Young Adult Fiction

Pay attention, Poppets! This column will be a little, teensy-weensy bit different than previous columns by yours truly--i.e. this will be a column talking about Young Adult (or YA ) books that are written for and published for boys and girls between 11 and 17-- and the subject matter is not what it was "when I was that age" (sounding like the typical "older generation".) I had asked my director, Jill, about doing a column for YA readers and she thought it a good idea and I, for some reason known only to God and me, thought that would bear fruit in, oh, 3 or 4 months.

The books arrived yesterday. I honestly did not look on their spines, of the first two books I pulled out of the box, 'cause I just knew that of course they would be fiction, for this Sunday. They were--but not adult fiction -- which I picked up real quick when the first sentence I read was; "When Sam met Grace, he was a wolf and she was a girl." I thought - "Oh, yeah, I dated those guys in college, figured out what THEY wanted quickly, smiled sweetly, and found a date for a tennis game--where there was a net to jump over!"

To go on, "That should have been the end of their story, but Grace was not meant to stay human--now she is the wolf." Now, I was confused--I mean, I went to high school and college with girls known to be "fast"--we all did! Remember how they dressed and the make-up and the "attitude"? Well, I suppose you could, if you wanted to, find some of my classmates who might think I had the last of the 3--but I was usually on the courts, in the pool, in the yearbook office, or getting rid of--and despairing of getting the attention of--either one type of college boy or the other. But I was not a "wolf"!

So, I looked at the book cover, and it said, "Forever", by Maggie Stiefvater, and on the spine was the YA symbol--ah yes! The clouds parted and the sun came through--Jill had sent a selection of books for teens-just as I'd suggested. I thought all was well--I'd simply look at the flyleaf info and leaf through and read parts of the book. Yeah, right.

Okay, in this book the wolves of Mercy Falls are about to be killed in one big roundup and while Sam loves Grace, "and one boy and one love really change a hostile, predatory world? The past, the present, and the future are about to collide in one pure moment--a moment of death or life, farewell or forever." Yeah, I guess. In any case, dear readers, we have got to--absolutely got to--keep in mind that these books are not written for the world-weary and world-wise of we "grown-ups", but (all together now!) for Young Adults.

There's a lot of tenderness between these two people, and descriptions or scars and dirt literally on their skin and underneath their nails because they change into wolves and are in the woods, she learns who wants to kill Sam and who wishes her harm and has to use her skills, both human and wolf, to deflect the death coming at them. I am not going to divulge the end of the story but it not only involves Sam but her father and his understanding and thoughts.

Okay, next YA title. "On the Volcano", by James Nelson, which also involved grave danger but a love story and how it all affects Katie's father and their future. (For those of you who have little or no interest in YA books and are about to leave me and run errands or floss the cat's teeth, thanks for staying this long and better luck the next column For those of you who are still here and have young adults to buy for or just want to know "what's out there for my teen reader", stay awhile.) See, the thing I realized about the YA books was that if it is well written, and you start looking through it, the principles of a good story and the characters reach out and "grab" you and keep you interested.
Katie and her father live on their own, on the side of a crater of a collapsed volcano and they've built a happy life up there--"far removed from the frontier perils of the world below them"--but then Katie's birthday comes along. "With it comes grave danger and tremendous love and also, heart-pounding but tender romance, the kind to build a life on." A tragedy happens with a young man, Jess, who finds his way up the volcano side, involving the rape of Katie, and it seems as it her sense of guilt and somehow being to blame will hurt all of them.


Lorraine, who I'm sure is her father's good friend, is very supportive of her and her dad and what was necessary to do, but, of course, the sense of guilt over having to kill Jess haunts them, then another man, Dan, is killed and his father comes to face them, first saying he believes that two Indian tracks prove that two men were trailing his son, then, upon spying a glass in their cabin much like his murdered son, accuses Katie's dad, Jack, of killing him. No amount of explaining to the desperate father, by Jack and Lorraine, convince him otherwise, and he shoots Katie's dad. So, soon after Dan's father rides away, Katie knows how to track him and shoot him with bow and arrow. I think all ends up well, Katie is "taken" with the young deputy and all's well that ends well, I guess, and it seems that the deaths were easily explainable and forgivable.

Even I have heard of the authoress, Carol Lynch Williams, who wrote the excellent novel, "The Chosen One", listed on "Best Books for Young Adult Readers" and her new one is, "Miles From Ordinary", a story about a young girl, getting her first job helping at the library and Lacey, 14, is so hopeful not only for her job but also for her mother starting out on a new one at a store. Her dad's gone and her mother's always been "different" and is scared about how Momma's going to do at the Winn-Dixie food store, beginning that day also, and would she stay there?

