Switch to Libby!
Have you made the switch to Libby yet? If you’ve been using the OverDrive app to borrow eBooks and audiobooks, you’ll want to download the Libby app soon! Both library apps access the same collection of great eBooks and audiobooks, but Alliance Digital Media Library (ADML) will begin phasing out the OverDrive app in February 2022, making Libby the primary way for users to enjoy the ADML collection. Users can still browse, borrow, and enjoy titles from the library’s OverDrive website and enjoy that content on their devices with Libby.
Reasons you’ll love Libby: 
- Easy onboarding for new users
- A unified bookshelf for all loans and holds
- Support for multiple library cards
- Direct user support from OverDrive
- Best-in-class eBook reader and audiobook player
- Improved accessibility features
- Wish list syncing
- Push notifications
- Support for multiple world languages
- Access to “Extras,” including streaming video services, educational courses, and more
- Sonos speaker integration
- Apple CarPlay and Android Auto support
Getting started with Libby is easy. Just download the free app from your app store and sign in with your FDL card to start exploring. Ask a librarian for help if needed. And of course, even more digital content is available through the Axis 360 and hoopla apps and collections.
FDL Reading Challenges
Are you in a reading slump, or just love a challenge? Reading challenges can be a great motivator to establish better reading habits and reach your reading goals. Participating in a reading program is an easy way to read more or explore different genres of books while earning fun prizes, and FDL has challenges for all ages throughout the year! Readers can register and track their reading with Beanstack (online or with the free app), or register at the library. Get started by registering or ask a librarian for more info!
Adult Winter Reading Program
- Choose Your Gnome Adventure!
- Happening now! January 3 – February 28, 2022
- Ages 18+
1000 Books Before Kindergarten
- Connect with your child, develop their vocabulary, & establish good reading habits!
- Self-paced & year-round
- Infancy – PreK
100 Club
- Explore different kinds of genres
- Self-paced & year-round
- Kindergarten – 8th grade
Summer Reading Program
- June – July (new themes every year!)
- Programs for all ages
- PreK – Adult
FDL Reads: All That We Carried
All That We Carried by Erin Bartels
Reviewed By: Rebecca Cox, Business Manager
Genre: Fiction
Suggested Age: Adults
What is This Book About? Estranged sisters Melanie and Olivia reunite on the 10th anniversary of their parents’ deaths for a multi-day hiking trip in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula. They haven’t seen each other since the funeral and both coped with their loss in extremely different ways. This trip is meant to be a chance to reconnect and put some of their differences behind them to move forward.
My Review: At first glance, this book appears to be somewhat predictable, but the journey that Melanie and Olivia face is really anything but that. While in the wilderness they both have to face hard questions centered around their beliefs and what they carry with them (hint: it is more than just what is in their backpacks). What I thought was going to be a feel-good novel instead invoked a lot of thought in me and I found myself thinking through my beliefs and choices right along with Melanie and Olivia. This book didn’t end up quite like I had imagined it would, but I suppose the lesson here is that life doesn’t always end up quite like we imagine either.
In addition to a thought-provoking storyline, Bartels paints a magnificent picture of the Michigan wilderness. Her love of hiking and her home state shines through and any outdoors person will appreciate the attention to detail she gives to this setting of the novel. It made me want to strap on my backpack and head up to Michigan!
Three Words that Describe this Book: Thought-provoking, relatable, growth
Give this a try if you like… In The Unlikely Event by Judy Blume, Facing the Dawn by Cynthia Ruchti, The Nature of Small Birds by Susie Finkbeiner
Rating: 4/5
About FDL Reads
FDL Reads is a series of weekly book reviews from Fondulac District Library.
FDL Reads: The Outlaws Scarlett and Browne
The Outlaws Scarlett and Browne by Jonathan Stroud
Reviewed By: Alice Mitchell, Youth Services Manager
Genre: Science Fiction
Suggested Age: Kids and teens (10-15)
What is this book about? Scarlett McCain is used to taking care of herself. She’s quite capable of making a living, even if that happens to be by robbing small banks. On her way to deliver her recent plunder to someone she owes money to, she stumbles upon Albert Browne locked in the bathroom of an overturned bus in the middle of the wilderness. It becomes abundantly clear that he’s on the run as well – she’s used to dodging pursuers, but the Faith House operatives’ explosives really are overkill. Luckily, it turns out Albert has some skills that might help both of them. Now Scarlett has to team up with a host of characters to get him to the Free Isles near London, and get herself out of the mess that is really all his fault to begin with.
