President's Letter

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      The renovations at the Cascade Library are nearing completion, with staff expected to receive temporary occupancy in early June. This includes reopening the external book drop on June 9 and shifting staff to allow for printing access, according to Lulu Brown, Cascade branch manager. 

      “There have been a few delays in receiving materials held in ports, which has impacted some of the tile in bathrooms, furniture, and library shelves,” she said. “But, the project remains within budget, and we even anticipate having some capacity to update the staff entrance, add ceiling tile in spaces that are out of scope, add in booklights, and address a few minor challenges outside of the scope of the project. 

      Brown said that they anticipate having a soft opening on June 30 to provide library patrons with access to full library services. The “official” grand opening is currently slated for July 23 at 5:30. But, library staff will be giving patrons a sneak preview into the revamped library during the following programs:

·  June 16 from 4-6 pm (KDL Lab)

·  June 17 from 9:30 am – 5 pm (Babytime)

·  June 17 from 1:30-3:30 pm (Teen Program)

·  June 17 from 4-6 pm (Nature Adventurers)

·  June 18 from 4-6 pm (Pokémon Club)

·  June 24 from 9:30-11 am (Babytime)

·  June 25 from 1:30-6 pm (Girls Who Code, Kids Zone)

      She added that the branch will be closed as of June 19 so that staff and Friends volunteers can focus their time on putting books back on shelves and preparing the library for its soft opening. Friends President Joe David said that volunteers are even more excited about the expanded “Chapter Two Bookstore” now that they can actually see it.

      “In addition to giving us more shelving to offer a wider variety of books, we’re going to have a cozy nook for children to shop for their favorite books,” he said. “I think library patrons are really going to love what we’ve done to the store.”

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      Two graduating seniors at Forest Hills Central High School, Kaden Lajoie and Carlene Sutherlund, were recently awarded scholarships as part of the Friends of the Cascade Library Memorial Scholarship Program. 

      The scholarship program recognizes students, primarily, for their volunteer work in the community, as well as their academic achievements and involvement in other extracurricular activities, according to Debbie Straub, scholarship chairperson.

      “These two students epitomize much of what is best and hopeful in this generation of students,” Straub said. “They seem to understand that a productive life involves more than just self-centered interests. They are willing to share their talents, ideas and enthusiasm to the benefit of their community and those most in need of assistance. This scholarship is just one small way of acknowledging and rewarding them.”

KADEN LAJOIE

      Kaden says he plans to major in orthotics and prosthetics at Eastern Michigan University in the fall. One of his teacher’s describes Kaden as an inclusive, highly involved individual whose “innate kindness and integrity” have a positive influence on all around him. 

      He is seen as a natural leader who extends himself beyond academic success to serve as an active member of student council, the National Honor Society, and the Science Olympiad. While all volunteer activities are valued and appreciated in a community, many of Kaden’s strike close to home, as he has been an active volunteer at the Cascade branch of the KDL system for the last year.

      “Kaden has been a volunteer at the Cascade branch since June 2024, first as a teen crew member and then as a branch teen volunteer,” explained Deb Schultz, KDL Volunteer Coordinator. “With more than 100 volunteer hours, he is on track to earn the President’s Volunteer Service Award, which is distributed yearly by the White House and endorsed by the President of the United States.”

      In his essay applying for the scholarship, Kaden said he has always loved stories. “In my hours spent at the library, I’ve found that the most meaningful stories aren’t found on the shelves but in the stories of the people in the building,” he said. He described the public library as “one of the last genuinely public spaces...a bridge between work or school or home where people can go to find community...a window into the lives of people from all corners of our community.”

CARLENE (CARLY) SUTHERLAND 

     While Carlene has likely made her final decision by now, at the time of her application she was planning on attending either the University of Michigan or Purdue University to major in Mechanical Engineering, with a focus on sustainable and renewable energy.

      One of Carly’s teachers describes her as genuine, with an honest love for learning and an amazing work ethic that extends into many roles, including the band’s Color Guard, co-president of the Politics and Current Events Club, founder of her own jewelry business, JV Girls’  lacrosse, Science Olympiad, a trainer at Culver’s and, most importantly to her, Junior Ambassador for the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation.

      In the latter role, Carly has consistently taken an active role in raising awareness about Type 1 diabetes to encourage involvement by others, according to Jillian Crane, development director for Breakthrough T1D Michigan & Northern Ohio.

      “Carly has participated in multiple ‘Promise to Remember Me’ campaigns, meeting with local Congress members to advocate for increased funding for T1D research,” she explained. “Her advocacy efforts have helped ensure that T1D remains a priority in local and national legislatures.”

      In her application essay, Carly said that it’s the small acts in how we treat others that create a positive impact in the lives we touch. “As a Type 1 Diabetes Youth Ambassador, I have given speeches at galas, met with congressional representatives, and cut the ribbon at fundraising walks. These moments are glamorous, and they mean the world to me, but it is the small acts behind the scenes that bring this world of mine to life. 

      “It is the letters I write to newly diagnosed diabetics in the aforementioned youth ambassador role. It is coaching learn-to-skate and doing snow angels with the kid who's sad about falling until they're back to giggling. It is chasing them around playfully until they can skate on their own. Seeing the pride on their face when they realize how far they've come. The small acts are the ones that make a difference."

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      Editor’s Note: Reviewing a book is a perilous adventure since we all have our own notions of what makes a book endearing, powerful and memorable. 

      Against my better judgement, I  will share my thoughts in this and future newsletters on books I have enjoyed over the years. Chances are you will have a distinctly different take on them than I do. But then, that’s what makes book discussions so much fun. So, if you have insights or opinions on the books, please feel free to share them with me at cascadefriends47@gmail.com.               --Joe David

      Before We Were Yours follows an increasingly familiar formula in modern storytelling, with one story taking place in the past and another in the present, with the two deeply interdependent upon one another. It is a historical novel that delves into a sinister practice at the end of the Great Depression: the kidnapping of young children to put up for adoption for profit.

      Rill Foss is the interlocutor of the story from the past. She is the oldest of five siblings who live a simple life in 1939 as riverboat nomads with their parents, Queenie and Briny. When Queenie suffers a difficult birthing process and Briny takes her to the hospital, the children are kidnapped by Georgia Tann—a real life villain of the time--and put into the Tennessee Children’s Home Society Orphanage. 

      The Fosses are a fictitious family that the author uses to emotionally convey the tragedy and trauma of real families that were victimized by Tann and her cohorts in the mid-20th century. 

      One of Fern's sisters, Camelia, gets killed in the orphanage while Lark, Fern and her brother, Gabion, are placed. Later on, as adults, they are reunited by the efforts of the grown-up version of a young boy Rill had protected in the orphanage. 

      In the present, the story is being told by Avery Shepard, the daughter of a senator and the descendant of a long line of blue bloods. She is living the life her parents have laid out for her and comes to realize, in the course of her pursuit of the truth about her family’s history, that that’s not what she wants. 

      Her Grandma, Betty, is in a senior care facility suffering from dementia, and Avery comes to learn, after a long investigation, that Betty is actually the fifth of the Foss children who was born on the night the other children were abducted. 

      The character development is rich and layered, and, if you’re like me, you feel as though you’re going to miss them at the conclusion of the story. The themes are plentiful and well-developed. The randomness of class distinctions is a strong theme. The incredible strength of family ties and, in particular, sisterly ties is another. The ubiquitous Southern-style racism of the times rears its ugly head.

      This is an incredibly well conceived and written story, and I believe it came even more to life for me because I listened to it as an audiobook and the readers were very effective in creating the characters and the emotional effects of what they had to endure.

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