On the Same Page
A Community Reading Event
February 2021
Persuasion by Jane Austen
Your votes chose this classic!
Book & Activity Kit Release!
FRIDAY, JANUARY 29, at our curbside pickup
Doily Notecard Craft Available
Monday, February 8, at our Curbside pickup
“Persuasion’s Alternate Ending:”
How Jane Austen Rewrote Romance in Her Last Novel
Wednesday, February 17, Via our YouTube Channel
Join BYU-Idaho English Professor Jacqueline Harris as she helps us understand how Austen’s Persuasion differs from her other novels, what she changed about the heroine, the concept of romance, marriage ideals, and the original discarded ending.
Open Book Discussion
Thursday, February 18, Via Zoom
The Passcode is “Austen”
Regency Dance Lesson
Friday, February 26, Via YouTube
Regency Ball and Concert
Friday, February 26, Via YouTube
Selfie Scavenger Hunt
Entries Due by Noon, Monday, February 22
CLICK HERE FOR A LIST OF ITEMS TO SEARCH FOR
A Good Long Walk
Logs due by noon, Monday, February 22
As all Austen readers know, her characters are champion walkers. Whatever the novel, the heroine will at some point go on a good, long walk. Persuasion is no exception as all the younger folk at Uppercross head over the hills to stretch their legs. We’re going to take the outing a bit further and take the major journeys of the novel on foot as well. You can decide how much you’re willing to take on and which direction you’d like to go. Feel like some time by the sea? It’s 17 miles to Lyme Regis. Spend your month there if you’d like. Do you prefer the society of Bath? That’s a little longer journey at 47 miles. Enjoy the concerts and parties! If you’re really just wanting to walk and then walk some more, you could walk to Lyme Regis and from there to Bath for a total of 77 miles. Don’t worry, you can send for a carriage at any time.
It doesn’t matter which destination you select. Anyone turning their log in before noon on Monday, February 22, will be entered into a drawing for a volume containing all of Jane Austen’s works.
An Evening Party
How to Play Whist
Reader’s Guide
Persuasion is the last novel fully completed by Jane Austen. It was published at the end of 1817, six months after her death. The story concerns Anne Elliot, a young Englishwoman of twenty-seven years, whose family moves to lower their expenses and reduce their debt by renting their home to an Admiral and his wife. The wife’s brother, Navy Captain Frederick Wentworth, was engaged to Anne in 1806, but the engagement was broken when Anne was “persuaded” by her friends and family to end their relationship. Anne and Captain Wentworth, both single and unattached, meet again after a eight-year separation, setting the scene for many humorous encounters as well as a second, well-considered chance at love and marriage for Anne in her second “bloom”.
Reader’s Guides
Here are some of our previous reader’s guides from past years’ events:
Peter Pan by J. M. Barrie (2020)
A free-spirited and mischievous young boy who can fly and never grows up, Peter Pan spends his never-ending childhood having adventures with his friends on the mythical island of Neverland.
The Scarlet Pimpernel by Emmuska Orczy (2019)
Armed with only his wits and his cunning, one man recklessly defies the French revolutionaries and rescues scores of innocent men, women, and children from the deadly guillotine.
Just So Stories by Rudyard Kipling (2018)
The delightful tales of whales and cats and kangaroos and crabs and …. Enchanting and funny, these fantastical stories continue to delight each and every generation.
Murder on the Orient Express by Agatha Christie (2017)
On the fabled Orient Express, thirteen travelers, each bearing a secret, will find themselves suspect in the most ingenious crime Hercule Poirot has ever solved.
A Room With a View by E.M. Forster (2016)
The enduring delight of this tale of Edwardian romantic intrigue is rooted in Forster’s colorful characters, including outrageous spinsters, pompous clergymen, and outspoken patriots.


Selfie Scavenger Hunt
Entries due by Noon, Monday, February 22
See if you can get a photo of each of the following items:
1 – Tea Pot
2 – “Great House”
3 – Ship
4 – Letter
5 – Calling Card
6 – Seagull
7 – Stile
8 – Stone Steps
9 – Cast Limb
10 – Horse
11 – Concert Hall
12 – Dam, Dike, or Jetty
13 – Volume of Poetry
14 – People Playing Cards
15 – Concert Hall
Limited Hours Starting February 10
- Monday and Tuesday: 9:00 am – 5:00 pm
- Wednesday & Thursday: 12:00 pm – 8:00 pm
- Friday: 10:00 am to 6:00 pm
- Saturday & Sunday: CLOSED
Library Building is OPEN
NO Curbside Pickup
(Book Drop is OPEN)
Closures in 2021
- January 1 – New Year’s
- January 18 – Martin Luther King, Jr., Day
- February 15 – President’s Day
- March 26 – Staff Development Day
- April 3 – Closed for Maintenance
- May 29-31 – Memorial Day
- July 5 – Independence Day
- September 4-6 – Labor Day
- October 2 – Closed for Maintenance
- November 11 – Veteran’s Day
- November 24 – Closing at 5 pm
- November 25-26 – Thanksgiving
- December 24-27 – Christmas
- December 31, 2020 – January 1, 2021 – New Year’s
Address
73 North Center
Rexburg, Idaho 83440
We are located on Center Street, just north of Main Street, by the Historic Rexburg Tabernacle.
Contact Us
(208) 356-3461
24 Hour Phone Renewal: (208) 356-6658
askmadisonlibrary@madisonlib.org