Family-friendly movies for winter days

by Beth Cronk, Litchfield head librarian

The holiday season can bring some downtime to families, if major traveling isn’t involved. If that’s true for your family, or if you’re looking for some entertainment for the cold days of January, these new DVDs at the Litchfield library might be right for both the kids and the grownups in the house.

The animated film “Abominable” has a “Common Sense Selection” seal of approval from Common Sense Media and a “Certified Fresh” rating from Rotten Tomatoes.  That adds up to it being a quality movie that’s recommended for families, specifically kids ages 8 and up.  Reviews say the general storyline about a kid finding an unusual creature and teaming up with friends to protect it isn’t anything new, but it has the interesting element of being set in Shanghai with Chinese teen characters.  The animation is also supposed to be beautiful.  The movie is called “Abominable” because it’s about a yeti.

“Dora the Explorer” is a popular animated series that has been airing for many years.  It was a staple at my house in the early 2000s.  The new movie “Dora and the Lost City of Gold” is a live-action feature film starring the same character.  Like “Abominable,” it’s certified fresh by Rotten Tomatoes, meaning the reviews are very good.  Dora has left the jungle where we usually find her adventuring in the cartoon, and now she’s learning about the adventure of high school.  But when her parents disappear, Dora leads a group of her new high school friends into the jungle to find them.  Common Sense Media recommends the movie for ages 8 and up.

The “How to Train Your Dragon” series of movies is beloved by many.  “How to Train Your Dragon: Homecoming” is a holiday television special that aired this year.  It takes place just before the last scene of the last movie of the trilogy.  Viking Hiccup puts together a holiday pageant to celebrate dragons and has an adventure with his beloved Toothless the dragon. 

An interesting documentary can sometimes appeal to the whole family.  “Maiden” is a documentary about the first all-female crew to enter the Whitbread Round the World sailboat race.  Reviews say it’s an exciting and inspiring movie even for those who don’t otherwise care about sailing.  Common Sense Media gave it its seal of approval but recommends it for ages 11 and up because of profanity plus sexist language.  Rotten Tomatoes has it at a 98% positive rating.

“Life from Above” is another family-friendly documentary, this one from PBS.  Footage taken from space shows the earth from a new perspective, allowing us to see patterns, colors, and movements on a large scale.

Mister Rogers is getting renewed interest these days, with a beloved documentary last year and a feature film this year.  If you’d like to revisit the original show, you could check out “Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood: Mister Rogers and Making Mistakes,” a newly-released collection of episodes about how everyone makes mistakes sometimes. 

Other recent DVDs that your family may enjoy include the TV series “Fuller House,” “The Angry Birds Movie 2,” “Descendants 3,” “Harry Potter:  A History of Magic,” and “Toy Story 4.” 

Pioneerland libraries will close at 5:00 p.m. on Tuesday, December 31, for New Year’s Eve, and will be closed on Wednesday, January 1, for New Year’s Day.  Happy New Year!

Thanksgiving Movies at the Library

Library column for 11/21/18

by Beth Cronk, Litchfield head librarian

“Come, ye thankful people, come, Raise the song of harvest-home; All is safely gathered in, Ere the winter storms begin.”  This Thanksgiving hymn by Henry Alford was written in 1844, but here in rural Minnesota we still understand the importance of bringing in the harvest before winter begins.  My neighbors were working hard at that in the little bit of warm weather we had lately.

The Litchfield Library, along with all Pioneerland libraries, will be closed on Thursday for Thanksgiving.  We’ll be open normal hours the rest of the week.  As you gather with family and friends, or as you have a quiet day at home, perhaps you’d like to have a Thanksgiving movie on hand to watch after you’re done eating turkey.  There are a number of movies in the Litchfield Library collection that have some connection to the holiday.

A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving is the obvious choice if you have children in the house.  Not as good as A Charlie Brown Christmas or It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown, this 25-minute TV special from 1973 is still fun.  Charlie Brown has a predicament: what to do when his pushy friend Peppermint Patty invites herself and others to his house for Thanksgiving dinner, even though his family is going to be leaving for his grandmother’s house?  Snoopy saves the day with an assortment of snacks served on the ping-pong table.  To be like Charlie Brown, my family usually eats popcorn, pretzels, toast, and jelly beans on Thanksgiving night, a tradition we started when my kids were little.

