Author Fakes Holocaust Story

Libraries will again have to decide how to handle a nonfiction title that has turned out to be fiction. Misha Defonseca has admitted that her story of escaping the Nazis during World War II and living with wolves was a fabrication. Misha: A Memoire of the Holocaust Years has been translated into eighteen languages and made into a film in France. The New York Times has the story.

It is hard to believe that it has already been two years since the A Million Little Pieces controversy. At that time I argued for keeping the item in nonfiction because moving it would require us to start weighing the veracity of many other nonfiction books, some of which I named. I think I would still stick with that position. What do you think?

Wrigley Field's Last World Series: The Wartime Chicago Cubs and the Pennant of 1945 by Charles N. Billington

The Chicago Cubs played their first Cactus League game yesterday against the San Francisco Giants and won. Could it be a pennant season? A world championship season? It has been 100 years since the Cubbies won the World Series and 63 years since the team was even in the Series. It seems a good time, while hopes are high, to suggest Wrigley Field's Last World Series: The Wartime Chicago Cubs and the Pennant of 1945 by Charles N. Billington, a close look at the last season that resulted in a National League Championship for Chicago.

The author first sets the scene with an account of all the National League teams during the World War II years. President Franklin D. Roosevelt wanted baseball to continue through the national struggle, so people on the home front, including families of soldiers and defense industry workers, would have something other than just war on the radio and in the daily papers. What the president did not offer to teams were deferments, and many of the sport's top players ended up in military service. This left major league rosters loaded with older and younger players, a few with strange injuries, and some who had war effort jobs in the off season, including farmers.

Because federal transportation regulators imposed travel limits, the Cubs held 1945 spring training in French Lick, Indiana. Few player appeared at the camp in the initial week, which was just as well, as the fields were flooded from heavy rains. Team management was uncertain who from the previous year was available, as draft boards were reassessing their previous 4-F decisions and several players were holding out for better salaries. The situation was so bad that the Cubs actually allowed walk-ons to take part in intra-squad games.

The bulk of the book is a daily account of the season with profiles of many of the players, like Andy Pafko, Phil Cavvaretta, Stan Hack, Claude Passeau, and Hank Borowy. Billington describes key games and tells how the results of each series with the other National League teams. The team won a lot of games in the summer and won just enough in September to edge out the St. Louis Cardinals for the pennant.

The story of the 1945 World Series against the Detroit Tigers will remind Cub fans of every other time their hopes have been dashed against the brick wall behind outfield ivy.

Wrigley Field's Last World Series is a bit too detailed for someone with only a passing interest in the game, but true fans will find it a very interesting read. All Chicago area public libraries should have this book. Other libraries with large baseball collections should consider it.

Billington, Charles N. Wrigley Field's Last World Series: The Wartime Cubs and the Pennant of 1945. Lake Claremont Press, 2005. ISBN 1893121453

54

Born in 1954, I am 54 today. It was not a Leap Year. I was told many times as a child that I was almost a Leap Baby, but I grew up to be a reference librarian. I look these things up.

When I was 42, I remember thinking about how my dad died at 63 and my grandfather at 84. I wondered whether I had reached the midpoint of my life or whether I was two-thirds done. Now, that I'm 54, I again hope I'm only at the half-way mark.

I was born at 6:00 a.m. and have been an early riser ever since. I was up before my birthday moment this morning as usual. Four years ago, I attended the Public Library Association Conference in Seattle. Even then I was up before 4:00 a.m. to greet the moment. I did not go back to sleep. It was exciting becoming 50.

I can say with authority that I am not obsolete. I can not even imagine retiring, as I am still trying new things:

• I am writing a readers' advisory book, my first book.
• I have recently learned a lot about coding webpages.
• I will be blogging at PLA.
• I want to learn to make various types of visual presentations to attach to websites.

In my family, you die with your boots on. Retiring is a silly idea.

Bonnie gave me my gifts this morning, including a box of Bertie Botts Every Flavor Beans. The first bean out of the box was soap, which was not bad. I then visually identified vomit, dirt, and earthworm, but did not actually eat them. Then I found buttered popcorn, a good flavor to start my day.

Bonnie also made a carrot cake, my favorite, which I am taking to work. If you drop by early enough, you might get a piece. It'll be going fast.

Teen Services in the Latest Issue of Public Libraries

On Monday afternoon, I received the January/February 2008 issue of Public Libraries from the Public Library Association. The entire issue deals with services, programs, and materials for young adults in public libraries. Here are a few quick thoughts:

Page 17: In the article "Get Ready for Teen Tech Week 2008," an online music-making program called Splice Music is described. No downloads are required. It sounds incredible and fun. You can load your sounds and mix them and create mp3s to share. You can listen to the work of others and even make new friends.

Page 39: Laura Crossett of the Meeteetse Branch of the Park County (Wyoming) Library tells about teens in her library. As always, she gets right to the heart of the matter.

