On the Same Page

A Community Reading Event

Each winter we host a month long community reading event we call On the Same Page. Basically, we hand out hundreds of copies of a selected book and then spend a month exploring it through activities, lectures, concerts, and contests. Think of it as a county-wide book club. Read with your neighbors and friends, talk about what you read, and come and join in the fun.

February 2023

The Phantom of the Opera by Gaston Leroux

Your votes chose this classic!

We’ll have events throughout the month of February. All events are in the Community Room, unless otherwise noted in the event description.

Find The Phantom of the Opera in our catalog

Book and Kit Release!

Monday, JANUARY 23

Stop by the library for your free copy of Gaston Leroux’s The Phantom of the Opera. The first hundred people can also pick up a kit containing the novel, the reader’s guide, and some Phantom inspired goodies. One kit per household please. After the kits are gone, we may not be able to provide the goodies, but we’ll still have a few hundred books available and can give out reader’s guides and instructions for the activities as long as anyone’s interested.

Film Screening and Sing-Along!

Friday, February 3, at 7:00 pm

Put on your best operatic voice and belt out your favorite tunes from Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Phantom inspired musical, starring Gerard Butler and Emmy Rossum (PG-13).

We’ll show the movie with subtitles so you’ll know all the words.

Illuminating Crafts for All Ages

Saturday, February 11, at 2:00 PM

Come by to create something to bring a little light to your dark winter. We promise no chandeliers will fall.

The Inspiration for Gaston Leroux’s Gothic
Le Fantome De l’Opera

online only – Video below

While most audiences are familiar with Andrew Lloyd Webber’s musical, The Phantom of the Opera, Gaston Leroux’s 1910 source novel Le Fantôme de l’Opéra is a curious narrative based on an apocryphal myth. Cambridge-trained scholar, Raj Shah, has spent years studying this popular phantom legend.

BYU-Idaho English professor, Dr. Jacqueline Harris, shares Shah’s discoveries and explains how this story participated in the Gothic tradition long before it was adapted to the stage.

Bingo From a Twisted Mind

Cards Due Wednesday, February 22, by 8:00 pm

The patron with the most rows completed will win a sweet treat. In case of a tie, we’ll draw for the winner.

Click here to download your Bingo card, or pick one up from the Circulation Desk at the library.

Open Book Discussion with the Take a Break Book Club

Thursday, February 23, at 6:30 pm

Join us for an open and informal discussion of The Phantom of the Opera.

The Silent Scream: Screening of the 1925 Film

Friday, February 24, at 7:00 pm

Join us at the Romance Theatre where the original 1925 film of Phantom of the Opera would have played. Jim Clark will bring his Wurlitzer organ and original score to the film to provide us with an evening no one will forget.

The Madison Library Foundation (our Friends of the Library group) will be conducting a SILENT AUCTION that night starting at 6:00 PM in the lobby of the Romance Theater! Come bid on some excellent items donated by our local businesses.

All proceeds go to help the library with programming, collections, and computers!

Reader’s Guide

First published in French as a serial in 1909, The Phantom of the Opera is a riveting story that revolves around the young, Swedish Christine Daaé. Her father, a famous musician, dies, and she is raised in the Paris Opera House with his dying promise of a protective angel of music to guide her. After a time at the opera house, she begins hearing a voice, who eventually teaches her how to sing beautifully. All goes well until Christine’s childhood friend Raoul comes to visit his brother, who is a patron of the opera, and he sees Christine when she begins successfully singing on the stage. The voice, who is the deformed, murderous ‘ghost’ of the opera house named Erik, however, grows violent in his terrible jealousy, until Christine suddenly disappears. The phantom is in love, but it can only spell disaster.

Learn More About Gaston Leroux and The Phantom of the Opera

The Angel of Music spying on Christine and Raoul

Reader’s Guides

Here are some of our previous reader’s guides from past years’ events:

Find All the OTSP Books in Our Catalog

Winnie-the-Pooh by A.A. Milne (2022)

Winnie-the-Pooh is a good-natured, yellow-furred, honey-loving bear who lives in the Forest surrounding the Hundred Acre Wood. His companions are Eeyore, a gloomy gray donkey; Piglet, a timid pig; Owl, a pontificating bird; the meddlesome Rabbit; and Kanga, an energetic kangaroo whose inquisitive baby, Roo, lives in her pouch. Along with their boy, Christopher Robin, these friends have many adventures together.

Persuasion by Jane Austen (2021)

Anne Elliot is the overlooked middle daughter of an aristocratic family who rejected Frederick Wentworth’s proposal of marriage becuase of his poor social standing and connections. When he returns years later, Anne must confront the life she left behind.

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.

A Photo Expotition!

Entries due by Noon, Tuesday, February 22

Join Christopher Robin and friends on a further expotition by seeing how many of these things you can find and photograph. We’ll want to see you in the photo as well! Make sure you have your name, phone number, and library card number visible. We’ll announce the winner at the birthday party on February 25^th.

See if you can get a photo of each of the following items:

1. Someone in a tight place
2. A birthday cake
3. A hive
4. A tail
5. A jar of honey
6. A balloon
7. Someone covered in mud
8. A boggy place
9. Six trees (preferably pine)
10. A pit (either for a hefflelump or of sand)
11. An umbrella
12. A friend or relation of Rabbit
13. A thorny bush
14. A “No Trespassing” or “Trespassers Will…” sign
15. A door knocker
16. A bell pull
17. A wash tub
18. A high chair
19. Footprints in the snow
20. A picnic

Regular Hours of Operation

Monday – Thursday: 9:00 am – 8:00 pm
Friday: 10:00 am – 6:00 pm
Saturday: 10:00 am – 4:00 pm
Sunday: CLOSED

Closures in 2023

January 2 – New Year’s
January 16 – Martin Luther King, Jr., Day
February 20 – President’s Day
March 24 – Staff Development Day
April 1 – Closed for Maintenance
May 27-29 – Memorial Day
June 19 – Juneteenth
July 4 – Independence Day
September 2-4 – Labor Day
September 22 - Staff Development Day
October 7 – Closed for Maintenance
November 10-11 – Veteran’s Day
November 22 – Closing at 5:00 pm
November 23-25 – Thanksgiving
December 23-26 – Christmas
December 30-31, 2023 – New Year’s
January 1, 2024 – New Year’s Day

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