FLORENCE-A visit to the library is the perfect way to emerge from your holiday hibernation!
See below for information on book give-aways for kids and lots of programs for adults.
The library and the book drop will be closed on Monday, January 21 for Martin Luther King Jr. Day.
Kids Can Win Free Books This Winter!
The New Year is the perfect time to snuggle up with books and learn something new! During the months of January and February, kids can check out a nonfiction book, learn something new, and tell us about it for a chance to win a book from the “ASK ME” series.
One book will be given away every Monday beginning January 7 until February 25! For a chance to win, check out a book from our Juvenile Nonfiction Collection, read it, and answer the questions on our special registration slips available at the Youth Services Desk! Ages 2-10 can enter and each participant can enter up to 5 times per week
Get Out of Town: Czech Republic
Sunday, January 6, 2:00 pm
Travel the world without leaving your hometown, as our annual travel series returns for January 2019. For this week’s event, Mollie Schaefer will share photos and stories from her time teaching in the Czech Republic.
Booked for Lunch/Novel Conversations Book Clubs:
A Man Called Ove by Fredrik Backman
Tuesday, January 8, 1:00 pm or 5:30 pm
This book club meets on the second Tuesday of each month, and we’re offering two different times to suit your schedule. The Booked for Lunch group will meet at 1:00 pm, and the Novel Conversations group will meet at 5:30 pm. For January, we will be discussing A Man Called Ove by Fredrik Backman.
Book Talk/Signing
The Muscle Shoals: First Frontier of These United States by Alvin Rosenbaum
Thursday, January 10, 5:30 pm
Alvin Rosenbaum will be speaking at FLPL about his new book The Muscle Shoals: First Frontier of These United States.
The Muscle Shoals is an in-depth study of a unique place in the wilds of American history. A tumbling stretch of rough water on the Tennessee River first populated by the Cherokee and Chickasaw people, the Muscle Shoals would become a magnet for settlement and trade—as well as the object of schemes and dreams, speculation, plans, and politics.
Beginning some 50 years before Alabama’s statehood, author Alvin Rosenbaum reveals the Muscle Shoals to be America’s true first frontier.
Alvin Rosenbaum is a Muscle Shoals native and a regional planner. He has worked as an American and international consultant for strategic planning, public-private partnerships, and other collaborative approaches to interpreting regional landscapes for tourism, economic development, and poverty alleviation. The Muscle Shoals: First Frontier of These United States is the author’s ninth book.
Get Out of Town: Myanmar
Sunday, January 13, 2:00 pm
For the second event in our annual travel series, Andy Thigpen of IFDC will share photos and stories about the organization’s work in Myanmar
YA for Adults Book Club: The Infinite Pieces of Us by Rebekah Crane
Monday, January 14, 5:30 pm
If you’re 18 or older and enjoy reading Young Adult novels, then this book club is for you! For our January meeting, we’ll be talking about The Infinite Pieces of Us by Rebekah Crane. Stratton Abbey Cupcakery & Confections will provide treats for each meeting!
Book Talk/Signing:
The Annotated Picett’s History of Alabama with Dr. James P Pate
Thursday, January 17, 11:30 am
Historian Dr. James P. Pate will deliver a lunchtime talk about his new annotated edition of the important Pickett’s History of Alabama.
The Annotated Pickett’s History of Alabama, and Incidentally of Georgia and Mississippi, from the Earliest Period brings to general readers and scholars a significantly updated, expanded, more authoritative, and freshly indexed edition of one of the seminal works of early American history. First published in 1851, Pickett’s History has been an invaluable resource for scholars studying and writing about Southeastern Indians and the expansion of the young United States into what was known as the “Old Southwest,” the present-day states of Georgia, Alabama, and Mississippi. This magnificent new edition of Pickett’s History is made possible by Dr. James P. Pate. Pate verified Pickett’s sources; elaborated on the persons, events, and places described; and enriched the work with historical detail unknown when Pickett was writing. The new edition, which carries an introduction by Dr. Pate, is presented in an attractive and readable wide format. Pickett’s original text and his own footnotes occupy the main part of the page, with annotations in boldface given in the margins. The result pays homage to a book that was described when it appeared nine years before the Civil War as “one of the prettiest specimens of bookmaking ever done in America.”
Dr. Pate is an Emeritus Professor of History at the University of West Alabama, where he served as professor, department chair, dean, and vice president of academic affairs over a period of 30 years.
