If it weren’t for a serendipitous interaction with a library director, the Lake Forest Library’s head librarian for the past 27 years, Kaye Grabbe, might never have joined the profession.

“The Hundred-Year House,” a novel by Lake Forest author Rebecca Makkai, about an artists’ colony on the North Shore that has a similar architecture and history to Ragdale, the artists’ residency in Lake Forest that has been around for over 35 years, and Yaddo, an artists’ retreat in Saratoga Springs, New York, was selected as the title for this year’s “Lake Forest Reads: Ragdale,” a month-long, community-wide reading program presented by the Lake Forest Library in which a title is selected from authors affiliated with Ragdale.

Every year for the past 40 years, hundreds, if not thousands, of Lake Foresters have unpacked upwards of 4,000 donated boxes of books, and sorted, priced and re-boxed them so they could be eventually re-sold to the public in arguably one of the largest used book sales on the North Shore.

Lake Forest resident Rebecca Makkai has published two novels, “The Borrower” and “The Hundred-Year House,” and a short story collection, “Music for Wartime.” She grew up in Lake Bluff and attended Lake Forest Academy (‘95)

Her novel, “The Hundred-Year House,” was selected for this year’s Lake Forest Reads: Ragdale Program, which will take place in October. Presented by the Lake Forest Library, this program encourages the Lake Forest community to read one book by a writer affiliated with the artists’ residency Ragdale.

As farm animal puppets came to life, children sat with their eyes glued to Mister Kipley. 

With a combination of music, puppetry and magic, Mister Kipley created an engaging children’s performance on July 9 at the Lake Forest Library. As Mister Kipley played his guitar and talked through his puppets, he turned the Children’s Activity Room in the Lake Forest Library into a puppet-palooza.