The Transit of Venus: CAUTION!

A rare astronomical phenomena will take place next week on June 5 when Venus passes in front of the sun in what's called the "Transit of Venus". Because it's too dangerous to look directly at the sun to see the planet (a teeny black blob) cross the sun's axis, we encourage you instead to read two new books about this twice-a-century (always 8 years apart) spectacle:
Mark Anderson's "The Day the World Discovered the Sun: an Extraordinary Story of Scientific Adventure and the Race to Track the Transit of Venus"
Andrea Wulf's "Chasing Venus: the Race to Measure the Heavens"
Both tell the exciting tales of when18th century scientists competed, in  1761 &1769, to use the transit of Venus to discover the physical dimensions of the solar system and refine the methods of discovering longitude at sea.

In this spirit of scientific adventure, we're also please to announce that the NH Astronomical Society has donated a powerful 4.5" Orion StarBlast telescope (value $350) to the Children's Room at the library! This telescope will soon be available for families to borrow for one week. We've been strongly cautioned to not let the telescope go out until after the transit of Venus (some might be "tempted" to steal a peek at the sun which would ruin not only your eyes but the telescope's lenses too) but please call the Children's Room, 516-6052, if you'd like to reserve the telescope to use at your home for a week! You must be an adult borrower in good standing (no fines!) and agree to some fairly strict instructions for using, caring for, and returning the telescope.
This should be a (Star)Blast!!! Enjoy!

Libraries & eBooks

Interesting piece on NPR's Morning Edition today--it was discussing libraries and the challenges it faces with ebook content. Here is the synopsis: " Digital books are the fastest growing area of publishing. Libraries are seeing a surge in demand for e-book titles as well, but there's a downside. Most major publishers won't allow libraries to lend their titles, while others impose restrictions or charge double or triple the print price."

A Wonderful Evening of Poetry

On Tuesday night the Dover Public Library had its Annual Evening of Poetry, and almost 90 people were on hand to cheer on our young poets.  Below you will find video clips of the readings which were truly wonderful.  Please take a moment to listen--
you will be glad that you did.

        

               

               

               

A Wonderful Evening of Poetry

On Tuesday night the Library hosted the 10th Annual Evening of Poetry. Almost 90 people were on hand to cheer on our young poets. Here are a few photos from the evening and we are trying very hard to get videos up so that we can share the readings!

Try Our New Museum Pass!

Thanks to the Friends of the Dover Public Library we now have a new museum pass to offer you; Castle in the Clouds in Moultonboro, NH. The pass admits 2 adults and 2 children free. I highly recommend a visit; the scenery is stunningly beautiful, you can tour the historic estate, hike the trails, even  go horse back riding, or have lunch with a view that can't be beat. Reserve your pass today and take a summer day trip you won't soon forget.

The Library also has 15 other museum passes so if you are looking for some ideas of fun things to do this summer, take a look at our passes.

Evening of Poetry This Tuesday Night

Don't miss the 10th Annual Evening of Poetry tomorrow night at 6:30 in the Lecture Hall. Students who participated in the 10th Annual Dover Public Library's Poetry Contest are invited to share their poetry . The general public is invited to come and enjoy the readings. It's is a wonderful evening that shouldn't be missed. Just to give you an idea of what the Evening is like, look at this video from the 2008 Evening of Poetry.

Scarred by Books

Bet you didn't expect to see that post heading in a library blog! We have all had the experience of reading or watching something that left a permanent negative impression. I personally was scarred by Walt Disney's Bambi, and the numerous wildlife specials my parents made me watch. As mentioned in a previous post, I have also been scarred by just a brief exposure to A Clockwork Orange. I was surprised to see some of the choices on Flavorwire's list of 10 YA Books that Scarred Us for Life. Two of the books are favorites of mine. I have memorized parts of The Lion, the Witch and The Wardrobe because I have read it so many times. And why Logan's Run? I don't consider it a YA book. I did read it as a teen and loved it, I even loved the cheesy movie they made from it. What about you, do you agree with their choices? Do you have a book you would nominate to the list?

Great Stone Face Award Winner Announced!

The Great Stone Face Book Award is sponsored by the Children's Librarians of New Hampshire and is given each year to an author whose book receives the most votes from fourth through sixth graders throughout the state. Each year a committee chooses 25 recently published titles, which children then use as a guide for voting. The vote takes place every April during National Library Week, and the winner is announced in May. The purpose of the award is to promote reading enjoyment, to increase awareness of contemporary writing, and to allow children to honor their favorite author.

And the 2011-12 winner is...

Big Nate: in a class by himself
by Lincoln Peirce

The new Great Stone Face nominees list for 2012-13 is now available in the Children's Room and on our website (click here to view).

