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In The Book Stacks
Atlantic County Library news
The Atlantic County Library System/Hammonton is located at 451 S. Egg Harbor Rd. and may be reached by calling (609) 561-2264. Follow the Atlantic County Library System on Facebook (facebook.com/atlanticlibrary) , Twitter (@ACLSLibrarian) and Instagram (instagram.com/aclslibrarian).
The library will be closed on December 24, December 26 and December 31 for the holidays.
Many library services are available 24/7 at www.atlanticlibrary.org.
To view their full calendar of events, visit atlanticlibrary.org. Registration required for all programs.
Masks are optional, but social distancing is still in effect. All programs are subject to change or cancellation.
Toddler Storytime: All children ages 1.5 to 5 are invited on Tuesdays at 10:30 a.m.
Registration is required. The latest books and some old favorites will help introduce new vocabulary and reinforce learning. Children and their caregivers will enjoy stories, songs, crafts, games and movement while building language and literacy skills.
Makerspace Sewing: December 3 from 1:30 p.m. to 4:30 p.m. make a holiday stocking.
Suggested for teens and adults. Registration required. Learn how to sew by hand and machines. Also learn how to take measurements, choose a pattern and choose fabric.
Lego Club: December 6 from 6:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. Open to ages 5 and older. Registration is required. Join our Lego Club and create your own Lego designs. All supplies are provided.
DIY Kids Craft Night: December 14 from 6:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. Open to ages 4 and older.
Registration required. Turn ordinary round ornaments into beautiful and special, tree decorations. All materials are provided.
Family Movie Night: Suggested for ages 4 and older; registration required. Join us on December 20 for DC League of Super Pets (Rated PG) and refreshments.
DIY New Year’s Wreath Craft: December 28 from 6:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. Open to adults.
Registration required. Ring in the New Year with a festive homemade wreath. All materials are provided.
Recommended Reading: Upcoming titles that will be circulating in our collection soon:
A Christmas Memory
A Novel by Richard Paul Evans
It’s 1967, and for young Richard it’s a time of heartbreak and turmoil. Over the span of a few months, his brother, Mark, is killed in Vietnam; his father loses his job and moves the family from California to his grandmother’s abandoned home in Utah; and his parents make the painful decision to separate.
With uncertainty rattling every corner of his life, Richard does his best to remain strong—but when he’s run down by bullies at his new school, he meets Mr. Foster, an elderly neighbor who chases off the bullies and invites Richard in for a cup of cocoa. Richard becomes fast friends with the wise, solitary man who inspires Richard’s love for books and whose dog, Gollum, becomes his closest companion.
As the holidays approach, the joy and light of Christmas seem unlikely to permeate the Evans home as things take a grim turn for the worse. And just when it seems like he has nothing left to lose, Richard is confronted by a startling revelation. But with Mr. Foster’s wisdom and kindness, he learns for the first time what truly matters about the spirit of the season: that forgiveness can heal even the deepest wounds, and love endures long after the pain of loss subsides.
A Dangerous Business
A Novel by Jane Smiley
Monterey, 1851. Ever since her husband was killed in a bar fight, Eliza Ripple has been working in a brothel. It seems like a better life, at least at first. The madam, Mrs. Parks, is kind, the men are (relatively) well behaved, and Eliza has attained what few women have: financial security.
But when the dead bodies of young women start appearing outside of town, a darkness descends that she can’t resist confronting. Side by side with her friend Jean, and inspired by her reading, especially by Edgar Allan Poe’s detective Dupin, Eliza pieces together an array of clues to try to catch the killer, all the while juggling clients who begin to seem more and more suspicious.
Eliza and Jean are determined not just to survive, but to find their way in a lawless town on the fringes of the Wild West—a bewitching combination of beauty and danger—as what will become the Civil War looms on the horizon. As Mrs. Parks says, “Everyone knows that this is a dangerous business, but between you and me, being a woman is a dangerous business, and don’t let anyone tell you otherwise …”