From the Library 

Pick up some holiday reading

We have a great selection of new titles that you can borrow from the library for your holiday reading and beyond! Here is a selection:

 What If? Serious Scientific Answers to Absurd Quetions 

Millions visit xkcd.com each week to read Randall Munroe's iconic webcomic. Fans ask him a lot of strange questions: How fast can you hit a speed bump, driving, and live? When (if ever) did the sun go down on the British Empire? When will Facebook contain more profiles of dead people than living? How many humans would a T-Rex rampaging through New York need to eat a day?  In pursuit of answers, Munroe runs computer simulations, pores over stacks of declassified military research memos, solves differential equations and consults nuclear reactor operators. His responses are masterpieces of clarity and hilarity, complemented by comics. They often predict the complete annihilation of humankind, or at least a really big explosion. 

Fangirl 

Cath is a Simon Snow fan. Okay, everybody is a Simon Snow fan, but for Cath, being a fan is her life. Cath’s sister has mostly grown away from fandom, but Cath just can’t let go…  Everything in Cath’s offline life is going wrong. Just when she’s started to realize her feelings for Levi, she sees him kissing someone else. Plus, her writing partner, Nick, is acting strange, and her twin sister, Wren, is suddenly making time for their mother—the same woman who walked out of their lives ten years ago! When their dad ends up in the hospital, Cath decides it’s time to rethink her plans for the future. But how can she leave the past behind when it keeps showing up at her door? 

How To Hold Animals  A delightful treasure trove of tips on how to hold animals without hurting them.  Should you hold a mouse by its tail? A grasshopper by its leg? A butterfly by its wing? How do you pick up a prickly hedgehog? A slithering snake? A hissing cat?  Most of us don't have nearly enough experience of being around animals. We feel a bit apprehensive when it comes to touching them. Maybe we're scared we'll hurt them, or that they'll hurt us. That is a huge shame, because connecting with animals is a magical life skill that can make you feel at peace and aligned with nature.  Luckily, animal photographer and former zookeeper Toshimitsu Matsuhashi is here to give you advice and show you the very best way to care for the animals in our lives, from beetles to hamsters and from chickens to dogs. 

A Beginner’s Guide to Succulent Gardening A Beginner's Guide to Succulent Gardening is a friendly guide to popular succulents, walking novices through all the basics, like: 

Choosing your succulents 'from Hens and Chicks (Echeveria) to bristly flowering cactus varieties 

Mixing the right soils for your succulents and preparing the growing environment 

Easy potting and transplanting techniques 

Succulent care including watering, fertilizing and providing the right amount of sun for each variety 

Understanding peak periods as well as seasonal traits and needs, so you can have a beautiful succulent garden year-round 

This book contains all sorts of helpful tips on what to look for when buying a plant, how to troubleshoot when your succulent shows signs of distress, how to trim the leaves and stems, and how to start new plants from cuttings. Clear diagrams and at-a-glance fact sheets for each variety, as well as inspirational photos of attractively and happily-housed succulents, fill the pages of this book. 

Curious Cases 

True crime is a genre that captures readers of all ages, but oftentimes the stories are too intense-even for kids who love spooky books and movies. Curious Cases: True Crime for Kids presents a slew of fascinating stories that are all age-appropriate, including:  -The Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum theft -The cold case of D. B. Cooper -The disappearance of Masterpiece the poodle -Two brothers' cunning escape from Alcatraz -Sherlock Holmes and the Fairy Photographs -Real-life Ghostbusters  It also breakdowns of some of the most iconic pop culture detectives and mystery writers like Agatha Christie, and even includes some fun forensic science activities that kids can do at home to help them better understand how evidence is found and how mysteries can be solved. 

Come visit us in the library to see the full selection of new books we have on offer.