International Games Week
Join FDL in celebrating International Games Week November 7-13! You know we love games at FDL… because games of all types hold educational, recreational, and social value, and playing games is a great way to connect with family, friends, and your community. While we can’t host our annual full-day event due to the pandemic, we’ve got a few fun events throughout the week this year. Show your Super Smash Bros. skills in our tournament on 11/9, or make a Jenga Block Keychain on 11/12. We’ll also have printable games for adults and children to take home throughout the week. Plus, you can win our Golden Ticket Game Giveaway by checking out a game from our collection of more than 200 games – find the Golden Ticket and win your own copy of the game, courtesy of our friends at Cabbages and Kings Games! Game on!
2021 Big Rig Petting Zoo with the Fon du Lac Park District Police Department
Hi everybody! We were really sad to have to cancel the Big Rig Petting Zoo again this year due to Covid-19. Since we couldn’t have a big event, we have a surprise for you! We collaborated with the Fon du Lac Park District Police and East Side Community Media (Channel 22), to make a video that highlights the rescue equipment they use, including 4 big vehicles that are always favorites at the FDL Big Rig Petting Zoo. So cool!
We want to send out a huge THANK YOU to Chief Johnson and Sergeant Keil from the Fon du Lac Park District Police and Deral and Susan Dixon and Paul Coussens from East Side Community Media for making this video possible!!
But wait, there’s more Big Rig fun at the library! After you watch the video:
- Pick up a Take & Make craft from the Youth Services department or drive-up window.
- Enjoy the StoryWalk in the Reading Garden: Alphabeep: A Zipping, Zooming ABC written by Debora Pearson and illustrated by Edward Miller. In this book, you’ll see pictures of lots of the same vehicles that you would have seen at our real Big Rig Petting Zoo.
- Next, take a walk around the Civic Plaza building (Library and City Hall) and check out the Big Rig Scavenger Hunt. We’ve put pictures of the vehicles from previous Big Rig Petting Zoos in the windows. You can pick up the Scavenger Hunt Vehicle List in the Youth Services department or at the drive-up window. (You will need to get out of your car to walk around the building.) Return your completed Scavenger Hunt List to the Youth Services department or drive-up window for a prize.
While you’re in the Youth Services department check out some of the great Big Rig books, in the Nonfiction Section, Board Books, and the GO Section in the Picture Books. Don’t forget online resources like Libby, Axis 360, and Hoopla. You can also browse our catalog, put books on hold, and pick them in person or at the drive-up window.
Here are just a few of the many books Big Rig books you can find at FDL:
Nonfiction
Fire Trucks: Racing to the Scene by Molly Aloian
The Usborne Big Book of Big Trucks by Megan Cullis
Humvees by John Hamilton
Trucks: The Ins and Outs of Monster Trucks, Semis, Pickups, and Other Trucks by Jeff Young
Tractor Trailers by Lola Schaefer
GO Section
Five Trucks by Brian Floca
Dump Trucks by Judith Jango-Cohen
Trucks Galore by Peter Stein
Grandma Drove the Snowplow by Katie Clark
I Stink! By Kate McMullan
Board Books
Construction Zoo by Jennifer Thorne
Busy Builders, Busy Week! By Jean Reidy
B is for Bulldozer by June Sobel
Colorful World: Construction Site by Nastja Holtfreter
Colorful World: Vehicles by Nastja Holtfreter
eBooks
Police Cars Machines with Power! by Amy McDonald (Libby)
Heavy-Duty Trucks by Joyce Milton (Axis 360)
Snowplows by Rebecca Pettiford (Hoopla)
Coast Guard Boats by B. J. Best (Hoopla)
– Kris, Youth Services Specialist
FDL Reads: The Disappearing Act
The Disappearing Act by Catherine Steadman
Reviewed by: Dawn Dickey, library volunteer
Genre: Mystery
Suggested Age: Adults
What is This Book About?: After a successful acting role which lands her a BAFTA nomination for Best Actor, Mia Eliot is caught by surprise when her longtime boyfriend breaks up with her. With her agent’s blessing, Mia heads to Los Angeles to search for new acting roles, escape from a stalker, and recover from the breakup. In L.A., Mia answers a casting call for a role where she notes that the other actors auditioning for the role “all look weirdly similar” to herself: brunette hair worn up, similar age, and similar clothing (jeans, silk blouse). Faced with the tension and unfriendliness of most of the actors waiting to audition, Mia decides to wait outside until it is her turn to audition. Outside, hearing Mia’s British accent, a friendlier fellow actor named Emily starts up a conversation about Los Angeles, the audition, etc. When it is time for Emily’s audition, Emily makes an excuse, saying she needs to top off the meter for her rental car. Emily urges Mia to audition before her. But feeling jet-lagged and off kilter, Mia declines. Instead, Mia offers to feed Emily’s meter. Emily, somewhat surprisingly, gives Mia her wallet and car keys. Mia promises to feed the meter, bring the keys and wallet back in to the casting room, and wait for Emily to finish her audition to return the keys and wallet. Mia is soon faced with a mystery, however. Emily doesn’t return to reclaim her personal items, and she seems to have disappeared! What should Mia do?
