Kasson Library and Friends of the Library Donate Basket to Local Youth Project

The Kasson Public Library and the Friends of the Kasson Library are proud to donate to the Kasson Methodist Church for the youth inner city mission auction a basket of gardening items. The theme chosen was spring planting with seeds, gloves, and gardening tools. Bonnie and Donna were the designers of the basket.The Kasson Library and Friends of the Library partner to help local groups raise money for their various causes. Good Luck at your auction!

l-r Library Director Bonnie Adams, Chuck & Anna Coleman, Library Circulation Donna Kirchgatter






Gardening basket for Kasson Methodist Church youth auction.

April New Books Part 1

Cat of the Century by Rita Mae Brown 4/6 Harry’s beloved and tart-tongued Aunt Tally is about to turn the big 1-0-0. The alumnae association of her alma mater sees an opportunity to honor the event and make some loot off the centennial as well. The plan is to hold a big fund-raiser in Aunt Tally’s honor to recoup some of the school revenue lost in the cratered economy. But soon there’s more at risk than investments and endowments.

First, an impending blizzard threatens to ruin the whole affair. Then a suspicious transaction is discovered in the association’s account: board member Mariah D’Angelo has mysteriously withdrawn and then replaced $25,000.

But was that enough to get her killed? Mariah’s car is on campus, she’s gone missing, and Tucker has found human blood near the school’s stables.

What’s behind the disappearance? Was it Mariah’s donations to crafty politicians and crooked charities? Her rivalry with fellow board member Flo Langston? And is there a connection to the forty-year-old unsolved death of an old acquaintance of Aunt Tally’s? Using animal cunning and human canniness, Harry and her menagerie of mystery solvers must sniff out the answers or—even at a hundred years old—Aunt Talley may outlive them all.

The Aloha Quilt by Jennifer Chiaverini 4/6 Another season of Elm Creek Quilt Camp has come to a close, and Bonnie Markham faces a bleak and lonely winter ahead, with her quilt shop out of business and her divorce looming. A welcome escape comes when Claire, a beloved college friend, unexpectedly invites her to Maui to help launch an exciting new business: a quilter’s retreat set at a bed and breakfast amid the vibrant colors and balmy breezes of the Hawaiian Islands. Soon Bonnie finds herself looking out on sparkling waters and banyan trees, planning quilting courses, and learning the history and intricacies of Hawaiian quilting, all the while helping Claire run the inn.

As Bonnie’s adventure unfolds, it quickly becomes clear that Claire’s new business isn’t the only excitement in store for her. Her cheating, soon-to-be ex-husband decides he wants her stake in Elm Creek Quilts, which threatens not only her financial well-being but her dearest friendships as well. Luckily she has the artistic challenge of creating her own unique Hawaiian quilt pattern to distract her—and new friends like Hinano Paoa, owner of the Nä Mele Hawai‘i Music Shop, who introduces Bonnie to the fascinating traditions of Hawaiian culture and reminds her that love can be found when and where you least expect it.

Wrecked by Carol Higgins Clark 4/13 Private Investigator Regan Reilly and her husband, Jack "no relation" Reilly, head of the NYPD Major Case Squad, are about to celebrate their first wedding anniversary. They are looking forward to a quiet romantic weekend out of town. Wouldn’t you know their choice of destination provides them with anything but!
Regan and Jack had considered going to Bermuda, but instead they decide to spend four days at his parents’ beautiful beachfront home on Cape Cod, a wonderful spot where they’d never been alone. During the summer the house overflowed with Jack’s family, bubbling with activity from morning until night. But to be up there for a weekend in April, just the two of them, sounded like a perfect escape.
Arriving at the Cape late at night, Regan and Jack are just in time to experience the beginning of a major storm. The next morning, Cape Cod Bay is quite a sight, churning with whitecaps. The wind is howling ferociously. Sheets of rain are pelting the house. Regan is looking forward to settling in the den with Jack and watching the storm. However, the best laid plans . . .


