Learn How to Use Your New Toys

Did you get a cool new electronic gadget for Christmas and feel a little lost about using it? Fear not. The Library has all sorts of new books to teach you how to use Nooks, iPads, and Droids, oh my!

Just this week we received:

The Nook Book: an unofficial guide

My Droid

Blackberry for Dummies

Droid 3 for Dummies

My iPad 2

iPad For Kids

Come on in and check out the display.

Our Very Own "Best of" List Is Now Available

Make sure to pick up a copy of the Librarians' Choice 2011. It is a list of the books, DVDs, and audiobooks of 2011 that we enjoyed the most. If you can't make it in, here is a virtual copy for you. Let us know if you agree or disagree with our choices.

2011 Librarians’ Choice

A Crimson Warning by Tasha Alexander The Peachkeeper by Sarah Addison Allen The Provence Cure for the Brokenhearted by Bridget Asher The Reapers are Angels by Alden Bell Dead or Alive by Tom Clancy The Drop by Michael Connelly Miss Timmins’ School for Girls by Nayama Currimbhoy  Poser: My life in 23 Yoga poses by Claire Dederer The Sisters Brothers by Patrick deWitt The Language of Flowers by Vanessa Diffenbaugh Anniversary Man by Roger Ellory Bossypants by Tina Fey A Place of Yes by Bethenny Frankel Bone House by Brian Freeman Love You More by Lisa Gardner American Heiress by Daisy Goodwin Afraid of the Dark by James Grippando The Litigators by John Grisham The Magician King by Lev Grossman The Art of Fielding by Chad Harbach Discovery of Witches by Deborah Harkness The Dovekeepers by Alice Hoffman Dead Like You by Peter James Boy in the Suitcase by Lene Kaaberol Sideways on a Scooter by Miranda Kennedy Cypress House by Michael Koryta Aftertime by Sophie Littlefield Sister by Rosamund Lupton The Illusion of Murder by Carol McCleary The Good Daughters by Joyce Maynard The Sandalwood Tree by Elle Newmark Delirious by Daniel Palmer I Think I Love You by Allison Pearson On Borrowed Time by David Rosenfelt The Death Instinct by Jed Rubenfeld Buried Prey by John Sandford Conquistadora by Esmeralda Santiago Revenge of the Radioactive Lady by Elizabeth Stuckey-French French Lessons by Ellen Sussman Rules of Civility by Amor Towles Rise Again by Ben Tripp Audiobooks Bossypants by Tina Fey Stories I only Tell My Friends by Rob Lowe Warm Bodies by Isaac Marion DVDs Ondine Sherlock; Season 1 Walking Dead Zen

Calling All Book Groups

The Dover Public Library gets regular inquiries from individuals looking to join local book discussion groups so we are compiling a list of area book clubs to help facilitate this participation. We have put together a survey, and hope that you will take a moment to fill it out. Thank you for your participation and stay tuned for the list!

Saturday Matinees at the Library

Saturday Matinees will resume on Jan. 7th at 2:00pm with a showing of Kung Fu Panda 2. Here is the line-up for January:

Saturday, Jan 7 @ 2:00pm: Kung Fu Panda II, rated PG.
Saturday, Jan. 14 @ 2:00pm: Glee: The Concert, rated PG.
Saturday, Jan. 21 @ 2:00pm:Dolphin Tale, rated PG.
Saturday, Jan. 28 @ 2:00pm:Real Steel, rated PG13.

All movies are shown in the Library Lecture Hall.
BYOP: Bring your own popcorn!

All are welcome.

Who's That Lady in Red?

Guess what? Mrs.Santa is assisting at the DPL today while waiting for the big night.

