The Shelburne Public Library is running two exciting initiatives throughout September.

Library Card Sign Up & Renewal Month: New patrons can register for a library card with us to be entered into a draw for a Kobo Clara! If you live in Shelburne, Amaranth, Melancthon, Mono, or Mulmur, you're entitled to membership with us, and it's a great time to join! For those who already have a membership with us, don't worry, we haven't forgotten you! Drop by to renew your membership to be entered into a draw for a gift card.

Biggest Book Sale of the Year: From Sept. 2 to 13, our KTH Room will be transformed into a book lover's haven! Bring your own bag and fill it with books for $2 or purchase one of our lovingly-made SPL bags for $10 and fill it from the book sale. It's a great time to add to your personal libraries.

Recommended read

The Future by Catherine Leroux – In an alternate history of Detroit, the Motor City was never surrendered to the US. Its residents deal with pollution, poverty, and the legacy of racism. Strange and magical things are happening: children rule over their own kingdom in the trees and burned houses regenerate themselves. When Gloria arrives looking for answers and her missing granddaughters, at first she finds only a hungry mouse in the derelict home where her daughter was murdered. But the neighbours take pity on her and she turns to their resilience and impressive gardens for sustenance.

Why Molly recommends it: This tale is equal parts tragic, humourous and uplifting. To me, it is a necessary update from The Lord of the Flies, and would be an appropriate replacement to be taught in schools. In this story of family, we follow a grandmother in search of her grandchildren and her misfit neighbours. Mysterious circumstances surround her daughters' death, and the children have gone missing. It's told in separate sections between Fort Detroit and the enormous band of abandoned, orphaned and abused children of the town who have gathered to begin their own society in the forest. Leroux adeptly shines a light of hope through all her characters. The main theme of this book, though, is the thread of love which moves through all people, animals, water and nature as they rely on each other to move forward.