Lacey looked forward to having a friend at the library whom she could talk to and maybe spend overnight with---if she could leave Momma overnight. She's a caring, loving daughter who has to look after her mother and worry where she is. A boy, Aaron, whom she went to school with last year, helps her look for her mother when she isn't at Winn-Dixie, later in the day, and she tells him a little about her mother's illness and her Aunt Linda. These YA books, I've learned in a short time, are constantly full of things happening, thoughts expressed--silently or aloud to others--and constant drama.


Her mother is possessed by Granddaddy's memory, adopts his voice and then tell Lacey that he misses both of them and wants both she and her mother to "join him" and Lacy is propelled to her bedroom, by Momma, and turned towards the closet where Granddaddy hung himself--you'll have to get the book and read the final chapter yourselves! Be warned--this is not a "pretty" story.
Gary Schmidt wrote "Okay For Now", and I'm hoping, as I open it, that it's less dramatic and quirky and frightening than the previous books. The story is about a young man, Doug Swieteck, and his daily living in a new environment/home he calls "the Dump. " It is the summer of 1968, the Apollo space missions are underway, Joe Pepitone is slugging for the New York Yankees, and the Vietnam War is raging.

"His home life includes a father who has lost his way, a brother accused of robbery and an older brother coming home from war--and what wounds will he have and how will his being added to the family affect Doug's life? Then, he meets Mrs Windermere "who drags him to a theater opening he does Saturday grocery deliveries and meets people who will surprise him and affect his life. This is, supposedly and an aim of the author's, that transforming power of Art over disaster in a story about creativity and loss, love, and recovery, which includes survival. A grand plan for any author, I thought, and began to look through it.

His wonderful art instructor also teaches him about life, a little about love, and he also learns his brother, Lucas, is coming home "a little bit changed", the letter says from his buddy written to his mother, and his father made them all go to the Bullard Paper Mill annual picnic and he and Mr. Bullard won the contest on Baseball stats, and Mr. Bullard teaches him how to throw horseshoes, and his sort of- girlfriend gets him to show her, and lots of things happen to young master Swieteck. There's saving Joel in a bad, really bad asthma attack, there's the part about being bribed by a print of Au dubon's, "The Snowy Heron" to help in a play, Lucas gets a job helping the Coach at the high school (who was really impressed at how well Lucas could handle his wheelchair going up and down the library steps) and all's well that ends well for Doug's family and friends. The End.

Good Heavens! These YA books can wear you out just trying to tell about them, much less, as a reviewer, having to read almost all the book to see what else is coming around the corner for the characters. I can certainly see why the readers get so involved in the stories! I'm most admiring of the authors who have the "secret" to writing challenging plots and believable characters, and I can pity the writers who think writing a book for young readers is a piece of cake--you better have an excellent, empathetic sense of what's going to come out real and believable or else think of something else to do. These stories are really good, and in trying my feeble best to tell about them--I'd have to write a column for each book--as witness the last part of my effort to "wind up" the story "Okay For Now." I had a hard time even finding a stopping point, so much was still happening up until the last three pages and I just finally stopped--and could have gone on for another 6 or 7 sentences. I'd unequivocally urge you to pick up one of these titles or any on the shelves in the library and begin reading--you'll be there for another hour, standing or sitting in the same place--and just "pulled in" to the characters and their lives.

I will promise to do this twice more before the end of the year; meanwhile, eat your veggies, don't complain about the heat--you have shady spots and air conditioning--no one likes a whiner, if, by the time you read this no compromise has been reached by the "I've taken a stand and won't move off it" men and women of Congress, pray for all of us! I'd have been, with that attitude, sent to my room "to collect myself" and it's always tough when people "take a stand" and express it verbally and in writing because then they can't or won't abandon it for fear of appearing "weak." As one of my neighbors can say (with devastating tone and puzzled look--very effectively) "Really?

I loved the last part of "Harry Potter" and thought the actors had matured in their craft well and ended with a flourish and my next movie is going to be "Cowboys and Aliens" 'cause who wouldn't want to watch the fun of seeing Harrison Ford and Daniel Craig stand off winged monsters and awful creatures--all the while on horseback? The trick is to do it with aplomb (no, I won't tell you what it means--look it up!) Y'all take care and let's all rejoice that we're going to have Football season--here in Texas it's un-American to have it cancelled for any reason!

Summer Events

Summer Reading 2011 has now gone into the history books here at Memorial Library. Readers have turned in their logs and the tee shirt order has been submitted. High readers were rewarded with Grif Golf and a picnic this past Tuesday. Everyone who attended had a fun (but rather warm) time out in the sun, but then got to eat their fill of pizza in the nice, shady picnic area. Our high readers are to be commended. It takes at least 35 hours of reading in the five weeks of summer reading to get into the club. As a whole, Summer Reading 2011 was very successful. Well over 450 young people took part, with 3,522 hours of total reading time turned in between the children and the teens.