Intended for a bit older audience than Charlie Brown, Pieces of April is a 2003 movie about a free-spirited 21-year-old attempting to make Thanksgiving dinner for her estranged family.  Her parents, siblings, and grandma drive to New York City from suburban Pennsylvania while April discovers her oven doesn’t work, and she turns to her eccentric neighbors for help.  Katie Holmes stars in this comedy about family dysfunction; critics say it’s endearing, if a little edgy.

Holiday Inn is one of those 1940s classics: Bing Crosby, Fred Astaire, and music by Irving Berlin.  A couple of friends who have left show business run an inn that is open only on holidays – a perfect vehicle for a movie full of holiday-themed musical numbers.  There is a Thanksgiving holiday in the movie, and the Christmas scenes include the song “White Christmas,” so you can start to get in that holiday spirit, as well.

Paul Blart: Mall Cop isn’t a favorite of movie critics, but you might get some laughs out of it anyway.  Kevin James stars in a story about a New Jersey security guard who defends a mall from a group of organized criminals who take shoppers hostage on Black Friday.

Do you watch the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade on Thanksgiving morning?  The movie Miracle on 34th Street begins with the parade, where the actor playing Santa is discovered to be drunk and is switched with a very popular replacement.  The replacement is then hired to work as Santa in the store, but things take a turn when he claims to be the real Santa Claus.  The 1947 version, starring Maureen O’Hara and Natalie Wood, won three Oscars.

I am thankful for all of the library users and supporters in our area who help make our library a hub of the community. I wish you and yours a peaceful and bountiful Thanksgiving Day. 

New Sandford novel tops the library's "bestseller" list for 2017

by Beth Cronk, Litchfield head librarian

What have your neighbors been reading?  In 2017, customers in Pioneerland Library System really liked their thrillers, especially books by John Sandford, John Grisham and James Patterson.  They also checked out some of the most popular nonfiction books in the country.  Beyond books, they sought out kids’ movies, plus some mobile technology.

The most popular book in our library system in the past year was Golden Prey by John Sandford.  Sandford, whose real name is John Camp, is an Iowa native who worked for the Pioneer Press from 1978 to 1990.  Minnesotans have counted him as one of our own ever since, even though he currently lives in New Mexico and Wisconsin.  Golden Prey is the 27^th book in the bestselling Prey series, featuring law enforcement officer Lucas Davenport.

The rest of the top ten fiction titles are If Not for You by Debbie Macomber, Camino Island by John Grisham, One Perfect Lie by Lisa Scottoline, 16^th Seduction by James Patterson and Maxine Paetro, Escape Clause by John Sandford, A Man Called Ove by Fredrik Backman, The Whistler by John Grisham, The Black Book by James Patterson and David Ellis, and Night School by Lee Child.  That’s two appearances each by Sandford, Grisham, and Patterson!

The most popular nonfiction book in our library system was Hillbilly Elegy by J.D. Vance.  This book about a rural family in poverty has been a bestseller nationwide for the past year and a half.  Many people say it’s an important book to read to understand the crisis among white working class Americans.

The other books in the nonfiction top ten were Sundown at Sunrise by Marty Seifert, The Glass Castle by Jeanette Walls, The Magnolia Story by Chip and Joanna Gaines, Killers of the Flower Moon by David Grann, Killing the Rising Sun by Bill O’Reilly and Martin Dugard, When Breath Becomes Air by Paul Kalanithi, The Zookeeper’s Wife by Diane Ackerman, Hidden Figures by Margot Lee Shetterly, and The Boys in the Boat by Daniel James Brown.  Three of these have been made into movies in the past year or so, which always makes people more interested in the books.

It’s a little funny to say, since we’re talking about libraries, but some movies have been even more popular than these books.  It helps that movies can only go out for a week, compared to two or four weeks at a time for books; it allows them to be checked out more times in a year.  The most popular item to check out in Pioneerland libraries (other than an unusual one I’ll explain more about later) was the movie Trolls.  Featuring the ugly troll dolls that kids all had in the ‘70s, this animated adventure appeals to the whole family. 

The other movies that beat out the top books were The Secret Life of Pets, Hidden Figures, Moana, Sing, The Girl on theTrain, and A Dog’s Purpose.  Everything on this list is either an animated family film or a movie based on a book.

