Family Book Club Year in Review: "Prairie Lotus" by Linda Sue Park
by Tess
Join Family Book Club on Monday, Dec. 28 at 5 p.m. as we meet to discuss our favorite book(s) from this year! Each Monday of December I will be posting a short book recommendation for four of my favorite novels that I read in 2020.
"Prairie Lotus" by Linda Sue Park
"Prairie Lotus" by Linda Sue Park is one of my favorite reads in 2020. This is a historical fiction novel about Hanna, who experiences tremendous racism due to being half-Chinese. Her mother has passed away and her father decides to move them east, away from Los Angeles, where is there is a large Asian community. The year is 1880 and Caucasian people considered themselves superior to all other races. Hanna's father, a white man, does his best to protect her but ultimately it is up to her to fulfill her dreams of getting an education and becoming a dressmaker in her father's shop.
I enjoyed this story because of it's authenticity. I am not very familiar with America in the 1880s and I love to learn about different time periods and other peoples' experiences. I loved Hanna. She is brave in the face of hatred and proves her worth to the town, even though she shouldn't have to.
"Prairie Lotus" is available in print and online as an digital audiobook via Overdrive with your library card.
Create It! Puzzle Wreath
by Karen
Have an old puzzle with missing pieces? Don't toss it - turn it into holiday decor! Karen shares an upcycle project that's fun for the whole family - puzzle wreaths!
Read It! "Where the Crawdads Sing" by Delia Owens
Review by Nicole
Hello there! If you have read my posts before you will know that I am a Wisconsin native who moved here to lovely Colorado just at the start of the year. To keep in touch with some dear friends we started a book club that I get to virtually attend about once a month and we discuss a book one of our groupmates recommended. I just virtually met up with my WI book club this past weekend and it had felt like forever since we had our last book discussion. Our discussion for this month was “Where the Crawdads Sing” by Delia Owens.
This was a book I was really looking forward to both reading and discussing. Like all widely talked about books, I was interested to view for myself what the hype was for this book. Since it has been published in 2018, it was a New York Times Bestseller for 32 non-consecutive weeks, sold more than 7 million copies worldwide, was A Reese Witherspoon x Hello Sunshine Book Club Pick and A Business Insider Defining Book of the Decade. That’s a lot of hype! The premise of having a coming of age story mixed with a possible murder was of great intrigue as well.
Kya Clark, also known as the “Marsh Girl” around her quiet town of Barkley Cove on the North Carolina coast, has survived for years alone in the marsh that she calls home, finding friends in the gulls and lessons in the sand. In 1969, when the beloved and handsome Chase Andrews is found dead, everyone immediately suspects Kya. But she is not what they say. Sensitive, and somewhat reserved Kya is yearning to be loved and when she is highly sought after by two young men in town, Kya slowly starts to open herself to a new life, and then the unthinkable happens.
This book was not only a great book to read but also gave us a great discussion. We divulge into Kya’s character and personality from the time she was a little girl to a young woman. She has had many hardships in her life but Delia Owens created a strong, and resilient character in Kya. The narrative jumps back and forth between present day in 1969 and less than a decade before that in 1952 as we learn about Kya’s home life and her fascination with the gulls and the marsh. This brought on some great conversation about Kya, the people in her home town, and the symbolism of the marsh and its variant wildlife.
If you are looking for a book that has love loss, and bit of mystery, this is the book for you!
If you are looking for books similar to “Where the Crawdads Sing”, check out “Beasts of Extraordinary Circumstance” by Ruth Emmie Lang, “Magic Hour” by Kristin Hannah, and “The Wildlands” by Abby Geni.
Check back for my next review for the book, “Marriage Vacation” by Pauline Brooks.
APL How-To: Make Your Own Video Game with Twine
by Elizabeth
Hi there! So you want to make a Twine game? Great! Let’s get started.
Twine is a free website that allows you to make a choose-your-path game. It’s easy to use, and to make a
basic game, you only have to know two buttons on your keyboard. We’ll cover how to use those buttons, then
move on to cover two ways to surprise your readers.
Watch a tutorial here, or read on to learn more!
The Basics
First, go to twinery.org and click “Use it online.” You can download it, too, if you prefer.
If it’s your first time using Twine, Twine will give you a message telling you the basics: Twine saves its stories
in your browser, it’s free to use, and there’s a website full of detailed information you can go to if you need
more help.
For now, let’s click on the new story button on the right side of the screen:
Come up with a name for your story! I named mine “Library Story,” but you can name yours whatever you like.
After you name your story, you’ll be directed to a blue grid with a box in the center.
Double-click the box, or passage, to get started. Think of this as a page in your choose-your-path book: you’re
writing a page with a few choices for your reader.
Write whatever you want the reader to see when they click on your passage.
When you want to include a choice, place it in [[double brackets, like this]].
Click on “Test” or “Play” in the bottom corner whenever you’re ready to test it out.
When you test the game, the words you put in double brackets should show up in blue. You can click them
now, and they’ll take you to new pages.
Each of the links is a title of a new page, so anytime you type the words [[Let’s go]] or [[Wait, no]], it’ll take your
readers to the exact same page.
That’s it! That’s all you need to know to make a basic choose-your-path Twine game. Congratulations! If you
want to get a little more complicated, though, here are two tricks to surprise your reader.
