Drop by the library this fall

Autumn is slowly yet surly approaching.  The library has lots of activities planned over the next few months.
Our newest book display in the adult and young adult area is "Crafting". A scarf for cold weather, grab a knitting book! A quilt to adorn a sofa, grab a quilting book!  See if there’s a book on the display just calling your name.

The young adults are busy hanging out at the library every two weeks (this past week being a Teen Advisory Committee meet day) and the next being Teen Gaming on Thursday, September 29 at 4 p.m. The current project is for a prospective spring performance featuring a musical play.  The plans are in the works.  There may also be something in the works for the holiday season.  The group is slowly growing with an exuberant mix of young adults.

Lidia Hook-Gray will be at the library for a book signing on Tuesday, September 20 at 6 p.m. Her book entitled "Liberal and Seward County" was published on August 22.

The Library and Lunch book discussion will be held on Tuesday, October 11 at 12 p.m. The book "The Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet" by Jamie Ford will be discussed.  The novel is a debut for Ford whose plot revolves around Henry Lee, a Chinese-American in Seattle who's lost his wife and he finds out that the belongings of Japanese immigrants interned during the WWII have been found in a hotel basement.  The story shuffles between the present 1986 and the 1940s chronicling the losses of old age and the bewilderment of youth.

Book and Movie Series will meet on Thursday, October 20 at 6 p.m. for "Doubt" by John Patrick Shanley. Winner of the 2005 Pulitzer Prize for Drama, Shanley also directed the film version of the play starring Meryl Streep, Phillip Seymour Hoffman, Amy Adams, and Viola Davis. Shanley is the writer behind the classic 1987 romantic comedy titled "Moonstruck".

What’s new in the library? As of this upcoming Wednesday, the Kobo eReader will be available for check-out to library patrons.  E-readers are portable electronic devices designed for one to read digital books and periodicals. The Kobo uses an electronic ink screen so the screen tries to depict ordinary ink on paper.

There are over seventy different varieties of e-readers out on the market.  Stop by and see if a Kobo might be one for you.  E-readers are perfect for someone who travels.  There is less space taken up by books.
There are many classics downloaded on the library device for perusal including The "Velveteen Rabbit" by Margery Williams which I read for the first time on the Kobo.  Pages may be more colorful in paper format or in another version of device.  See for yourself.

As a still quite devoted physical book aficionado whether in everyday life or whilst traveling (paperbacks for discovering new authors like Ian McEwan prior to his "Atonement" fame on a long flight years ago) one might see the advantage of eventually reading Tolstoy's War and Peace in an e-reader format.

As always, for the latest library programming take a peek at the library website or grab a newsletter from the circulation desk. Stay tuned and connected through our social media pages. If you have any questions or suggestions about books or programs don't hesitate to ask. Hope to see you at the library this fall

Nonfiction

Greetings, oh faithful readers--and how goes the early Fall for thee? Today, as I start to write this, it is Sunday night, around 8 p.m., and for some reason, "known only to God" as my family was wont to say, the wind is really up and rustling leaves and papers on Himself's desk here in the den. No rain, however, which I understand Liberal has gotten, off and on. We are mainly "off", here in South Texas, and we are on Stage 4 water rationing--now, pay attention and I'll tell you what that piece of news entails for the general population; it's a major drought--not just "dry" or "we can't leave the sprinklers on all day, can we?"--your sprinkler system, as a homeowner, is turned off--off, as in nada, none, not any day--and you can handwater (you're standing there, on your lawn, literally holding the hose in your little pink paw and trying to keep what grass and bushes you have alive and that's only allowed two days a week, depending on your house number, from 6.am. to 9a.m. and 6p.m. to 9 p.m.)


Thank goodness those of us who installed underground drip systems are allowed to set them to water two or three days (for three hours) a week but not any soaker hoses or sprinklers. If you can spare a Mason jar or two of water, your next "toad strangler", we implore you to send it on--one man said he saw a fire hydrant trying to bribe a dog! Ah, well, nor would I like to stand on a river bank and watch my house breaking up going downstream or get caught in a fire that spreads to include my house and 124 others, like in Oklahoma.