And the number one item to check out in Pioneerland last year?  Technology.  The laptops and iPads that can be checked out for use inside the libraries were our “top sellers.”  At Litchfield, the laptops are much more popular than the iPad we have available to check out, but in some libraries customers really like the iPads.  It makes sense that these devices could have the highest checkout numbers of all, since multiple people can check these out in one day, using them for an hour or two before returning them.   

If you want to see if you like the things your neighbors are interested in, stop at the library to check out or order any of these popular items.

Big, beguiling, epic movies popular at the library

by Beth Cronk, Litchfield head librarian

DVDs are extremely popular at the library.  In September, 861 DVDs were checked out at the Litchfield library, which amounts to roughly twenty percent of the items checked out that month.  We carry a mixture of popular movies, art films, classics, documentaries, television series, and children’s DVDs.  Every month there are new additions.

The Beguiled is a new drama based on the novel by Thomas Cullinan.  A 1971 movie by the same name, starring Clint Eastwood, was also based on this novel.  The 2017 version was directed by Sofia Coppola and stars Nicole Kidman, Colin Farrell, and Kirsten Dunst.  A wounded Union soldier is taken in by the headmistress of an all-girls school in Virginia, where he romances each of the women with unexpected consequences.  Reviewers say it’s quite different from the Clint Eastwood version, with a restrained approach to the tension.  Coppola won the best director award at the Cannes Film Festival for this film.

Also starring Nicole Kidman, the HBO miniseries Big Little Lies won eight Emmy awards last month including Outstanding Limited Series.  The miniseries is based on the bestselling novel by Australian author Liane Moriarty.  Three mothers of first graders with seemingly perfect lives all have secrets, and when someone dies at a school event, was it an accident or murder?  This darkly comic drama also stars Reese Witherspoon, Shailene Woodley, Laura Dern, and Alexander Skarsgård.

The Big Sick was an unexpected hit this year.  Pakistani-American comedian Kumail Nanjiani and his wife Emily V. Gordon turned the true story of their romance into the script for this romantic comedy, and Nanjiani stars.  Kumail and Emily fall in love but he won’t commit because his very traditional family wouldn’t approve.  Then Emily falls seriously ill and is put into a medically-induced coma, and Kumail has to deal with Emily’s parents, played by Ray Romano and Holly Hunter, whom he has never met.  Audiences loved this for being a fresh take on a rom-com, both funny and heartwarming. 

Captain Underpants: The First Epic Movie is an animated film based on the tremendously popular book series by Dav Pilkey.  Two prank-loving best friends hypnotize their angry principal and make him believe he’s Captain Underpants, an enthusiastic and dimwitted superhero they’ve created.  The twelve-book series began in 1997 and concluded in 2015, and kids have continued to be enthusiastic about reading the silly, potty-humor-filled stories.  Kevin Hart stars as George, one of the young friends.  Reviewers say parents will be as entertained by this one as the kids are.

The indie film Certain Women tells three stories of women in rural Montana, played by Laura Dern, Michelle Williams, and Kristen Stewart.  One is a lawyer who deals with sexism and a hostage situation.  The second is a wife and mother planning her dream home without the support of her family.  And the third is a new teacher of evening classes for adults who befriends a ranch hand.  This is a very quiet, subtle movie about ordinary lives.

Other recent additions include the Disney Channel movies Descendants and Descendants 2, the drama A Ghost Story, the Sam Elliott comedy The Hero, and the Oprah/HBO movie The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks.  If you’re interested in some of these, stop in to check the new-DVD section of the library, or place a hold through the library’s online catalog.  

Family movies for summer vacation

by Beth Cronk, Litchfield head librarian

The big push in libraries in the summertime is the summer reading program for kids.  We really want kids to keep reading regularly over the summer so that they don’t lose ground by the time school starts in the fall.  But we know that families also like to relax in front of the TV together sometimes on these hot summer days.  Our library has some recent DVD additions that your family may want to check out.

Disney’s live-action Beauty and the Beast is a beautiful reimagining of their animated classic.  Emma Watson and Dan Stevens star as Belle and her beast, with extensive CGI animation making the enchanted household objects come alive.  New songs are included along with the original songs from the 1991 version, but this isn’t a film adaptation of the stage musical, which is also based on the animated movie.  My daughters and I loved this movie so much more than we expected to, but we also know people who didn’t really like it.  See for yourself by checking it out from the library, but be warned that it’s in high demand.

