Summer Reading

Every year it is just amazing how quickly Summer Reading passes and how much fun everyone has. This year's theme One World, Many Stories has been a great way for children to learn about people from other countries and about the countries themselves. Every week we put up a new map,and the young people have really enjoyed finding various places on each map.

Weekly programs have highlighted different continents. This past week found us 'down under' in Australia where we learned about interesting animals that are not found any place else in the world. Young people learned, for instance, that a red kangaroo can move at over 30 miles per hour. They also learned what a marsupial is and that wombats are nocturnal as well as habitat destructive. In addition, the older children experienced a didgeridoo, a boomerang, and a bullroarer. Toward the end of the week, SCCC student and native Australian Nathan Nelmes came to charm the audience with his accent and to share interesting information about Australia. The library is so fortunate to have these young people available and willing to share with us.

Summer Reading will be coming to a close on July 1. Those who are signed up need to remember to get their reading logs turned in by 1 p.m. on Saturday, July 2.

The final week will feature the continent of Africa. On Tuesday at 1:30, there will be two speakers from that continent. These young men are also SCCC students. On Thursday the Lee Richardson Zoo will be sending an employee from their education department with a special program. These programs are always quite popular. Make sure you plan to arrive early in order to get a good seat and because zoo regulations require that no late arrivals be admitted for the safety of their animals.

Lots of reading has gone on this summer--between the 300 plus children birth through age 12 who are signed up for the program, our teens, and our adult summer readers. One teen set 120 hours for a reading goal and reported in the middle of week four that her goal had been reached! That's an amazing amount of reading.

When young people read things of interest to them, they may not realize that they are also helping to strengthen their reading skills. This leads to academic success, which every parent desires for their child. Parents are to be commended for getting their children involved in this worthwhile program and for setting an example by reading themselves.

Lots of fun books are coming being placed on our shelves weekly. One such title is The Voyage of Turtle Rex by Kurt Cyrus. This book chronicles the hatching of a sea turtle in prehistoric times. This book is a wonderful selection for dinosaur lovers. There seem to be a plethora of sheep books lately. Hide and Sheep by Andrea Beaty finds Farmer McFitt trying to shear somewhat illusive sheep. In this clever counting book, he finally gets the last one sheared as it follows young Mary and heads into school. Another recent sheep book addition is No Sleep for the Sheep by Karen Beaumont. Poor sheep is fast asleep, complete with teddy bear, in the big red barn until a duck quacks loudly at the door. Once duck and sheep are fast asleep, a goat comes to the door. Several other animals disturb sheep's sleep.

A new book by Denise Fleming encourages shouting and is titled Shout! Shout it out! This book encourages kids to show what they know. It goes through numbers, the A-B-Cs, colors, and several other fun things.

Pig Kahuna by Jennifer Sattler is a cute book to show children to not be afraid to try new things. Big brother pig Fergus loves the beach but avoids the water due to the ickiness factor. Check this one out to see what happens when a surfboard floats onto the shore near Fergus and little brother Dink.

Several chapter books have also gone onto our shelves. Whatever your reading preference, come on in and check out our materials, both old and new. See you at Memorial Library!

Fiction

The first thing we have to talk about is penguins--the next thing is the color of Jim Carrey's hair. I mean, come on, the guy's got to be between 46 and 52 (my estimation only, of course, but I think he's "been around" for 20 years anyway) and I guess his publicist convinced him that he's got to keep that "youthful, prankster aura", hence, the dark hair of earlier years. The penguins--and Carrey--are in a new movie, "Mr. Popper's Penguins", which I will be seeing this week, and, honestly, I will go to it planning to like it and laugh at both the penguins and Jim. His pratfalls, in previous movies, are, like Red Skelton's marvelous sight gags, very well done and acrobatic, so, I'll just ignore his hair color--okay?

Speaking of penguins reminds me of water--lots of water--and that's something that we here in Kerrville don't have a lot of--to the point that our aquifer has so little water in it, we are all heading for Stage 4 water rationing and a 300 dollar fine for turning your sprinkler on if it isn't your day of the week (re-read those last words) to water, according to the designated day of the week for your address. But we are not cleaning up after a tornado in Joplin, or dreading or leaving our homes running from a destructive forest fire in Az., or trying to resurrect your life after an explosion of a nuclear plant--so, although it's hot and lawns are turning brown and flowers are drooping, that's fact and this column is about Fiction (a backwards but effective segue, Patti, dear!).

