college students and a booksellers unspoken love for his employee.

Never by Ken Follett – Navigating terrorist attacks, illegal arms trading and smear campaigns, Pauline Green, the country’s first women president, is caught in a complex web of alliances with the most powerful counties that are being orchestrated by the enemy, and only those the most elite skills can stop the inevitable.

Our First Civil War: Patriots and Loyalists in the American Revolution by H. W. Brands – A best-selling historian presents a dramatic narrative of the American Revolution that reminds us that before America could win its revolution against Britain, the Patriots had to win a bitter civil war against family, neighbors and friends.

My Body by Emily Ratajkowski – In this personal exploration of feminism, sexuality and power, of men’s treatment of women and women’s rationalizations for accepting that treatment, the acclaimed model and actress presents essays that chronicle moments of her life while investigation culture’s fetishization of girls and female beauty.

~Semanur

New Books Tuesday @ RRPL

semanurLeave a comment

There are many exciting new book releases coming and you don’t want to miss it…

Bewilderment by Richard Powers – A widowed astrobiologist and single father to a troubled son contemplates an experimental neurofeedback treatment that trains the boy on the recorded patterns of his mother’s brain in the new novel from the Pulitzer Prize–winning and #1 New York Times best-selling author of The Overstory.

The Book of Form and Emptiness by Ruth Ozeki – A novel explores the themes of loss, growing up, and our relationship with things.

Vanderbilt: The Rise and Fall of an American Dynasty by Anderson Cooper & Katherine Howe – Drawing on never-before-seen documents and told from a unique insider’s viewpoint, the CNN anchor and New York Times bestselling author tells the story of his legendary family and their remarkable influence.

A Darker Reality by Anne Perry – Elena Standish investigates the mysterious death of Lila Worth, who she discovers is a British spy, at an anniversary party for her parents in Washington, D.C., in the third novel of the series following A Question of Betrayal.

Daughter of the Morning Star by Craig Johnson – After a Native high school basketball star whose sister disappeared begins receiving death threats, Tribal Police Chief Long, Absaroka County Sheriff Walt Longmire and Henry Standing Bear investigate in the latest novel of the series following Next to Last Stand.

An Impossible Promise by Jude Deveraux – Although they were lovers in the past, Liam O’Conner and Cora McLeod are just roommates in the present as they try to follow the angels’ commands in the second novel of the series following An Impossible Promise.

The Burning by Jonathan Kellerman & Jesse Kellerman – When deputy coroner Clay Edison discovers a link between the murder he is investigating and his brother, he is forced to reckon with his own suspicions, resentments and loyalties.

The Jailhouse Lawyer by James Patterson – When a young lawyer takes on a judge who is destroying her hometown, she ends up in jail where she learns the deadly truth about why the jail is so crowded and why so few prisoners are released.

When Ghosts Come Home by Wiley Cash – When a plane crash lands at the nearby airfield on the coast of North Carolina, Sheriff Winston Barnes begins a murder investigation that will change the course of his life and the fate of the community he has sworn to protect.

~Semanur

Visiting the Monarchs

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I saw my first Monarch yesterday, floating over my flower beds, landing on my milkweed, maybe (fingers crossed) laying an egg that will start the cycle of the Monarch all over again, from egg, to chrysalis, to butterfly, to Mexico!

In Bicycling with Butterflies, the author Sara Dykman begins her journey in Mexico where the Monarchs overwinter, and follows the Monarchs as they start their 3,000 mile journey north to reproduce and start new generations. The Monarchs have been at their overwintering sites in Mexico since early November, roosting in high altitude, tropical fir forests. Mexico has created monarch sanctuaries to protect these overwintering grounds, the Cerro Pelon and Piedra Herrada sanctuaries in the State of Mexico, and El Rosario and Sierra Chincua on the eastern edge of Michoacán state.

