• By J.White
  • Posted Friday, October 2, 2015

Big Library Read: The Door In the Hedge and In the Shadow of Blackbirds

The Library is pleased to announce that we will be participating in the The Big Library Read program again, this is an event where people from around the world will read a designated digital title simultaneously. For the first time ever we’re offering two titles to choose.

Library card holders will be able to borrow and read The Door in the Hedge by Robin McKinley and/or In the Shadow of Blackbirds by Cat Winters starting midday Wednesday, October 7 and concluding on Wednesday, October 21 (U.S. EST) by visiting the North Carolina Digital Library

THE DOOR IN THE HEDGE BY ROBIN MCKINLEY

Suitable for ages 10 and up.

“The last mortal kingdom before the unmeasured sweep of Faerieland begins has at best held an uneasy truce with its unpredictable neighbor. There is nothing to show a boundary, at least on the mortal side of it; and if any ordinary human creature ever saw a faerie—or at any rate recognized one—it was never mentioned; but the existence of the boundary and of faeries beyond it is never in doubt either.”

So begins “The Stolen Princess,” the first story of this collection, about the meeting between the human princess Linadel and the faerie prince Donathor. “The Princess and the Frog” concerns Rana and her unexpected alliance with a small, green, flipper-footed denizen of a pond in the palace gardens. “The Hunting of the Hind” tells of a princess who has bewitched her beloved brother, hoping to beg some magic of cure, for her brother is dying, and the last tale is a retelling of the Twelve Dancing Princesses in which an old soldier discovers, with a little help from a lavender-eyed witch, the surprising truth about where the princesses dance their shoes to tatters every night.

READ A SAMPLE

IN THE SHADOW OF BLACKBIRDS BY CAT WINTERS

“In 1918, the world seems on the verge of apocalypse. Americans roam the streets in gauze masks to ward off the deadly Spanish influenza, and the government ships young men to the front lines of a brutal war, creating an atmosphere of fear and confusion. Sixteen-year-old Mary Shelley Black watches as desperate mourners flock to séances and spirit photographers for comfort, but she herself has never believed in ghosts. During her bleakest moment, however, she’s forced to rethink her entire way of looking at life and death, for her first love—a boy who died in battle—returns in spirit form. But what does he want from her? Featuring haunting archival early-twentieth-century photographs, this is a tense, romantic story set in a past that is eerily like our own time.

READ A SAMPLE

New to e-readers? Why not check one out from the Library? It's the perfect way to try one out before making a purchasing decision.

Work with Us

Employment Opportunities

Job Opportunities

Volunteer Opportunities

Open Appointments List