It is the beginning of 2025 which means the first quarter century of the 21st century will wrap up at the end of the year. Let's make this year one to remember. Join us this year in all the activities and opportunities we have to connect and grow as we read, learn, entertain ourselves, and discuss with others.
Join us for the adult winter reading challenge and youth winter reading program in February and March and the social club in April. And read this short newsletter packed with important information.
Register now for the 2025 Adult Winter Reading Challenge.
Join the challenge by calling or emailing your reader advisor or register online.
This year all but one of the books take place in South Dakota and are a mix of fiction and non-fiction. You will receive a customized cartridge with six books. It's a chance to try something new and maybe learn something about South Dakota that you'd like to read more of.
In addition to the cartridge, you will receive a very short questionnaire - answer just one question! After answering this question and returning the questionnaire postmarked by March 31, 2025, you will be placed into a drawing to be held on Monday, April 7, 2025 during the spring social club Zoom. You can also call or email your answer or fill out the questionnaire online.
Senior High School students looking for more of a reading challenge can also participate at this level.
So, register today and cozy up with a new book!
The six books are:
Accidental Rancher — Eliza Blue DBS004902
Little & Often — Trent Preszler DBS004908
Vanished in Vermillion — Lou Raguse DB120546
The Cheyenne River Mission Quilts, Mission Quilts Series, book 1 — Jan Cerney DBS004910
The Boarding School Quilts, Mission Quilts Series, book 2 — Jan Cerney DBS004911
The Day the World Came to Town — Jim DeFede, which is the inspiration for the hit Broadway musical, Come From Away, and does not take place in South Dakota. DB092429
If you have any questions or are unable to use our online registration form, please contact your Reader Advisor.
Join us for the 2025 youth winter reading program in February and March. We added a month for youth to participate so they have the same period as the adults. We encourage you to read at least 20 minutes a day every day and mark it each day on the calendar. Return the reading charts via mail postmarked by March 31, 2025, or scan or send picture via email. We will hold the drawing during the social club on April 7, 2025.
We will hold our next social club on April 7, 2025 at 2 pm CT/1 pm MT on Zoom. We will discuss our winter reads so please bring your opinions of books from the winter reading challenge. We also will have one of the South Dakota authors featured on the adult challenge cartridge, Jan Cerney (author of the Mission Quilts series), join us.
Helen Kranz of Watertown signed up for talking books at the age of 101 and immediately became part of the 10 Squared Club. When Helen was a child, her mother frequently went to the library in Milbank to get books and read to the children until they were able to read for themselves. Now she likes to read in her chair near the window. Gone with the Wind is her favorite book, and she has shared that with her daughter. Helen also does paintings of animals and flowers in oil, pastels, and watercolor. She uses the computer to get the news, and her phone goes with her everywhere! Welcome Helen to the 10 Squared Club!
With hundreds of thousands of audio and braille books and magazines available from NLS, for some patrons it's hard to know where to start when searching. Collections Connections, a free email newsletter from the NLS Collection Development staff, can help! Each month it highlights fiction and nonfiction titles focused on a timely theme. To sign up, send your name and email address to the Collection Connections team at connections@loc.gov. You can unsubscribe yourself from the list at any time. If you need help contact your reader advisor.
Little and Often is an unflinching account of bereavement and a stirring reflection on the complexities of inheritance. Between his past and his present, and between America's heartland and its coasts, Preszler shows how one can achieve reconciliation through the healing power of creativity.
When nineteen-year-old Evangeline determines she is called to leave Boston and become a missionary on the Lakota Sioux Reservation, she comes face to face with cultural and personal experiences that would leave any young woman feeling challenged. Along with learning to quilt, will she also learn to follow her heart?
Seven years later, Evangeline returns to the mission. Much has changed since Swift Bear's camp closed, and with Evangeline's assistance, the mission itself is undergoing big changes. Elijah is still serving as pastor and remains single, but the arrival of Mary changes everything. As new people enter the walls of the mission, things get interesting with marriages, births, and choices that will likely affect both individuals and the mission forever. This is the second novel in the Mission Quilt Series.
Can you dribble with both your right hand and your left hand? Are you looking up to see your teammates as you dribble down the court? Can you shoot left-handed layups and right handed layups? Are you self-motivated to work hard? If you can answer "Yes" to these questions, then you are on your way to becoming a star basketball player. Becky Hammon can tell you all about the people that have helped her throughout each step of her career. Read and see how Becky became a WNBA All Star!
