Adult events are free and open to the public, unless otherwise noted. If registration is required or if you have questions, call the library at 920-478-3344 or email pjacob@waterloo.lib.wi.us
Ongoing Book Club
January 4 – February 27 Mindfulness Challenge
Start out the year 2021 right! Take a deep breath in and out, notice where you are, and how you are feeling. Great job! You are on your way to becoming a more mindful person. Try this challenge and earn 8 virtual badges as you take some much needed me time. Each badge earned will enter you into a grand prize drawing for a mindfulness gift basket. Register online through Beanstack. https://waterloo.beanstack.com/reader365
January 4 – February 28 Adult Winter Reading Program
Complete activities to earn a virtual badge and a virtual prize drawing ticket! Register online through Beanstack. https://waterloo.beanstack.com/reader365
March 1 Junginger Book Club 6:00pm
The Nickel Boys by Colson Whitehead
When Elwood Curtis, a black boy growing up in 1960s Tallahassee, is unfairly sentenced to a juvenile reformatory called the Nickel Academy, he finds himself trapped in a grotesque chamber of horrors. Elwood’s only salvation is his friendship with fellow “delinquent” Turner, which deepens despite Turner’s conviction that Elwood is hopelessly naive, that the world is crooked, and that the only way to survive is to scheme and avoid trouble. As life at the Academy becomes ever more perilous, the tension between Elwood’s ideals and Turner’s skepticism leads to a decision whose repercussions will echo down the decades.
Based on the real story of a reform school that operated for 111 years and warped the lives of thousands of children, The Nickel Boys is a devastating, driven narrative that showcases a great American novelist writing at the height of his powers and “should further cement Whitehead as one of his generation’s best.
New members always welcome! Book can be found in display in the library or contact us to order a copy for you.
March 8 Clark Book Club 6:00pm
Before We Were Yours by Lisa Wingate
Memphis, 1939. Twelve-year-old Rill Foss and her four younger siblings live a magical life aboard their family’s Mississippi River shantyboat. But when their father must rush their mother to the hospital one stormy night, Rill is left in charge—until strangers arrive in force. Wrenched from all that is familiar and thrown into a Tennessee Children’s Home Society orphanage, the Foss children are assured that they will soon be returned to their parents—but they quickly realize the dark truth. At the mercy of the facility’s cruel director, Rill fights to keep her sisters and brother together in a world of danger and uncertainty.
Aiken, South Carolina, present day. Born into wealth and privilege, Avery Stafford seems to have it all: a successful career as a federal prosecutor, a handsome fiancé, and a lavish wedding on the horizon. But when Avery returns home to help her father weather a health crisis, a chance encounter leaves her with uncomfortable questions and compels her to take a journey through her family’s long-hidden history, on a path that will ultimately lead either to devastation or to redemption.
Based on one of America’s most notorious real-life scandals—in which Georgia Tann, director of a Memphis-based adoption organization, kidnapped and sold poor children to wealthy families all over the country—Lisa Wingate’s riveting, wrenching, and ultimately uplifting tale reminds us how, even though the paths we take can lead to many places, the heart never forgets where we belong.
New members always welcome! Book can be found in display in the library or contact us to order a copy for you.
March 15 Adult Grab & Go – Seed Bombs
A fun way to garden! Create, throw, let the rain fall, and watch them grow! Kit includes colorful construction paper , one seed packet, and instructions. Pick-up at the library front desk March 15-26. Registration required https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLScVr9eCj_RYhggZ8_fa6n_JbLrIY8h_2BKj8M29uHzNEJW1pQ/viewform
