Library Blog

A Look Back into the Past of Idaho Sheep Ranching

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By Tess Lightner, Trailing of the Sheep Festival Archives Intern

Bucks grazing on the Busterback Ranch. Mims and Carolyn Breckenridge Collection (F 10700).

The image of these sheep in a beautiful field surrounded by hills and snow-covered peaks serves as the best example of the sheepherding life in Idaho. These sheep are grazing on what was the Busterback Ranch, in the Stanley Basin of the Sawtooth Valley, bordering U.S. Forest Service land.

Beginning around 1930, this ranch has been passionately owned and operated by the Breckenridge Family, and more recently by longtime Idahoan sheep rancher, Katie Breckenridge.

After graduating college, Breckenridge decided to work for the U.S. Forest Service here in Idaho. Soon after, in the late 1960s, she became the manager of the Sun Valley Horsemen’s Center. Eventually, Breckenridge went to work on the family’s Busterback Ranch, deciding to continue the legacy of the sheep ranch.

What Katie and the whole Breckenridge family has accomplished on this range represents the history and importance to the culture of sheep ranching in the Valley today.

To learn more about sheep ranching in the Wood River Valley, make sure to check the program of events for The Trailing of the Sheep Festival.

Book Review: Death Note

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Cándida Miniño, Outreach Librarian, recommends Death Note by Tsugumi Ōba.

A soul reaper (Shinigami in Japanese) bored with his immortal existence decides to drop his Death Note for a human to find. The Death Note is a notebook that reapers use to take the lives of the people whose names they write. 

The person who finds the book is Light Yagami—a genius high school student. Light tests the rules of the Death Note, one of which is: You must visualize the face of the name you’re writing.

Yagami decides to start killing local and international criminals.

Authorities realize all these deaths are a plot and a famous investigator that goes by “L” is called upon. A battle of wits ensues between two strategists: one trying to find the long-reach vigilante, the other trying to find out the face and name of his pursuer. 

The read turns into a psychological thriller, which brings up questions of ethics and morality. I really liked it!

All the manga (Japanese graphic novels) can be found at the Library shelved under GRAPHIC NOVEL FIC SHO. 

Find Death Note here.

National Novel Writing Month 2023

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NaNoWriMo “Come Write In” events scheduled for October-December 2023

National Novel Writing Month (or NaNoWriMo) is held each November around the world, providing resources and community for writers. The program began in 1999 as a daunting but straightforward challenge: to write 50,000 words of a novel in thirty days. Now, each year on November 1, hundreds of thousands of people begin to write, determined to end the month with a first draft. They enter the month as elementary school teachers, mechanics, or stay-at-home parents. They leave novelists.

This fall, The Community Library will host “Come Write In” events from October to December, inviting writers of all genres, ages, and experiences to learn preparation and editing techniques, get support, and have dedicated writing time surrounded by other writers.

Here’s the full schedule:

OCTOBER – NaNoPrepMo: Learn novel preparation techniques through directed activities and lectures from published author and novel planner Jonathan E. Hernandez.

NOVEMBER – NaNoWriMo: Get support, ideas, and time to accomplish your goals at your leisure. Come for an hour or the whole time. Bring snacks, water, and your creativity!

DECEMBER – NaNoEdMo: Learn editing techniques via directed activities and lecture. Celebrate the end of NaNoWriMo!

All events will meet in the library’s Idaho Room, and a Zoom link is available for writers to join each session virtually.

Events be moderated by NaNoWriMo Municipal Liaison, AJ Super, who is a local author with three science fiction books published by a small traditional press. She is also a Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers’ Association (SFWA) member.

NaNoWriMo is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit that believes in the transformational power of creativity. They provide the structure, community, and encouragement to help people use their voices, achieve creative goals, and build new worlds—on and off the page. Learn more about the writing community and get free resources for your writing from NaNoWriMo.org.

Book Review: Unbroken 

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Gold Mine Processing Associate, Brenda Cook, recommends Unbroken Laura Hillenbrand. 