Dark Horse is a Welsh documentary that the website Common Sense Media recommends for families and that Rotten Tomatoes gives a 97% positive rating.  It’s an inspiring true story of a group of poor workers in a small town in Wales who pooled their money to breed and train a racehorse, entering a world usually open only to the wealthy and high-class.  It’s an old-fashioned tale of beating the odds, especially appealing for horse lovers, but really a general crowd-pleaser. 

The Eagle Huntress is another documentary that can give people of all ages a glimpse at another part of the world.  The film follows a 13-year-old girl in Mongolia as she trains to become the first female eagle hunter in twelve generations of her family.  If you enjoy falconry or girl-power stories, this highly-rated movie may be for you.  Daisy Ridley (Rey in the new Star Wars series) narrates.

 Planet Earth II is the new sequel to the BBC documentary made in 2006.  This also has Common Sense Media’s stamp of approval for families, and an amazing 100% Rotten Tomatoes rating.  Drone technology plus improvements in cameras in the years since the original have made the visuals even more stunning.  The DVD set includes six episodes covering different types of habitat, with an overall focus on environmentalism.

 Fuller House is the sequel to the ‘80s-‘90s sitcom Full House.  It’s a Netflix show, but we have it on DVD.   Almost the entire cast came back to reprise their roles, with DJ Tanner-Fuller now raising her kids in her childhood home with the help of two hapless female roommates.  Heavy on nostalgia, the thirteen-episode season is recommended for ages ten and up.

I’m looking forward to watching The Lego Batman Movie once it lands on the shelf at the Litchfield Library, but it’s been too popular to sit there yet.  This is a sequel to “The Lego Movie,” which was very fun and extremely popular with all ages.  Batman as played by Will Arnett was a strong supporting character in that first movie, and he stars in this new one, learning that he needs to work with others if he’s going to save Gotham City. 

Whether you want to go more educational or more toward pure entertainment, these movies can appeal to the whole family.  Litchfield Library has over 2000 DVDs available to check out, and many more are available to order from other libraries. Enjoy a free movie night by stopping at the library!

Family movies for Christmas vacation

by Beth Cronk, Litchfield head librarian

Merry Christmas!  First things first: when is the library open during these coming weeks of holidays?  The library will be closed on December 24^th and 25^th. We will be open on Saturday, December 26^th.  Next week, we will be open normal hours Monday through Wednesday.  On Thursday, December 31^st, the library will close at 5 p.m. for New Year’s Eve instead of the usual 8 p.m.  We will be closed on New Year’s Day but will be open on Saturday, January 2^nd.

Next question: what can you check out to watch with the family during Christmas vacation?  I have some ideas from among some of our new DVDs at the Litchfield Library.

Disney releases a movie from their “vault” every so often.  The most recent was Aladdin in October.  We didn’t have a copy of that movie at Litchfield, so now we have the new Blu-ray/DVD combo pack.  This funny animated film from 1992 features the voice talents of Robin Williams as the genie.  Aladdin is the kind of movie that can entertain the whole family, both kids and adults. 

Another movie for all ages is Inside Out, the new animated movie from Disney and Pixar.  Pixar is known for playing with the viewer’s emotions, and this time around emotions are the actual stars of the show.  Eleven-year-old Riley has a difficult time moving from Minnesota to California, and we get to see what goes on in her head.  The characters Joy, Sadness, Fear, Anger, and Disgust run headquarters, driving Riley’s thoughts and feelings and storing her memories.  When Riley’s core memories get colored by Sadness, the characters have to find a way to save the day.

If you want a trip down memory lane, you can check out Little House on the Prairie.  Remastered DVDs of the show have been released over the last couple of years, and we have seasons one through seven.  The final season will be re-released early next year.  I have to say that when I read descriptions of the episodes recently, I found they’re even more melodramatic than I remember. 

Tomorrowland is a new Disney live-action movie named after a Disney Parks attraction, like Pirates of the Caribbean.  This movie is a sci-fi adventure about a jaded inventor and an enthusiastic, science-loving teenage girl who need to work together to discover the secrets of a mysterious place called "Tomorrowland" to help make our world a better place.  George Clooney stars.  While this movie didn’t get the glowing reviews Inside Out did, it is supposed to be reasonably entertaining for young and old.