The Shadow of Your Smile by
Mary Higgins Clark 4/13
At age eighty-two and in failing health, Olivia Morrow knows she has little time left. The last of her line, she faces a momentous choice: expose a long-held family secret, or take it with her to her grave.

Olivia has in her possession letters from her deceased cousin Catherine, a nun, now being considered for beatification by the Catholic Church—the final step before sainthood. In her lifetime, Sister Catherine had founded seven hospitals for disabled children. Now the cure of a four-year-old boy dying of brain cancer is being attributed to her. After his case was pronounced medically hopeless, the boy’s desperate mother had organized a prayer crusade to Sister Catherine, leading to his miraculous recovery.

The letters Olivia holds are the evidence that Catherine gave birth at age seventeen to a child, a son, and gave him up for adoption. Olivia knows the identity of the young man who fathered Catherine’s child: Alex Gannon, who went on to become a world-famous doctor, scientist, and inventor holding medical patents.



The Burying Place by Brian Freeman 4/13
Duluth, Minnesota, detective Jonathan Stride is struggling with the emotional and physical aftermath of the bridge plunge that nearly cost him his life when the abduction of a wealthy surgeon’s infant daughter brings him back to work. Young Callie Glenn disappeared from her home while her father, Marcus, and a babysitter were on the premises. Could either of them have been involved? Stride and his girlfriend, Serena (a former Las Vegas detective), dig deep into the case, and the longer they search, the more suspicious and cold-blooded Doctor Glenn appears. (He only agreed to have a child to placate his depressed wife and admitted on more than one occasion that he wished the little girl had never been born.) Meanwhile, a serial killer is murdering young women across the Minnesota countryside. Stride navigates his way through a tangled web of family dysfunction and distress while coping with a rocky patch in his relationship with Serena.



The Black Cat by Martha Grimes 4/6
Three months have passed since Richard Jury was left bereft and guilt- ridden after his lover's tragic auto accident, and he is now more wary than ever. He is deeply suspicious when requested on a case far out of his jurisdiction in an outlying village where a young woman has been murdered behind the local pub. The only witness is the establishment's black cat, who gives neither crook nor clue as to the girl's identity or her killer's.

Identifying the girl becomes tricky when she's recognized as both the shy local librarian and a posh city escort, and Jury must use all his wits and intuition to determine the connection to subse­quent escort murders. Meanwhile, Jury's nemesis, Harry Johnson, continues to goad Jury down a dangerous path. And Johnson, along with the imperturbable dog Mungo, just may be the key to it all.

Laugh 'Til He Died by Carolyn Hart 4/6
Intrigue and foul play are no strangers to the idyllic South Carolina sea island of Broward's Rock. Mystery bookstore owner Annie Darling and her husband, Max, who specialize in solving problems, plunge into a startling web of danger and deceit when a trio of deaths is linked to the island's youth recreation center.

With the evidence mounting against her, the center's director seeks out Max to clear her name. When it comes to intrigue, where Max goes, Annie isn't far behind. To save an innocent woman, the pair scrambles to unravel three complex interlinked puzzles: the mystery of three guns, the pulled-out pant pockets of one victim, and the disappearance of a teenager whose stepfather always had the last laugh—until he died.


Eight Days To Live byIris Johansen 4/20
Eve Duncan and her adopted daughter, Jane Macguire, are pitted against the members of a secretive cult who have targeted Jane and have decided that she will be their ultimate sacrifice. In eight days they will come for her. In eight days, what Jane fears the most will become a reality. In eight days, she will die. It all begins with a painting that Jane, an artist, displays in her Parisian gallery. The painting is called “Guilt” and Jane has no idea how or why she painted the portrait of the chilling face. But the members of a cult that dates back to the time of Christ believe that Jane’s blasphemy means she must die. But first, she will lead them to an ancient treasure whose value is beyond price. This elusive treasure, and Jane’s death, are all that they need for their power to come to ultimate fruition. With Eve’s help, can Jane escape before the clock stops ticking?