This Sunday that you're reading this is, obviously, the anniversary of 9-11 and of course you know where you were when you either heard the news or saw those ghastly pictures on the telly. I can vividly remember that horrible, end-of-the-world picture of that black, rolling cloud coming down Wall Street--it personified, to me, what is meant by Armageddon. However, we're a resilient populace and, while being appalled, taken aback, angry, and never-the-same-again, we survived and will continue to do so. 9/11 was a truthful moment and as it was non-fiction, so is my column (Patti, you've got to admit I turned a national disaster into a great segue! Call me and assure me you think so, too~!)

Okay, Poppets, let's look at a "cliffhanger" of a book--literally. "The Ledge; An Adventure Story of Friendship and Survival on Mount Rainier", by Jim Davidson, one of the two climbers who are also best friends (the other was Mike Price) "as they stood triumphantly on top of Washington's Mount Rainier, celebrating what they hoped would be the first of many milestones in their lives. Then, the cave-in. They plunged deep inside a glacier crevasse-the pitch-black, ice-walled hell that every climber's nightmares are made of." Davidson was fully aware of the risks of what could happen but was "hopelessly in love with the challenge." Besides, as we all secretly believe--"It'll never happen to me!" Oh, really?

He fell and was "trapped on a narrow, unstable, frozen ledge, deep below daylight and high above a yawning chasm." The crumbling ice and snow around him were enemies to deal with---"My eyes travel up the frozen walls. I figure it is 80 feet up to the sunlight. The walls above me climb up at about 80 degrees, then they go dead vertical, and then, higher up, they overhang. It is as if I am looking out from the belly of a beast, its jagged white teeth interlocking above me." Davidson desperately tried to save his injured companion and, finally, with very little equipment and no partner to help him on, even morally and verbally, he'll either have to resign himself to a cold, lonely death or--climb up to the top with his strength waning every hour.

This book is a tribute to friendship and the laws of Nature that never change for any man and, finally, to say it is an adventure story is like saying 9/11 was about how well built the towers were. In one poignant moment, stuck in that shaft of ice and cold and exhaustion, he "talks" to his father as he's attempting to go up toward the top--

"I grab the biner that, when released will thrust me out onto the sharp end of a big lead fall over a manky screw (that was not a misspelling-it's the name of a screw, apparently). sJust one simple unclip and I will force myself to play this terrible hand right now, all in, to free climb up in one great go for broke effort. One way or the other, it will be over in the next minute. Perhaps that is what I want the most: for it all to just be over. I hook my index finger on the biner's gate, ready to open it. Now. And then I hear a loud voice in my head. It's Dad. "Stop! Ya can't do it. Ya gotta keep doin what you were doin'" I argue and say it will just take a minute--"All I've got to do is climb this one section and it's over." Dad doesn't buy it. "Ya may not be strong enough and if ya fall, the screw's not gonna hold. You're gonna go all the way down. I know ya want to climb out fast but the risk is too big. Ya can't do it. The aid climbing's working. Stick with it."

I love that "dialogue" he had with his dad in a dangerous deathly cold environment, getting weaker and colder--I believed he did hear his dad's voice. In any case, this is an excellent story and you need to read it if you like honest characters and a real "icy" cliffhanger (or crevasse chiller!)\

I was rather amused by this next title--"How to Love an American Man; a True Story", by Kristine Gasbarre, in that I pictured a whole series by this author only set with a man in different countries. Actually, the premise is rather interesting. "Kristine made a New York career out of dating driven, inaccessible men, and when she realizes that her love life will never result in happiness if she continues on the same path," she decides to go to Italy and stay with her adoring grandfather. Then she receives the news that he has died. Scratch Italy. So, she returns to her hometown--small hometown--to help care for her grandmother--"refined, private matriarch suffering from early dementia along with the loss of her husband" and in return for the lost love stories and life lessons from her grandmother's 60-year marriage, they both find that she is Krissie's coach through her fear of loving.


Grandmother talks about if someone really listens to you and sees and hears what's important to you and you do the same for them--you are an individual and allow them to be one not try to make the other one into something they're not comfortable with. Consider Grandmother's wonderful Walnut muffins that she was putting in a container for Krissie to take to her mother and father--the muffins that were without nuts she put on the bottom of the container because that's what Krissie's father liked ("your father hates nuts in anything--always has") and the muffins on top with nuts because Krissie's mother loved nuts in anything--always had! Each understood how the other one reacted to personal choices and made allowances, was the point Grandmother's muffin tale made.