If you want to visit these sanctuaries from November to March, you’d fly into Mexico City and travel to Zitácuaro, Michoacán, the closest major city. Be forewarned, however: monarch roosts are at high altitude, and you need to hike or ride a horse to see the sites closely.

Monarch butterflies and their sanctuaries are threatened by climate change, loss of habitat, the eradication of milkweed, and toxic pesticides. There has also been concern that violence and illegal logging in the area will affect those who work and support the sanctuaries.

I for one, would love to escape our Cleveland Winter in December for trip to see the Monarchs. There are so many ways to visit and support them from your doorstep as well – plant milkweed, plant a pollinator garden, advocate for habitat restoration, and, of course, keep informed! And register for our talk with author Sara Dykman, who, I’m sure, will have many more suggestions for ensuring that future generations experience the magic of Monarchs!

~ Dori

Discover Films @RRPL

MaryLeave a comment

Did you know that RRPL is an online provider of entertainment to our patrons? We offer entertainment through the streaming services AcornTV, Hoopla and Kanopy. Simply go to our website here. Click on the streaming service of your choice, create an account with your library card and begin browsing.

On a monthly basis we offer two separate programs, Film Club and Streaming Stories Spotlight, which highlights a film selected from one of our streaming services.

In March, Film Club will be discussing Ex Machina, a 2014 science fiction psychological thriller.  If you are a fan of West World, you will love this film.  It’s a clever sci-fi narrative with high level intrigue and unpredictability.  We will meet on March 25th at 7pm, and you can sign up here.  The film is currently streaming on Kanopy. 

Ex Machina (2014) - IMDb

Also in March, Streaming Stories Spotlight will highlight Float Like A Butterfly, a 2018 film about Irish Travellers, boxing and female emancipation. The film is currently streaming on Hoopla. You can view our review of this film here.

Float Like a Butterfly (2018) - Rotten Tomatoes

February is Women in Horror Month

NicoleLeave a comment

For the past twelve years, February has been celebrated as Women in Horror Month, a topic very near and dear to my heart. According to the Women in Horror Month website, “Women in Horror Month (WiHM) is an international, grassroots initiative, which encourages supporters to learn about and showcase the underrepresented work of women in the horror industries. Whether they are on the screen, behind the scenes, or contributing in their other various artistic ways, it is clear that women love, appreciate, and contribute to the horror genre.” WiHM aims to help horror works by and featuring women reach a wider audience. This inclusive and positive movement is open to everyone, of course, just as they believe the horror genre should be open to everyone.

WiHM recently announced that as of March 1, 2021 there will no longer be an official WiHM organization, but that they have found there is more than enough content, traffic, and engagement to bring this celebration to communities year round. So, Women in Horror Month might look different moving forward as everyone is now encouraged to choose their own month to celebrate, but I look forward to seeing the creativity and innovation from this community in the years to come!

You can take a look at events going on around the country celebrating WiHM here. Two events I was particularly excited about this month are the “Females of Fright: Zoom Edition” live author panels, both offered for free, thanks to the Horror Writer’s Association! The first panel took place on Friday, February 12th but luckily you can watch it on the HWA’s YouTube channel here. The first panel included Zoje Stage, author of Wonderland, which just so happens to be the next title up for discussion in our Novel Scares book club. Interested in joining us on March 18th to discuss this great creepy novel? Sign up here! The next “Females of Fright” panel is Friday, February 26th at 8 pm (EST) and you can register here.

Looking for more resources for WiHM? Check out two of my favorite blogs, RA for All: Horror, and Ladies of Horror Fiction. Finally, I want to share a recent discovery that is full of dark and horrific literary treasures- including some up and coming women authors- Nightmare Magazine. You can read and listen to full articles for free on their website, and the February 2021 issue includes this *amazing* short story from author E.A. Petricone, “We, the Girls Who Did Not Make It.” I cannot stop thinking about this piece and look forward to reading more from her!

Happy reading and stay safe and warm!