The Teens are All Right

The best of lists have begun! I look forward to the best of 2011 book lists because, even though I might not agree with them all, it makes for interesting perusing--and I usually find a gem that I somehow missed during the year. NPR had a very interesting list called "The Teens are All Right: 2011's Top YA Novels". The library has 4 of the titles on the list (the 5th is on order) and they have all been very popular:

• Anna Dress in Blood by Kendare Blake (love the cover)


• Divergent by Veronica Roth (this one gets 5 stars from our readers)


• So Silver Bright by Lisa Mantchev (on order)


• The Scorpio Races by Maggie Stiefvater (can't go wrong with Maggie)


• Ashfall by Mike Mullin (post-apocalyptic fiction is very popular right now)

A Father's Wish for his Sons

A father came in last night looking for a poem. He said the poem was written by Rudyard Kipling and was about becoming a man. He said his father had always had a copy of the poem displayed in his house, and now he  wanted a copy of the poem for his own sons. I thought it was such a lovely idea that I wanted to share the poem with you all.

     If
by Rudyard Kipling

If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,
But make allowance for their doubting too;
If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,
Or being lied about, don't deal in lies,
Or being hated, don't give way to hating,
And yet don't look too good, nor talk too wise:

If you can dream - and not make dreams your master;
If you can think - and not make thoughts your aim;
If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster
And treat those two impostors just the same;
If you can bear to hear the truth you've spoken
Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,
Or watch the things you gave your life to, broken,
And stoop and build 'em up with worn-out tools:

If you can make one heap of all your winnings
And risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss,
And lose, and start again at your beginnings
And never breathe a word about your loss;
If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew
To serve your turn long after they are gone,
And so hold on when there is nothing in you
Except the Will which says to them: 'Hold on!'

If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,
' Or walk with Kings - nor lose the common touch,
if neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you,
If all men count with you, but none too much;
If you can fill the unforgiving minute
With sixty seconds' worth of distance run,
Yours is the Earth and everything that's in it,
And - which is more - you'll be a Man, my son!

New Early Literacy Station!

Thanks to The Friends of the Dover Public Library, the Children's Room now has a new computer station for our young patrons. The Early Literacy Station is a self-contained educational computer for children ages 2-8. This easy to use system allows the child to select from a wide range of carefully chosen programs (represented by the cartoon-like icons) by clicking the child-sized mouse or by touching the screen.

As soon as the computer was set up in the Children's Room (we just had to plug it in!), three librarians were trying it out when a young patron asked, "Can I try that?". She quickly found her way to "Dora's World Adventure" and had no problem figuring things out. I have a feeling that our young patrons will be teaching us how to navigate the 50+ programs that cover 7 subject areas--Math, Science, Social Studies, Reading, Writing, Music & Art, and Reference!

Death Comes to Pemberley

I was thrilled to hear that P.D. James, at age 91, had come out with a new novel, and I was even more excited when I saw the title--"Death Comes to Pemberley". This novel is a mash-up of a couple of my favorite things, P.D. James and Jane Austen. It is the 200th anniversary of Austen's debut in print and so there have been a host of books written about her, about her characters, modernizations of her novels, etc. but The New York Times Book Review feels that P.D. James has done it with style. P. D. James..."is far too wise to overstep her authorial license. Her innovation has been to transplant the dramatis personae from Austen into her own suspenseful universe, preserving their likenesses and life force. James clearly understands that many readers feel as close an attachment to Austen’s characters as they do to their own relatives and friends. So she cannily begins by furnishing answers to the natural question: “Where are they now?” " The book begins 6 years into the marriage of Lizzy and Darcy and updates us on all of the relations involved. Of course, because it is P.D. James, there is a murder. I can't wait to sit by the fire with a cup of tea and catch up on everything happening at Pemberley.

Librarian wins Punctuation Contest!

I adore punctuation (and, as as my staff knows, correcting punctuation!). Thus, a Chicago librarian is my new hero! September 24 was National Punctuation Day (who knew?), and NPD organizers held a contest: write one three-sentence paragraph that included 13 separate punctuation marks: apostrophe, brackets, colon, comma, dash, ellipsis, exclamation point, hyphen, parentheses, period, question mark, quotation mark, and semicolon.

