Winding Down

It's hard to believe we're at the end of July with the End of Summer Reading Carnival this Friday*! We've had a fantastic summer at the library and are thrilled to have had a record number of you participate in the Summer Reading Program this year.

Last year, we had just over 1500 people register for the youth summer reading program, which was awesome! This year ... we've had even more - a record 1,756 youth, from baby through fifth grade, read for prizes! We are so proud of all of you!

You'll be ready, set, go for the school year this fall. And just because the Summer Reading Program is almost done for 2012 (through Friday, August 3rd you may log and receive prizes for any time or books you earned July 28th or before), doesn't mean you can't get in a few more memorable literary moments for the sheer pleasure of them before school starts.

In fact, we have pulled some of our Oversized JFIC items and displayed them in our giant book display case. I think of Oversized JFic books as our hidden treasure. They are great for a wide spectrum of ages as they are essentially illustrated chapter books. They make great read-alouds, fun transitional books for little ones learning to listen longer, or an enjoyable change of pace for the older ones.

You'll find the Oversized JFIC books in between the Fifth Street windows on the first floor.

So when you come to join us for the Carnival this Friday* ... :), you can check them out.

Thanks for making us part of your summer of 2012!

*The library will be open until 5:00 on Friday (as usual) and then from 5:30-7:00 out in the parking lot, we'll be having an extra special, end-of-summer-reading AND happy 50th birthday carnival celebration. (And if you're here at 6:15, you can get in on our community picture!) We look forward to seeing you there; you won't want to miss the fun.

Zumba has arrived!

For those of you who have been waiting for the library to have Zumba DVDs, your wait is over!  We have recently acquired the Zumba Exhilarate DVD set.

Volume 1 is Step-by-Step, it breaks down the moves so you feel confident when you move those hips!

Volume 2 is Activate. This is a 45 minute class that uses all the moves you learned in Volume 1.

Volume 3 is Ripped.  This DVD combines the dancing of traditional Zumba with muscle toning.

Volume 4 is Exhilarate and is a 60 minute dance party!

Volume 5 is Rush.  Don't have a lot of time?  This 20 minute workout will get you moving.

Volume 6 is Mix, which combines rhythms from all over the globe to give you a unique dance experience.  

Finally, Volume 7 is Fitness Concert.  This is a live class filmed in front of thousands of Zumba enthusiasts.

Click on any of these links to place a hold on your favorite.  Now you'll never miss out, even if you miss class.

The Summer Olympics Games are Here!

The Summer Olympic Games start on Friday, July 27^th.  If you are a fan of the games, we have what you need to get more out of your experience.  Visit our display on the second floor to find these and other resources. 

In the book “Basketball’s Greatest Stars” see pictures and brief bios of hoops stars past and present.  Do you think our new “Dream Team” will win the gold?  Which duo is better, LeBron and Kobe or Michael and Larry?

If tennis is your game, we have “A Game to Love.”  With Rafael Nadal’s withdrawal, there will be a new gold medal winner.  Could it be one of the players in this photo-filled book?

If you like history, we also have books on Olympic Games of the past.  There is “Rome 1960: The Olympics that Changed the World.”  Remember the names Rafer Johnson, Wilma Rudolph & Cassius Clay?  They all took part in these Olympic games. 

The last games to be held in the U.S. were in Atlanta, 1996.  We have the “Atlanta, 1996: Official Publication of the U.S. Olympic Committee.”  This book is filled with pictures and articles on the athletes and their sports.

Our newest book is "How to Watch the Olympics: the Essential Guide to the Rules, Heroes and Zeroes of Every Sport".  Do you know the width of a balance beam?  What about the rules of dressage?  With detailed descriptions and clever illustrations, you will discover facts about every sport in the Games.

Enjoy the 16 days of the games and...go USA! 

Birthday Party Carnival, don't miss out!

Summer reading is nearing an end but kids are able to read and record books, hours, or days until July 28.  After July 28, you have to stop recording books, hours or days on your summer reading log, but YOU DON'T HAVE TO STOP READING!  Kids have until August 3 to retrieve prizes from the prize room.

We have the Birthday Party Carnival coming up on August 3 at 5:30pm, which will be SUPERSIZED for the Library’s 50^th Birthday.  We will have carnival games, a bounce house, magicians, face painting, balloon animals, SMOOTHIES for kids,  WHOLE FOODS GIFT CARDS raffled off for parents,  CAKE for everyone and a visit from Mark of Mark’s Ark and his animal friends. 

Doesn’t that sound like a fabulous party?  Don’t forget to register!