And at the end, after telling her beloved doctor, Chris, goodbye as he leaves to do six months medical work in Paris and they've discussed how much they care for each other, she is talking to her grandmother who is happy for her but says, "Kristine, all your life, the only one you can always count on, one hundred per cent of the time is you--you're a woman who'd had goals, who always knows her self and what she wants and that's the most important thing for a woman to be in this life." Theirs was a delightful relationship and each gave to the other and got much back in return. You'll love this charming "old-fashioned" story, in a modern time, and the truths it contains.

Okay, that's one for the men and one for the women, now, here's one for all my readers of any age, income, education or position in this world. "Unlikely Friendships; 47 Remarkable Stories from the Animal Kingdom", by Jennifer Holland, is a treasure of a book and each "pairing" of best friends has its own history to it, and let me give you a few examples of the "unlikely friendships" that you'll find in here;

• a fish poking its nose out of the water to nuzzle a dog,
• a Cockatoo and a cat,
• a Cheetah and an Anatolian Shepherd,
• a Pit Bull, a Siamese Cat and the chicks,
• the Papillon (Spaniel) and the Squirrel,

and the Owl and the Spaniel--and the owlet had been abandoned almost at birth, so Sharon, who runs that conservation center, took him inside and sat down on the sofa with "Bramble" in her lap. Sophi, then 3 years old, "jumped up on the sofa to investigate the new arrival and licked him gently on his beak, and from that day on, it became a daily ritual--Bramble would "beak" Sophie in return for Sophie's kisses."

Sometimes a friendship is about need, as in the case of the blind Lab and her affectionate "seeing eye" cat This is about the true power of friendship and, to some degree, the many forms of "love" that seem to exist in the animal kingdom.

The author, along with her husband, lives with two dogs and dozens of snakes and geckos. She is a senior editor for "National Geographic" magazine and the snakes on her property? They keep completely to themselves. And, for a last word about these wonderful friendships, I love the one that brings together a Lion, a Tiger, and the Bear at the Noah's Ark Rehab Center in Locust Grove, Ga. and they all met as young ones of three months old. The ones in charge (human, that is) enlarged the grounds as the animals "enlarged" and added a double-decker "clubhouse" for them to play in. There isn't one--not one of these stories you won't delight in reading and the pictures are "worth the admission price all by themselves". Come and check it out and thank me later.

So, our heat is slowly lifting--our highs this week are around where they should be--mid-nineties instead of low 100's--and what is a hoot is how much cooler people say they feel the minute the first week in Sept.arrives--even if the temp hasn't moved much. Ah, the power of the mind! Remember to keep walking or swimming or golfing or playing tennis--however you like to exercise, keep on. Read a good book, enjoy laughter with friends and keep in touch with family members and remind yourself, every so often, to appreciate small things and forgive the occasional rudeness--Life's too short. Thanks for reading this col. and we will be "together" again, soon, okay? Bye!

Geek the Library

When you think of the Liberal Memorial Library the first thing that comes to mind is books. These days it may even be DVDs or computers. But the library is much more than all those things. It's a place of workshops and activities for all ages. The library has computer training workshops every Tuesday and Wednesday in English and Spanish. The library has its monthly "Lunch and Library" and "Movie and Library" series. There is also storytime for children as well as gaming activities for teens and young adults.

The library has also had its share of guest speakers to enlighten the Liberal community. Western authors Phyllis Miranda and Linda Broday came to town to promote their new book as well as give some background on their writing process.


Children's literature expert and Kansas State professor Joe Sutliff Sanders visited the library and gave his perspective on the escape of Margret and H.A Rey, the creators of Curious George, from Nazi-occupied France during World War II.

The library is always working on activities and workshops that the community finds interesting and valuable.
Over the next few months, the library will be participating in numerous events such as the Duck Race Festival, the Mexican Independence Day Festival and the Halloween at the Southgate Mall.
At these events, the library will be out trying to unleash the community's inner geek.

But just what is geek? Geek simply means passion. Do you geek books? Video games? Football? What is your passion?

The 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.

The public awareness campaign illustrates the fact that everyone is passionate about something--everyone 'geeks' something--and that the library supports them all.

So get ready to get your geek on!

Return on investment. You may hear those three words when you're talking about the stock market or real estate investments, but how often do you hear them when you're talking about the library? Probably not as often, if ever, as you should.