Can it be true? Oh, can it be? Yes! —Bat Night at the library!
The enchantment of story time is near—come bats, come one and all, and gather around for the tale of the night. Roam the book—filled halls on this inky evening as the bats wander around the library and cause all sorts of mischief. Brian Lies' joyful critters and their nocturnal celebration cast library visits in a new light. Even the youngest of readers will want to join the batty book-fest.
Oscar Martin was fourteen when he mysteriously disappeared from his Iowa farmhouse home in June 1914. His sister claimed Oscar had rowed out to sea - but how was that possible? There is no ocean in Iowa. When, nearly a century later, Lucy Martin and her parents move from their city apartment to that same farmhouse in Iowa, it is not long before Lucy discovers the strange and dangerous BOOK OF STORY BEGINNINGS. And it's not long before Oscar reappears in a bizarre turn of events that sends the two distant relatives on a perilous journey to save Lucy's father.
For our Social Club on December 9, 2024, we had South Dakota author Eliza Blue! Eliza is a writer, folk musician, and rancher living on the short grass prairie of western South Dakota with her husband, two children and a wide variety of feathered and furry friends.
We had a great group who visited with her, asked questions, shared their perspectives and similarities and differences with the ranch experiences she described in her columns. The recording is on our website.
For the 2024 Christmas at the Capitol: Through a Child's Eye in Pierre, SD our library decorated a Christmas tree on the third floor of the South Dakota State Capitol behind the big tree. We had talking book cartridges with Christmas titles, tactile ornaments, and more. Michelle, Jeanette, and Quynn made some extra handmade tactile ornaments.
On Saturday morning, January 4, 2025, for World Braille Day, Josh presented at Rawlins Library in Pierre, SD to celebrate Louis Braille's birthday! Attendees learned about the life of Louis Braille, his invention of the Braille code, and how it is used today. They also learned more about our library services along with hands-on time with Braille, twin vision books (print/Braille) and audio talking books.
Josh had a whirlwind trip January 14-17, 2025. He visited the Federal Prison Camp in Yankton and trained new talking book narrators in the recording studios there. He visited with managers and the talking book machine repair unit in YFPC which repair talking book machines for South Dakota and over 15 other states. He also touched base with current volunteers in Yankton, Vermillion, and Sioux Falls and trained new volunteer narrators in Vermillion and Sioux Falls. He was able to visit to varying degrees with library staff in Yankton, Vermillion, Sioux Falls, Brookings, and Huron. He did a public presentation on our library services at Brookings Public Library which was recorded and is on YouTube
NLS patrons who read Braille can request hard-copy Braille books to keep indefinitely! Many patrons are taking advantage of this newer offering by requesting books of knitting patterns or cookbooks, while others are building at-home libraries of their favorite book series. To request a book in hard-copy braille, use the NLS Braille on Demand Request Form. If you would like to speak with someone or place your request over the phone, please contact the library at 1-800-423-6665 phone (SD Only) or 1-605-773-3131 phone option 1.
The Library will be closed for the following holiday(s). Please plan to order your books accordingly. Keep in mind that the books you return will take longer to reach us. You may want to order extra books at least one week in advance of the following holidays:
Monday, February 17, 2025 - Presidents' Day
Monday, May 26, 2025 - Memorial Day
Thursday, June 19, 2025 - Juneteenth
Friday, July 4, 2025 - Independence Day
Monday, September 1, 2025 - Labor Day
Monday, October 13, 2025 - Native American Day
Tuesday, November 11, 2025 - Veteran's Day
Thursday, November 27, 2025 - Thanksgiving Day
Thursday, December 25, 2025 - Christmas
Be prepared for interruptions in service due to weather events. You can ask your reader advisor about possibly increasing the number of books you receive so you don't run out. Or ask about how you can download books at home from the BARD website or on the BARD mobile app for smartphones and tablets.
The Prairie Trails Newsletter is our means of communication with all patrons of the South Dakota Accessible Library Services. The Prairie Trails Newsletter is made available in digital audio on cartridge, or via email, and is posted on our website in large print and audio.
If you have any questions or comments, or wish to request this newsletter in an alternative format, please contact the SD Accessible Library Services.
Funding for this program is made possible in part by the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) under the provisions of the Library Services and Technology Act (LSTA) as administered by the South Dakota State Library.