Ann Heinrichs, a part-time librarian at the Poetry Foundation, wrote this winner:

"Get that [*******] animal off my keyboard!" he roared---apparently abandoning his (short-lived) enthusiasm for her new kitten. Clearly, the honeymoon was over: first, the tantrum over hairs in the sink; next, the brouhaha about the napkin rings; and now, the paroxysm aimed at Tippy. Jenny's mind raced over her options: Should she leave him...or should she kill him?

Utterly clever...I just love this!

More New eBooks

New Hampshire Downloadable Books has a ordered more new eBooks!

Title	Author(s)
The 19th Wife	David Ebershoff
Aftertime	Sophie Littlefield
Anarchy and Old Dogs	Colin Cotterill
The Angel Makers	Jessica Gregson
Ashes of the Earth	Eliot Pattison
Ashfall	Mike Mullin
The Associate	John Grisham
At Last Comes Love	Mary Balogh
Bad Boys Do	Victoria Dahl
Black Notice	Patricia Cornwell
Bookmarked For Death	Lorna Barrett
Breaking Dawn	Stephenie Meyer
The Brethren	John Grisham
The Cat, The Professor and the Poison	Leann Sweeney
Catherine the Great	Robert K. Massie
The Chamber	John Grisham
The City & The City	China Mieville
The Coroner's Lunch	Colin Cotterill
Curse of the Pogo Stick	Colin Cotterill
The Dead and the Gone	Susan Beth Pfeffer
Desired	Nicola Cornick
Disco for the Departed	Colin Cotterill
Dockside	Susan Wiggs
Eleven Days	Donald Harstad
Enchanted Afternoon	Susan Wiggs
Explosive Eighteen	Janet Evanovich
Galore	Michael Crummey
The Girl She Used to Be	David Cristofano
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo	Stieg Larsson
The Goddess Test	Aimée Carter
God's Spy	Juan Gomez-Jurado
The Goodbye Quilt	Susan Wiggs
Grace Under Pressure	Julie Hyzy
Halfway to Heaven	Susan Wiggs
Hammered (With Bonus Content)	Kevin Hearne
The Handmaid's Tale	Margaret Atwood
The Heart of Christmas	Mary Balogh
Hedy's Folly	Richard Rhodes
Hexed	Kevin Hearne
Home Before Dark	Susan Wiggs
The Horsemaster’s Daughter	Susan Wiggs
Hounded (with Bonus Content)	Kevin Hearne
If You're Reading This, It's Too Late	Pseudonymous Bosch
The Last Juror	John Grisham
Life As We Knew It	Susan Beth Pfeffer
Love Songs from a Shallow Grave	Colin Cotterill
The Merry Misogynist	Colin Cotterill
Murder Is Binding	Lorna Barrett
The Name of this Book Is Secret	Pseudonymous Bosch
The Next Always	Nora Roberts
Notorious	Nicola Cornick
Orchards	Holly Thompson
Oryx and Crake	Margaret Atwood
Pearl Harbor Christmas	Stanley Weintraub
Perdido Street Station	China Mieville
Real Men Will	Victoria Dahl
Rebirth	Sophie Littlefield
The Rose Garden	Susanna Kearsley
The Scarpetta Factor	Patricia Cornwell
The Scottish Prisoner	Diana Gabaldon
Simply Magic	Mary Balogh
Slash and Burn	Colin Cotterill
Snowfall at Willow Lake	Susan Wiggs
Steampunk!	Kelly Link, Gavin J. Grant
The Street Lawyer	John Grisham
A Summer Affair	Susan Wiggs
Survivors	Sophie Littlefield
Thirty-Three Teeth	Colin Cotterill
This Book Is Not Good For You	Pseudonymous Bosch
This World We Live In	Susan Beth Pfeffer
Tout Sweet	Karen Wheeler
"U" is for Undertow	Sue Grafton
Un Lun Dun	China Mieville
The Virgin's Secret	Victoria Alexander,
When the Devil Holds the Candle	Karin Fossum, Felicity David
The You I Never Knew	Susan Wiggs
You Only Love Twice	Elizabeth Thornton

 
Thanks to Merrily for compiling the list of titles.

