The following article was written by Kristin Keck, Teen Associate at Manitowoc Public Library.
Kristin, the Teen Services associate at MPL, here with, ironically, a hot take: I love winter.
I love the otherworldly silence of snowfall and houses fanged with icicles, air so cold it crackles, and ice glinting bright enough to force a squint. The world rests in cotton and eiderdown, made brilliant by the red of cardinals’ wings.
And, of course, I love coming in from the cold.
Is there anything better than looking out a frost-framed window, a warm mug of something in-hand, wrapped in a cozy sweater? Outside, a world at rest, except for the industrious sparrows. Inside, the same chance to rest, reflect, and read.
I was going to get around to reading eventually. I work at the library after all.
Honestly, winter is the perfect time to catch up on that To-Be-Read pile that has been growing since summer. The season enhances every kind of story. Don’t believe me? Try a mystery on a grey evening when footsteps crunch and tires hiss by outside. Lose yourself in romance by the glow of candles or firelight. Fill a long dark night with ghost stories—even Dickens knew that winter was the time for ghost stories. Put on your scholar’s cap and contemplate a history or a biography—it keeps the brain warm!
There’s a reason we say that winter nights draw-in. They draw us in. Heroes and villains, daring deeds and hauntings—everything seems more plausible in the short cold days and long nights filled with stars.
Make those dark winter night reading binges even better with the Winter Reading Program at Manitowoc Public Library. Read, or be read to, a total of ten hours and receive a raffle ticket for some fantastic prize baskets.
There are baskets for every age, from grandmothers knitting-away to Janet Evanovich on audio to newborns tasting their first board book. (Teens—there will be a completion prize bucket to choose from in addition to the raffle ticket; I am not above bribing you people.) The Winter Reading Program will kick off on Sunday, January 11, and wrap-up Saturday, February 28.
Tracking your reading is easy. If you have the Beanstack app already, use that. We can help you download it at the library. You can also go through our website by visiting manitowoclibrary.beanstack.org. There are other programs on our Beanstack page to sign up for, including 1000 Books Before Kindergarten and, of course, the Summer Reading Program when the weather turns warmer.
We’ll have paper trackers at the library as well, if you want a hands-on approach to tracking. Pick those up at any Service Desk at the library.
This Winter Reading Program is generously sponsored by Friends of Manitowoc Public Library, Green Bay Packers Give Back, Lake Michigan Carferry, On the Surface, Little Sips Play Cafe, Ivy Trails, and The Read Apple Toy Shoppe. Which might give you a hint about the prizes.
You can get a prize for something you were going to do anyway. So, get drawn in this winter. Snuggle down into a story. While away those winter nights. Summer will be here before you known it.