Catching Fire.
Collins, Suzanne (author).
Sept. 2009. 400p. Scholastic, hardcover, $17.99 (9780439023498). Grades 9-12.
REVIEW.
First published July, 2009 (Booklist).
At the end of The Hunger Games (2008), breathless readers were left in the lurch with any number of questions. Will Katniss lead an uprising against the Capitol? Does she fancy Peeta or Gale? Both? Neither? And perhaps most importantly, how in the world is Collins going to live up to the ...
The Road by Cormac McCarthy. Notable Books for Adults Winner Booklist's Top of the List Winner Booklist Editors' Choice: Adult Books Winner A man and a boy, father and son, "each the other’s world entire," walk a road in "the ashes of the late world." In this stunning departure from his previous work, McCarthy (No Country for Old Men, 2005) envisions a postapocalyptic scenario. Cities have been destroyed, plants and animals have died, a...
Exempt Books from the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act!
Children’s libraries across the country may have to close due to the unintended consequence of Congress’ efforts to decrease the levels of lead in products intended for children 12 years of age!
Though books are a safe product, "The Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act of 2008 (CPSA)" did not exempt books. Thankfully, U.S. Representative Jeff Fortenberry (R-Neb.) has introduced legislation to amend the CPSIA to exempt books. Please contact your Representative to cosponsor H.R. 1692
Read more and take action...
Behind the Wheel of a Bookmobile
“Behind the Wheel of a Bookmobile” is a quixotic journey that will honor the place books have in our national consciousness. Authors Peter Laufer and Tom Corwin conceived this project.
It began with the whimsical idea of buying a vintage bookmobile, stocking it with donated books from publishers, and driving it cross-country through small towns, with well-known authors taking turns at the wheel. At each stop Corwin and Laufer hand out one book in exchange for an interview on the journey's thematic question - "Tell me about one book that has changed your life and how." A documentary film crew captures the stories.
This past August saw the opening of the Thurmont Center for Agricultural History, located in the new Thurmont Regional Library of Frederick County Public Libraries. The purpose of the Thurmont Center is to collect materials that document the agricultural history of Frederick County and the surrounding region. The Center strives to provide researchers with the necessary tools to guide their agriculture related research, whether it pertains to family history, house or property research, the history of rural voluntary organizations, or a scholarly study of farming. The Center is a partnership between Frederick County Public Libraries’ Thurmont Regional Library and its Maryland Room, located in the C. Burr Artz Library. The Maryland Room oversees the accessioning, archival processing and long range curatorial care of the collection. The Thurmont staff handles book processing, access, and daily curatorship. Thurmont Center for Agricultural History
The Business of Building Hope in Salinas
They're twin sisters and for the past six months they have come faithfully twice a week to the literacy center at Salinas’s John Steinbeck Library. There they meet with their tutor, a retired school teacher. They bring their small children along—one baby is asleep in the car seat at her mother's feet, another plays with books and lounges in a bean bag chair, while several of their older kids play in the children's area.
ASLCA/KLAS/NOD Award goes to Libraries and Autism: We're All Connected
In April, the Association of Specialized and Cooperative Library Agencies (ASCLA), a division of the American Library Association, announced the 2009 winner of the ASCLA/KLAS/NOD award: “Libraries and Autism: We’re Connected,” a remarkable project developed by Margaret Kolaya, director of the Scotch Plains Public Library, and Daniel Weiss, director of the Fanwood Memorial Library, both in New Jersey.