Page 61: There appear to be only two boys among around twenty girls in the tutor.com Teen Tech Week Webinar add. There also seems to be an adult male in the back. You'd get the idea that only girls use the library. That is not true here at Thomas Ford.

Page 56: "Bringing Books to Life for Teens by Having Teens Give Life to Books" tells how the Lexington Public Library in Kentucky connected teens with the local actors guild to make a play out of The Sledding Hill by Chris Crutcher.

Make sure your teen librarians know about this special issue. Give then some time to read it.

American Bloomsbury: Louisa May Alcott, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Margaret Fuller, Nathaniel Hawthorne, and Henry David Thoreau by Susan Cheever

Ralph Waldo Emerson was the essential person in the creation of a remarkable community of authors in Concord, Massachusetts in the mid-nineteenth century, according Susan Cheever in American Bloomsbury. Many of the other authors who settled in the village (or in the cases of the Alcotts and Hawthorne who came and left repeatedly) came at Emerson's invitation, which was often supplemented with an offer to pay their rent. This might not have happened if Emerson's first wife had not died and left him a fortune. But it did and this collective issued The Scarlet Letter, Walden, Little Women, and Moby Dick, the core titles of American literature.

You may notice that Melville is not listed in the subtitle. He was more of a visitor than a resident, but his stay with Hawthorne transformed his writing from good old fashioned sea stories to something much deeper and more disturbing. In his case, the price of success was personal dissatisfaction.

Margaret Fuller was also a visitor, never having her own place in Concord. Her appearance always stirred the affections of Emerson and Hawthorne, both married men. She is now the least recognized of the group, but she may in a sense be the most known, as she was Hawthorne's inspiration for The Scarlet Letter and for Henry James for Portrait of a Lady. As a journalist, editor, and irrepressible character, she was an inspiration for the early feminist movement, and her tragic death unsettled the community.

Emerson, Alcott, and Hawthorne lived for years within rock-throwing distance of each other. They were in and out of each other's houses. Thoreau lived with Emerson for several years, even though his family lived nearby. He also built a little shed and lived by the pond until the new railroad made it less comfortable.

The title of the book is meant as a compliment, but it seems a little odd to me. The Concord community predates the London set. Perhaps there should be a book Concord in London. Still, American Bloomsbury is a quick read introduction to a fascinating group of people who transformed American literature. Any library that missed getting it in 2006 should make amends.

Cheever, Susan. American Bloomsbury: Louisa May Alcott, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Margaret Fuller, Nathaniel Hawthorne, and Henry David Thoreau: Their Lives, Their Loves, Their Work. Simon & Schuster, 2006. ISBN 9780743264617

PLA Virtual Conference

It is just about a month until the Public Library Association Conference in Minneapolis. If you are unable to attend, there will be a first ever PLA Virtual Conference, with panel discussions, interactive workshops, and virtual poster sessions. Andrea Mercado reports on the upcoming virtual aspect of the conference on PLA Blog. She also provides a link to register.

Even though you are at home, you can be more than just a virtual attendee. You may also submit a specially created website, powerpoint, or other electronic formats to the virtual poster session. Kathleen Hughes gives more details with instructions for application. This is a good opportunity for you to share anything special that you have done at your public library.

There should also be a lot of blogging from the conference, which begins with preconferences on March 25. PLA Blog will be one obvious source. You can also watch ricklibrarian, as I plan to be there.

At Large and At Small by Anne Fadiman

I was excited when I saw that Anne Fadiman had a new book, At Large and At Small. Several years ago I enjoyed Ex Libris: Confessions of a Common Reader immensely. I thought that I had reviewed that book here on my blog, but I can not find it. Perhaps I reviewed it at the library instead. Whatever, it was a great read.

I was pleased when I finally got the new book to see how it physically resembled the older title. Both are undersized and have attractive woodcut illustrations on the cover. They look nice shelved together, which I am sure pleases the book-loving author. They are easy to carry around and read at lunch or in bed at night.

As I said in my little piece yesterday, Fadiman's new book is a collection of familiar essays, a literary form that she says is endangered. This type of essay blends qualities of the critical essay with the personal essay. Most readers will not bother thinking about such distinctions, but will instead just enjoy her reflective writing. I most enjoyed her essay "Ice Cream" in which she mixes the history of the dessert with her personal experiences and thoughts. I laughed when she suggested that eighteenth century physician Filippo Baldini, who wrote about the benefits of eating Italian ices, might write her a prescription for Ben & Jerry's New York Super Fudge Chunk. (I might need a prescription for B&J Cherry Garcia.)

As in Ex Libris, loving books comes up again, as does living in New York. Fadiman also reveals her outdoor experiences, first as a child who collected insects and later as a guide for the rugged National Outdoor Leadership School, which she says was much tougher than Outward Bound. Every essay pleased me, except "Coffee," but my dislike of the drink is more at fault than her writing.

Not many libraries in my area have added the title yet. Perhaps my writing about it two days in a row will help. It is a charming, lively, entertaining book.