In these tough economic times, everyone is always wondering if they are getting the best bang for their buck. Am I getting the most with my money? I can tell you that the library is one place where you are getting your money's worth.

Recent studies have shown that for every one dollar that goes to the library, you get five dollars back on your return. Where else do you think you can get that kind of return on your investment?

Just think, instead of borrowing a book or checking out a DVD, you would have to buy it. Instead of borrowing a computer and surfing the internet, you have to buy a computer and get an internet connection.
For more information on how much you're getting back on your library dollar, check out http://www.tscpl.org/about/library-value-calculator/ It's easy to forget the library is here until you need it. (When a certain bookstore left town.) The library is a community resource and an investment. The more you put into it, the more you can get out of it.

Liberal has been great in supporting the library and understands it's a valuable commodity. Still, it never hurts to give a reminder of its value.

Fiction

Here in Texas we have had three inches of rain since the first of the year! They held a community prayer meeting in Houston to pray for rain and the squirrels have largely disappeared from the trees around our house. The stock market is fluctuating, Congress is inept, our credit rating has been dropped (and should have been!), and I found a small mole on Rufus' side.
Regarding my upcoming trip to Fort Worth to see Hal and Sylvia Harbuck

(remember him from the radio station, KSCB, and how great he was in the Chamber of Commerce? They don't make 'em like Mr. Harbuck anymore and he deserves my time and attention to go to his house and run his life for him! Odd how he groans when I walk in the door and I'm greeted with an affectionate "No, we don't want any", followed by "and we don't have any bedroom for you to sleep in--unless you got money!")

anyway, Himself says that Sylvia and I can eat at a nearby convenience store before any movie or shopping (now, there's a word he hates--"shopping") and thank goodness her son, Craig, has a pool and ice water and three wonderful dogs, all for a delightful afternoon in Fort Worth's 102 degree heat! Because Sylvia still looks like a model (the older version, that is--said her best friend in all kindness!), I have to take some nice, fashionable clothes--the best Beall's has to offer, don'cha know--and I'm grateful, seriously, for some "time off" from the routine to just visit and enjoy Harbucks and their really delightful family.

Anyone remember the older boy, Hal J., and the middle son, Barry (he and Bonnie, my daughter, were classmates, I think) and I can assure you Hal J. is really well-known as a talk show host on the radio there (sorry, I forgot the call letters) and Syl and I keep a sharp eye on them--which I think they secretly appreciate, don't you? Sure they do.

Okay, you know how your eyes get tired, sometimes, after too much reading--oh, one more thing about Hal Senior, Syl's husband, some of you may not know, he's battling Macular Degeneration but can still read a computer screen for messages; contact me for his address, should you want it. Anyway, as we read more and/or get older (that is, you get older, not me!) A big help is Large Type books, and since Mysteries and Westerns are two prime destinations for readers wanting "escape", we try to order in a good selection of each, certainly in Fiction.

Let me tell you about one from an excellent writer of Westerns, Wilbur Smith (that sounds like a fake name, doesn't it?), who's written 30 of these novels! This one is, "Those in Peril", and it concerns a kidnapping, off a private yacht belonging to Hazel Bannock, owner of Bannock Oil, and she is not on board at the time, but her daughter, Cayla, is and the ransom asking price is 20 billion! Complications in political and diplomatic circles "make it impossible for the world's major powers to intervene, so when Hazel is given evidence that her daughter is being tortured, she calls on Hector Cross." Somehow, I began talking about a Western and have ended up on the high seas.

The inestimable Mr. Cross is the owner/operator of Cross Bow Security and he doesn't mind "taking the law into his own hands when it's clear what has to be done." The assasins/hijackers are very mean and bloodthirsty, the writing is very graphic over what is done to some of the participants, in torturing them, some violent deaths, and, finally a good end with some--not all--of the people still alive and a good beginning ahead. I really got interested in this book--I'm thinking that maybe he's not exactly a Western author, but he sure writes a good adventure story and has done his research for them "on his numerous expeditions." Impressive!

