Fresh from the Stacks

Every year, The Community Library collaborates with the Blaine County Recreation District (BCRD) and the Hailey Public Library to bring StoryWalk® to the Wood River Trail. This unique activity merges the joy of reading with the beauty of the outdoors, providing a delightful experience for families and individuals alike.

The 2024 StoryWalk® in Ketchum featured Just One Flake by Travis Jonker and could be viewed between 6th Street and Wood River Drive. Each page was presented in both English and Spanish, offering an inclusive reading experience.

While the 2024 StoryWalk® wrapped up on February 22, we have this wonderful note from Morgan Buckert, Director of Development and Communications for the BCRD:

For the first time, our StoryWalk® made it through the week without being ripped apart by the weather!  As I was picking it up last night, I ran into a bilingual after school program at Hemingway with K and 1^st graders who were enjoying the book. I walked with them, pulled their wagon, let them play with my sled, and made a lot of new friends.  It was fantastic, and exactly what I wanted to see from this project!  Thank you!

A retrospective curated by Jenny Meese

On display through Winter/Spring 2024
Betty Olsen Carr Reading Room

Born in 1909 in Cuyahoga, Ohio, Posey attended private schools, including a boarding school in Italy, before attending Bryn Mawr College. She married Theodore Gruener in 1933 and together they created a home with their two children, Rika and Danny, in Ketchum Idaho. Posey was a mix of complexity and kindness. Like everyone, she had her share of tribulation and sorrow, yet she left an indelible mark on her community. She loved the people of Ketchum. A new display in The Community Library aims to share part of Posey’s story with a hope that her love will be remembered.

It was said that Posey knew the names of every young person in town and was interested in each of them.
When she heard a family was having a difficult time, she’d add them to her account at the grocery store so they could get the food they needed. When a school activity didn’t have enough funding, Posey would make sure there was a donation with enough for what they needed.

Many residents confirm that she paid to have the Presbyterian Church of the Big Wood built as well as awing of the Moritz Hospital. Although both have since been remade, it is undeniable that she wanted the community in Ketchum to thrive.

Canyon Run

In the 1950s Posey and Ted built a home on a large parcel of land that spanned from Warm Springs Road up to Canyon Run, which at the time was open green space. She was originally neighbor’s with Henry J. “Bob” Topping, Jr. and eventually with Mary and Ernest Hemingway.

Mary Hemingway hoped to buy a couple of acres from Posey, to which they agreed. However, as a lawyer was drafting the agreement, Mary asked them to add an additional parcel. When Posey noticed the addition she explained that the extra land would cost a bit more. Mary protested and their disagreement eventually needed the Idaho Supreme Court to settle the matter. Since an agreement could not be made and both ladies refused to give way, the court returned Mary’s money and the land remained Posey’s. The suit was nothing scandalous but does show the grit of these two powerful women.

Chalet Vengreen

In December of 1949, before Sun Valley reopened, the Shah of Iran came to ski, inspired by Sun Valley Serenade, Otto Lang took him to an abandoned mining community in Boulder Basin north of Ketchum where an old cabin was fixed up, two new outhouses were built, and they skied using a snowcat. The Shah was a good skier and returned several times.

Posey and Ted owned and operated their beloved Chalet Vengreen. Many community events were held here, including a wedding at one point. They made brochures offering lodging as well as snowcat trips from the Chalet.

They may have been among the first private lodging and tour companies in Ketchum. The family hosted many guests, including the Shah of Iran when he came to ski.

Wagon Days

The Wagon Days committee needed a place they could safely keep and restore the wagons used in the parade each year. Posey happily offered her big red barn to house and care for the wagons until the committee was able to raise the funds to build the Ore Wagon Museum, where the wagons reside today.

The Alpine Club

Posey was an owner of the Alpine Club alongside other notable Ketchum families for years before eventually becoming the sole owner.

During those last years she had matchbooks made with ‘Posey’s Alpine Place’ printed on them, but even then it was always called The Alpine.

People say that Posey had a special spot inside where you could find her most days. She would tap her cane to get people’s attention and give instructions to young couples to get out on the dance floor. In the same manner you could also get a smack from her cane for nearly anything (not saying hello, sending a late thank you card, etc.).

Posey was a character and part of a wonderful mix of people who created a place in time that we still long for and love to remember.

Download the curator’s PDF here.

Winter Read 2024 Discussion Group

As part of the 2024 Winter Read, The Community Library’s executive director, Jenny Emery Davidson, will lead a four-week discussion series on The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald, paired with Mrs. Dalloway by Virginia Woolf. The group will meet over four Wednesdays in February, from 4 to 5 p.m. in the Library’s Lecture Hall.

