by Beth Cronk, Litchfield head librarian
As we prepare to gather together next week for our holiday of
thankfulness, what are you thankful for?
I’m thankful for my family, my home, and my work at the library, quite
honestly. Work is work, but I’m grateful
to have the opportunity to make a difference in people’s lives through the wide
variety of interesting things we do in library service. And what a privilege to work in this
beautiful Litchfield Library, making people happy with books and other library
resources every day!
Let me share with you a few of the new books that are about
things you might be thankful for.
We can be thankful for children and family. Mitch Albom’s new book Finding Chika: A Little Girl, an Earthquake, and the Making of a Family tells his personal story
of a child he met in an orphanage he runs in Haiti. Albom and his wife Janine did not have
children of their own, and when 5-year old orphan Chika was diagnosed with a
brain tumor, the couple took her back to the U.S. and around the world seeking
a cure. Through the short time they all spent
together, Mitch and Janine learned about the joys of caring for a child even
when her arrival in the family didn’t happen in the usual way. Reviewers
describe it as tender, beautiful, and sad.
We can be thankful for people who came before us and made
the world a better place. Hope in the Struggle is a new memoir by Josie R. Johnson, published by University of
Minnesota Press. Johnson is a Minnesota
teacher, activist, and public servant who first became involved in the civil
rights movement in the 1940s as a teenager in Texas. She co-chaired the Minnesota delegation to
the March on Washington in 1963, and she was the first African-American to
serve on the University of Minnesota’s Board of Regents in 1971. Johnson’s memoir tells her life story, and it
also addresses the issue of maintaining hope when it feels like it’s impossible
to make a difference.
We might be thankful for education. Another new book from University of Minnesota
Press, Professor Berman: The Last Lecture of Minnesota’s Greatest Public Historian is actually a memoir rather than a lecture. Jay Weiner put this book together using the
writings and interviews of U of M professor Hy Berman, who was a regular on the
Minnesota PBS show Almanac. Berman
knew Hubert Humphrey well, and that’s reflected in the book; other Minnesota
politicians such as Rudy Perpich and Harold Stassen appear, as well.
Maybe you’re thankful for food and drink, which is of course
a big part of Thanksgiving. I can’t say
that I’m personally at all thankful for beer, but if you are, perhaps you’d be
interested in The Drink that Made Wisconsin Famous: Beer and Brewing in the Badger State by Doug Hoverson. This is a newly-published history, stretching
from the pioneers in the mid-nineteenth century to current breweries and
brewpubs in Wisconsin.
On the food front, we have the new cookbook Copycat Restaurant Favorites. Published by
Taste of Home Books, this one includes more than 100 recipes inspired by Olive
Garden, Panera Bread, Pizza Hut, and many other popular chains. We also have Sweet Nature: A Cook’s Guide to Using Honey and Maple Syrup by Beth Dooley and Mette Nielsen. Dooley is an award-winning cookbook author
who covers the Minnesota food scene for the Star Tribune, KARE 11, and MPR.
And of course, we can be thankful for books. I know I am.
As Robert Louis Stevenson said, “Keep your eyes open to your
mercies. The man who forgets to be
thankful has fallen asleep in life.” Happy Thanksgiving to you and yours!
