Spring is my favorite time of year! It is full of hope and anticipation for the warm days ahead. I challenge you to not smile when you see the spring flowers start peeking up from the cold winter soil. I chose some outdoor-themed books to inspire you to start your spring/summer ...

With April showers comes the question: What do you do with your dripping raincoats and umbrellas? By the Victorian age, wealthy households had hall trees or hall stands in the entryway. They were functional pieces, kept against a wall to save space and featuring a place for everything: coat ...

National Library Week is April 6-12, 2025. This year’s theme is “Drawn to the Library!” Millions of people visit their local libraries each week. During 2024, New Ulm Public Library visits totaled 87,342 or 1,680 visits per week on average. So what’s the draw? Although our core ...

Salt has played an important a role in human history as it does at the dinner table. It provides necessary nutrients, and it made food preservation possible long before refrigeration. The difficulty of obtaining it and the amount of processing required made it extremely valuable. Many known ...

Did you know that listening to an audiobook can help a child build literacy skills? Students can develop reading skills such as decoding and comprehension, as well as critical thinking by listening to audiobooks. By engaging in listening skills readers enhance their ability to process ...

“Famille verte” is a term collectors use for a popular style of Chinese porcelain. If you speak French (the term was coined by French collector Albert Jacquemart in the 1860s), you know it means “green family.” It refers to a type of porcelain decorated with multicolor enamel, called ...