Getting More Involved
Again, the steps above are all you need to know. But what if you want something more complicated? What if
you want to add new words to a page someone’s already reading?
Easy! Here are two simple ways to add new words. You’ll make two kinds of links. One will change a word into
another word when the reader clicks on it, and one will add words to another part of the story.
Changing a Word
To change a word, we’re going to add two new concepts: single brackets and parentheses.
First, let’s turn a dragon into a lizard:
I have to fight a (link: “dragon”)[lizard] today.
In the above picture, “dragon” is the word we want to change. Put the word you want to change in quotes after
“link”:
Then, put one bracket and write what you want to appear instead. Don’t put two brackets! That’ll take you to a
new page.
The end result should look like this:
(link: “word you want to change”)[new word]
When your readers click the link, the words will change.
Surprise! New Words
If you want to add words somewhere else in the passage after people click on a link, without deleting your
original words, you can also do that. Let’s try this with a paraphrase of Cabin Pressure’s “Surprising Rice.”
“Behold! Surprising Rice.”
[“What are those bits?”]<text| Martin asked.
(click: ?text) [“Ah, you see, Skipper, if you don’t mind me saying so, that question is
entirely against the spirit of Surprising Rice.”]
First, we have to write the words someone has to click on.
[words to click]<text|
When words are in brackets, you don’t have to put them in quotes.
Next, let’s write the words that will appear:
(click: ?text)[words that will appear]
You can put these words anywhere on the page you want!
The end result should look like this: once your reader clicks on the link, it will change from a blue link into plain
text, and the words will appear.
Thank you for making a video game with Twine! Let me know if you have any questions. If you make your own game in Twine, let us know! We'd love to hear about it!
Time for presents! Gift a handmade toy to your favorite furry friend or a shelter animal. In partnership with the Aurora Animal Shelter.
Spread the joy this season with pets waiting for their forever homes at Aurora Animal Shelter through Presents for Shelter Pets! 🐈 🎁 ❄ 🐕 Visit AuroraAnimalShelter.org for a list of needed items (including an Amazon Wish List) & info on how to donate
HELLO stands for Hand-on Early Literacy for Little Ones. In this program
children will sing songs, work on fine and gross motor skills, learn
about letters, numbers and science and develop early literacy skills.
Ages 0-6.
This week's video is all about the letter E, as in eagle!
A Yarn About the World: Paris
with Tyler
Our resident globetrotter Tyler shares his travel experiences. This
time, take a trip to the City of Lights - Paris! Learn about Paris and its history while
taking in the beautiful sights!
Share your thoughts and questions in the comments below!
Family Book Club Year in Review: "Mimus" by Lilli Thal
by Tess
On Monday, Dec. 28 at 5p.m., Family Book Club will be meeting to discuss our favorite book(s) from this year! Each Monday of December I will be posting a short book recommendation for four of my favorite novels that I read in 2020.
"Mimus" by Lilli Thal
Originally written in German and translated to English by John Brownjohn, this a fantasy novel set in a fictional country with a medieval time period setting. King Philip and King Theodo have been at war for years yet peace looks within reach. King Philip agrees to a meeting with King Theodo to sign a peace treaty. King Philip's son, Prince Florin, follows a few days behind his father. Yet, they are betrayed. Upon reaching King Theodo's court, Prince Florin sees his father in chains and he himself is forced to become the jester's apprentice.
Mimus, the jester, must entertain King Theodo with witty jokes, songs, and acrobatics. Reluctantly he takes Prince Florin in and, just as reluctantly, Florin learns the jester's tricks. Throughout the story, Prince Florin, who is now reduced to a slave, must try to find a way to escape with his father and seek revenge on the evil King Theodo. He also forms an interesting relationship with Mimus, his jester master.
This is one of my favorite children's books of all time and I re-read it this year. I know I will read it again in the future! It is well-written, dark, humorous, and readers will eagerly read to find out what happens to Prince Florin, his father, and Mimus.
Parts of the story are unpleasant as Prince Florin and King Philip are not treated well. It is also suspenseful in places. I recommend for ages 9+.
Order a copy of "Mimus" by Lilli Thal through Prospector with your Aurora Public Library card.
Create It! Christmas Cactus
by Karen
It's Make It Monday! Christmas trees are a common decoration - but how many people can say they have a Christmas cactus?! Karen shares a DIY this week to make a unique piece of holiday decor that brings the southwest to Aurora!
(December 7) On Sunday, December 6, 2020, at about 5:05 p.m., Aurora police officers responded to a traffic crash at East 18th Avenue and Chambers Road.
The initial investigation has revealed a Ford Ranger was struck by a Dodge truck while the Ford Ranger was making a left turn from westbound East 18th Avenue to southbound Chambers Road. Drugs and alcohol are not believed to be contributing factors to the accident, but speed is possibly a factor. This investigation remains active and ongoing.
The 68-year-old male driver of the Ford Ranger was transported to an area hospital where he was later succumbed to his injuries. The identity of the deceased will be released by the Adams County Coroner's Office after a positive identification has been made, and his next-of-kin has been notified.
We are asking anyone who may have witnessed this crash, has dash cam footage, or if you have any information about this incident, please contact the Metro Denver Crime Stoppers at 720.913.STOP (7867).
Officer Crystal McCoy
Public Information Officer
Aurora Police Department
720.432.5095
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