My Review: Author Catherine Steadman, who is both a writer and actor, deftly builds suspense from the prologue, which finds Mia holding a gun and wondering how the story of her life should go. The following chapters build on the suspense. Mia is temporarily living in a fabulous – but mostly empty – high rise which should have adequate security, but a script and other items disappear. People and their motives are not what Mia would think. The suspense and unsettling events go on and on, increasing until the surprise ending in the final pages of the book. The characters, and the situations they are in, are believable and sympathetic. As a reader, I found myself cheering Mia on to try to solve the disappearance and stay safe doing so. The Disappearing Act has just the right amount of suspense – a great read!!
Three Words That Describe This Book: suspense, identity, acting
Give This a Try if You Like… Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn; books by Tana French, especially The Likeness; and The Girl on the Train by Paula Hawkins.
Rating: 5/5
About FDL Reads
FDL Reads is a series of weekly book reviews from Fondulac District Library.
Book Bundles
No time to browse? Our Book Bundles for kids are a great way to quickly pick up books for your child, or discover new books by specific subjects, read-alikes, or reading level. Each bundle contains 5 curated books centered around a theme and grade level, and each includes a corresponding craft or activity. Bundles can be requested through the online form, by email, or by phone. Choose from more than 20 topics, including adventure, mysteries, own voices, science, and more! Additional Bonus Bundles are available to check out monthly in Youth Services on a first-come, first-serve basis. Learn more at fondulaclibrary.org/book-bundles/.
#FDL: Overdrive’s Big Library Read
Fondulac District Library provides access to a large collection of eBooks and audiobooks through Overdrive’s Libby app. Several times during the year, Overdrive hosts a Big Library Read, an online book club for readers around the world. Featured books are chosen by librarians and announced shortly before the Big Library Read begins. Our library is provided with unlimited copies of the eBook or audiobook, and our patrons can read without wait time through the Libby app until November 15. A library card number and PIN are required to access the book. This fall, the Big Library Read has chosen Five Total Strangers by Natalie D. Richards. Below is a little about the book from The Big Library Read’s website:
Five Total Strangers
A “page-turning thriller that will keep readers guessing until the very end” (School Library Journal) about a road trip in a snowstorm that turns into bone-chilling disaster, from New York Times bestselling mystery author and “master of tension” (BCCB) Natalie D. Richards.
She thought being stranded was the worst thing that could happen. She was wrong.
Mira needs to get home for the holidays. Badly. But when an incoming blizzard results in a canceled connecting flight, it looks like she might get stuck at the airport indefinitely.
And then Harper, Mira’s glamorous seatmate from her initial flight, offers her a ride. Harper and her three friends can drop Mira off on their way home. But as they set off, Mira realizes fellow travelers are all total strangers. And every one of them is hiding something.
Soon, roads go from slippery to terrifying. People’s belongings are mysteriously disappearing. Someone in the car is clearly lying, and may even be sabotaging the trip—but why? And can Mira make it home alive, or will this nightmare drive turn fatal?
–Post by Susie Rivera, Reference Specialist
#FDL is an update on all things Fondulac District Library and books.
Book Talk for Kids – Who Would Win? Series
Miss Alice thinks you’ll love learning all kinds of cool facts in the fun Who Would Win? series that pits two different types of animals against each other to see what might happen if they were to meet face-to-face! Head to our catalog to place one on hold!