Memoirs of a Geisha (I mean Goldfish!)

I was thrilled to see that Memoirs of a Goldfish by Devin Scillian won the Ladybug Picture Book Award for 2011. Each year a list of 10 nominees is chosen by librarians, and preschoolers to third graders get to vote on their favorite. I usually read through the nominated books in order to help me pick books for the kids on my holiday list. I really enjoyed several on the list--such as Ugly Pie, Hibernation Station, and The Cow Loves Cookies--but Memoirs of a Goldfish was my favorite, as well as my 4 year old sons. The book is charming, funny, and has nice message to boot!

Horror Stories for Books

Thanks to the Swiss Army Librarian for finding this clever cartoon. It seemed particularly apt after watching the Library's copy of The Help.I missed all those marvelous character building details that had to be sacrificed to fit a 451 page book into a 2 hour movie. Don't get me wrong, great movie, just not as satisfying as the book.

Library Users Buy Books! There's Proof!

Publishers Weekly recently reported on a survey conducted by Library Journal which concludes that libraries are a powerful economic engine for the book business. Anecdotally, we've always believed this, and we've scoffed when publishers claimed that sales to libraries cut their profits because people would borrow books instead of buying them. Nonsense!
In fact, libraries BOOST book sales. Over 50% of library users report purchasing books by an author they were introduced to in the library! The survey confirmed that public libraries are an active partner with the publishing industry in building the book and e-book markets.
Plus, in addition to the billions of $$$ libraries spend buying books for their collections, these books in turn spur individual readers to buy more books. With the release of this survey, "publishers now have the first really broad, deep look at what library users do with books...and perhaps more importantly---what library users do with their wallets outside of libraries."
Library users are avid readers, listeners, and talkers, and the library is an important part of a rich ecosystem of cultural exchange that is seamlessly connected to the publishing marketplace.
PW's accompanying charts of data are also very enlightening. If you'd like to read the whole article, ask for the October 31 Publishers Weekly issue at the circulation desk!

Cowboys and Aliens

I just watched Cowboys and Aliens and loved it. Its perfect for the western fan who likes Science Fiction and the SF lover who likes westerns. Slimy green Aliens invade frontier era western U.S. seeking gold, and humans to experiment on. Daniel Craig and Harrison Ford are determined to head them off at the pass. The movie starts off with a bang with a funny shootout. Great fun entertainment, put your hold on it now!

Urban Farm

The Library has just subscribed to Urban Farm, a magazine for people living in the city or suburbs who are interested in raising their own food and living sustainably. Some of the topics Urban Farm has covered include goat and sheep care, keeping chickens, making your own bread, gardening in the shade, growing plants in a greenhouse, creating your own root cellar, growing herbs, making frozen jams, hydroponics, and raising bees. There is something to interest just about everyone. Make sure to take a look next time you are in the Library.

A Staff Pick

The Librarians have been passing the Language of Flowers by Vanessa Diffenbaugh around and we all loved it. I was drawn to it because of the aspect of magical realism. The main character, Victoria, has built a successful florist business because of her uncanny skill with the language of flowers. She can assemble a bouquet that reignites lost passion, or inspires happiness even in a moody teenage girl. Victoria becomes highly sought after by brides who want not only a beautiful bouquet, but one that has significance and will have an affect on the marriage. Victoria is not the dreamy romantic you would expect in someone well versed in the language of flowers. She is a scarred, scared product of the foster care system filled with hatred and mistrust. The first bouquet she gave after learning about the language of flowers was a thistle which signifies misanthropy. You will root (no pun intended) for Victoria to overcome her bitter past and accept the love that is offered to her.

Fascinating details about the language of flowers are sprinkled throughout the book. You may have to choose another favorite flower after learning peonies indicate anger and yellow roses mean infidelity. How about some tulips, a declaration of love?

