By now many of you may have discovered some new furniture in the Library! The new paint color created a new color palate for the room.  The furniture you have been sitting on has been in use since the building was originally built in 1959.  Mark Roy even has the invoice from G. Fox & Co.  The couch and 4 “pink” chairs have found new homes so will continue to serve 2 families very nicely!  If you have not had an opportunity to enjoy the new couches and chair do stop in and sit awhile!  We are continuing our quest for additional seating and window coverings.

Kudos to the Women’s Fellowship who covered the cost of the furniture pieces.  Thank you everyone who has made helped the Library Committee to this point with your words of encouragement and compliments!

We will soon being displaying selections for Thanksgiving and Advent.  As in the past, these will include fiction and non-fiction books.  Children will find some craft activities to make those special gifts from the heart.

The following books have been reviewed recently in the Sunday bulletin and repeated here to remind you of recent acquisitions and support materials for the ministry groups:

The Library has several books on contemplation and introspection. These books include: Thomas Merton’s New Seeds of Contemplation; First Light by Sue Monk Kidd; Jimmy Carter’s Source of Strength and Madeline L’Engle’s the Irrational Season.

The Church Library has three books that have recently been donated. The oldest book is Halley’s Bible Handbook written by Dr. Henry H. Halley. Dr. Halley, an author and minister and lecturer on the Bible, has written this book because he feels that everyone should be a devoted reader of the Bible. You will want to use it to help you understand the cultural, religious and geographic settings where the story of the Bible unfolds.

If you are a student wanting to improve your learning ability or a senior in life wanting to improve your memory, you will want to read Spark by John J. Ratey MD and Eric Hagerman. This book will show you how exercise will improve your ability to beat stress, sharpen your thinking, boost your memory and more. They provide cutting edge scientific research on the positive connection between exercise and the brain.

Finally, we have a recently written novel, The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas. It is a story about Just Peace topics, police violence and racism. Teenager, Starr Carter, is a black girl from a poor neighborhood who attends a fancy prep school. She witnesses a police officer fatally shoot her unarmed best friend. The story focuses on Starr’s decision to relate what she saw when the police do little to investigate the shooting.

October’s Women’s Fellowship program focused on quilting and the use of quilts on the Underground Railroad. The Church Library has several books on both topics. If you have never made a quilt, there is the Quilter’s Complete Guide by Marianne Fons and Liz Porter to teach you how to design and make a quilt.

There are two novels by Marie Bostwick, Ties that Bind and A Thread So Thin. They are part of her contemporary New England quilters series that focuses on the value of friendship among women. The Elm Creek Quilt Series by Jennifer Chiaverini takes place in western Pennsylvania, the Church Library has four of these novels. One of them, The Sugar Camp Quilt, takes place before the Civil War. It focuses on a quilt that was sewn with a design that hides clues to guide runaway slaves along the underground railway.

Another historical novel is Tracy Chevalier’s The Last Runaway. She writes about a Quaker in the 1850’s and her struggle in deciding to help runaway slaves on the underground railway.

There are three books for children about the underground railway. The Drinking Gourd by F.N. Monjo is written for children aged 4 to 8. It brings history to life through a story about a young boy who helps a slave family escape to freedom in Canada. The library also has two books by Katherine Ayres: Stealing South and North by Night. They both are about teenagers and how they help former slaves escape the south.

The Church Library has books on Fall and Halloween that children will enjoy. Leaf Man by Lois Ehlert is a classic picture book with beautiful illustrations about colorful leaves blowing in the wind. Fall is Here by Dorothy Sterling and illustrated by Winifred Lubell explains what happens during the season that had been called, “fall of the leaf”. Each chapter focuses on a different aspect of the natural changes that occur during all. Leaves changing color, birds migrating, and how animals prepare for winter are some of the topics that are explored. The book concludes with activities to do during fall.

Edna Barth tells the stories of Halloween symbols in Witches, Pumpkins and Grinning Ghosts. You will learn about the history of Halloween and why it was first celebrated more than 2,000 years ago in France and the British Isles and how its celebration has evolved. Common symbols of Halloween such as witches, black cats and ghosts are discussed as well. A fun book about Halloween is Winnie the Pooh’s Halloween by Bruce Talkington.  Christopher Robin tells his animal friends what Halloween is and how to celebrate it. You will want to read what they do on Halloween.