This is the ninth Unbound Book Festival that Columbia has hosted and the festival keeps getting better and better. Emily St. John Mandel will be this year’s keynote speaker Friday, April 19, 2024 at The Missouri Theatre at 7:30 p.m. Tickets are available through Unbound’s website and are, thankfully, free — as is the entire festival. Mandel is the author of our past 2015 One Read title, “Station Eleven” which was a finalist for a National Book award and a Pen/Faulkner award and won the 2015 Arthur C. Clarke Award, the Toronto Book Award, and the Morning News Tournament of Books. It has also been made into an HBO mini-series. Mandel’s newest book is “Sea of Tranquility” which will take you on a journey across the Atlantic by steamship, across the Canadian wilderness, around the world, and to the moon. Continue reading “Unbound Book Festival: April 18-21, 2024”
Elaine Corum Strawn is a Columbia, MO author whose latest fiction book is “Kiddie & the Major.” The book is romantic historical fiction inspired by her real life grandparents, journalist and sports announcer Bill Corum and model socialite Kiddie Kolle. Readers can follow their ups and downs of dating, falling in love, getting married and growing together as they try to live their best lives in New York City during the decadent 1920’s. Elaine is a first grade teacher in Columbia Public Schools and is the founder of Off & Running Publications. She has written two nonfiction books, “Lessons Learned in a Primary Classroom” and “Going on a Bear Hunt.” Elaine was kind enough to take the time to be interviewed via email. Continue reading “Q&A With Elaine Strawn, Author of “Kiddie & the Major””
Working at the library happily puts me in the path of books that I might not have otherwise discovered. The most recent example is “Treaty Words: As Long As the River Flows,” by Aimee Craft. This book is shelved in the juvenile (middle grades) section, but don’t let this classification fool you. Continue reading “Treaty Words”
This summer, allow your imagination to soar among the stars as the Daniel Boone Regional Library celebrates a “Universe of Stories.” This year’s Summer Reading theme channels the explorer and dreamer in all of us. Our annual program launches May 22, and we have versions for all ages. The following book selections will inspire children and teens to look up at the sky with wonder and curiosity.
Ages 0-5: Our youngest summer readers will enjoy “Where Is the Rocket?” by Harriet Ziefert and illustrated by Barroux (Blue Apple Books, 2014). This brightly 
colored picture book uses space-themed imagery to introduce opposites and directional words, making it perfect for babies and toddlers.
What would you do if the electricity went out in your house on a hot summer night? “Blackout” by John Rocco (Disney/Hyperion Books, 2011) tells the story of a busy family who finds connection with one another and their neighbors after a city-wide power outage. The book’s illustrations, which are laid out like comic book panels, show the deep contrast between the night sky and the glow of candles, flashlights and stars. Continue reading “Literary Links: Summer Reading 2019”