Both The Great Gatsby and Mrs. Dalloway were published in 1925, in the wake of World War I and a global influenza pandemic. Both novels center on social festivities – parties! – in a way that might seem surprising in the wake of such catastrophic events. How do parties matter in these novels? How are the characters imagining dreams for the future? We’ll talk about a wide range of themes and ideas that the novels raise.

• Wednesday, February 7: The Great Gatsby, chapters 1-3
• Wednesday, February 14: The Great Gatsby, chapter 4-the end
• Wednesday, February 21: Mrs. Dalloway, pages 1-50
• Wednesday, February 28: Mrs. Dalloway, pages 51-the end   

Please register in advance to receive email updates about the discussions!

Contact Jenny if you have questions: jdavidson@comlib.org.

Community School Students recommend Every Dreaming Creature by Brendan Wenzel and The Tree and the River by Aaron Becker.

Students from Sun Valley Community School visited The Community Library for a Mock Caldecott Award selection. Students learned about the history of the Newbery and Caldecott Awards, the most prestigious awards for children’s literature. They then participated in a Mock Caldecott, exploring books that might win the award, which is given to “to the artist of the most distinguished American picture book for children” published by an American in the previous year.

After exploring books chosen by our librarians to be in contention (there is no long or shortlist), students browsed the books and voted on their favorites. One class chose Every Dreaming Creature by Brendan Wenzel as their winner, while the other class overwhelmingly voted for The Tree and the River by Aaron Becker.

The classes also named 5 Honor books:

• An American Story by Kwame Alexander & Dare Coulter
• Big by Vashti Harrison
• In Every Life by Marla Frazee
• Jumper by Jessica Lanan
• Sometimes a Tiger by Z.B. Asterplume

The actual Caldecott Award will be announced on Monday, January 22.

… a story of Idaho, as lived through its well-loved libraries …

Like the Armed Services Editions, millions of which were distributed to U.S. soldiers serving in WWII, this small book celebrates the right to read freely and the power of stories to expand our humanity, even in, especially in, trying times. The testimonials in this book provide a glimpse into the big work of libraries across Idaho: More than 150 local libraries serve the people of this state, from Sandpoint to Twin Falls, Downey to Emmett. Hundreds of thousands of people depend on these libraries not only to check out books, but for the quality of their lives. Like the great Idaho landscape itself, Idaho libraries inspire a love of freedom and a humility that accompanies wonder.  

The testimonials in this book describe the delight of Story Times and game nights, chess clubs and craft nights. They describe parents reading to children, a widow making new friends, people paying bills, veterans getting together. They describe people finding comfort through reading. They demonstrate the brave and generous capacity of Idahoans to talk to each other, learn from each other, and show empathy toward each other.  

This is a story of Idaho, as lived through its well-loved libraries. 

~Jenny Emery Davidson, Executive Director, The Community Library

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Sample of Testimonials

“This is a library. This is love.”

The Craigmont Community Library is just that: a community library. The space is already quietly teeming with school age kids who have taken refuge for this no-school day. The hubbub briefly increases as the littlest ones excitedly greet friends they only get to see once a week—friends they never would have met without Story Time. A hushed anticipation, punctuated with questions about the book the librarian is holding, indicates Story Time has started. We sip coffee and enjoy the respite, watching our little charges soak in the story. After the formal story time is over, the librarian kindly agrees to read favorite stories brought to her from the shelf. With a contented smile I think, “This. This is a community. This is a library. This is love.” And I am grateful. ~Karista Bradley, Craigmont Community Library, Craigmont

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“I Dreamed About Someday Publishing a Book“

Every day I rode a bicycle to the Boise Public Library. I read. I used the bathroom. I dreamed of someday publishing a book that might wind up on the shelves around me… what if I use the story to explore the longings inside each of us to both escape home and to do right by the people we love? It was the first story I ever wrote that I was proud of. I could not have written it without a place to think, work, and dream…A public library is more than a storehouse of books. It is a safe public indoor space where every citizen is welcome to chase dreams. ~Anthony Doerr, Pulitzer Prize-Winning Author, Boise Public Library, Boise

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“The Library Can Help You” 

We were forced to move to the USA because a bloody war began in our country. We weren’t prepared for a new life, language, and different cultures. Someone said to me, “The library can help you.” I am very grateful to everyone at the library. I would like to see a similar library program for kids and adults in my city of Dnipro, Ukraine. ~Mariia, East Bonner County Library District, Sandpoint 

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Want More?

Click here to download a PDF of A Little Book of BIG Stories.

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Add Your Voice to the BIG Stories of Idaho Libraries!

Contact your state legislators with your own library story.

Idaho State Senate
P.O. Box 83720, Boise, ID 83720-0081
208-332-1000

Idaho House of Representatives
P.O. Box 83720
Boise, ID 83720-0038
208-332-1000

Find your legislator here.