The God of the Hive by Laurie R. King 4/27
Sherlock Holmes is trying to get his gravely wounded son, the artist Damien Adler, out of England. Holmes’ wife, Mary Russell, is trying to protect Estelle, Damien’s small daughter. Mycroft Holmes, recovering from a heart attack, suddenly goes missing. The madman responsible for Damien’s injury was once married to Damien’s recently murdered Chinese wife. A woodland character who could be the Green Man has a shell-shocked Great War past. The attacks on the Holmes family are specific, devious, cunning,

April New Books Part 2

Take Three by Karen Kingsbury 3/23
Chase Ryan and Keith Ellison set out to change the world with their films---and they are finally seeing their dreams come true. The dedicated producers are deep in negotiations with America's top young movie star to play the lead in their next inspirational movie. But life takes a sudden turn for Chase, removing him from Jeremiah Productions permanently. In the process, Keith brings on one of the Baxter family members and the moviemaking continues. At the same time, a crisis hits Keith's daughter, Andi, and Keith feels helpless to respond. Devastated by the consequences of her wrong actions, Andi ventures out on her own and decides on a course of action that could destroy her. Meanwhile, Bailey Flanigan is caught up in her own drama with Cody Coleman. A Campus Crusade retreat gives them time alone along the shores of Lake Monroe and lets them face a possibility they've avoided for years. Will Keith keep the passion he had at the start of his filmmaking---and will there be enough passion left over for his hurting daughter? Or has their quest to change American culture become nothing more than a quest for fame?


The Telling by Beverly Lewis 4/6
Grace Byler leaves Bird-in-Hand in a fancy car to search for her mother in Ohio. But what if Lettie Byler doesn't wish to be found? Meanwhile, Lettie continues her private quest to find the missing piece of her life. As clues take her from state to state, she is increasingly torn between the family she has left behind and the yearning for her long-lost child. Struggling to come to terms with a grave medical diagnosis, Heather Nelson is determined to forgo traditional medicine--to her father's chagrin--in hopes of finding answers and healing in Amish country. But first, she offers to drive her Amish friend, Grace Byler, to Ohio. Will mother and daughter, and one seriously ill graduate student, find the answers they long for? Or will "the telling" cause them all further pain?



The Double Comfort Safari Club by Alexander McCall Smith 4/20
There’s Mma Mateleke, who suspects her husband of being unfaithful (turns out, he harbors the same suspicions about her). Mr. Kereleng falls prey to the wiles of Violet Sephotho, who manipulated him into putting his house in her name. (Mma Makutsi copes with bad news about her fiancé, Phuti Radiphuti, who undergoes a serious leg operation following an accident at his furniture store. A more pleasant assignment involves the search for a kindhearted safari guide, who was bequeathed a nice sum of money by an American tourist. This brings the two ladies to the stunning Okavango Delta, positively fraught with feral creatures. With snakes in abundance, proper footwear is a must, much to the delight of Mma Makutsi, who has a well-known weakness for new shoes. As always, wrongs are righted and all is resolved, thanks to the wit and wisdom of these two shrewd Mmas.


Return to Sender by Fern Michaels 4/27
At seventeen, Rosalind “Lin” Townsend finds herself pregnant and alone. Her father, deeply religious yet cruel, throws her out of the house. Nick Pemberton, her baby’s father and the man she naively hoped might marry her, rejects her. Yet even at the lowest point in her life, Lin vows to succeed on her own terms, and to give her son, Will, all the love and happiness she’s been denied.

Nineteen years later, Lin has made good on her promises. She’s the owner of a thriving diner in her Georgia hometown, and Will has grown into a fine, intelligent young man who’s about to start his freshman year at NYU. But when Lin visits New York with Will, she crosses paths with the one man she was sure she’d never see again—Nick Pemberton, now a millionaire CEO, the man who sent back all her letters unopened, marked “Return to Sender.” Seeing him fills Lin with anger — and she resolves to right the wrong he did to Will.



