Happy New Year! The library offers a variety of books, DVDS, video games, magazines and more.Here are the librarians’ favorites to kick off 2019!Anne's Pick: Luna Loves Library Day by Joseph Coelho (Illustrator), Fiona Lumbers (Illustrations)When this book first came to the library I was drawn in by the beautiful illustrations but it was the story that stole my heart. As a child of divorced parents, I found myself tearing up at the sweet message of the story! Such a cute read. See if it's available at the library here.Lisa's Pick: The Only Thing Worse Than Me Is You by Lily Anderson is a retelling of Much Ado About Nothing—Geek Style! This fun romance follows Shakespeare’s play right up to the end where there is a small twist, so don’t assume you know what is coming. I would pair this fun book with the library’s DVD copy of Much Ado About Nothing. See if you can find where the book takes liberties. (Head’s Up: The 1993 Much Ado About Nothing is STRONGLY rated PG-13.) See if it's available at the library here.Joy’s Pick : Unbroken: An Olympian’s Journey from Airman to Castaway to Captive by Laura HillenbrandMy kids absolutely loves this book. I think there is something we can all learn from Louis Zamperini’s resilience and faith. I’d recommend it to anyone. See if it's available at the library here. Pat’s Pick: Midwest Living and National GeographicDo you love to travel , but can't find the funds to do so? Then come to the Madison Public Library and check out two of my favorite magazines to peruse each month. Midwest Living and National Geographic Traveler.
Midwest Living has write-ups on places to eat and shop and sights to see as well as places to stay in communities in the Midwest which, for the most part, are within driving distance in the matter of a few hours. It has great photography and fun stories to read about quaint and quirky shops that draw people in to shop.

Of course National Geographic Traveler always has the spectacular photography that National Geographic has always been known for. It shows the people of the area and their eating places, shopping sites as well as places to sight see and what to look for specifically that may be of interest. Many of the places in this magazine are places that are exotic and will take you to far away places.Melanie’s Pick: (a two in one combo) – history and genealogy. History –Madison Daily Leader Microfilm. I recently used the Madison Daily Leader microfilm to do some research on the Madison water towers. These sorts of searches are time consuming but date references from commission meeting minutes were helpful. While searching, I always am intrigued by the news of yester years and a piece that stuck out was that the Mayor had been recalled. (unfortunately, I did not have the time to dig into the reasons why – but interesting none the less). Genealogy – Obituary Index of the Madison Daily Leader. Occasionally, we get obituary requests and one resource that is very beneficial in is the Obituary Index of the Madison Daily Leader, which, when possible, provides the obituary date and the page and column where it can be located in the paper itself. It certainly is a timesaver. Other history and genealogy resources can be found here: http://www.madisonpubliclibrarysd.com/genealogy-historyNancy’s Pick : Author Sue Grafton Sue Grafton is one of my favorite authors. Beginning with A is for Alibi in 1982, her alphabet series had me hooked. Grafton's introduction of a young, no-nonsense female private detective in the Alphabet Mystery series was ground-breaking at the time. Until her creation of Kinsey Millhone private detectives in fiction were almost always male. Since the publication of publication of A is for Alibi, a new episode was released each year or so. In an interview a few years ago, the author said that she hoped she would live long enough to get through the whole alphabet. I echoed that sentiment. I like everything about her books—the characters, the setting, the plot and Grafton’s writing style. Sadly, Sue Grafton’s alphabet will end with the letter Y. She did not live long enough to write Z is for Zero, but she did leave 25 books that I recommend reading. See if her latest is available here.