Another "read" to consider is "Through the Cracks", by Barbara Fister, and, for some reason, her picture on the back flyleaf and the caption under it amused me. I haven't heard of this author, and, indeed, she has written only one other novel, but it was well praised--anyway, here's a picture of a pleasant looking, smiling, middle-aged lady who's been, I can tell, to the hairdresser to get her hair "blonded up" (I made that phrase up, as you can tell!) and it says, "Barbara Fister lives in rural Minnesota where she works as a librarian at a small liberal arts college." Period. End of biography. They didn't even mention her other novel, set in my hometown of Chicago, she was married or single, no mention of a nice doggie, or where she got her haircolor done--nada.

Okay, so I've looked in her newest book, her Chicago P.I. is named Anni Koskimen, and her new client has her up against some bad odds. "After spending 20 years in prison, a black man convicted in a notorious rape case has had his sentence overturned--and the victim wants to know who was, then, really responsible for the crime that has scarred her life." However, even if Annie can find out who did the crime, a conviction won't be possible on the old charge--unless the rapist has done it to another woman--and the victim has put time and effort into finding out that there are, indeed, indications that someone is "attacking women with ferocious anger." Then, as Annie digs deeper, the state's attorney who prosecuted the original case insists the conviction was solid-no miscarriage of justice was committed--and that the man only got out on a technicality.

Meanwhile, Annie's friend, Dugan, has a case in which an undocumented Mexican gang member has been arrested for the murder of a missing woman and this case "has gripped the city and fueled anti-immigrant sentiment." This author has her characters believable, the plot seems to move right along--the print is rather small and that can be distracting (remember my earlier comment on people's eyesight sometimes being affected? This print wouldn't be a picnic to read!)

They mentioned "Avalon Park" and I sat up straighter--the park near our apartment, in Chicago, was called that and I really sat up when the characters went to an all-night diner called "Clarkes", which was my maiden name--things were getting spooky, I thought! You have to "stay with" this book--it's not some story you breeze through while waiting for your computer to sign on--once you've started, you keep on keeping on. Interesting story and pretty well written--a good Summer read!

One of the disadvantages of not being able to go into Liberal Memorial Library is not being able to find the book I want, check it out, put it on my desk, take it home after work and begin to read it. This is because I'm nine and a half hours away! And, let me tell you, Poppets, that the book "Untold Story", by Monica Ali, that you'll hear about next is one I'd grab off the shelf--now.

Have you heard Ms Ali's interesting theory--that Diana, yes, that Diana--did not die in that terrible car wreck, driven by a drunk chauffeur and chased by the press by car and motorcycle--Diana survived. Had she lived, she would have turned 50 years old July 1 of this year. "Adored by millions, she suffered rejection, heartbreak, and betrayal; surrounded by glamour and the constant attention of the world's press, she fought to carve a meaningful role for herself in helping the needy and dispossessed."

The book is based on the interesting supposition--suppose Diana had not died but lived, would she ever have found peace and happiness or would her fame have caught up with her again? This author fast forwards this "what if" scenario and the averted Paris tragedy to a small, not-a-town-you'd-notice in the Midwest and a lady named Lydia who works at an animal shelter "and swims a lot". She has close friends and a man who adores her but doesn't really know her. The question is about the cost of celebrity and the possibility--or not--of reinventing a life.

A man (a reporter) breaks into her house carrying a camera, and goes up to her bedroom, opens the door, and finds himself facing a revolver and a furious Lydia. Better get the book--I know I will. The cover is a picture of Diana, half-turned away from the camera but you'd know her anywhere. Enjoy and ponder the question asked in the book--i.e. what would have happened had Diana not died?

This thriller, "Pacific Heights", by Paul Harper, is actually the work of a man named David Lindsey, who lives in Austin, Tx., about an hour and a half from Kerrville and sometimes I wonder why authors use a fake name? Ah well, "ours is not to question why", dear readers. This title is the start of a new series, and a former intelligence officer headlines this "psychologically twisted novel" a man named Marten Fane--and the monster he has to capture is a man named Ryan Kroll, "known throughout the private sector as a man who can obtain information by any means, often using "creative" and violent tactics to get what he wants."

When Kroll finds material--and steals it--from a psychotherapist who is treating two wives of prominent San Francisco's powerful men whom Kroll is having affairs with, it becomes obvious that he is responsible for manipulating them to the point of their insanity and it becomes deadly. It becomes Fane's job to stop him and while Fane is known for his clear head and brains and he "might be the perfect person to foil Kroll's mental games and prevent him from committing what could possibly be a form of murder."

