Wednesday, November 27, 2013

Weekly "GSF Booktalk" #4


http://librarystaff.dover.nh.gov/cgi-bin/koha/catalogue/detail.pl?biblionumber=126990
Freaky Fast Frankie Joe
by Lutricia Clifton
Frankie Joe’s mom was in jail. It really wasn’t her fault…how could she know that the package stashed in her purse contained drugs? She was just trying to help a friend…that’s how she was. Frankie was happy to stay in their trailer by himself, enjoying the company of his elderly neighbors, but soon enough he was found out, and was sent from Laredo, Texas all the way to northern Illinois with a stranger who was actually his father. He was shocked to learn that he had a stepmother and four half-brothers awaiting his arrival. The eldest, Matt, was no happier about the arrangement than he was…Frankie had bumped him out of firstborn status in the rigid family pecking order. Only 11 months, Frankie thought…then Mom would be out of jail.
But he couldn’t bear it for 11 months, so he hatched a secret plan to earn some money and bike his way back to Texas. In school, he was demoted to fourth grade, since there were so many gaps in his education. Brother Matt quickly labeled him “Freaky Slow Frankie Joe”. But when he showed Matt up in a bike race, he suddenly became “Freaky Fast Frankie Joe.” Frankie started a pizza delivery business to earn money for his trip, so he could leave before winter snows arrived. But an early blizzard foiled his plan. Would Frankie ever make it back to Texas? And what of his Mom…what were her plans? What surprises did life hold in store for Frankie Joe?
(Booktalk written by Luci Albertson, GSF Committee/Bedford Public Library)

Tuesday, November 26, 2013

The Library Will be Closed Thursday and Friday

We're open Wednesday as usual, 9-5:30, and Saturday as usual 9-5, but we're closed for the Thanksgiving holiday on Thursday, November 28 and Friday, November 29. Enjoy your turkey!

Monday, November 25, 2013

Novelist Plus

Good news--the Library now has access to Novelist Plus! This is the same Readers' Advisory database that we had before, but now it includes nonfiction. Novelist Plus gives you "comprehensive information about books that includes expert recommendations, reviews, articles, lists and more." I already use Novelist extensively and now it is even better. The database is available in the Library or from home with a valid DPL card. From our Online Resources page click on the Ebscohost databases link and Novelist Plus (and Novelist Plus K-8) will be options. Enjoy!

Friday, November 22, 2013

Weekly "GSF Booktalk" #3

Members of the Great Stone Face (GSF) Committee have written "booktalks" to spark interest in reading all 20 titles on this year's list of nominees.  One per week (for 20 weeks!) will be posted here.  Here is "GSF Booktalk" #3:

http://librarystaff.dover.nh.gov/cgi-bin/koha/catalogue/detail.pl?biblionumber=23394
 Child of the Mountains
by Marilyn Sue Shank
 
“My mama’s in jail. It ain’t right… I got to get her out.” Lydia is a child of the mountains of West Virginia. The year is 1953. Lydia’s cherished little brother BJ was born with cystic fibrosis, and had to be hospitalized in Ohio when his illness flared up. Her daddy had died in a construction accident a few months before, so her sweet mama and her wise old granny were the mainstays in her life. Then Gran passed on, as well. When Lydia persuaded her mama to sneak BJ out of the hospital against regulations, so he could die peacefully at home, that’s when the real trouble began… Her mama was taken off to jail, and Lydia was sent to live at a coal mining camp with her somewhat aloof Uncle William and Aunt Ethel Mae. Poor Lydia was consumed with loneliness and an aching desire to free her mother from jail…but how? And what deep family secret is Uncle William hiding from her?
 (Booktalk written by Luci Albertson, GSF Committee/Bedford Public Library)

Tuesday, November 19, 2013

George Maglaras's "Riverstories" on Dec. 3 at 7pm



   Come hear Captain George Maglaras, local historian, lifelong Dover resident, and owner of George’s Marina on Cochecho Street,  on Tuesday, December 3 at 7pm in the Dover Public Library’s Lecture Hall. The audience will enjoy lots of colorful waterfront history and some tall tales focus on Dover’s nearly fifty miles of river frontage along the Cochecho, Bellamy and Piscataqua Rivers.
     George's talk is sponsored by the “Faces of Dover” group, which is seeking interested citizens to join, will investigate the installation of historical markers along Dover’s riverbanks, at significant spots important in the city’s maritime history. The “Riverstories” idea was inspired by an elderly gentleman who recalled swimming in the Bellamy River by Sawyer’s Lower Mills:  all summer long, he and his friends would delight in coming out of the water with their skin temporarily dyed whichever color the woolen mill was releasing into the river that day!   Anecdotally, other stories have surfaced too:  the day in August 1930 when a nearly 40-foot whale beached itself in the shallow Cochecho down by the old power plant, and the mystery surrounding the “Turkish Bath”, near the Orchard Street parking lot, that appears on an old map. 
     The public will be invited to submit other “Riverstories”, known either by legend, by oral history passed down in families, or through personal memories. The “Faces of Dover” project will memorialize the best stories with storyboards along the banks of the three rivers in the city.
      George Maglaras’s presentation is free and open to the public. For more information on how to join or contribute to “Faces of Dover”, contact erfischer17@hotmail.com.


Friday, November 15, 2013

Weekly "GSF Booktalk" #2

Members of the Great Stone Face Committee have written "booktalks" to spark interest in reading all 20 titles on this year's list of nominees.  I am posting one of these booktalks each week for 20 weeks. 
Here is "GSF Booktalk" #2:

http://librarystaff.dover.nh.gov/cgi-bin/koha/catalogue/detail.pl?biblionumber=23219 

Chained
by Lynne Kelley

Deep in the jungle of modern-day India, a boy is struggling to survive.  10-yr-old Hastin has taken a job with a rural circus-trainer in order to earn money to pay for his little sister’s medical care. Little did he know, when he took the job, that his employment would turn out to be more like slavery---given barely enough food to eat, excuses instead of pay, and kept locked in with the elephants at night, Hastin begins to despair.  The only thing that makes life bearable is his developing friendship with the kindly old cook, Ne Min, and with the young elephant, Nandita, who he is helping to train.  However, the training methods at the circus are terribly cruel, and soon Hastin becomes convinced that neither he nor Nandita will survive if he can’t find a way for them to escape.  Will Hastin come up with a plan in time to save them both?  Read Chained to find out!
(Booktalk written by Sarah Hydorn-GSF Committee/ Amherst Town Library)