It's the last episode of the year! We're catching up on the books we're currently reading and previewing an upcoming change to the organizational layout of items in the Kids Corner! 

This week, pod cohost Mary Grahame is back, and we're catching up on all the good things we've read and watched this year. Plus, we'll share our thoughts on WICKED and A CHRISTMAS CAROL!

It's our continuing series, "Cool Library People," where our staff (here at Ferndale) help introduce you, dear listener, to a variety of library workers based all around Michigan. It's a fun chance to hear different perspectives on the awesomeness of libraries, as well as get to know other institutions, as we do today, with the Berkley Public Library. We're chatting with one of its clerks, Lisabeth Posthuma, who notes her previous experience in teaching, as well as her life as a writer and published author! She also has nostalgic experience of working in a video store, which informed her recent novel Baby & Solo! 

Let's hear about Lisabeth, let's here a bit about Baby & Solo and let's here all about the Berkley Public Library! 

Our staff provide you with their personal recommendations, listing their favorite books of 2024! 

This week, we're spotlighting the Van Buren District Library with our guest, Elissa Zimmer! Elissa is currently Van Buren's Assistant Director. Still, she was once, not too long ago, a Youth Librarian here at Ferndale, which will explain why our hosts are so familiar with Elissa from the get-go. Van Buren District Library serves residents with seven branch libraries. Elissa has been the branch manager of the Webster Memorial Library for more than two years; she became VBDL's Assistant Director in May of this year. https://www.vbdl.org/ 

On this week's episode, we have a panel discussion focusing on BAKING SEASON! Staff are talking about their favorite (and sometimes least favorite) things to bake, as well as playing a fun True-False-structured quiz to dispel myths and spread knowledge! We ALSO have some fun recommendations of books to check out from the library! 

This week, we're interviewing Rae Stoloff, the community engagement librarian at the Madison Heights Public Library. We're also joined by a special guest cohost, Becca Russell (former guest, as well), from the Royal Oak Public Library! We're talking about makerspaces, third places, libraries of things, and so much more!

https://www.madison-heights.org/library 

https://ropl.org/1532/Library 

Every once in a while, our staff will pick up a book that has a bit of a strange premise, something that might be a little difficult to describe... Today, we're providing a roundup of odd books that we loved, weird books that we'd still recommend, eccentric reads that we found appealing!