Okay, so I did my usual "stroll " through the book. The professional therapist learns the name of the man beginning to desperately worry both women--the same man but under different names--Ray Kern and Philip Krey--"and to see these two damaged women reverse their characters in the face of this man's manipulation of them was sobering to Vera (the therapist). It spoke to the power of this man's personality and influence over them and it was very frightening. What kind of a man could have such an effect on these two very different women? And why would he want to?"

That last question I found "the hook" in this story. Not only why would he want to but also he obviously had gotten a lot of information on the two women but for what purpose--hate? an old score to settle? Was the fact that the two women went to the same therapist central to Kroll's "plot"? Really a great ending--scary and believable. Get the book and plan to step up late at night--several nights--to finish it.

Okay, Poppets, Rufus Cooper wants his evening walk--we're down to 91 degrees at dinnertime and I'll need a sweater!--so, I hope you've got some idea of what, perhaps, to read. Go see the movie "The Help", keep reminding yourself that although it's hot, you're not watching a house float downstream of the river you've been living on, nor do you have to endure a tornado that has destroyed your home entirely, so fix an iced tea or pour a glass of chilled white wine, go out on your patio or deck or backyard tonight and be thankful that some bright boy invented air conditioning.

Do not forget fresh water for your dog or cat both in the morning and at night 'cause after it's been in the dish all day, it tastes "funny". Hang on, Fall is coming and I just know that when it's Sept. 1st, you'll feel it's Fall and feel cooler. By the way, my governor, Rick Perry, has declared for the presidency and while I can't understand why anyone in their right mind would want to be president, I wish him luck--and I do all of you. Bye!

Curious George Wartime Escape

August is here and thoughts are turning to the start of another school year. Summer activities have wound to a close at the library with the final event for summer reading--the tee shirt claim. Readers who reached their goal were not only able to come and pick up their tee shirts on August 4 in the late afternoon, but were treated to an ice cream sundae of their own construction as well. Good work, all you diligent readers! Remember, if you were unable to come to claim your shirt on August 4, you will need to pick it up by August 20, or call the library to make other arrangements.

On the 9th, the library hosted Kansas State University Children's Literature professor Joe Sutliff Sanders who was brought to Liberal in conjunction with the Wartime Escape exhibit currently at the Mid America Air Museum. Sutliff Sanders presented a wonderful, informative program focusing on World War II conditions in France at the time of the German invasion helping those in attendance to better understand the climate under which the German born Jewish Reys, creators of the popular Curious George books, escaped from Paris, and eventually from Europe. Sutliff Sanders was keynote speaker that evening at the Mid America Air Museum for a Chamber After Hours event. The library is excited to partner with the Air Museum on this project, which was made possible, in part, by a grant from the Kansas Humanities Council.

The library has planned additional activities to go along with the Air Museum exhibit which include two days designated for Read with Curious George. Youngsters may come between the hours of 3:30 and 5:30 on Tuesday, August 23, and Thursday, August 25, and read with our large Curious George plush. We will have a number of Curious George titles available. Any youngster taking part will get their name entered into our drawing for a Curious George plush and book combination. In addition, there will be tickets to the museum exhibit given away.

On Tuesday evening, August 30, a bi-lingual Curious George story time will take place in the Children's Library at 6:30 p.m. The regular story time on Thursday, September 1, at 9:15 a.m. will have the Curious George theme. On Saturday, September 10, a video session will take place at 10 a.m. in the Cooper Clark Room. This will feature short stories from the PBS Curious George program and will last approximately 90 minutes. Children under 8 must be accompanied by an adult. Museum tickets and a chance to enter the drawing will also be available at these events, which are open to anyone interested.

The library has purchased additional Curious George books for our collection. These include some bi-lingual titles and some Spanish titles. Several of the DVDs which are produced by the PBS Curious George series were also purchased. For patrons interested in the book which parallels the exhibit, it is entitled The Journey that Saved Curious George by Louise Borden, with illustrations by Allan Drummond. This book can be found in the Children's Library. Another recent addition to our collection is the biography entitled H. A. Rey by Cari Meister. This is a simpler written, smaller book which contains a glossary and suggested websites in the back.