The fiction of E.L. Doctorow is well-known, in American fiction, for really great, intuitive fiction that, forgive the cliché, "gets to the heart of the matter"--what ever "the matter means"--love, hate, loyalty, cowardice, heroism, any of the emotions we all have and maybe don't always understand. "All the Time in the World; New and Selected Stories", I can tell you right now will appeal to me because I love short stories with "meat" on them. I will look forward to reading the six stories that are new as well as a selection of previous classics, and from perusing the stories in this book one is struck again by the strength and clarity of his descriptions of his characters. Where he really excels, however, is in expressing the emotions his characters feel, in these stories, and you "get it"--their anger, their despair, their astonishment at the truths of their lives--not their dreams. Read "Jolene" and realize you've been drawn in to her life. Doctorow is a bloomin' genius and this book shows why. I strongly recommend checking this out.

"22 Britannia Road", by Amanda Hodgkinson, is a debut novel, and it's always been my belief that a library should give a new novelist a chance to get his/her work out to possible new fans, and this is one of those chances for novelist and readers to meet each other. Having said that, this is not an easy novel to read. War, abandonment, a woman desperate to protect her son--even from the man he's instructed to call "Daddy" and yet calls him "The Enemy". However, plowing through this story, while examining people's passions and motives and techniques for survival is going to be exhausting for the reader. I wish Ms. Hodgkinson good luck in her career, but, she needs to lighten up a little.

"Story of Beautiful Girl", by Rachel Simon, (she wrote the bestseller "Riding the Bus with my Sister"), is a powerful story about a couple with "disabilities" who come together, the woman gets pregnant, they both escape the asylum where they're both held, flee to a farm and the woman there, Martha, takes them in. Lynnie and Homan are tracked down by the authorities, Homan escapes (he's deaf) and as the asylum officers drag Lynnie to a car, she hides her baby girl and can only summon her wits long enough to whisper to Martha--"Hide her."

So, the years go by; Lynnie in the asylum, mute and making a friend in an employee, Kate, Homan has a job and trying to make his way in a constantly strange world, and Martha is alive also. A powerful book and the details about their lives are wonderful and full of hope. Find this book and enjoy how the human spirit can triumph over, at first, not talking, being too scared to share, and the triumph of love and caring friends that overcome despair.


This next book, "Come and Find Me", by Hallie Ephron, has a delightful "Hitchcock" touch, according to the reviewers, and the basic premise is, indeed, interesting i.e. Diana Highsmith has become a recluse--a few steps out from her front porch is all the can summon up the courage to do. Her fiancé, Daniel, was killed on their climbing vacation in Switzerland and the memory of it keeps her inside and safe.

The strange thing is that she and Daniel's best friend run a successful Internet security system and Diana can do it from her home, in her jammies! But when Diana's sister goes missing, "she is forced to do, for her, the impossible: brave the outside world and her own personal demons to find her sister"--and as she takes her fragile steps away from her security blanket, she uncovers a plan of evil and treachery that not only threatens her sister's life but also hers.

As I always do, I take some pages in a book that I'm reviewing--several selections at random--and see what I think of style, action, meaning, etc. and this one was no exception. Lots of white space around the print, ala Danielle Steele and others who write a lot, and not a very big vocabulary, print is large, adjectives used loosely rather than more precise language. So, all in all, the premise is good but not its execution. This author needs to write more, get more critiquing from groups or mentors in the field and keep trying. Great peg to hang a story on, but not very well done. Sorry.

Now, don't despair--"Hunter's World", by Fred Lichtenberg, is really a great read--not in Clive Cussler's or Grisham's category but not many new authors, debut work or of 5 years, are! It's a thriller to find the killer of a man who painted the women he slept with. One of the women takes exception to this and kills him--then another one dies and the police chief becomes convinced that maybe his wife might be the killer. His deputy, the judge, and a lot of townspeople feel that Police Chief Hank Reed isn't doing enough to catch the killer. The many other women (all married) whom he implicated in his paintings are all, understandingly, wanting to keep the paintings from becoming public knowledge.


I'm telling you right here and now, I kept reading for 45 minutes before remembering I wasn't to read a whole book in order to review it! Moves quickly, is excellent in portrayal of human nature (men and women's) and keeps you guessing. I can't take the time to finish it now but I betcha I will before I send it back to LML! Get this and sit back with a cold drink, put a pillow over the phone/answering machine and enjoy a great Summer read! See? I handed you a good one! Trust me! I need to find out if it was the Police Chief's wife who killed the painter.

