Underdog Day

Do you know all those heroes that everyone knows and loves? Well, this isn't a day for them. December 21 is a day to celebrate all those underappreciated characters, the underdogs: the characters that save the day in smaller ways.

Check out one of these books to read and give your appreciation to these unsung heroes!

Wright Brothers' Day

The Wright Brothers' had their first successful heavier-than-air flight at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina on December 17, 1903. Every year, a celebration is held at the Wright Brothers' National Memorial with wreaths, flyovers, and other observances.  

Want to learn more about the Wright Brothers' and their tremendous success story? Check out these items from the library!

Vote for PLS Reads program themes

Coming in Spring 2019, the Pioneer Library System is introducing a new and exciting concept for our library community: PLS Reads! All 12 branches will share the experience in reading different combinations of genres and formats to create opportunities for discussions, comparisons, panels and creative programs surrounding the significant book themes.

Since this is a community endeavor, we need you to make your voice heard! Below are three paired options and we need your vote to determine the winning selection.  What do YOU want to read?

Voting will be available through December 31, 2018 in our survey form. A set of the winning books will be awarded at the end of the voting period, so make sure to vote!

Option 1: Night by Elie Wiesel and Maus by Art Spiegelman

A creative pairing of memoirs, with one a classic non-fiction and the other a ground-breaking graphic novel.

Night: Born in the town of Sighet, Transylvania, Elie Wiesel was a teenager when he and his family were taken from their home in 1944 to the Auschwitz concentration camp, and then to Buchenwald. This book is the terrifying record of Elie Wiesel's memories of the death of his family, the death of his own innocence, and his despair as a deeply observant Jew confronting the absolute evil of man.

 

 

Maus: A memoir of Vladek Spiegleman, a Jewish survivor of Hitler's Europe, and about his son, a cartoonist who tries to come to terms with his father, his story, and history.

 

 

 

Option 2: Small Great Things by Jodi Picoult and The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas

Original voices in a pairing of two revolutionary fiction novels.

Small Great Things: Ruth Jefferson's career as a labor and delivery nurse and her life change forever when she hesitates before helping a baby in cardiac arrest, because Ruth is African American and the baby's white supremacist parents don't want her touching their child. The hospital tells Ruth to comply with the parents' wishes, but when she's the only available nurse, should she follow orders or try to save the newborn's life?

 

 

The Hate U Give: The uneasy balance between Starr Carter's poor neighborhood and the fancy suburban prep school she attends is shattered when Starr witnesses the fatal shooting of her childhood best friend at the hands of a police officer. Starr is the only person who can say what really went down that night, but what Starr does -- or does not -- say could upend her community and endanger her life.

 

 

Option 3:  The Serpent King by Jeff Zentner and Evicted: Poverty and Profit in the American City by Matthew Desmond 

Unique viewpoints expressed in a pairing of a fiction novel and several non-fiction human interest stories.

The Serpent King: The son of a Pentecostal preacher faces his personal demons as he and his two outcast friends try to make it through their senior year of high school in rural Forrestville, Tennessee without letting the small-town culture destroy their creative spirits and sense of self.

 

 

Evicted: Poverty and Profit in the American City: Evictions used to be rare, but today, most poor, renting families are spending more than half of their income on housing, and eviction has become ordinary. In vivid, intimate prose, Desmond provides a ground-level view of one of the most urgent issues facing America today.