My Review: I’ve been a big fan of Jonathan Stroud’s writing for a long time, and this book held up to my expectations of him. It’s full of his trademark humor, suspenseful moments of terror, and likeable characters. Confident, no-nonsense Scarlett and gentle-but-powerful Albert are unique and fun to read about, and the villainous Dr. Calloway was intriguing and insidious. The only way this book could be improved is to get a sequel.
Three Words that Describe this Book: daring, suspenseful, mischievous
Give This A Try if You Like… Holly Black, The Beatryce Prophecy by Kate DiCamillo, Rick Riordan, and Rick Riordan Presents
Rating: 5/5
About FDL Reads
FDL Reads is a series of weekly book reviews from Fondulac District Library.
#FDL: Staff Favorites of 2021
FDL staff members shared their favorite reads of 2021:
No One is Talking About This by Patricia Lockwood
“It’s the one that cut me the most – a brilliant, shattering account of how the Internet distorts each of our realities.” – Beth, Communications
The House in the Cerulean Sea by T.J. Klune
“Solitary Linus Baker finds out that he doesn’t much like being alone all the time after he is sent to conduct an investigation of a mysterious orphanage full of magical children in this heartfelt, humorous story about creating a family that makes a house feel like home.” – Alice, Youth Services
The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue by V.E. Schwab
“Addie LaRue is a tragic but beautiful story about a young women who is cursed to live forever and be forgotten” – Susie, Adult Services
Lincoln on the Verge: Thirteen Days to Washington by Ted Widmer
“This nonfiction book rockets along like a train eating up miles of track, and looks at the stressful times right before Lincoln’s inauguration, where Southern states tried to stop the vice president from certifying the votes that elected Lincoln president.” – Sylvia, Circulation
The First Sister by Linden A. Lewis
“With heavy influences from the Handmaid’s Tale, The First Sister also injects loads of political intrigue and futuristic covert space action to keep the reader enthralled.” – Jeremy, Adult Services
Personal Librarian by Marie Benedict
“I thought it was a fascinating story about Belle da Costa Greene and her influence in creating the J.P. Morgan Library. It also had a very interesting back story.”- Becky, Adult Services
“Arguably a work of ‘magical realism’, this wee -sized novel ‘makes up for’ its (relative) brevity with its richly fictile, and thoroughly lyrical prose, vaguely mythological, and folkloric implications, and, of course, its raw, and uncut content, which never fails to galvanize.” – Kaelan, Circulation
Posted by Susie Rivera, Reference Specialist
#FDL is an update on all things Fondulac District Library and books.
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FDL Reads: The Ocean at the End of Lane
The Ocean at the End of the Lane
By: Neil Gaiman
Reviewed by: Susie Rivera, Reference Specialist
Genre: Fantasy
Suggested Age: Adults
What is the book about? A man returns to the town where he grew up in England. He begins to remember his childhood friend, Lettie Hempstock, a mysterious girl who lived on a farm at the end of the lane. Thinking about her triggers memories of strange encounters, magical beings, and horrifying events. Everything comes flooding back to him, as if he’s repressed what really happened when he was seven years old for a long time.
My Review: At first, this book seemed very realistic. A man returns home to attend a funeral. Then, as he begins to recall events from his childhood, things start to take a weird turn into the fantastical. After becoming friends with the neighbor girl, Lettie, the boy accidently releases an evil being into the world. After reading this novella, I read a little background about it. The boy was based on Gaiman’s own childhood. Gaiman said that he would frequently imagine fantastical things happening in the real world, just as they do in this novella. He created the Hempstock family when he was nine years old and they appear in other works of his fiction. I really enjoyed this immersive and sometimes creepy fantasy standalone.
Three Words That Describe This Book: Creepy, Scary, Magical
Give This a Try if You Like…Neverwhere by Neil Gaiman, Coraline by Neil Gaiman, The House in the Cerulean Sea by T.J. Klune
About FDL Reads
FDL Reads is a series of weekly book reviews from Fondulac District Library.