Library Lines ...

These days we hear so much about misinformation that spreads like wildfire on social media. Here at Rhoads Memorial Library, we are adding to the confusion inadvertently.

It seems that two different timelines have been running concurrently on our Facebook page, so we are in the midst of consolidating them into one. So be sure to check out the date of each "Library Lines" column so you know what is old and what is new. As time goes on, the situation should straighten out, we are told.

Mary Ruth Baird is providing the February Display of the Month by sharing her collection of vintage cameras. Easily recognizable cameras, at least to Baby Boomers and older folks, range from Kodak Instamatics to Polaroids to a modern Ricoh Q-100Z. Older ones include a Brownie and a Bell & Howell Two Twenty. Accessories are included, such as Blue Dot Sylvania flash bulbs, Magicubes, and film.

Newly released books that have arrived and are ready for checkout include:

"Before She Disappeared" (a novel) by Lisa Gardner;

"Glamour Girls" (a novel) by Marty Wingate;

"The Russian" (a Michael Bennett novel) by James Patterson and James O. Born;

"The Scorpion's Tail" (featuring Nora Kelly) by Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child.

Another new release is "Shiver", the debut novel of Allie Reynolds. It features Milla and four old friends reuniting at a cozy ski resort in the French Alps, hoping to catch up with one another after being apart for a decade. Upon arrival, though, they realize something is terribly wrong. The resort is deserted. The cable cars that delivered them have stopped working, and their cell phones are missing. Inside the hotel, detailed instructions await them, including an icebreaker game that reminds them of Saskia. The sixth member of their group, she was presumed dead after vanishing the morning of their snowboarding competition years ago.

Milla realizes that someone reunited them in an effort to find out the truth about Saskia. She is not sure what is worse: the uncertainty of who can be trusted or the looming snowstorm that will make escape even more unlikely. Milla knows that if she is not careful, she could be the next to disappear.

A newly released work of historical fiction is "The Children's Blizzard" by Melanie Benjamin. After a brutal cold spell, Dakota Territory homesteaders reveled in mild weather the morning of January 12, 1888. Children were allowed to return to school without their heavy coats, leaving them unprepared when a fast-moving blizzard struck as most prairie schools were letting out for the day. Schoolteachers as young as 16 years old were suddenly faced with life and death decisions: keep the youngsters inside, to risk freezing to death when fuel ran out, or send them home, praying they would not get lost in the storm?

The book is based on oral histories of the survivors, most of which were northern European immigrants lured to a pitiless land via highly embellished news stories. It is the story of children forced to grow up too soon, tied to the land because of their parents' choices.

Until next week, Happy Reading!