Shaun the Sheep Movie, on the other hand, is a favorite of movie critics.  Shaun the Sheep is a stop-motion British television show that is a spin-off of Wallace & Grommit.  In the movie, Shaun takes a day off and ends up in the Big City with the whole crew from the farm, and it’s up to him to find a way to bring everyone safely home again.  Although it’s intended to be a children’s show, the humor also appeals to adults. 

Fitting right into this week is the Christmas special The Toy Story That Time Forgot.  This 2014 TV program shows Buzz, Woody, and the gang at an after-Christmas playdate with Bonnie from Toy Story 3.  Tom Hanks and Tim Allen provide the voice talent, as usual. 

These DVDs are all new and popular, so you may want to reserve them instead of taking your chances that they’ll be on the shelf.  We will get only two deliveries a week during these holiday weeks, so things will also take a little longer to arrive.  Let our staff know anytime you need help requesting something.  Enjoy your holidays and have a happy new year!

With a little help from our Friends

by Beth Cronk, Litchfield head librarian

I would like to thank the Friends of the Litchfield Public Library for their donations to the library this past year.  They gave generous donations that were used to buy many books for our adult collection and to build a quality children’s DVD collection to replace the VHS tapes that needed to go.  They also helped to fund our children’s programming throughout the year, including the summer reading program, preschool storyhour, and children’s book clubs.

Our Friends members have been working hard throughout the year to make the monthly book sale better than ever.  New people have taken on leadership roles in the group, making it possible for it to go on being a great source of support for our local library.   If you’re interested in getting involved in this wonderful group of supporters, come to our January meeting on the 21^st at 7 p.m. in the library meeting room.

One of the things I was able to do with the book funding from the Friends was to buy some of the books that appeared on the lists of the best books of the year.  Here are a few examples:

The Luminaries is the novel that won the Man Booker Prize this year.  The award is given to the best novel of the year written by a citizen of the U.K., the Commonwealth, or the Republic of Ireland.  Author Eleanor Catton, who is not yet thirty, was born in Canada, raised in New Zealand, and earned an MFA from the Iowa Writers’ Workshop.  “The Luminaries” is a historical mystery about a man seeking his fortune in the goldfields of New Zealand in 1866, who is drawn into a series of unsolved crimes.  Despite its length, readers say they can’t put it down.

Author Jesmyn Ward won the National Book Award in 2011 for her novel Salvage the Bones.  Her new memoir, Men We Reaped, was named one of the best books of 2013 by Publishers Weekly and others.  Ward examines Southern rural poverty and racism after losing her brother and four other young men in her life to drugs, accidents, suicide, and the problems that black men in poverty face.  The title is from a Harriet Tubman quotation: “When we came to get in the crops, it was dead men that we reaped.”

The Panopticon made Library Journal’s, NPR’s, and Amazon’s lists of the best of the year.  This gritty debut novel by Jenni Fagan seems to be hard to categorize as either dystopian or realistic.  Some have compared the 15-year-old main character Anais to Lisbeth Salander and Oliver Twist, and Fagan’s writing to Margaret Atwood and Albert Camus.  Anais has spent nearly all of her life in the foster care system and isn’t sure if she beat a police officer into a coma, because she was on drugs at the time.  At the Panopticon facility, she befriends other kids who’ve fallen through the safety net, and she becomes convinced she’s being watched as part of a sinister experiment. 

Pilgrim’s Wilderness: A True Story of Faith and Madness on the Alaska Frontier is a stranger-than-fiction story of a modern-day homesteading family, listed among Amazon’s best books of the year.  Initially welcomed as a wholesome if eccentric addition to a small Alaska community in 2002, the 17-member family became controversial when “Papa Pilgrim” bulldozed his own road across national park lands.  Author Tom Kizzia investigated the story for the Anchorage Daily News and discovered that the father had a secret, strange past.  As people in the community took sides on whether Pilgrim should have the right to build the road, he became increasingly volatile and was revealed to be a sociopath.  The New York Times said, “Not since The Shining has family life off the grid seemed as terrifying.”

If these books or others on the lists of the best of the year interest you, take a look in our catalog or ask a library staff member to help you.  We will be happy to put a well-written book in your hands this winter.

Some of the best books of 2013 lists:

Library Journal

Publishers Weekly

Amazon

NPR (this one is interactive to help you find something you'd like)

Star Tribune