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123 Capitol Street, Charleston, West Virginia 25301, (304) 343-4646

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Gale Virtual Reference Added to Your Research Toolkit

Now, with a Kanawha County Public Library card and an internet connection, you have 24/7 access to the new Gale Virtual Reference library featuring premier reference works.

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Don't Be Late!

Don't be Late for a very important date! Come experience the Wonderland of the Kanawha County Public Library. Join us for an evening to honor Mr. John L. Ray with cocktails, hors d'oeuvres, desserts and dancing. Tickets are $100 in honor of KCPL's 100th anniversary.

Thursday, Nov. 12, 8-11 p.m.
Clay Center Grand Lobby

Tickets may be purchased online by clicking on the "Add to Cart" button or by sending a check payable to KCPL to the following address:

Attn: Lois Payne
123 Capitol Street
Charleston, WV 25301

The Production Company in Concert

photo of the Production Company

Sunday, November 15, 2 p.m. at the Main Library in Charleston

Begin your holiday season early with this family concert for all ages by Charleston’s The Production Company. Bring your dancing shoes for this musical odyssey from the 1940s to today!

5 Things We Love This Week

The List (Music CD) By Rosanne Cash

cover photo: The List (Music CD)

Rosanne was eighteen years old and traveling on the bus with her dad, Johnny Cash. He was appalled that her rock and roll sensibilities meant that she didn't know any of the music of her own roots. So he compiled "the list" of songs she should know. The story of her dad's 100 song list gained mythic statusauthor portrait: Rosanne Cash in the country world. Rosanne has selected a dozen of the titles from the list to perform. Normally a songwriter herself, Cash has interpreted these songs in her own style and recorded one of the most interesting albums we've heard in years. A real keeper.

The Last Child in the Woods: Saving Our Children from Nature-Deficit Disorder By Richard Louv

cover photo: The Last Child in the Woods: Saving Our Children from Nature-Deficit Disorder

"I like to play indoors better 'cause that's where all the electrical outlets are," reports a fourth grader. But it's not only computers, television, and video games that are keeping kids inside. It's also their parents' fears of traffic, strangers, Lyme disease, their schools' emphasis on more and more homework, and their structured schedules. As children's connections to nature diminish and the social, psychological, and spiritual implications become apparent, new research shows that nature can offer powerful therapy for such maladies as depression, obesity, and attention deficit disorder. Louv shows us an alternative future, one in which parents help their kids experience the natural world more deeply-and find the joy of family connectedness in the process. This is essential reading for all parents and grandparents.

The Little Stranger By Sarah Waters

cover photo: The Little Stranger

From the author of Fingersmith and The Night Watch, this ghost story may be Sara Waters most thrilling and ambitious novel yet. After being summoned to treat a patient at dilapidated Hundreds Hall, Dr. Faraday finds himself becoming entangled in the lives of the owners, the Ayres family, and the supernatural presences in the house. author portrait: Sarah Waters A delight for those of us who love accurate historical fiction and well as a good story.

Hello Mountaineer! By Aimee Aryal

cover photo: Hello Mountaineer!

Although there are only a few weeks remaining in the regular season for the WVU Mountaineers football team, young WVU fans can extend the excitement by reading the picture book Hello Mountaineer! Published by Mascot Books, this story follows the Mountaineer around the WVU campus as he prepares for a football game. WVU supporters should be forewarned, however, that this 2004 title features the name of the former head coach! Sorry Herd fans, there is not yet a book about Marco and the Thundering Herd.

The Widow's Season By Laura Brodie

cover photo: The Widow's Season

Sarah McConnell's husband had been dead for three months when she saw him in the grocery store. What does a woman do when she's thirty-nine, childless, and completely alone for the first time in her life? Does it mean she's crazy to think she sees her late husband beside a display of pumpkins? Or is it just what people do, a natural response to grief that will fade in time? That's what Sarah McConnell's friends told her, that it was natural, would last a season, and then fade away. But what if there was another answer? What if he was really there? They never found the body, after all. What if he is still here somehow, and about to walk back into her life?


Glenwood Estate: a History

photo of the historic Glenwood estate

Glenwood is an elegant Greek Revival residence on Charleston’s West Side that was home to the Laidley, Summers, and Quarrier families for nearly 130 years. Before the Civil War it was an agricultural plantation that relied on slave labor. It is now owned by the Historic Glenwood Foundation.

The Main Library will host a traveling exhibit titled “Glenwood: Window to the West Side” beginning October 5 through November 13. This traveling exhibit is a project of the Graduate Humanities Program of the Marshall University Graduate College, funded by the West Virginia Humanities Council.

West Virginia Humanities Council

Year-long Read 100 Challenge Continues…

Read 100 Stories: the challenge

Patrons of all ages are challenged to read 100 books during the year, and it’s not too late to earn your commemorative gold library card. Use these tips to help you towards your goal.

  • Get your family reading–you can encourage each other
  • Listen to audiobooks in the car, bring a Playaway to the gym
  • Join a book group
  • Keep a book with you in case you get caught waiting in line
  • Read on your lunch break (this will also make you look smart)
  • Try poetry or short stories

Above all, don't give up! Keep your eyes on the prize–a gold library card.