A River in the Sky by Elizabeth Peters 4/6
In the latest Peters, the year is 1910, Ramses has disappeared yet again on a dig, and a mysterious adventurer who might be a German spy invites the Emersons (Amelia goes with) to Jerusalem on a hunt for the Ark of the Covenant.









The Scent of Rain & Lightning by
Nancy Pickard 5/14
One beautiful summer afternoon, from her bedroom window on the second floor, Jody Linder is unnerved to see her three uncles parking their pickups in front of her parents’ house—or what she calls her parents’ house, even though Jay and Laurie Jo Linder have been gone almost all of Jody’s life. “What is this fearsome thing I see?” the young high school English teacher whispers, mimicking Shakespeare. Polished boots, pressed jeans, fresh white shirts, Stetsons—her uncles’ suspiciously clean visiting clothes are a disturbing sign. The three bring shocking news: The man convicted of murdering Jody’s father is being released from prison and returning to the small town of Rose, Kansas.

It has been twenty-six years since that stormy night when, as baby Jody lay asleep in her crib, her father was shot and killed and her mother disappeared, presumed dead. Neither the protective embrace of Jody’s uncles nor the safe haven of her grandparents’ ranch could erase the pain caused by Billy Crosby on that catastrophic night.



Shameless by Karen Robards 4/13
In Regency England, a beautiful young woman finds her life thrown into turmoil by the arrival of a handsome scoundrel. Lady Elizabeth, the youngest and most headstrong of the three Banning sisters, has been engaged three times, and has most scandalously broken off all three engagements. Her fear of becoming any man’s property has kept her from marriage and earned her a reputation in the ton as a heartbreaking flirt.
Neil Severin is a wicked rogue, black of heart and black of reputation. A man of no morals, devoid of compassion, he is a governmentsanctioned assassin. And his newest target is a man Beth holds dear. When the flame-haired beauty thwarts his plan, Neil exacts his own brand of spicy revenge.
Beth despises him. Neil doesn’t care. But circumstances most unexpectedly throw them together, and with Beth’s life in danger, Neil finds himself in the unexpected role of hero, racing to save her before it’s too late




Shoot To Kill by P. J. Tracy 4/29
It begins with a floater. When Minneapolis homicide cops Gino Rolseth and Leo Magozzi are called to a derelict stretch of the Mississippi River, they see the bride, facedown, dead in the water. And when the Monkeewrench crew-computer geeks who made a fortune on games, now assisting the cops with special anticrime soft-ware-are invited by the FBI to investigate a series of murder videos posted to the Web, it's not long before the group dis- covers the frightening link between the unlucky bride and the latest, most horrific use of the Internet yet. Using their skills to scour the Net to prevent more killings, the team must race against the clock . . . before it's too late.




Lucid Intervals by Stuart Woods 4/20
It seems like just another quiet night at Elaine's. Stone Barrington and his former cop partner, Dino, are enjoying some pasta when in walks former client and all around sad sack Herbie Fisher...with a briefcase containing $14 million in cash. Herbie claims to have won the money on a lucky lotto ticket, but he also says he needs a lawyer-and after a single gunshot breaks the window above his head and sends diners scrambling, Stone and Dino suspect Herbie might need a bodyguard and a private investigator, too.

Why Being Happy Is Easier Than Being Miserable

I talked to one of my friends the other day and she was miserable on a really nice, warm Minnesota afternoon and I thought to myself how can you be that unhappy on a day like this. We all have days that overwhelm us but I try to find the good in everyday. I used to say to students or staff, in the schools that I worked in, "I start everyday with a smile on my lips and a song in my heart and heaven help the person who takes that from me." I ran across this article and thought this would be an appropriate thought for your day. http://www.dumblittleman.com/2010/03/why-being-happy-is-easier-than-being.html

I hate miserable people! OK, let me rephrase this last statement: I don't hate miserable people because to hate someone we first have to love them. But let's say I can't stand people who constantly complain, whinge, and choose to be miserable while they DON'T do a single thing to lift themselves out of their misery.

Being miserable sucks, but we all are at times - yes, even me. I have my bad times too. I tend to stick my head under the covers for a day or so before I re-emerge into the world.