2012 Poetry Contest winners announced! Please follow the link for a complete listing of winners. Congratulations to all, and don't forget our Evening of Poetry is next Tuesday, May 22 at 6:30pm in the Library Lecture Hall.

A Clockwork Orange at 50

The Guardian reports that A Clockwork Orange was published 50 years ago. 

"When discussing A Clockwork Orange, many mistakenly confuse the book with Stanley Kubrick's 1971 film and immediately focus on the violence of the story, when really it's the language of the book – a vernacular so lively and colourful it renders those much-discussed descriptions of beatings and rape almost – almost – comical – that is its most remarkable and revolutionary aspect. Kubrick's dazzling adaptation contributed greatly to the book's ascension to the lofty position it holds today as one of pop culture's most influential and enduring pieces of literature, but it's the slang that 15-year-old protagonist Alex uses in his narration – a post-Joycean mash-up of Slavic, Cockney rhyming, Gypsy and Polari – that allows Burgess to present Alex's diabolical deeds as digestible, if not remotely justifiable."

I must confess that I have never attempted to read it after watching 10 minutes of Stanley Kubrick's extremely disturbing film based on the book. How about you, have you read it, or watched the movie?

If you are curious about A Clockwork Orange the Library's copies of the book and film are both in.

James Beard Award Winner from Dover!

Although the library did not purchase the winner of the James Beard Award for "Cookbook of the Year" (because Modernist Cuisine by Nathan Myhrvold is 5 volumes, 47 lbs, and $450!), we are very proud that the Beard Award winner in the field of Reference & Scholarship has gone to Andrew P. Haley for his book, Turning the Tables: Restaurants and the Rise of the American Middle Class, 1880--1920. Now a professor of American cultural history at the University of Southern Mississippi, Andrew grew up in Dover and his mother, Lorraine, still comes to the library on a regular basis!
Here's the book's description from the UNC Press:
In the nineteenth century, restaurants served French food to upper-class Americans with aristocratic pretensions, but by the twentieth century, even the best restaurants dished up ethnic and American foods to middle-class urbanites spending a night on the town. In Turning the Tables, Andrew Haley examines the transformation of American public dining at the start of the twentieth century and argues that the birth of the modern American restaurant helped establish the middle class as the arbiter of American culture.
Early twentieth-century battles over French-language menus, scientific eating, ethnic restaurants, unescorted women, tipping, and servantless restaurants pitted the middle class against the elite. United by their shared preferences for simpler meals and English-language menus, middle-class diners defied established conventions and successfully pressured restaurateurs to embrace cosmopolitan ideas of dining that reflected the preferences and desires of middle-class patrons.
Drawing on culinary magazines, menus, restaurant journals, and newspaper accounts, including many that have never before been examined by historians, Haley traces material changes to restaurants at the turn of the century that demonstrate that the clash between the upper class and the middle class over American consumer culture shaped the "tang and feel" of life in the twentieth century.
If you want to read this book, its call number at our library is 641.9573 Haley, A.

Congratulations, Andrew!

Lady and the Tramp Tomorrow at 2

Tomorrow's free matinee is Lady and the Tramp; the classic love story of a sheltered uptown Cocker Spaniel and a streetwise downtown Mutt. Lady and the Tramp starts at 2pm in the Lecture Hall on Saturday, May 12.

New Downloadable eBooks

NH Downloadable Books has just added quite a few new eBooks.

Title	Author(s)
Afterwards	Rosamund Lupton
Barefoot Season	Susan Mallery
The Big Miss	Hank Haney
Billy Lynn's Long Halftime Walk	Ben Fountain
The Bird Sisters	Rebecca Rasmussen
Boston Jane	Jennifer L. Holm
Brava, Valentine	Adriana Trigiani
By the Blood of Heroes	Joseph Nassise
Calico Joe	John Grisham
The Charnel Prince	Greg Keyes
Courtesan's Lover	Gabrielle Kimm
The Covenant	Beverly Lewis
Crazy On You	Rachel Gibson
Crusader Gold	David Gibbins
Daggerspell	Katharine Kerr
Darkness Be My Friend	John Marsden
Die for Me with Bonus Material	Amy Plum
Dosed	Kaitlin Bell Barnett
The Dragon in the Driveway	Kate Klimo, John Shroades
Evil for Evil	James R. Benn
Fifty Shades of Grey	E L James
Gentleman Says "I Do"	Amelia Grey
Guinea Dog	Patrick Jennings
Highlander's Prize	Mary Wine
Ice Hunt	James Rollins
Illusions	Aprilynne Pike
In My Father's Country	SAIMA WAHAB
In Pursuit of Eliza Cynster	Stephanie Laurens
In the Bag	Kate Klise
Insurgent	Veronica Roth
Into the Dreaming	Karen Marie Moning
Invasion of the Dognappers	Patrick Jennings
Jackie After O	Tina Cassidy
Jordan	Lori Foster
The Kingdom	Amanda Stevens
Lady Maggie's Secret Scandal	Grace Burrowes
Life, the Universe and Everything	Douglas Adams
Lost & Found with Bonus Excerpt	Jacqueline Sheehan
The Lost Tomb	David Gibbins
Mr. Darcy Forever	Victoria Connelly
Murder in the Rue de Paradis	Cara Black
Prague Winter	Madeleine Albright
Quiet	Susan Cain
The Sacrifice	Beverly Lewis
Sandstorm	James Rollins
Saving Ruth	Zoe Fishman
The Selection	Kiera Cass
The Solitary House (with bonus novels Bleak House and the Woman in White)	Lynn Shepherd
Somebody to Love	Kristan Higgins
Sunrise Point	Robyn Carr
Sweet Evil	Wendy Higgins
An Uncommon Education	Elizabeth Percer
Under Fire	Catherine Mann
The Uninvited Guests	Sadie Jones
Unraveling	Elizabeth Norris
Vicious Deep	Zoraida Cordova
Viscount Breckenridge to the Rescue	Stephanie Laurens
Wilderness Days	Jennifer L. Holm