The only thing that remains is for everyone to claim their tee shirts, which will take place on Thursday, August 4, from 4:30 to 5:30 p.m. If your child earned a tee shirt, please mark that date on your calendar. It is truly a shame to have children work for their tee shirts then not have them claimed.

Doing cooperative projects with other agencies is one of the fun things about this job and a great one is coming up. As was mentioned in this column space last Sunday, Mid America Air Museum is bringing an exhibit called Wartime Escape from Exhibits USA to their facility from July 27 to September 23. The library is planning some interesting programs in conjunction with the exhibit. The exhibit tells the story of Curious George creators H.A. and Margret Rey and their escape from Paris just as the Nazi invasion was taking place during WW II.

The Children's department is planning programming to showcase Curious George and will host special programming as well. A complete schedule will be available in the near future. All the events are made possible by a grant from the Kansas Humanities Council.

Once summer reading is completed, planning for fall begins once again. Our storytimes will start on Thursday, August 18. The various ages of little ones will return to their previous groupings: Lapsit storytime is for children birth to 19 months; Toddle In storytime is for children 19 months to 3 years, and preschool time is for children 3 to 5. The session times are just going to be tweaked slightly. Preschool time still begins at 9:15 and ends at 10:00, but toddler time is moving up by five minutes to start at 10:15 and end at 10:35. Lapsit time will then begin at 10:50 and end at 11:10. Storytimes are grouped into six sessions, followed by a break of two weeks before the next session begins. Schedules for the first session are now available both in the library and on our website. Be sure you stop in and sign your little one up.

A lot of parents and grandparents have been in this summer wanting to start their children reading or wanting to know what we have for young readers. Our easy reader collection used to be shelved in the center of our easy books. Since the installation of our bins for easy books, the easy reader collection has moved. It is now located on the west side of the first set of north-south running shelving. A lot of the books have the reading level right on the spine, making it fairly easy for someone who has a little time to invest to locate the level of books they are looking for. However, using the card catalog could prove to be a more efficient way.

Once in front of the card catalog screen, click the 'advanced search' button. This allows movement to the center column and changing of the blue word location from 'Liberal Memorial Library' to either 'Children's Area' or even, in this case, 'Easy Reader Books'. Once you have done that, type in 'I can read'. If you want a specific reading level, you can type in 'level 1, for instance following the 'I can read'. For those who are in search of the very first readers, type in 'My first I can read'. Library staff members are happy to assist patrons in locating materials or with any questions they may have. There are a lot of great titles in this section, with new titles arriving regularly. Stop in and check out what we have. See you at Memorial Library!

I Geek...

Residents of Liberal may soon add a new verb to their vocabulary-- 'geek.'

The Liberal Memorial Library is participating in Geek the Library, a community-based public awareness campaign. The campaign highlights what people are passionate about and how libraries can support them, in an effort to heighten awareness about the critical funding issues public libraries face.

Geek the Library features local educational material that introduces 'geek' as a verb, and encourages the public to talk about what they 'geek'--whether it's engineering, superheroes or art. The public awareness campaign illustrates the fact that everyone is passionate about something--everyone 'geeks' something--and that the library supports them all.

"This campaign is designed to provoke conversation about the vital role that public libraries and librarians play in today's challenging environment," said Cathy De Rosa, global vice president of marketing for OCLC, a non-profit library cooperative which led campaign development and conducted a pilot campaign from June 2009 to April 2010. "We hope it will spark important community discussions about how public libraries can remain strong."

The awareness campaign features advertising, social networking elements, a Web site and grassroots community initiatives to draw attention to the need for increased library support. The campaign Web site, www.geekthelibrary.org, provides information about how people can get active and support their local library.

As the economic downturn slowly recovers, millions of Americans are turning to local libraries for educational opportunities, job-searching resources and entertainment. The increased demand for library services is taking a toll on libraries already experiencing flat or decreasing budgets. And state and local cuts are impacting public library hours, programs and staffing, forcing some libraries to close indefinitely.

While most people have visited their public library and understand its important role in their community, many do not know that libraries are at risk or that local funding for libraries is heavily influenced by community members.

This public awareness campaign hopes to start a conversation about library funding to inspire more people to take personal responsibility for keeping their local public libraries vital in their communities. The campaign will not support or oppose any candidate for public office, nor attempt to influence legislation.
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The Liberal Memorial Library and the Seward County Historical Society welcomes award-winning authors Phyliss Miranda and Linda Broday to Liberal from July 14-16.

Miranda and Broday will be discussing their latest western romance, "Give Me a Texas Outlaw" at a social at the Library on Thursday, July 14 at 6:00 p.m. and at a breakfast at the Coronado Museum on Saturday, July 16 at 8:00 a.m.

