To better meet the needs of the community, beginning Monday April 7th through June 23rd, the Bala branch will now be open:
Monday – 1 – 5pm
Tuesday and Thursday – 10am – 2pm
Be sure to come out to Bala on Monday April 7th afterschool to make some slime at our Creation Station program!
A reminder that books located at either MLPL branch can be placed on hold for pick-up in Port Carling or Bala, and you can return books to either drop box 24/7! Speak to staff for more details.
Please note that we will be closed for both
Easter Friday April 18th, and Easter Monday April 21st
Bala Drop Box
We need your help!
If you’ve been to our Bala Branch recently you may have noticed a very plain looking drop box out front. It needs to be decorated and we’d love your suggestions! Whether it’s a community painting day, a fun nature theme, vibrant colours, or a unique design, let us know how you think we should bring this drop box to life.
Share your ideas at info@mlpl.ca, leave a comment on our Facebook page or leave a note at the suggestion box, or the drop box itself, in Bala!
Reuniting the director, writer and stars of Forrest Gump, Here is an original film about multiple families and a special place they inhabit. The story travels through generations, capturing the most relatable of human experiences. Zemeckis (Forrest Gump, Castaway, Who Framed Roger Rabbit, Contact) directs from a screenplay by Eric Roth ( Killers of the Flower Moon, Dune, A Star is Born) and himself. Told much in the style of the acclaimed graphic novel by Richard McGuire on which it is based, Tom Hanks and Robin Wright star in a tale of love, loss, laughter and life, all of which happen right Here.
This book is the first fully comprehensive gardening guide from the legendary Martha Stewart in more than 30 years, with everything you need to know to curate a beautiful, thriving garden. From understanding soil composition to learning about different types of plants and gardening methods, you’ll discover the secrets to creating a stunning outdoor oasis.
Dogs are our best friends, and all around us! This delightful guide encourages readers to properly interact with the furry companions that light our world. With a charming cast of dogs, sweet art, and a fun board book format, this is the perfect gift book for families looking to adopt a furry friend, or anyone who wants to celebrate our canine pals.
As the day dawns on the fiftieth annual Hunger Games, fear grips the districts of Panem. This year, in honor of the Quarter Quell, twice as many tributes will be taken from their homes. Back in District 12, Haymitch Abernathy is trying not to think too hard about his chances. All he cares about is making it through the day and being with the girl he loves. When Haymitch's name is called, he can feel all his dreams break. He's torn from his family and his love, shuttled to the Capitol with the three other District 12 tributes: a young friend who's nearly a sister to him, a compulsive oddsmaker, and the most stuck-up girl in town.
A taut and suspenseful historical novel that reimagines an 1895 French railway disaster, an event famously documented in dramatic photographs. Set over a single day, as the morning train travels from the Normandy coast to Paris, men, women and children take their seats in the passenger cars, which are divided by wealth and status. Among the passengers is an anarchist intent on destruction, a young boy travelling alone, a pregnant woman fleeing her home village for the anonymity of the big city, a medical student who suspects a girl may have a fatal disease, and the railway men, devoted to the train, to the company and to each other.
Each month we will include a title or two that a staff member has recently read. Yes, we could call it Staff Picks, but where's the alliterative fun in that?
So, without further ado, please enjoy Lindsay's Laudable Literature
This is a beautifully crafted novel, which centres around two friends who play, and eventually design, video games together, but Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow is ultimately more about work, and love, than it is about gaming. Gabrielle Zevin’s carefully woven tale about Sadie Green and Sam Masur takes you on a deep dive into the world of game design, and in the process exposes you to sharp social commentary around ingrained sexism, cultural appropriation, lived trauma, and disability.
There is a poignant section of the book that plays out around a political viewpoint which was naively embedded within one of the games, and which has fantastic, tragic, real-world consequences. The overarching theme of this book is one of human connection, and despite their deep love for each other, Sam and Sadie are never the other’s lover. This view of friendship as holding greater value than romantic love is explored throughout the book, as their relationship goes through many different iterations, and is so well crafted by the author.
There is much more to this book than video games, but it serves as a wonderful reminder that the escape that is offered within a virtual world is one in which people have real, tangible experiences, and sometimes are truer versions of themselves than they allow themselves to be in the real world. The timeframe in which this story is set is the only one in which Sam and Sadie could exist, as Zevin acknowledges late in the book, when she starkly illustrates the reality of how today, because of the internet, we are not only constantly watching each other, but we are also watching ourselves in ways that didn’t used to exist. I’ll never think of video games in the same way again!
Looking for something simple and fun to do? Why not try following along to this Creativebug class?
Crochet is an endlessly versatile technique for making hats, scarves and sweaters, not to mention sculpture and rugs. And all you need is some yarn and a crochet hook. In this workshop Cal will explain and demonstrate the foundation crochet stitches and finishing off. You can create reference swatches of each stitch, or alternate them to create a stitch sampler.