Christmas with Mother Goose

For the 2nd year, the staff at the Dover Public Library decorated a tree for the Festival of Trees (held last Friday night). This year, our theme was "Christmas with Mother Goose" and we featured ornaments and streamers from dozens of classic nursery rhymes. Featured on long garlands were The Three Little Kittens (and their lost mittens), Hickory Dickory Dock (plus all the running mice), Humpty Dumpty (accompanied by all the king's horses and all the king's men), Jack and Jill (tumbling down the tree with pails), and Little Bo Peep (and of course her sheep). Our tree topper was a bedazzled Mother Goose exorting everyone to "Believe!" and watching over all her rhyming characters.

We were thrilled when this year's high bidder at the silent auction decided to donate the tree back to the Library where it could be viewed by everyone. What a thoughtful gesture! And we are very grateful to now have the Mother Goose Tree on display in the Children's Room for the holiday season. Come in and see how many nursery rhymes you can recognize and recite! Thanks so much, Anne K., for your generosity!

Fascinating Read

As the 100th anniversary of the Titanic disaster approaches (April 14, 2012), expect to see many new books being released to commemorate this historic event. The innumerable stories written about the disaster, whether fact or fiction, have always been fascinating to adults and children alike.

I have just finished reading the latest addition to the Children's Room collection, Titanic Sinks! by Barry Denenberg and let me tell you I couldn't put it down. The book is filled with photographs, eyewitness accounts, actual newspaper articles from Modern Times: Your World Illustrated and more but what I found most fascinating was the journal kept by S. F. Vanni, the chief correspondent of the Modern Times, who was a passenger/reporter on the Titanic. Vanni's notes begin as the Titanic leaves port and continues until the ship is sinking (his last line was "It's t"). His waterlogged journal was salvaged and preserved. This is its first appearance and it is presented unedited.

As the book's dust jacket blurb states, "This is the ultimate ''you are there" experience---welcome aboard!"

My New Favorite Web Site

I recently discovered a web site that I am very excited about--the International Children's Digital Library. This site is FREE and includes 4,500 book in 54 languages. The web site is super easy to use and you can search for English language books within a specified age range. Just click on a book and start reading. You don't have to sign up for an account unless you want to keep a personalized bookshelf and set other personal preferences. It is so wonderful to be able to read stories from different countries since they would be near to impossible to find if you were looking for them, and they wouldn't be translated. This is truly a gem!

More New eBooks

New Hampshire Downloadable Books has a ordered a big batch of new eBooks!