As Sutliff Sanders mentioned in his presentation, there are a lot of children's books which deal with the holocaust that help children to better understand it. One book which he shared is entitled The Grand Mosque of Paris: A Story of How Muslims Saved Jews During the Holocaust by Karen Gray Ruelle. This book is on the current list of nominated titles for the William Allen White Award in the third through fifth grade category. Here's a description which the WAW Committee provided:

"During the Nazi occupation of Paris, no Jew was safe from arrest and deportation to a concentration camp. Few Parisians were willing to risk their own lives to help. Yet many Jews found refuge in an unlikely place, the sprawling complex of the Grand Mosque of Paris. Not just a place of worship, but also a community center, this hive of activity was an ideal temporary hiding place for escaped prisoners of war and Jews of all ages, including children."

The library owns both of these titles, as well as many others about World War II and the holocaust. They are well worth checking out.

Story times begin again August 18. This is a fun time for little ones. It not only exposes them to early literacy skill building but also gives them socialization time. It's a good time for parents, grandparents, and caregivers to connect as well. Check with the library for a schedule of times and age groups or go to our website at lmlibrary.org.

For those of you with a special place in your heart for Winnie the Pooh, he will be turning 90 on August 21. If you would like to send him a birthday card, here is the link

http://www.nypl.org/blog/2011/06/29/winnie-the-pooh-birthday

Even though you may be bustling around to get children ready for the start of school, don't forget that the library has great resources for both academic and leisure reading. Stop by frequently. See you at Memorial Library!

Drop by the library for August events

The ice cream and t-shirt pickup wrapped up the summer reading program for the year. If your child or teen earned a t-shirt for completing the program and reaching their summer reading goal, they can be picked up at the library.

The library has partnered with the Mid America Air Museum on its latest exhibit, "The Wartime Escape: Margaret and H.A. Rey's Journey from France." It tells the story of the Reys journey, featuring framed prints by artist Allan Drummond and supplemental images from the DeGrummond Collection of Children's Literature at the University of Southern Mississippi. The whole exhibit was organized by the Institute for Holocaust Education in Omaha.

The library is running programs in conjunction with the Air Museum's exhibit.
One of the programs will feature Kansas State professor Joe Sutliff Sanders, a specialist in children's and adolescent literature, who teaches a broad variety of courses relevant to books for young readers, who will be at the library over lunch on Tuesday, August 9. He journaled in photographs the journey of the Reys, authors of the Curious George books as they fled Paris in the summer of 1940 on their bicycles over a five month adventure by bike, train, and boat that brought them over the Atlantic Ocean.

The Library and Lunch pick of the month is "The Metropolis Case" by Matthew Gallaway. The group will meet on Tuesday, August 16 at 12 p.m. The novel is a debut for the author and follows the interconnected lives of four characters living in different cities, all of whom have a passion for Richard Wagner's Tristan and Isolde: Lucien is an opera singer coming of age in mid-19th century Paris; Anna, an opera singer reaching the height of her career in 1960s New York; Maria, a promising young singer but a difficult student; and Martin, an aging lawyer whose love of music might save his life.

The author is a former musician who twines opera and punk by illuminating their shared passion and chaos. My opera experience dates back to spending a semester abroad and ending up at Moravskie divadlo one night with three fellow students, two from Iowa and one from Michigan, as we watched Madama Butterly in Czech. According to an educated source, Phillip, a library co-worker the play was stolen from the Chinese.

The Book and Movie will feature "How it Was With Dooms" by Xan Hopcraft on Thursday, August 18 at 6 p.m. Xan recounts the life of Dooms, a cheetah who lived on the Hopcrafts' game ranch in Kenya until Xan was 7.

The library invites young adults to a Teen Reader's Advisory as they collaborate on new and exciting ideas for programs at the library. They will meet on Thursday, August 25 at 4 p.m.

The library had the pleasure of having western romance writers Linda Broday and Phyliss Miranda in the library a few weeks back for a presentation and book signing. According to one of their newest blog entries, in Petticoats and Pistols (great name) Liberal is smokin' hot.  http://petticoatsandpistols.com/2011/08/02/code-of-the-american-cowboy-john-wayne-style

As always, for the latest library programming take a peek at the library website or grab a newsletter from the circulation desk. Stay tuned and connected through our social media pages. If you have any questions or suggestions about books or programs don't hesitate to ask. Hope to see you at the library this fall!

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!