Monday, June 15, 2009

100 Essential New England Books


The Boston Globe has compiled a list of their picks of the 100 best books with a New England tie. The New England tie can include the author residing in New England, the book taking place in New England, or the more tenuous link, in my opinion, of the author having attended a New England college or university. Regardless, the list is fun to look at. You can sort the list by author, title, or most read. If you sort by most read #1 is Make Way for Ducklings by Robert McCloskey and #2 is Charlotte's Web by E.B. White.

Thursday, June 11, 2009

Listen Up!

June is National Audiobook Month. You can celebrate by downloading some of these new audiobooks.

New MP3 Titles (these will play on an iPod)

Title Author
1906 Dalessandro, James
A Darker Crimson Jewel, Carolyn
Absolute Certainty Connors, Rose
All the Sad Young Literary Men Gessen, Keith
American Pastoral Roth, Philip
Arnie the Doughnut Keller, Laurie
As Simple as Snow Galloway, Gregory
Blackman’s Coffin Castrique, Mark de
Borrower of the Night Peters, Elizabeth
City of Thieves Benioff, David
Claimed by Shadow Chance, Karen
Cod Kurlansky, Mark
Crimson Rogue Maverick, Liz
Dinner at Mr. Jefferson's Cerami, Charles
Effective Networking Nour, David
Embrace the Night Chance, Karen
Kingdoms and the Elves of the Reaches Stanek, Robert
Losing It Bertinelli, Valerie
Master and Commander O'Brian, Patrick
Nailing the Job Interview Leahy, M.A. ABS, Susan
Post Captain O'Brian, Patrick
Seduced By Crimson Lee, Jade
Shards of Crimson Maverick, Liz
Stone Cold Parker, Robert B.
Survivor Palahniuk, Chuck
The Camelot Caper Peters, Elizabeth
The Defection of A. J. Lewinter Littell, Robert
The Dolomite Solution Scott, Trevor
The Friday Night Knitting Club Jacobs, Kate
The Halloween Tree Bradbury, Ray
The Levity Effect Gostick, Adrian
The Once and Future Spy Littell, Robert
The Soloist Lopez, Steve
Through a Crimson Veil O'Shea, Patti
Tunnel Vision Paretsky, Sara
What I Was Rosoff, Meg

New WMA Titles

Title Author
About Face Leon, Donna
Angels in the Gloom Perry, Anne
At Last Comes Love Balogh, Mary
At Some Disputed Barricade Perry, Anne
Bloodhound Pierce, Tamora
Brazen Careerist Trunk, Penelope
Brothers in Battle, Best of Friends Guarnere, William "Wild Bill"
Bury the Lead Rosenfelt, David
Carpe Diem Mount, Harry
Cemetary Dance Preston, Douglas
Columbine Cullen, Dave
Dark Places Flynn, Gillian
Darling Jim Moerk, Christian
Dead Sleep Iles, Greg
Deadlock Johansen, Iris
Discordia Salmon, Dena K.
Down River Hart, John
Eat the Dark Schreiber, Joe
Ecological Intelligence Goleman, Daniel
Encore Freedman, Marc
Eon Goodman, Alison
Etta Kolpan, Gerald
Factory Girls Chang, Leslie T.
First Family Baldacci, David
Hannahs Dream Hammond, Diane
Horse Soldiers Stanton, Doug
House of Cards Author
How To Handle The Toughest Job Interview Questions You'll Ever Get Portney, David R.
Hungry Girl: The Official Survival Guides Lillien, Lisa
Hunting Season Deutermann, P. T.
If I Stay Forman, Gayle
Impossible Werlin, Nancy
Little Bee Cleave, Chris
Loitering With Intent Woods, Stuart
Look Again Scottoline, Lisa
Lords of Finance Ahamed, Liaquat
Malice Jackson, Lisa
Neil Armstrong is My Uncle & Other Lies Muscle Man McGinty Told Me Marino, Nan
No Graves As Yet Perry, Anne
Nudge Thaler, Richard
Outcast Allston, Aaron
Prayers for Sale Dallas, Sandra
Private Scandals Roberts, Nora
Rapt Gallagher, Winifred
Red Glass Resau, Laura
Resilience Edwards, Elizabeth
Rogue Forces Brown, Dale
Sag Harbor Whitehead, Colson
Sarek Crispin, A. C.
Science Fair Barry, Dave
Shoulder the Sky Perry, Anne
Skinned Wasserman, Robin
Soul Enchilada Gill, David Macinnis
Sudden Death Rosenfelt, David
The 19th Wife Ebershoff, David
The 8th Confession Patterson, James
The Age of the Unthinkable Ramo, Joshua
The Art of Woo Shell, G. Richard
The Highest Tide Lynch, Jim
The Lake House Patterson, James
The Last Book in the Universe Philbrick, Rodman
The Last Olympian Riordan, Rick
The Moonpool Deutermann, P. T.
The Perfect Poison Quick, Amanda
The Poet Connelly, Michael
The Reformed Vampire Support Group Jinks, Catherine
The Richest Man in Babylon Clason, George S.
The Soldiers of Halla MacHale, D. J.
The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie Bradley, Alan
The Unforgiving Minute Mullaney, Craig M.
The Widow Clicquot Mazzeo, Tilar J.
Touch the Dark Chance, Karen
Uranium Zoellner, Tom
Vision in White Roberts, Nora
Walking in Circles Before Lying Down Markoe, Merrill
Wesley the Owl O'Brien, Stacey
What Happened to Anna K. Reyn, Irina
Who Smart, Geoff
Zero Option Deutermann, P. T.

