National Library Week is April 11-17

Talk about it

First sponsored in 1958, National Library Week is a national observance sponsored by the American Library Association (ALA) and libraries across the country each April. It is a time to celebrate the contributions of our nation's libraries and librarians and to promote library use and support. All types of libraries – school, public, academic and special – participate.

The Douglas County Library will be celebrating this special week with an author visit and two special story hours for preschoolers.

The Friends of the Library will host Candace Simar, author of Abercrombie Trail, on Saturday, April 17 at 2:30 p.m. at the library. Simar is a life-long Minnesotan who writes historical fiction about Minnesota immigrants. Born and raised in rural Otter Tail County, she has lived in Pequot Lakes her adult life. She is a member of Brainerd Writer’s Alliance, Heartland Poets and the League of Minnesota Poets.

Minnesota history is one of Simar’s favorite things. All of her life she’s daydreamed how it was to live through the earliest days of Minnesota, wondered how historical events impacted ordinary people's lives, and imagined characters and stories.

One Fourth of July, she was shocked to learn how little her adult children knew about the 1862 Minnesota Sioux uprising. Simar’s children, all born and educated in Minnesota schools and universities, thought it a minor skirmish in New Ulm.

“You ought to write a book,” her son said.

As a result, she started researching primary and secondary sources for 1862 Minnesota. Simar didn't have to go far. Her great-grandfather drove the stagecoach from St. Cloud to Fort Abercrombie in the years directly after the Sioux uprising. Abercrombie Trail is the story of Evan Jacobson – the story that might have been Simar’s great-grandfather’s had he arrived sooner.

April 11 to 17 is not only National Library Week, but also The Week of the Young Child – “Early Years Are Learning Years.” To celebrate both occasions, the library will present two special story hours: Tuesday, April 13 at 6:30 p.m. and Wednesday, April 14 at 10:30 a.m. in the library meeting room. Preschoolers and their parents are invited to attend.

Tags: national library week, life, library