Okay, see you, maybe in person, in Liberal between July 11 and the 15, leave me a message via the library and we'll have tea at my favorite Spencer Browne's and discuss how things have been going with you and your world, be sure your pets have fresh water twice a day, hope you remembered Father's Day and keep walking! Bye!

Nonfiction

Ah, Summertime! Ice cream, exercising in a blue pool (preferably with just a few children around!) and going to a typical Summer movie, walking Rufus Cooper in the cool of the evening, sitting out in the courtyard, in the morning with a cup of "let's-face-the-day" Darjeeling tea, and actually enjoying most of--that's most of--the warmth of Summer. Sometimes, I remind myself of the big calico cat, who, in Winter, sits in the window seat and absorbs the sunlight coming in on him--or her. There are those of us who do not, of course, like Summer and really prefer cold weather, snow, sharp winds--I recommend where I few up to get that--Chicago.

Each quarter of the year, actually, has its delightful points as well as negative ones, so, as I've said, my favorite seems to be the really warm part of the year, and children, generally speaking, enjoy playing in Summer and their play equipment, aside from the pool, might be due to the strong sense of injustice, on the behalf of children by a man named Darell Hammond. In the book, "Kaboom: How One Man Built a Movement to Save Play", by Darrell Hammond, he relates how, in 1995, he read an article about how two young children suffocated on a Summer day, in an abandoned car, because there was no playground for them to play in. So, Hammond founded KaBOOM! ,"a national nonprofit company that provides communities with tools, resources, and guidance to build and renovate playgrounds and playspaces"

A lot--repeat, a lot--of barren spaces have been transformed into inviting areas for children and this project has harnessed the enthusiasm and energy of over a million volunteers. This man believes that play is essential in a child's life and it is not a luxury but a necessity "and the conviction that access to a safe play environment is the fundamental right of all children." He steers groups who want to have a playground on organizing neighbors, contact contractors, set goals and this man deserves a large medal--he showed what could and should be done when someone sees a problem. Children will play somewhere--let's give them alternatives to harmful places, if it is needed. Great book!

If you stood on a sandy beach and asked the question--"What do you think of Sarah Palin?" followed by "Would you vote for her for president?"--stand well back, as my father used to say with controversial questions. The lady doesn't draw lukewarm answers! (Sandy beach because it's Summer and it's a metaphor for the sand's ability to shift and take different shapes i.e. answers to the question.) We have a book here--the "we" being you and I, dear Poppets,--about her, "Blind Allegiance to Sarah Palin; A Memoir of Our Tumultuous Years", by Frank Bailey, and I find it, first of all, disjointed and, from some of the material I read, alternating between defensiveness (on the author's part, that is) and overt criticism of Palin, which, I agree, he's entitled to but I've only got so much patience with that type of writing.

I do agree, and this is buttressed by others opinions who were close to Palin, that she remembers, broods over, and remains angry and defensive in the face of criticism, large or small, which hopefully she will learn to handle appropriately, for someone who's in the public eye. She apparently liked this author's opinion and his place on "her team" and threatened to leave if he did, which is a compliment to the author, I'm sure. The book might be interesting to some of you, so please do and let me know your opinion.

So, Ms. Couric is leaving CBS network to go to ABC and produce some daytime shows and do some hosting and I, personally, don't want her to oust anyone on the "Good Morning America" show. I'd give a pretty penny to know just where the ABC powers see her going, and I'm afraid it's to take over Diane Sawyer's spot on the evening news and while I can--reluctantly--agree with Himself that Diane doesn't have the "news presence or voice" of a Brian Williams or a Matt Lauer, she's such a class act!

Ah, well, to stick to books--this one is "Katie Couric: The Best Advice I Ever Got: Lessons from Extraordinary Lives". Her list of people who helped her set goals, deal with failure and the death of her husband, helped her decision to leave NBC and go to CBS--they gave wonderful advice--"how today's best and brightest got it right, got it wrong, and came out on top." She has covered, for the past 15 years, important events in our lives--from the Sept. 11 attack, to the tragedy at Columbine high school, from the Okla. City bombing to the funeral of Princess Diana--and she has done it with genuine feeling and a sense of "how to get people to open up and talk."

