Library Happenings

Henning School

I love to hear stories of my father’s childhood. When he tells his memories and his voice cracks with emotion, there couldn’t be a better gift given to me. I am a lover of history. I want to know about so many things that took place and how the people involved felt. 

One day my youngest child, age 25, asked me, “Mom, what was one of the hardest times you and dad have gone through?”  

I sat there for several minutes and finally replied, “ I know that “at the time”  we thought whatever was happening was the hardest thing we had ever been through, but then we would get through it and it wasn’t so hard after all.  God prepares us for the next hardest thing by all the things that come before it.”  

This week we are featuring two of Mary Casanova’s books.  The first book is titled “Ice Out.”  

In the back of the book, Mary has an author’s not that reads, “When I first thought about a young man trying to make something of himself during Prohibition-an era on the northern border when no one seemed to hold the moral high ground—I turned to stories of my own father’s youth. My father was born in 1929 in Chisholm, Minnesota, and like the main character Own, his early years were hardscrabble. As a boy, and at his mother’s instruction, he trailed his father from bar to bar, gathering his father’s loose change. To earn money, he and his friend raised, trained, and sold white rats.  As a teenager, he stopped his father from strangling his mother. Indeed, similar to the main character’s father in this story, my grandfather was so stunned by what he had done in his drunkenness that he stopped drinking. After my father returned from the navy, he met and married my mother, and they eventually left northern Minnesota for St. Paul, where they raised ten children.  Whenever they could, they packed ten kids and the family dog in the station wagon and headed north to either Eagles Nest Lake near Ely or Elbow Lake near Cook. Those childhood trips instilled in me a deep appreciation of wilderness, which I still share with my husband.”

Most of this book is inspired by true events of which the author lists in the back of the book. It is 251 pages in length and is a quick read. Ice Out takes place in the Prohibition era of right and wrong, rich and poor, responsibility and neglect.  

The second of Mary Casanova’s books we are featuring is “Frozen.” The main character in this book is 16-year-old Sade Rose. In 11 years,she has not spoken.  Her mother was found dead under strange circumstances and Sadie was found in a snowbank. This is set in the 1920’s on Rainy Lake, which lies on the border of Minnesota and Canada.  This is a powerful story of determination and the love of family against all odds.  

The State of Minnesota from the Arts and Cultural Heritage Fund through the Minnesota Historical Society has awarded the Henning Public School Library a grant in the amount of $9,325.00  This grant will provide over 449 books to the Henning Public School Library.

This  grant helps provide a quality learning experience for our local Minnesotans by providing exemplary library bound (as much as possible) books that feature depictions of various aspects of the State of Minnesota. Students will develop knowledge, skills, and understanding about many areas of Minnesota by reading about Minnesota, its geography, heritage, culture, people, landforms, arts, sports, and more. Books will be purchased for all ages of people who frequent the library. This grant will help represent diverse ethnicities and people as we are purchasing books that feature a wide variety of people who have contributed to Minnesota. In addition, because Minnesota history is a vital component of our middle school curriculum, we want a strong selection of books that depict Minnesota history, industries, contemporary Minnesotans, immigration, the contributions of indigenous people, Minnesota authors/illustrators, and state bird/fish/foods, etc.