WINTER READS

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Warm blankets &thick books

By Sara Hilton

“Winters were made for warm blankets and thick books,” said Tecumseh District Library director Susan Bach when asked about winter reading. As the snow and cold cover the earth there is no better time to cocoon ourselves inside and experience the metamorphosis of a fantastic read.

While Tecumseh District Library is brimming with books, here are a few of Bach’s favorite winter companions:

Find these winter reads at the Tecumseh District Library

Tecumseh District Library 517-423-2238 215 N. Ottawa St. tecumsehlibrary.org

The Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follett This is the story of Philip, Prior of Kingsbridge, a devout and resourceful monk driven to build the greatest Gothic cathedral the world has known. It is also the story of Tom, the mason who becomes his architect—a man divided in his soul. It is the story of the beautiful, elusive Lady Aliena, haunted by a secret shame. It is the story of a struggle between good and evil that will turn church against state and brother against brother.

Pillars of the Earth is a spellbinding epic tale of ambition, anarchy, and absolute power set against the sprawling medieval canvas of twelfth-century England.

Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel England in the 1520s is a heartbeat from disaster. If the king dies without a male heir, the country could be destroyed by civil war. Henry VIII wants to annul his marriage of 20 years and marry Anne Boleyn. The pope and most of Europe opposes him. Into this impasse steps Thomas Cromwell: a wholly original man, a charmer and a bully, both idealist and opportunist, astute in reading people, and implacable in his ambition. But Henry is volatile: one day tender, one day murderous. Cromwell helps him break the opposition, but what will be the price of his triumph?

Marriage of Opposites by Alice Hoffman Growing up on idyllic St. Thomas in the early 1800s, Rachel dreams of life in faraway Paris. Rachel’s mother, a pillar of their small refugee community of Jews who escaped the Inquisition, has never forgiven her daughter for being a difficult girl who refuses to live by the rules. Growing up, Rachel’s salvation is their maid Adelle’s belief in her strengths, and her deep, life-long friendship with Jestine, Adelle’s daughter. But Rachel’s life is not her own. She is married off to a widower with three children to save her father’s business. When her older husband dies suddenly and his handsome, much younger nephew, Frédérick, arrives from France to settle the estate, Rachel seizes her own life story, beginning a defiant, passionate love affair that sparks a scandal that affects all of her family, including her favorite son, who will become one of the greatest artists of France.

Rebecca by Daphne DuMaurier Rebecca is a 1938 Gothic novel. It concerns an unnamed young woman who impetuously marries a wealthy widower, only to discover that he and his household are haunted by the memory of his late first wife, the title character.

The Snow Child by Eowyn Ivey Alaska, 1920: a brutal place to homestead, and especially tough for recent arrivals Jack and Mabel. Childless, they are drifting apart—he breaking under the weight of the work of the farm; she crumbling from loneliness and despair. In a moment of levity during the season’s first snowfall, they build a child out of snow. The next morning the snow child is gone, but they glimpse a young, blondehaired girl running through the trees.

This little girl, who calls herself Faina, seems to be a child of the woods. She hunts with a red fox at her side, skims lightly across the snow, and somehow survives alone in the Alaskan wilderness. As Jack and Mabel struggle to understand this child who could have stepped from the pages of a fairy tale, they come to love her as their own daughter. But in this beautiful, violent place things are rarely as they appear, and what they eventually learn about Faina will transform all of them.

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Dragons Don’t Dance...unless it is a Jenn Carson dragon.

Clinton author and Homefront writer has a new book dancing onto the scene.

Esmeralda Dragon works the spotlight at the Metropolitan Ballet, but what she really wants to do is dance. Encouraged by her friend Harold to audition, Esmeralda takes a leap of faith only to discover that she doesn’t quite fit in with the other ballerinas. But Esmeralda isn’t ready to give up — and neither is Harold! Dragons Don’t Dance Ballet is a whimsical picture book that challenges body image expectations and encourages little ones to go for their dreams.

You can pre-order a copy on Amazon, Barnes and Noble, or any Indie bookstore! Signed copies from Jenn’s website available soon!

thedragoncharmer.com

By Jackie Koch ‘YELLOWSTONE’

A novel for youth featuring fantasy and adventure

Chad-Michael Simon

For Chad-Michael Simon, last year, the publication of “Yellowstone: The Bears of Caldera” was the culmination of a decades-long idea. The 497page fantasy adventure novel, set in Yellowstone National Park and the alternate world of Caldera where three siblings befriend and communicate with telepathic animals, was a labor of love for the artist, who wrote and illustrated the book.

He is now working on a second book of the “The Dark Matter Spectrum” series featuring the same main characters. The second book has a character with a prosthetic leg, and in his research he heard inspiring stories about children who have lost limbs and “bounced back like champions,” he said. At first he wrote characters without flaws. “Over the course of the years as I revised it, it really became important to me to humanize them,” he said of the characters’ quirks. Each of the children in the novel goes through his or her own emotional journey and learns how to develop new strengths. Because both sisters are role models in their own way, the book has an empowering theme for young female readers.

The novel includes a fantasy map of Yellowstone National Park and Caldera, chapter drawings, an illustrated glossary of place names, and a French phrasebook used by Arthur, a tarantula with a French accent, a quirky sense of humor, and a heart of gold.

Themes include facing adversity, how to be a leader, the importance of home and family, teamwork, learning to trust, recognizing strengths in others, and the importance of critical thinking.

Simon, who has worked for 20 years as a concept artist for Root, Inc., a consulting firm in Sylvania, Ohio, moved with his family to Tecumseh in 2017. His wife, Natalia, was one of the first to read his drafts, share encouragement, and suggest edits, and his daughter and two stepsons have been supportive, as well.

He has received praise from readers, ages eight to adult, and works with independent bookstores and libraries to promote the book. “I sold through the Quincy Book Haven enough for them to request more copies for last Christmas,” Simon said. “Online, I produced a steady flow of artwork, samples, and videos across social media to attract followers. The response has been wonderful.”

He especially enjoys seeing the book in the hands of young readers. “One of my favorite reviews came from a nine-yearold girl who said, ‘Awesome! It’s even better than Harry Potter, and that means a lot coming from me!’” he said.

According to the novel’s Sebastian, a bear, “Some people believe everything happens for a reason, but too many bad things happen for that to be true. I believe we take what happens to us and give it meaning. That’s what makes us strong. That’s what makes us powerful.” n

“Yellowstone: The Bears of Caldera” is available for sale on amazon.com in paperback or for Kindle. Simon is available for speaking engagements and may be contacted at chadmichaelsimon@gmail.com.

“Some people believe everything happens for a reason, but too many bad things happen for that to be true. I believe we take what happens to us and give it meaning. That’s what makes us strong. That’s what makes us powerful.” - Sebastian, a bear