Review of "Grace + Gusto" Exercise DVD

I have to begin this review with a disclaimer: I am a fan of Ellen Barrett.  I think she is a real innovator in what I would call fluid body movement.  It’s not really dance, Pilates or yoga, but a unique blend of each discipline.

Grace + Gusto is a 45 minute DVD, it starts with an 8 minute warm-up, and flows into a 32 minute session of standing movement.  It then goes into a four minute floor session, and ends with a cool down. 

If you want a workout that gets your heart pumping and the sweat flowing, then this is not for you.  If you want a workout that gets you moving without being too strenuous, then you will enjoy the time you spend with this DVD. 

Ellen and her students perform this class barefoot.  This allows you to get a full range of motion through the foot.  She is a very clear instructor, and the movements are not complicated.  You can tell that she is enjoying the exercise, but she doesn’t “whoop”, or make unnecessary comments.

During the standing portion, arm work is sprinkled throughout.  She will do arm circles at shoulder height, and pulse the arms behind the back.  There’s also some unique whole body moves, one is called the “tick tock”, and there’s also the figure 8 flourish.  You’ll have to do the workout to know what these moves are like. 

The “live” of “Ellen Barrett Live” does not mean that the DVD is shot in front of an audience.  It does mean that Ellen and her participants shoot the video without stopping, just as she would do if you attended one of her classes. 

We’d like your opinion on this DVD.  If you love it, let us know.  If you don’t, tell us why.

Physics Puzzlers

Scientists around the world are cheering. On July 4, two protons collided inside a 17-mile tunnel, part of the Large Hadron Collider at the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN) in Geneva. The result: “credible” evidence that an elusive subatomic particle—a Higgs boson—actually exists. Scientists have long hypothesized the existence of this type of particle, which they believe endows the universe with mass. Media around the globe including The New York Times and BBC carried the remarkable story.

OK, I plead ignorance. What the heck is a Higgs boson? In Why does E=mc2? (and why should we care?) (2010), Brian Cox and Jeff Forshaw set out to describe a complex theory "in the simplest way we can while at the same time revealing its profound beauty."  The first half of the book deals with the derivation of Einstein's famous equation; the second half with the equation's application to our current understanding of the universe.

Mysteries of the universe—or, more accurately, universes—are the subjects of John Barrow’s The Book of Universes: Exploring the Limits of the Cosmos (2011). Cosmologist and Cambridge professor, Barrow writes about different models of the universe. Beginning with Aristotle’s spheres, he moves on to "Swiss-cheese," " kinky," "singular," "anthropic," "turbulent," "quantum," "fake," "home-made," "mixmaster," "magnetic" and other intriguing configurations. It’s part history, part philosophy, part biography, punctuated with simple diagrams and quirky quotes, all of which combine for entertaining reading. There’s even a poem poking fun at the rivalry between exponents of the big bang and steady state theories.
 
Other good books for the math-and-science-minded are Brian Greene’s The Fabric of the Cosmos: Space, Time, and the Texture of Reality (2004), which uses common analogies to illustrate complex scientific ideas, and Leonard Mlodinow’s The Drunkard’s Walk: How Randomness Rules Our Lives (2008), which explores the role chance plays in our lives.

On the lighter side, Colin Bruce, writing in the style of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, presents do-it-yourself conundrums in Conned Again, Watson: Cautionary Tales of Logic, Math, and Probability (2001). Solutions to twelve "cases" involve logic, probability, statistics, and game theory.  “Elementary?”  No way.

More Summer Reads

Ahh…summer reading…at a lakeside cottage, in the mountains, or at home in a hammock in the shade…so relaxing. Here are some ideas for that reading escape.

Wicked City, Ace Atkins
    Atkins usually takes an actual incident and embellishes it into a novel. Phenix City, Alabama was dubbed the wickedest city in America in 1955 by “Look” magazine.  It was a stew of organized crime and corruption.  And then the machine killed the wrong man.  Atkins’ novel is peopled by an extraordinary cast of characters, both real and fictional.

Carte Blanche: The New James Bond Novel, Jeffery Deaver
    James Bond, in his early thirties and already a veteran of the Afghan war, has been recruited to a new organization. Conceived in the post-9/11 world, it operates independently of MI5, MI6 and the Ministry of Defense, its very existence deniable. Its aim: To protect the Realm, by any means necessary.  A Night Action alert calls James Bond away from dinner with a beautiful woman. Headquarters has decrypted an electronic whisper about an attack scheduled for later in the week. Agent 007 has been given carte blanche to do whatever necessary to fulfill his mission.