Getting into a funk isn't planned; it just happens. Whether it's a sting of bad luck in life or some complicated chemical setup in our brain, it doesn't go away easily.

Depending on the day of the week, you answer here may vary, but: Is your glass half empty or half full? Is that always your answer? No? Well, it that your answer most of the time? There are two types of people on this planet: Those who are negative by default, and those who see the positive side, even in dark times. I consider myself to be the latter.

I take failure as a means to move ahead in life because I analyze my shortcomings and use what I learn to do better next time. If the Sh7$ hits the fan, I might get upset, angry or depressed, but I NEVER GIVE UP!

I'd choose happy over miserable any day. By choosing happiness we open ourselves up to experiencing great moments. By being happy we invite success, fun, opportunities and love into our lives.

Naysayers: Some people choose to be naysayers. They consistently complain, bully, whinge and find reasons to see things in a bad light. Naysayers are bitter people! Why? I don't know because my mind doesn't work that way.

Perhaps you can tell me.

It beats me really. Why would you want to make your existence on this wonderful planet a miserable one if you have a sound mind to choose otherwise? Do you choose happiness? If so, why? Why do you choose happiness over misery? Is it perhaps because doors open to you that otherwise wouldn't? Or is it because your outlook on life is generally positive like mine?

Did you know that your mind is directly responsible for your failures and successes in life? If you don't believe me do this little experiment:

Observe what happens to you when you feel miserable the moment you get out of bed the next time it happens. How does this influence your day? Then observe how great life is when your mind is positive and open to new experiences and opportunities.

How does this influence your day now? You should have no doubt that by choosing happiness over being miserable you hold the key to all the good things in life that are naturally yours. Are you ready to claim them?

Friends of Dodge County Libraries

The Dodge County three libraries and their Friends of the Library organization have collaborated to form a Friends of the Dodge County Libraries to raise awareness of the area libraries and the services that they offer to the residents. The committee has been working very hard for the past three months with promotional materials and brochures of their services.

There will be drawings for free books to four age groups: toddlers, readers young adult, and adult for each town every hour. Stop by our booth G1 at the Dodge County Expo, Saturday, March 27th 8-2 pm at the Triton High School Gym in Dodge Center, MN. We look forward to talking to you and your family.

(l-r) Angie Meyer (Dodge Center Librarian) Sharon Hythecker (Dodge Center Friends), Bonnie Adams (Kasson Librarian), Pat Coy (Kasson Friends), Sharon Dahms (West Concord Friends).

Prize Drawing Boxes for free books.
Display boards for Dodge County Expo

Spring Planting at the Library Storytime 3/23-25

This week theme was spring planting. The children listened to stories about planting and then planted a bean seed. This is always a popular stoytime in the speing. Later on we will check on the progress of the beans. Additional pictures can be viewed on our picture website: http://www.flickr.com/photos/kassonlibrary/

Just Like Home Daycare Storytime 3/25/10

Wednesday, March 24th

KM Nursery Group Tuesday, March 23rd

Tuesday, March 23 10:30 Storytime

Friends of the Dodge County Libraries Collaborated For Expo Exhibit

Dodge County Friends of the Library will have a booth at Dodge County Business Expo Saturday, March 27th 8-2 pm at Triton High School, Dodge Center, MN.

The Dodge County Friends of the Library is a non-profit, volunteered organization dedicated to promote and support community library programs and services. Information regarding the programs and services of each library will be provided. There will be drawings throughout the day for free books from each of the libraries.

Stop by our booth located in the gym at G1 and register for the drawings and to get information about how the library may better serve you and your family.

Easter Bunnies at the Library

Last week library staff member Donna and I decided we were really tired of winter and it was time to get ready for Spring with the Easter Bunny and friends.

I found some of the decorations at the Dollar Tree in Rochester and I must have gotten there at the right time because there was a lot of Easter items. I went back on Saturday to buy some for me and all of the really cute bunnies were gone. There's a lesson there somewhere. Enjoy the pictures.