Monday, June 08, 2009

A New Look at Wild Things

This blog has a fascinating look at how Where the Wild Things Are would look had it been illustrated by a different artist. Personally, I love Maurice Sendak's illustrations, in all of his books, so I think it is almost impossible to improve upon them. However, a few artists have at least equaled the master, as you can see below. What do you think; do you like the originals best or the paintings inspired by this childhood classic?

Thursday, June 04, 2009

These Books Are Delicious

I stumbled across an amusing blog the other day called Cake Wrecks. I was delighted to find a post on cakes that celebrate children's books. There are some very clever cake decorators out there. The very hungry caterpillar cake made out of cupcakes is so cute you have to see it! What children's book would you like to see turned into a cake? I think I would like to see a Narnian cake... or maybe a Willy Wonka cake.

Wednesday, June 03, 2009

And The Winner Is....

The Audies, which are like Oscars for the Audiobook Industry, were awarded May 29. The audiobook of the year is Neil Gaiman's The Graveyard Book. This charming book about Nobody Owens, an orphaned boy who is raised by ghosts in a Victorian graveyard, is intended for teens but has plenty to interest children and adults too. Intrigued? You can watch a Graveyard Book trailer, like a movie trailer, its chilling!

If you want to know what the winners of the other Audie catagories are, click here. You will find a review, and can even listen to a sample of the audiobook! The Library owns many of the Audie Award winners so you are in for a summer of great listening.

Tuesday, June 02, 2009

Summer Reading

According to an article that appeared on Twin Cities.com,"It's shocking what happens over the summer when children don't read," says Maurna Rome, the K-3 literacy coordinator at Ogilvie and the president of the Minnesota Reading Association. "This year, in our fourth grade, every single student went down in reading fluency (after summer vacation). We tested them at the end of the school year, and we checked again in the fall. And it didn't matter whether they are the top reader or the bottom — everyone went down. The fourth grade is notorious for something called 'The Fourth Grade Slump,' but it's still shocking that of the 30-some kids in our small school, they all lost ground over the summer.Why? They just don't read. We live in a day and age of video games and TV."

Make sure your child doesn't lose ground over the summer; you can enroll him or her in the Children's Room Summer Reading program, or the Teen Reading Program, both of which start July 6th. Don't neglect your own summer reading, grab some recommended reads bookmarks, or ask us what we have enjoyed reading lately.

Friday, May 29, 2009

Alice Munro Wins Man Booker International Prize

Alice Munro has been named the winner of the third Man Booker International Prize. The prize "is awarded once every two years to a living author for a body of work that has contributed to an achievement in fiction on the world stage." Ms. Munro was up against some very tough competition--amongst them Mario Vargas Llosa and VS Naipaul (Nobel laureate). If you aren't familiar with her writing, the library has several of her books in our collection.

Thursday, May 28, 2009

Congratulations King Henry

It was 500 years ago that Henry VIII became the king of England at the tender age of 17. His rule was a tumultuous era marked by the untimely endings of most of his marriages and a split with the Vatican that lead to the separation of the Church of England from Rome. Henry certainly left his mark on his kingdom. If you are intrigued by this powerful, ambitious, and temperamental monarch, make sure to pick up the bookmark we created, Henry VIII And Company, featuring our favorite historical fiction about Henry and his wives.

Tuesday, May 26, 2009

Nineteen Minutes by Jodi Picoult is Flume Award Winner!

The Flume Award has announced the 2009 winner: Nineteen Minutes by Jodi Picoult. Runner-up was Crank by Ellen Hopkins. The Flume: NH Teen Reader's Choice Award was created in 2005 in response to a New Hampshire teens' request to have a book award geared towards high school students. This award is a state-wide venture led by a collaborative effort from school and public librarians. Each year teens nominate titles, published within the last two years, they think deserve to be recognized. Librarians then narrow the group of titles to a list of 13. Teens then vote for the winning title from the list of 13.