Listen to some of the advice given her and picture the person and the history they bring to their statement;

• Apolo Ohno--"It's not about the 40 seconds in the race, it's about the 4 years it took to get there"
• Madeline Albright (former U.S. Ambassador to the U.N.--"Never play hide and seek with the truth
• Michael Bloomberg--"Eighty percent of success is showing up--early"

and Condoleezza Rice, former Secy. Of State of the United States and now a Stanford U. prof, said "As I traveled the world representing the United States, I was often asked how I overcame the struggles of segregation and developed an interest in the Soviet Union at a time when few blacks--let alone women--were expected to pursue a career in International politics? I would reply, 'I started as a failed piano major'--and while the concert stage might have lost an artist, the trade was wonderful!"

Back to Ms. Couric and her almost--I said "almost"--disastrous two years on CBS and she, along with others, wondered what on earth was going wrong. She was bright, courted by that network because she was successful, ambitious, and well respected by people--those with power and titles--whom she had interviewed. So, she went to a rival network and---after the first weeks of "the honeymoon period"--no living up to the hype and actually starting to puzzle the viewers. She says, "There had been a great deal of publicity before the first broadcast, and in the initial few weeks the ratings were high. But when they started to head south, it became open season for the critics.

Despite 15 years of covering major news events and countless hard-hitting interviews, they claimed that I didn't have the "gravitas" required to be at the helm of such a prestigious enterprise." So, she "pulled on my big-girl pants", tried harder and things got easier and better, in her words. So, as Katie says, that's all any of us can do--try your best. The advice from all her sources is worth the price of admission alone--most inspiring. We'll see how she does at her new job on ABC.

A very well-reviewed historical book is "The Storm of War: A New History of the Second World War", by Andrew Roberts, and let me pass along an interesting fact to you that I did not know and I suspect that average person doesn't--to wit; "The Second World War lasted for 2,174 days, cost 1.5 trillion dollars, and claimed the lives of more than 50 million people.

This book tells what factors were involved in the war's outcome--why did the armies of the enemy lose? Roberts walked many of the battlefields in Russia, France, Italy, Germany, and the Far East and, this would interest those of you who were "in the war" and/or are students of battles--the author "drew on a number of never-before-published documents including the one explaining the reasoning behind Hitler's order to halt his famed Panzer division outside Dunkirk--a delay that enabled British forces to evacuate."

I remember hearing stories of the Brits getting anything that would float or had a motor mobilized to get the troops off that beach because it was "known" by military geniuses that Hitler was planning on coming right down to the sea and the troops were trapped. Terrible, grim situation--and for some reason, the Panzer divisions were halted. Stopped. They were not to go any further. And they didn't--after all, commanders do what their orders demand, from higher up.

An interesting part of his research was the stories of many little-known people of their experiences, "courage and self-sacrifice as well as the terrible depravity and cruelty, of the Second World War." Did you know that "Japan's journey to Pearl Harbor had been set as early as April 13 in 1941"? The torpedoes used were equipped with special fins and newly invented amour-piercing shells--all to be very effective because Pearl Harbor is a shallow harbor and no torpedo nets had been placed in front of the ships. Three waves of the Japanese fighter planes hit their targets "effectively wiping Pearl Harbor off the map as a functioning naval base and forcing the fleet back to California for the foreseeable future." It was all over by ten in the morning.

Another fact--"for every American who died, the Japanese lost 7, the Germans 11, and the Russians 92." The dispositions of the leaders in "our side" and their philosophy in how to run a war differed markedly from how Hitler and Stalin ran operations, and that difference (include Mussolini in that mix) made a great difference. Great book and surprisingly easy to read.

My last book is one I don't care to spend much time on, either reading or reporting--"Wicked Bugs; The Louse that Conquered Napoleon's Army and Other Diabolical Insects", by an Amy Stewart who wrote a book about plants--wicked and destructive--for the august New York Times--and it was a bestseller! In this book, one learns that earthworms are not always as much help to Nature as one imagines and there are bugs that eat corpses, facts about the Scorpion and the Brown Recluse. Complete with drawings, not pictures, and some "chattiness" to the descriptions. It is not my cup of tea but for those of you whom it strikes favorably to want to read and learn more, come and get it.

Thank you, as always, for being my faithful readers and I have next Sunday to tell you about Fiction titles, so, until then be careful in this heat, remember Dad on upcoming Father's Day, drink lots of water, and eat a piece of chocolate cake for me--I haven't had one in months and I'm thinking about it a lot! Bye!