Book returned to library after 99 years

An 81-year-old woman found an overdue library book checked out by her grandfather 99 years earlier.

Mary Cooper, of Ocean County, NJ, the US, was going through a box of items that had belonged to her mother when she came across the book, Home-Made Toys for Girls and Boys by A. Neely Hall and discovered it had been borrowed from the Ocean County Library in March 1926. Her grandfather, Charles Tilton had checked out the book a year before he died.

The Ocean County Library said the book’s return comes at a serendipitous time, as the library system is celebrating its 100th anniversary this year. The facility no longer imposes late fees, but jokingly estimated it would have racked up about $18,000 in fees over the past 99 years.

Rare eastern bongo born at Florida zoo

A Florida zoo announced the birth of an eastern bongo, a critically endangered antelope native to sub-Saharan Africa.

The Jacksonville Zoo and Gardens announced on social media that the male calf was born February 19 to first-time mother Cayenne.

“Both mother and calf are thriving, with the little one nursing well and growing stronger each day,” zoo officials wrote.

The zoo said eastern bongos are considered critically endangered, with their numbers dropping due to poaching and habitat loss.

“Each birth is a vital step toward their conservation,” the post said.

Japan’s 2.5 sq. ft. park named world’s smallest

A park in Nagaizumi, Japan, has been officially named the world’s smallest park, covering an area of just 2 1/2 square feet.

The park near Nagaizumi Town Hall, about an hour’s drive from Tokyo, was created in 1988 after a worker at the construction management division returned from a trip to the US. He had encountered Mill Ends Park in Portland, Ore., which previously held the record at 3.1 square feet, and wanted to create an even smaller one.

The park was completed in 1988, but the city didn’t bring in a Guinness World Records adjudicator to officially measure it until December. The Nagaizumi park has now been certified as the smallest in the world.

Published in Dawn, Young World, April 5th, 2025