Title	Author(s)
The 19th Wife	David Ebershoff
Allergic to Camping, Hiking, and Other Natural Disasters	Lenore Look, LeUyen Pham
Allergic to Dead Bodies, Funerals, and Other Fatal Circumstances	Lenore Look, LeUyen Pham
Allergic to Girls, School, and Other Scary Things	Lenore Look, LeUyen Pham
Allergic to Science Projects, Birthday Parties, and Other Man-made Catastrophes	Lenore Look, LeUyen Pham
Anne Perry's Christmas Vigil	Anne Perry
The Appeal	John Grisham
At Last Comes Love	Mary Balogh
Bad Taste in Boys	Carrie Harris
Barrel Fever	David Sedaris
Big Nate	Lincoln Peirce
Big Nate Out Loud	Lincoln Peirce
Bite	Laurell K. Hamilton, Charlaine Harris, MaryJanice Davidson, Angela Knight, Vickie Taylor
Black Notice	Patricia Cornwell
Blackout	Connie Willis
Blow Fly	Patricia Cornwell
Blue Nights	Joan Didion
Bones	Jonathan Kellerman
Book of the Dead	Patricia Cornwell
The Bourne Betrayal	Eric Van Lustbader
The Bourne Deception	Robert Ludlum, Eric Van Lustbader
The Bourne Objective	Eric Van Lustbader
The Bourne Sanction	Eric Van Lustbader
The Boy in the Suitcase	Lene Kaaberbol, Agnete Friis
The Broker	John Grisham
The Butcher's Theater	Jonathan Kellerman
Catherine the Great	Robert K. Massie
The Charm School	Susan Wiggs
The Client	John Grisham
A Cold Heart	Jonathan Kellerman
Compulsion	Jonathan Kellerman
Crave	Melissa Darnell
Deception	Jonathan Kellerman
Demons Are a Girl's Best Friend	Linda Wisdom
Dive Right In	Matt Christopher
Dockside	Susan Wiggs
Don't Look Back	Amanda Quick
Eleventh Grade Burns	Heather Brewer
Empire Falls	Richard Russo
Eragon	Christopher Paolini
Evidence	Jonathan Kellerman
Explosive Eighteen	Janet Evanovich
A Field Guide to Burying Your Parents	Liza Palmer
Finding Somewhere	Joseph Monninger
The Firebrand	Susan Wiggs
The Firm	John Grisham
First Kill	Heather Brewer
Fledgling	Mark A. Cooper
Flesh and Blood	Jonathan Kellerman
Future Perfect	Suzanne Brockmann
The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest	Stieg Larsson
The Heart of Christmas	Mary Balogh, Nicola Cornick, Courtney Milan
Highland Heat	Mary Wine
Home Again	Kristin Hannah
Horrid Henry	Francesca Simon, Tony Ross
The Hostage	Susan Wiggs
The House on Tradd Street	Karen White
Ice Magic	Matt Christopher
In Bed with a Highlander	Maya Banks
Inheritance	Christopher Paolini
The Iron Daughter	Julie Kagawa
The Iron Queen	Julie Kagawa
Judas Horse	April Smith
Juliet	Anne Fortier
Larklight	Philip Reeve, David Wyatt
The Last Precinct	Patricia Cornwell
Late for the Wedding	Amanda Quick
The Life and Times of the Thunderbolt Kid	Bill Bryson
The Litigators	John Grisham
The London Eye Mystery	Siobhan Dowd
The Lost Symbol	Dan Brown
Many Bloody Returns	Charlaine Harris
Mercy	Jodi Picoult
The Midwife's Confession	Diane Chamberlain
Millie's Fling	Jill Mansell
Mistletoe Mine	Emily March
The Mistress	Susan Wiggs
Mr. & Mrs. Fitzwilliam Darcy: Two Shall Become One	Sharon Lathan
Mrs. Jeffries and the Mistletoe Mix-Up	Emily Brightwell
My Name Is Mina	David Almond
Mystery	Jonathan Kellerman
Nanjing Requiem	Ha Jin
Never Love a Highlander	Maya Banks
The Next Always	Nora Roberts
The Night Circus	Erin Morgenstern
Obsession	Jonathan Kellerman
The Paid Companion	Amanda Quick
Pearl Harbor Christmas	Stanley Weintraub
The Perfect Poison	Amanda Quick
Picture Perfect	Jodi Picoult
A Plain & Fancy Christmas	Cynthia Keller
Point of Origin	Patricia Cornwell
Poppy Done to Death	Charlaine Harris
Predator	Patricia Cornwell
"Q" is for Quarry	Sue Grafton
"R" is for Ricochet	Sue Grafton
Roses	Leila Meacham
Run for Your Life	James Patterson, Michael Ledwidge
The Runaway Jury	John Grisham
"S" is for Silence	Sue Grafton
Sally's Bones	MacKenzie Cadenhead
Scarpetta	Patricia Cornwell
The Scarpetta Factor	Patricia Cornwell
Scored	Lauren McLaughlin
The Shadows	Jacqueline West
Shopaholic & Baby	Sophie Kinsella
The Sight	David Clement-Davies
Simply Love	Mary Balogh
Simply Magic	Mary Balogh
Simply Perfect	Mary Balogh
Skellig	David Almond
Skipping Christmas	John Grisham
Slightly Shady	Amanda Quick
Snowfall at Willow Lake	Susan Wiggs
Spellbound	Cara Lynn Shultz
Staying at Daisy's	Jill Mansell
Step on a Crack	James Patterson, Michael Ledwidge
Summer at Willow Lake	Susan Wiggs
Survival of the Fittest	Jonathan Kellerman
"T" is for Trespass	Sue Grafton
To the Moon and Back	Jill Mansell
Tout Sweet	Karen Wheeler
Trace	Patricia Cornwell
The Trouble with Mr. Darcy	Sharon Lathan
Twelfth Grade Kills	Heather Brewer
Twelve Drummers Drumming	C. C. Benison
"U" is for Undertow	Sue Grafton
Unleashed	Nancy Holder, Debbie Viguie
Unnatural Exposure	Patricia Cornwell
A Walk in the Woods	Bill Bryson
Water Wars	Cameron Stracher
White Shotgun	April Smith
A Wicked Lord at the Wedding	Jillian Hunter
The Winter Lodge	Susan Wiggs
Wish You Were Here	Phillipa Ashley
Wolfsbane	Andrea Cremer
The Year of Magical Thinking	Joan Didion

