Mercer County Library Blog

Each December, it has become a tradition for major newspapers and media to delve into all the outstanding books that have been published over the last year and select the top ten books of the year. 2020 has seen some outstanding titles covering a wide range of topics, and there are some books that have made substantial contributions to expanding our awareness of specific facets of scientific, socio-political, or cultural phenomena. This month’s column features some of the titles that have been selected by the New York Times, Washington Post, Wall Street Journal, and the Financial Times in their lists of the Top Ten Books of 2020. All titles are available for your reading pleasure at the Mercer County Library System! No Filter: The Inside Story of Instagram by Sarah Frier is the winner of the 2020 Financial Times and McKinsey Business Book of the Year Award, and has also been named “Best Book of the Year” by Fortune, The Financial Times, The Economist, and NPR. In this fascinating boo...

Have you ever wanted to bake your own bread and not know where to begin? Now that winter is here, it is the perfect time to learn! Since we have been home so much this year and having shortages of items, one being sandwich bread, more people have been going back to the basics and baking homemade bread. For a while it was hard to find yeast, which led to friends and family sharing sourdough starters and baking sourdough bread. Sourdough bread is a slow fermented bread that uses a starter instead of yeast.  Sourdough has a crispy crust with a chewy inside and tangy flavor. It is also easier to digest due to the long fermentation which helps break down gluten. All you need are three basic ingredients that you probably have at home to make a sourdough starter: flour, water, and salt. Most professional bakers use a kitchen scale instead of regular measuring cups for a more exact measurement and an oven safe pot such as a Dutch oven to imitate a commercial bakery oven at home. The sourdo...

It happens every year. We pause to take a look at the calendar and realize that the holidays are not just approaching, they are here. We can scramble to prepare but that often just leaves us tired, stressed out, and unable to fully enjoy them. That is why I am writing this, never again will we be ill prepared for a holiday. You have probably begun to ask, “Prepare for the holidays? Isn’t it a little late?” As I write, Thanksgiving has just passed; Hanukah begins in a few days; and Christmas and Kwanza are right around the corner. But that’s okay, because we are not talking about those holidays. We are talking about important holidays like Barbershop Quartet Day, National Mustard Day, and International Ships-in-Bottles Day. Each and every year there are hundreds of holidays and events that fly under the radar and go uncelebrated. But not in 2021. Here are a few of these lesser-known holidays to look out for in the coming year: January 4th - Trivia Day A day to celebrate all of those use...

Last year when my daughter would come home from preschool, I would always ask her about her day. Inevitably, she would answer by saying some version of “It was good. I had fun.” I never got a lot of details. Sure, I would see the projects and worksheets that came home and I received occasional pictures through an app on my phone, but those were just snippets of her day. I always wanted to be a fly on the wall so I could see what she did all day at school. Well, what do they always say? Be careful what you wish for… Fast-forward to the start of the 2020-2021 school year and my daughter is doing kindergarten remotely from a desk in my office - which we now share. I am not just a fly on a wall, but I feel like a full-fledged member of the class. I go through her whole day with her, from the flag salute to the end of the day song. I sing all the songs with her, listen to the teacher read stories, help her with her assignments during independent work times and I even do gym class wi...

Over the past few years, graphic novels for children have become more popular as well as a more accepted form of reading. Children learn differently and some kids are more engaged in a visual manner. With this greater acceptance and demand of fiction graphic novels, there has been an emergence of graphic juvenile nonfiction. For those who are visual learners, there is now the opportunity to experience a myriad of subjects presented in comic form. Below is a list of recommended juvenile and young adult graphic nonfiction. Series Science Comics A series of books that introduces readers to different science topics including dinosaurs, the brain and volcanoes. Search “science comics” on our catalog to get a list of all the titles we have available. For grades 4-6. Nathan Hale’s Hazardous Tales Based on the man who is considered America’s first spy, Nathan Hale’s Hazardous Tales explores events and people in history including the Underground Railroad, WWI, and the Alamo. Grades 3-7. Biograp...

Since I have been spending a lot of time at home these days, I have been looking for something cute and exciting to do with my three kids. I’ve also been searching for something we could share with those loved ones who don’t live with us. Sending mail to our friends and family has been a great way for us to get back to the basics and let those people know that even though we are far apart, we still love them and we are thinking of them. Adding these handmade butterflies is a surprise for two reasons: 1) Getting any mail that isn’t junk mail is pretty special in these computer-heavy days and 2) These butterflies will pop out of a card or box when opened and “fly” around! So, here’s how to put a smile on the face of someone far away by including these in the next letter or care package you send! Supplies Needed Pliers One large paperclip One small paperclip A small rubber band or extra small hair tie Scissors Tape Paper Pens, pencils, etc. for decorating your butterfly Steps Straighten...

When COVID-19 forced the Mercer County Library System to close its doors to patrons in the middle of March, it meant it was time for the staff to get into creativity mode and find new ways to provide online content for patrons. The use of the MCLS YouTube ( https://www.youtube.com/c/MercerCountyLibrarySystem ) channel has been a great platform to get patrons some of the content they are missing with the branches closed to the public. Through the end of October, the MCLS YouTube channel has over 500 subscribers and over 1,000 videos with everything from children’s programs to storytime videos, as well as book reviews, online resources, adult programs and author studies. You can learn how to do a buzzcut or play the piano . There are tutorials on how to use library databases and make a variety of different foods. MCLS now offers book groups as well as online virtual computer classes. I figured I would try my hand at making some trivia videos as my way to contribute to the cause. The fir...

I just finished reading The Book of Lost Names by Kristin Harmel. Fast-paced and well-written, I just couldn't put it down! As a long-time reader and now circulation staff at my favorite place (MCLS) I’ve gravitated to stories that involve libraries and books in some way. (Read The Giver of Stars by Jojo Moyes - also highly recommended.) This historical novel is based on a true WWII story that magnifies the strength and courage of so many individual people that we must never forget. I’ve read many accounts of this ugly time-period, but never one that focuses on the fascinating world of forgery, specifically document forgery, a necessary skill for survival during the war. The hero of this book is a French resister, Eva Traube. Traube honed her artistic forgery craft to help hundreds of young Jewish children flee Nazis in France and smuggle them into Switzerland. Her story is sealed in a book of lost names, never to be forgotten.     Kristin Harmel has written several o...

Having grown up in the 1970s and 80s, I’ve been playing video games a long time, and oh my how they’ve changed over the years! From what used to be a specialized hobby using home computers and dedicated consoles hooked to your TV and having to seek out an arcade for entertainment, to the ubiquity of smartphone apps today, I’ve seen and played quite a bit. Formerly considered “nerdy” or for those outside the mainstream, now video games are played by celebrities and athletes, have their own teams and sponsors like physical sports, and are even considered relaxing and therapeutic. (The occasional, unproven “video games cause violence” has had staying power all these years, too.) Game design has also grown, evolved, and broadened during this time. Chess and some sports have been around from the beginning; space combat games, too. While there’s not much you can change with a chess video game aside from graphics and difficulty, other genres that started as simple squares moving across y...