Arm Chair Editors

Just started the book Murder in the First-Class Carriage:  The First Victorian Railway Killing by Kate Colquhoun.  A previous reader apparently was annoyed with the usage of the word further--amongst other things, and made notations of the offending words.  I must say I was offended by the marginalia as it took away from my enjoyment of the book.  Luckily, I don't think this previous reader read the whole book because the notations suddenly cease.

Don't Miss the Salt River Concert Tuesday Night

Friends of the Library present a performance by Salt River on Tuesday, May 15th, at 7PM in the Lecture Hall.

These “folk singers in the purest sense” (Face Magazine), consists of Lee Hosack, Mike and Bev Rogers and Cathy King. Their folk/blues style is accented by their vocals and Mike’s signature harmonica. Much of the group’s material is original but heavily influenced by the acoustic folk music of the 1960s. The group’s close friendships and love of music are reflected in their performances and on their CDs.

Salt River was selected as the sole representative for the State of Maine at the New England Artists’ Congress held in Woodstock, Vermont. Mike and Bev are members of the Maine Arts Commission Touring Roster and the New England Foundation for the Arts, VSA Arts NH and VSA Arts ME.

Great Graphic Novels/Movie

The Adventures of Tintin" series, created by Belgian artist
Remi Georges who wrote under the pen name of Hergé, is one of the most popular European comics of the 20th century.  Translated and published in more than 50 languages, the series first appeared in French in Le Petit Vingtième, a children's supplement to the Belgian newspaper "Le XXe Siècle" on 10 January 1929. Today, these graphic classics are still in high demand and are also attracting many new fans due to the popularity of graphic novels and the release of the movie.

If you are already a fan of the book series, you may want to check out the new movie. If you loved the movie, you may want to check out the books. 
All are available for borrowing in the Children's Room.

Librarians and Google

One of our patrons just gave us this card. We love it!

Look Out, I'm Going to Dunanduate

I was perusing the December 2011 National Geographic when I came across an interesting article on new words that were added to the Oxford English Dictionary. We usually just hear about what words are new in American dictionaries so I was curious to see what the Brits thought was worthy of inclusion. I spotted some words that I can definitely make use of; dringle- the watermark or stain left on paper or wood by a glass of liquid, and floordrobe- the floor of a room littered with clothing, these words are going to come in handy in conversations with my husband for starters. I will have to use them carefully or he might wibble-the trembling of the lower lip just shy of crying. I certainly don't want to dunanduate- overuse a word or a phrase that has been recently added to my vocabulary.

The Oxford English Dictionary adds new words four times a year, the next update is due in June. Want to keep up? Visit the OED online, you can even sign up to learn a new word a day.

Crazy, or Crazy Like a Fox?

I watched Diane Keaton on the Stephen Colbert show the other night. She was there to push the paperback edition of her biography, Then Again. It was the strangest author interview I have ever seen. Diane Keaton refused to talk about her book; deflecting any questions with giggles or odd comments. She told Stephen Colbert she was going to bring him up on charges and she didn't want to see his tush, nor would she vote for him to be president. It is the first time I have seen Colbert come close to being flustered. All the verbal fencing made me curious about her book so I am left wondering was she purposely acting wacky to generate interest, or is that just Diane Keaton being herself?

What do you think?

The Colbert Report
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Are you taking part in Screen Free Week? Screen-Free Week, April 30 through May 6, 2012, is an annual event in which parents, children, teachers, and others across the country turn off screen media (TV, video games, computers, cell phones, etc.) and celebrate the magic of being unplugged.  You are probably not fully taking part if you are reading this blog :), but if you are attempting it come on in and grab some books--no need to plug in!