Envy the Night, Michael Koryta
    In the seven years since he learned that his U.S. marshal father led a double life as a contract killer, Frank Temple III has mostly drifted through life. But when he learns that Devin Matteson, the man who lured his father into the killing game only to later give him up to the FBI, is returning to the isolated Wisconsin lake that was once sacred ground for their families, it is a homecoming Frank cannot allow.

Fever Dream, Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child
    Yesterday, Special Agent Pendergast still mourned the loss of his beloved wife, Helen, who died in a tragic accident in Africa twelve years ago.  Today, he discovers she was murdered.  Tomorrow, he will learn her most guarded secrets.

Youth Services Survey

Have you noticed the many changes we made to the Summer Reading Program this year?  Believe it or not, those changes are because of the feedback that we have received from you. 

Please take the time to complete this survey.  We are looking for your input to help us plan our fall schedule, communicate with you better, and we want your input on the many changes we’ve made to the Youth Summer Reading Program.

You may have received a survey via email; this is the same survey, you will only need to complete it once!

We sincerely appreciate your time and effort.

Our National Pastime

Yogi Berra once said, “Congratulations, I knew the record would stand until it was broken.”

A baseball record stands to be broken this year.  According to Ballpark Digest, attendance at Major League Baseball games is up 8.1 percent, and total attendance may exceed the record set in 2008.

Baseball fans have something to cheer about in Baseball as America: Seeing Ourselves Through Our National Game.  This collection of essays by popular writers, including Tom Brokaw, Philip Roth, George Plimpton, and Dave Barry, "delves into every aspect of' America's love affair with baseball.  Designed as a companion to the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum's traveling exhibit, Baseball documents memorable moments in baseball's history with lush illustrations.

Another entertaining nonfiction book is Michael Lewis's Moneyball: The Art of Winning an Unfair Game, an account of the Oakland A's phenomenal 2002 season, a success Lewis attributes to “a willingness to rethink baseball: how it is managed, how it is played, who is best suited to play it, and why.”  (The 2011 movie Moneyball, starring Brad Pitt, is based on Lewis's book.)

Prefer fiction?  The Library has Bernard Malamud’s The Natural, W.P. Kinsella’s Shoeless Joe, Chad Harbach’s The Art of Fielding, and John Grisham’s Calico Joe.

Any last suggestions?  Only that when in doubt, follow Berra’s advice: “If you come to a fork in the road, take it.”  (And check out The Yogi Book: "I Really Didn't Say Everything I Said!"  It's a classic.)

Half-Dollar coins are here…

If you have reached your goal of 50 books, hours, or days you can finally get your prize!  Bring in your Half-Dollar Coin Voucher and pick up a half-dollar coin.  These coins don’t buy prizes from the prize room; they are special coins for you to keep forever.

You can stop by Youth Services any time the Library is open to pick up your coins.  Remember, the Library is closed today because it is July 4—Happy Birthday, America!  The Library will reopen tomorrow morning at 9:30. 

Have a safe holiday!

Summer Reads

Ahh…summer reading…at a lakeside cottage, at the beach or on your own back porch…so very relaxing.  Grab a tall glass of ice cold lemonade and try one of these ideas for a reading escape.

Some Assembly Required, Lynn Bonasia
    When Rose Nowak, 39, leaves behind city life, an unfaithful boyfriend, and a job as a writer of instruction manuals, she stumbles across not only her dream of becoming a journalist, but also the small New England seaside town of Nauset and its host of quirky inhabitants.  First-time novelist Bonasia delivers a sweet and idiosyncratic portrait of small-town life with wit.

How to be Single, Liz Tucillo
    Liz Tuccillo's (she co-authored “He’s Just Not That Into You”) debut novel follows the dating lives of five single New York women, one of whom, narrator Julie, is writing a book about how bachelorettes across the world manage.

The Cape Ann, Faith Sullivan
    Lark Erhardt, the six-year-old narrator, and her fiercely independent mother dream of owning their own house; they have their hearts set on the Cape Ann, chosen from a house catalog. This is a portrait of a family struggling to stay together through the Great Depression.

The Beach House, Georgia Bockoven
    The beach house is a peaceful haven, a place to escape everyday problems. Here, three families find their feelings intensified and their lives transformed each summer.  This novel is about the beauty of life and the power of love, and speaks to every woman who has ever clung to a child or loved a man.  The author has a new title coming out in late September.

Last Night at Chateau Marmont, Lauren Weisberger
    Brooke loved reading the dishy celebrity gossip rag "Last Night" until her marriage to a rock star became a weekly headline.  This is an insightful take on the price of success in our celebrity-obsessed world.

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