Here is the 2010 list of nominees:

Thirteen Reasons Why By Jay Asher
When high school student Clay Jenkins receives a box in the mail containing thirteen cassette tapes recorded by his classmate Hannah, who committed suicide, he spends a bewildering and heartbreaking night crisscrossing their town, listening to Hannah's voice recounting the events leading up to her death.

Graceling By Kristen Cashore
In a world where some people are born with extreme and often-feared skills called Graces, Katsa struggles for redemption from her own horrifying Grace, the Grace of killing, and teams up with another young fighter to save their land from a corrupt king.

Hunger Games By Suzanne Collins
In a future North America, where the rulers of Panem maintain control through an annual televised survival competition pitting young people from each of the twelve districts against one another, sixteen-year-old Katniss's skills are put to the test when she voluntarily takes her younger sister's place.

Deadline By Chris Cutcher
Given the medical diagnosis of one year to live, high school senior Ben Wolf decides to fulfill his greatest fantasies, ponders his life's purpose and legacy, and converses through dreams with a spiritual guide known as "Hey-Soos."

Little Brother By Cory Doctorow
After being interrogated for days by the Department of Homeland Security in the aftermath of a major terrorist attack on San Francisco, California, seventeen-year-old Marcus, released into what is now a police state, decides to use his expertise in computer hacking to set things right.

Waves By Sharon Dogar
Hal, a British teen, is able to read his comatose sister’s thoughts. Will this supernatural ability allow Hal to find out who is responsible for putting his sister in a coma?


The Christopher Killer-A Forensic Mystery By Alane Ferguson
On the payroll as an assistant to her coroner father, seventeen-year-old Cameryn Mahoney uses her knowledge of forensic medicine to catch the killer of a friend while putting herself in terrible danger.

Sold By Patricia McCormickThirteen-year-old Lakshmi, though poor, enjoys her life until the Himalayan monsoons wash away her family's crops and she is sold to a brothel in India by her stepfather. She remembers her mother's wisdom, "Simply to endure is to triumph," until the day comes that she can reclaim her life.

The Dangerous Days of Daniel X By James Patterson
Fifteen-year-old Daniel has followed in his parents' footsteps as the Alien Hunter, exterminating beings on The List of Alien Outlaws on Terra Firma, but when he faces his first of the top ten outlaws, the very existence Earth and another planet are at stake.

The Last Lecture By Randy Pausch
Reflections of a Carnegie Mellon computer science professor who lectured on "Really achieving your childhood dreams," shortly after having been diagnosed with terminal cancer. His advice concerned seizing the moment while living, rather than dying.

I Heart You, You Haunt Me By Lisa Schroeder
This story, written in verse, deals with the grief fifteen-year-old Ava encounters after her boyfriend’s death, which occurred due to a dare made by her. She strongly feels that he is haunting her. Will Ava be able to overcome, not only her grief, but the feeling that her boyfriend is still with her?

Testimony By Anita Shreve
At a New England boarding school, a sex scandal is about to break. Even more shocking than the sexual acts themselves is the fact that they were caught on videotape. A Pandora's box of revelations, the tape triggers a chorus of voices--those of the men, women, teenagers, and parents involved in the scandal--that details the ways in which lives can be derailed or destroyed in one foolish moment.

Pride of Baghdad By Brian Vaughan (on order)
This graphic novel is based on a true event in which the lions of the Baghdad Zoo escape captivity during the 2003 American bombing raid. The story is told from the lions’ point of view. Do they find their liberation from the zoo provides them with total freedom?

Friday, May 22, 2009

Show Us Your Pictures! Join the "Faces of Dover"!


The "Faces of Dover" Committee needs your help and participation! We would like to include you and your family in a photo project in donwtown Dover this summer. This is the first initiative of a larger Dover Oral, Written, Video and Still Photo history project for our community.


Do you have a photograph (or other interesting document) that somehow illustrates you or your family's connection to Dover, past or present, that we may include in a series of photo collages which will be placed on display around Dover?


The "Faces of Dover" Photo Exhibit has two goals:

1.) to stimulate interest and discussion within families about their roots, their ties (contemporary or historical) to Dover, and to uncover interesting events that have happened locally.

2.) to increase foot traffic in the community by encouraging folks to visit the exhibit sites, get some exercise, promote local commerce, and to expose residents and visitors alike to Dover's rich opportunities and sites.


The exhibit will be on view during July--September around the city. Interested folks may pick up a walking guide at the Library (73 Locust St.) or at the new Chamber of Commerce (550 Central Ave.), then stroll around exploring the photos.