Both events at the Library and the Coronado Museum are free to the public.
"Give Me a Texas Outlaw" is the fourth in a series of anthologies by Miranda, Broday, Dewanna Pace and best-selling author Jodi Thomas. A fifth anthology is slated to come out in October of this year.

The first three books are "Give Me a Texan," "Give Me a Cowboy," and "Give Me a Texas Ranger."

For more information on the events, contact the Liberal Memorial Library at (620) 626-0180 or the Seward County Historical Society at (620) 624-7624.

For more information on the authors, you can visit their websites at www.phylissmiranda.com and www.lindabroday.com.

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The Liberal Memorial Library is happy to be partnering with the Mid America Air Museum on its latest exhibit, "The Wartime Escape: Margaret and H.A. Rey's Journey from France."

The Library will be running programs in coordination with the Air Museum's exhibit, which tells the tale of Margaret and H.A. Rey perilous escape from France during World War II. The Reys are the renowned authors the Curious George series.

The Library will have children's programming on Curious George for the children as well as programs for adults and teens on World War II and the Holocaust. We will also have tickets to the exhibit.
"The Wartime Escape: Margaret and H.A. Rey's Journey from France" is expected to begin at the Mid-America Air Museum later this month.

For more information on the exhibit, you can contact the Air Museum at (620) 624-5263. For more information on Library programming, you can call us at (620) 626-0180 or visit our web site

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!

Summer Reading

It's that time of year once more . . .when lots of information comes out about the library's Summer Reading Program. This year's theme One World Many Stories will offer a wonderful program that will be ready to launch on Tuesday, May 31. All you need to do before that date is to stop in the library and sign up. Sign up will begin on Monday, May 23, when our doors open and will be available during library hours that entire week. Our groups start with the Wee Ones and go up through the group for children entering fifth and sixth grade in the fall.

What is the purpose of signing up, you ask. Sign up allows you to assist your child in setting a realistic reading goal for the five-week program. As an incentive, the library offers an opportunity for children to earn a summer reading tee shirt if they set a goal of at least ten hours of reading during the five weeks and reach that goal. In addition, library staff members get an idea of how many children to plan for at the weekly story and craft sessions for the various age groups. In addition to just reading, these age group sessions give the children a fun time at the library each week at a designated time.

Special programs are also offered for the whole family throughout summer reading. When you sign up, you will be given a schedule of everything happening at the library. The schedule includes a section to tear off and turn back in when your child's reading goal is met. Summer is a busy time and not everything may fit into your family's schedule, but you are welcome to participate in summer reading however it works best for your family.

It is a research-proven fact that children lose reading skills over the summer if they do not practice. What a fun way to make sure your children get in some reading during the summer!

Up to this point, children have been the topic, but the teens have their own program entitled You Are Here. Special activities are planned for them during the five weeks. They sign up just like the children and set their goal to work toward the tee shirt. Voracious readers in both the children's and teens' groups (those who read 35 hours or more during the five weeks of summer reading) qualify for our High Readers Club. Those young people will be treated to an outing at the end of the program.

Novel Destinations is the theme of our Adult program this year. It will run from May 31 through July 18. At sign up, adults will receive a special passport and an opportunity to turn in tickets to qualify for prize drawings.

In keeping with this year's One World Many Stories theme, lots of new books have been purchased. The My First Book series will help to explore how various words are said in various other countries. Books in the series include, but are not limited to, Japanese Words, Vietnamese Words, Italian Words, and German Words. Another new title is Monkey by Gerald McDermott. Monkey is a trickster tale from India and is an example of some of the stories that will be shared during our weekly story and craft sessions.

Kicking off our special programs will be Laercio Lobo and Iago Goncalzes from Brazil. Both of these young men are attending college here in Liberal. That program is on Wednesday, June 1 at 3:30. On Thursday evening, June 2 at 6:30, will be Llamas on the Lawn, featuring the llamas of Terryl and Betty Hollman. The following week, June 7 at 6:45 will be a Multi-Lingual Story Time featuring Fannie Benincasa reading in French, Olga Cisneros reading in Spanish, and me reading in English

Fannie will return on Wednesday, June 8, at 3:30, along with Juraj Stepanovic, for a program on the European countries of France and the Czech Republic.

On June 17, Dr. Randy Gill will present a program on India at 2:00 p.m.

Another Seward County Community College student, Nathan Nelmes, will be presenting a program on Australia on the 23rd at 2:30. Week five of summer reading will include two young men from the continent of Africa--Idowu (John) Esomojumi and Opeyemi Salami, telling attendees about their African countries on Tuesday, June 28, at 1:30. Our final program is the Lee Richardson Zoo on Thursday, June 30, at 2 p.m. They always bring an intriguing set of animals to show and ask only that the audience be punctual and remain quiet during their presentation.

Have we got excitement? You bet! Plan to join us for a good time this summer. See you at Memorial Library!