Thanks to Merrily for compiling the list of titles.

Holiday Spirit

Help us to help others during this holiday season. The Library is once again sponsoring Food for Fines to benefit local Dover food banks. We will take $.50 off your fines for each item donated. Donations will be accepted through 4pm, December 20th. Sorry, donations may not be used to pay for "lost" items or as credit towards future fines. Don't have any fines? You can always just donate items!

Read Early, Read Often

Reading aloud to children has been called the single most important activity. The best time to begin reading to your child is when he or she is an infant. Did you realize if you spend an average of 1 hr. reading and talking to your child daily, their vocabulary will increase by 8,000 to 10,000 words?

Here are a few of our favorite board books:
Tickle, Tickle by Helen Oxenbury
Trains by Byron Barton
Do you want to be my friend? by Eric Carle
My First Mother Goose by Tomie Depaola
Time for Bed by Mem Fox
I Like it When by Mary Murphy

Happy Thanksgiving

The Library will be closed Thursday and Friday in celebration of Thanksgiving. We are open on Saturday from 9-5. We will be showing a free Saturday matinee, Spy Kids: All the Time in the World, in the lecture hall at 2pm.

Putting It in Perspective

I read an interesting tidbit in this month's Food Network Magazine that may be of interest to those of you cringing at the thought of having to prepare huge holiday feasts. Food historian Kathleen Wall says the first Thanksgiving wasn't easy. "If you think your turkey dinner is a lot of work, try re-creating the first one: you'd have to feed 140 people over 3 days with no electricity." And your kitchen would be so dark and smokey that you would hardly be able to see the food.

Kind of puts it all in perspective, doesn't it?

The End of the World...Again.

So just when we think it is all over for the freaky little old preacher of doom in California, I mean, come on, he got the end date wrong twice this year; the Mayans step in. I am reading a book called Mayan December by Brenda Cooper. According to the Mayan calendar, the end of the world is December 21, 2012. Cooper's novel is an account of the odd events leading up to Dec 21 that happen to Archeoastronomer Dr.Alice Cameron and her 11 yr old daughter Nixie. Cameron is visiting the Yucatan Peninsula  for a conference. While she is there, time seems to be overlapping. Her daughter Nixie appears to be a catalyst. Why is this happening? I don't know yet- I haven't finished the book. What I do know is that we've go another year to prepare and I hope that's it for doomsday predictions. These end of the world celebrations are hard on my liver.

Listen Up!

If you are looking for a good listen, try The Bucolic Plague by Josh Kilmer-Purcell. This audiobook tells the amusing story of two guys from Manhattan that fall in love with a beautiful old mansion in upper New York State and try to create a Martha Stewart style working farm out of it. Brent actually worked for Martha Stewart and has accordingly high standards that often clash with the dirty reality of life on a farm. Josh is a former drag queen with a great sense of humor who really brings the story of the two men, their goats, a cow named cow, and their occasionally conflicting visions and dreams to life.