If you have a photo or document you'd like to share, pick up a form at the Library and fill it out. We'll be back in contact with you shortly thereafter with instructions on how to submit your photo and documentation. Please act quickly because our deadline for submission is June 1st!


For more information, please email Beth Fischer info@facesofdover.org or Cathy Beaudoin c.beaudoin@dover.nh.gov.


The "Faces of Dover" project is a joint effort of many citizens interested in capturing the Oral History of Dover and is supported by organizations including the Dover Public Library, the Wentworth Home, the Greater Dover Chamber of Commerce, Dover Main Street, the Children's
Museum of New Hampshire, Spires Video Services LLC, Creative Memories, and the Dover Adult Learning Center.

Is Anyone Else Sick of Vampires?


I know I'm being a wet blanket, but I'm really, really sick of vampires. I have only read a couple of teen vampire novels, but that was more than plenty. I don't know where the trend started--Stephenie Meyers perhaps--but it doesn't seem to be slowing down. I was just reading an article about Charlaine Harris, author of the popular Sookie Stackhouse mystery series featuring vampires, and her latest book, Dead and Gone, debuted at No. 1 on the New York Times hardcover fiction best-seller list. Her book Dead Until Dark was made into a movie--sound familiar? I suppose there is money to be made in the vampire genre, but I am really ready for the next trend. Any ideas what that might be?

Thursday, May 21, 2009

The Library Will Be Closed Sunday and Monday

The library will be closed on Sunday and Monday, May 24 & 25 for the Memorial Day Holiday.

Wednesday, May 20, 2009

Summer Reading

Memorial Day, the unofficial start of summer, is almost upon us. And what is summer synonymous with? Well yes, swim suits, hot weather, and BBQs, but more importantly, summer makes you think of great reading. I sense you are puzzled. Beach reads of course! Those refreshing, thrilling, just-for-fun books that wake up your poor old brain which has been numbed by way too many articles on the economy, or Very Serious Required Reading. I am well prepared for the forthcoming weekend with a huge stack of books featuring Zombies and Agent Pendergast (Cemetery Dance), magical realism in a small southern town (Secret Keepers), true life adventures of a death defying nature writer (Swimming with Piranhas at Feeding Time: My Life Doing Dumb Stuff with Animals) and a fast paced supernatural thriller (The Crystal Skull). Those are just a few of the action-packed, riveting, and amusing little treats I have waiting for me.

If you are not so fortunate as to have a big, delicious pile of fun filled books waiting for you, make sure to stop in the Library, pick up some bookmarks listing our favorite books, then go get your own big stack of books.


We have been busy creating bookmarks so there are some new choices for you- Africa, Tough Chicks, Gentle Reads, If You Like Kitchen Confidential Try, Prehistoric Fiction, and of course, the 2008 Librarians’ Choice. If you have teenagers, be sure to look in the newly expanded Teen Loft, where you will find book marks expressly for this age group.

Tuesday, May 19, 2009

"Poor Howard" Stith performs at the Library tonight!

Don't forget the Friends of the Library will be hosting "Poor Howard" Stith in the Lecture Hall of the Library, tonight, Tues., May 19 at 7:00pm. The program is called Leadbelly and the 12-String Blues--here is a description:

Both entertaining and educational, a journey through the music of Leadbelly ("Goodnight, Irene", "Midnight Special" and many more) and his contemporaries performed on 6 and 12-string guitar with commentaries on the songs and music style. This is where both jazz and rock-and-roll had their beginnings.

"Poor Howard" Stith was born in Kansas City, but settled in Dover some 25 years ago. Howard is a scholar of the pre-WW II blues styles and has performed at folk festivals and clubs around the country, as well as in Europe and Japan, and has taught a history of blues intersession course at Hampshire College in Amherst, Ma. He has also taught folk music at Windsor Mountain Camp in Hillsborough. His knowledge of blues, skill on the guitar, and his humor continue to draw new fans to this style of roots music.

Friday, May 15, 2009

More Evening of Poetry News


Visit our web site to see still photographs of the Evening of Poetry, and to access an adobe file of the winning poems. Here is the K-2 grade category winner:

Math

Difficult questions
that sometimes amuse you
a learning wonderland
with magical numerals

William Marchesi, 1st PlaceCategory
K-2, Grade 2

Thursday, May 14, 2009

Eleventh and Twelth Grade Poets

The sole reader in this division offered a poet's perspective on New York City.

Ninth and Tenth Grade Poets

We had two readers in the Ninth and Tenth grade category.

Seventh and Eighth Grade Poets

Only one poet in this category wanted to read her poem.

Fifth and Sixth Grade Poets

Here are the Fifth and Sixth grade poets reading their work.

Third and Fourth Grade Poets

Enjoy the Third and Fourth grade poets reading their work.