The Yoto Player plays story cards that you check out separately, including a selection from Beatrix Potter and many other story collections. Kids from 3-12+ can use physical cards to explore the best audiobooks, music, activities and educational audio.
Book Review: “The Cherry Robbers”
Regional History Museum Librarian, Olivia Terry, recommends The Cherry Robbers by Sarai Walker.
The Cherry Robbers by Sarai Walker tells the fictional story of Sylvia Wren, one of America’s most iconic artists of the twentieth century. Her vast talent has made her a household name, but Sylvia herself is an extremely private person, careful not to reveal any details from her past. But when a reporter starts aggressively digging into her life, Sylvia quickly unravels, unable to suppress the secrets of who she once was.
Sylvia isn’t actually Sylvia. She is Iris Chapel, the second youngest of the six Chapel sisters and the only surviving sibling. Growing up in the 1950s, Aster, Rosalind, Calla, Daphne, Iris, and Hazel, are essentially trapped in their giant Victorian family home, living with their uninvolved father and eccentric mother. The six Chapel sisters are heiresses to the Chapel rifle fortune, but this seems to cause more harm than good. Shortly into the book, it becomes clear that a few members of the family are haunted by the past in more ways than one.
When Astor, the oldest sister, becomes engaged, it seems that the way out of their monotonous lives has finally been found. But when she dies unexpectedly the very next day, and the same fate falls on the next sister to get married, it seems like something much more tragic faces the sisters than their confined lives. As Iris’s mother forebodes, something terrible is about to happen.
…it straddles the fine line between exploring the value of an independent life, and the pivotal question of the whole tale: What is a life without love?
If you are looking for a coming of age story mixed with a ghost story, complemented with dreamy flashbacks, this book is for you. The Cherry Robbers is an absolute page-turner and offers an interesting perspective on the power dynamics in male and female relationships. It prompts readers to think deeply, while it straddles the fine line between exploring the value of an independent life, and the pivotal question of the whole tale: What is a life without love? This is a book that I couldn’t put down.
Snow Boots at the Gold Mine Thrift
These boots are make for walkin’! And trudging, and working, and playing in the winter snows of the Wood River Valley. They’re also a snug and fashionable fit for an apres ski hot toddy!
As part of the reuse/circular economy, items procured from the Gold Mine are better for your pocketbook and the environment.
More about the Gold Mine Thrift and Consignment Stores here.
Snow Goggles and Ski Poles
The snow has arrived in the Wood River Valley and with it the much anticipated Ski Opening at the Gold Mine Thrift Store.
Enthusiasts from far and near flock to this event–one of the biggest of the year–which features alpine and Nordic skis, ski and boarding boots, helmets, down coats, fleece, sweaters, hats, fashion boots, and many more hot-hot-hot items to warm your tootsies and your pocketbook!
More about the Gold Mine Thrift and Consignment Stores here.
The Snow Lion’s Turquoise Mane
Wisdom Tales from Tibet
by Surya Das
This remarkable book brings together more than 150 authentic Buddhist teaching tales from the Hidden Kingdom of Tibet—most never before translated into English. These captivating stories, legends and yarns –passed orally from teacher to student–capture the vibrant wisdom of an ancient and still-living oral tradition. Magical, whimsical, witty and ribald, The Snow Lion’s Turquoise Mane unfolds a luminous vision of a universe where basic goodness, harmony, and hope prevails.
Wintering
by Katherine May
A NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER! AS HEARD ON NPR MORNING EDITION AND ON BEING WITH KRISTA TIPPETT“Katherine May opens up exactly what I and so many need to hear but haven’t known how to name.” –Krista Tippett, On Being
“Every bit as beautiful and healing as the season itself. . . . This is truly a beautiful book.” –Elizabeth Gilbert
“Proves that there is grace in letting go, stepping back and giving yourself time to repair in the dark…May is a clear-eyed observer and her language is steady, honest and accurate–capturing the sense, the beauty and the latent power of our resting landscapes.” —Wall Street Journal
An intimate, revelatory book exploring the ways we can care for and repair ourselves when life knocks us down.
Sometimes you slip through the cracks: unforeseen circumstances like an abrupt illness, the death of a loved one, a break up, or a job loss can derail a life. These periods of dislocation can be lonely and unexpected. For May, her husband fell ill, her son stopped attending school, and her own medical issues led her to leave a demanding job. Wintering explores how she not only endured this painful time, but embraced the singular opportunities it offered.
A moving personal narrative shot through with lessons from literature, mythology, and the natural world, May’s story offers instruction on the transformative power of rest and retreat. Illumination emerges from many sources: solstice celebrations and dormice hibernation, C.S. Lewis and Sylvia Plath, swimming in icy waters and sailing arctic seas.
Ultimately Wintering invites us to change how we relate to our own fallow times. May models an active acceptance of sadness and finds nourishment in deep retreat, joy in the hushed beauty of winter, and encouragement in understanding life as cyclical, not linear. A secular mystic, May forms a guiding philosophy for transforming the hardships that arise before the ushering in of a new season.