The story unfolds and is derived from the journals authored by Louis Zamperini during his life as a legendary four-mile runner at the Berlin Olympics during World War II.  

In 1941, Zamperini enlisted as a lieutenant in the Army Air Force and became a bombardier. His aircraft is shot down over the Atlantic, during which he and a couple fellow troopers survive after spending 47 days adrift at sea. Sharks, weather, starvation, injuries, and madness were tough enough to fend off, but unbeknownst to them it was only the beginning of their nightmare. 

Zamperine’s strength, endurance, faith, and mental and physical control helped him survive. 

After finally landing on shore, Zamperini and the other survivors are captured by the Japanese and placed in a war camp. Zamperini journalizes the brutality and inhumane treatment he and many at the camp endured during the two-year tenure. He especially is treated worse than most because his captors, one especially known as “the Bird” who knew of his Olympian abilities and wanted to mock and break him mentally and physically. 

Though disturbing to hear of what some prisoners-of-war had to endure, the story’s importance needs to be conveyed to give an understanding of their sacrifices and also why so many suffer Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. Zamperine’s strength, endurance, faith, and mental and physical control helped him survive. 

This was a great book and I appreciate our service people all the more because of it. 

Find it in print, ebook, eaudiobook, and CD here.

The “Grito” (Shout) Heard Around the World

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Celebrating National Hispanic Heritage Month

By Janet Ross-Heiner, Librarian and English Language Learning Instructor

Janet Ross-Heiner and Eduardo Chavez,
film director and social justice advocate,
at The Community Library, 2023

In Mexican-American communities, National Hispanic Heritage Month begins with the shout that marks the start of the Mexican Revolution—the grito (shout) heard around the world. In the flag, colors of crimson red and earthy green flank the image of the eagle with the serpent in its clutches. Folks celebrate Mexican Independence Day each year on September 16, donning these national colors, and holding elote (corn) in one hand and agua fresca (cool water) in the other.

This same scene unfolds throughout the United States with different foods and different colors depending on the specific Hispanic community. Each celebration is undeniably unique.

As we celebrate and honor the heritage of the people throughout Hispanic Heritage Month, we must also do the important work of understanding how and why the distinct histories of a multinational, multicultural, and multilingual group of communities were consolidated into Hispanic heritage in the first place.

For example, the term Hispanic was a term that was initiated for census brochures. Then Latino/a became a focus because it is more inclusive with Central America, South America, and the Caribbean. Now LatinX furthers the language to include youth and LGBTIQA+.

As someone who falls under the definition of Hispanic, I know that personal identities and labels can shift. Some may identify as Hispanic, while others will identify as LatinX or Mexican American.

Understanding the history behind these shifting identifications—and particularly the history of the word Hispanic—can help us better understand the challenges this term has created.

Viva México, Central America, and Caribé!

Find recommended reading on Hispanic Heritage Month (September 15-October 15, 2023).

Book Review: Rising Above Shepherdsville

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Children’s Librarian Judy Zimmer recommends Rising Above Shepherdsville by Ann Schoenbohm.

This novel drew me in with the opening paragraph:

“There I was, Mama, standing in the tall grass right next to the Redeemer Baptist Church, the day after the Fourth of July, when I spied what I would have sworn on a heap of Bibles was an angel rising straight up to heaven. Enormous white wings spread and soared above me in a sunset so pink and gold, it promised miracles-even here in Shepherdsville, Ohio- a place badly in need of divine intervention.”

In 1977, twelve-year-old Dulcie Dixon is dumped at her aunt’s house by her stepfather after the untimely death of her Mama.

She arrives in Ohio with no voice, a spelling bee trophy, and her mother’s ashes.

This is a novel that has stuck with me, one that I would even read again. The last person I recommended it to remarked that it had brought her to tears.

I recommend it for upper middle school kids and adults alike.

Find it in Juvenile Fiction here.

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