Fadiman, Anne. At Large and At Small: Familiar Essays. Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2007. ISBN 9780374106622.

On the Joy of Reading Mail and Email, with Notes on Elephants

This morning, as I rode our stationary bike, I read an essay "Mail" by Anne Fadiman from her collection of familiar essays called At Large and At Small. According to Fadiman, familiar essays stake a position midway between critical essays and personal essays, taking elements of both and mixing them. Through history such essays have often had titles starting with the word "On." They might be serious, as "On Going to War with Thoughts of Peace" or "On the Passing of an Old Friend." They might be light, as "On Shopping for Silk Ties" or "On the Sinking of a Toy Boat." (Those were not real titles, so do not expect them in Fadiman's book.)

In the essay "Mail" Fadiman tells us about her father who eagerly anticipated receiving an extra large delivery of mail everyday by watching for the mail carrier to lift the flag on his jumbo mailbox. He had a large desk heavier than a refrigerator on which he would sort and answer the letters that brought surprises to his routine of reading and writing. From there Fadiman tells about the history of the British postal service. Before the reform of 1939, the recipient (not the sender) paid for the mail. Her hero Charles Lamb (who wrote familiar essays) was fortunate to work at a firm that would pay his postal fees, for it could drive you toward bankruptcy to receive lots of mail. The reform with its simplifying of fees was an important move for the development of the economy and culture of Great Britain. Fadimon turns then to her own joyous story of mail and email to complete the essay. Being sentimental, she has the stamp dispenser and the copper waste basket that her father used at his desk.

After reading the essay, still riding the bike, I picked up the newsletter from the David Sheldrick Wildlife Trust, which Bonnie receives via email as a foster parent of an orphan elephant in Kenya. I immediately realized that I was experiencing a joy of correspondence much like Fadiman. Bonnie and I look forward to the elephant news every month. The January newsletter is particularly interesting. Dr. Dame Daphne Sheldrick assures us that the political troubles in Kenya have not reached the elephant sanctuaries. Fewer visitors have come, but those who do have ready access to the orphans. Sheldrick tells us that an eye specialist came to examine the blind orphan rhino Maxwell and diagnosed that an operation would not restore his sight. The keepers are making a special enclosure for Maxwell for his health and safety. To help him still feel part of the community, they are bringing in dung from other rhinos. Isn’t that sweet! The newsletter also tells about a walk in the bush with young elephants and their guardians. When a leg from a warthog fell from a tree, they realized that they were right under a leopard and his dinner. They beat a hasty retreat. We never have stories like that in our library newsletter!

With her newsletter, Bonnie also gets excerpts from a keeper's diary to let her know how her orphan Zurura is doing. Lately he seems to be a regular cut-up, a bit of a show-off. He has also been taking lots of mud and dust baths. There were lots of great photos with the report but none of Zurura this time. She is hoping to see him in action if Animal Planet will ever show the second season of Elephant Diaries.

You may also get this entertaining email by adopting an elephant at the David Sheldrick Wildlife Trust website. It will add nicely to your letters from family, friends, and lovers.

The Geography of Bliss: One Grump's Search for the Happiest Places in the World by Eric Weiner

I kept wanting to write about The Geography of Bliss by NPR correspondent Eric Weiner as I read, but I resisted. I thought it was better to think about it as a whole at the end. I may have taken the wrong tactic, as I now find it hard to decide what to write. Weiner's text is so full of interesting data and ideas, it is difficult to know what to bring up, especially since the book comes to no grand conclusion. He never really finds happiness in a place.

The quest was grand. He was both courageous and a bit silly to go all the places that he went, asking people whether they and their neighbors were happy and why. Of course, many people thought he was a bit strange. His accounts are delightfully comic and insightful. I marked lots of pages with little orange tabs.

On page 45, Weiner tells us that Americans are alone in preferring that our ice cream shops have over fifty flavors. Most of the world is happy with about ten varieties.

On page 54, he tells us how his daughter really wants his undivided attention, which really makes her happy. Perhaps a key to being truly happy is being able to pay attention or receive attention. We are often multitasking and not feeling one bit happier for all our accomplishment.

On page 87, he comments on Americans having to have dual climate controls in cars and different comfort setting for the sides of mattresses. Through a lack of practice, we have lost our ability to compromise. This has frightening ramifications.

On page 128, the author reveals that he hoards camera bags, tote bags, and briefcases. He has a closet full of them, some unused. In view of what he says in the rest of the book, he might find happiness by donating them to a good cause. Possessions rarely make us happy unless they connect us mentally to people or places.

On page 130, he tells how studies show that out of work people are not satisfied with welfare, even when it is generous. They would rather work. The good life is not languid.

On page 211, he reports that people in helping professions, like clergy, nurses, and firefighters are happier than lawyers, bankers, and doctors. Of course, some people could argue that lawyers, bankers, and doctors are helping professions with more pay.

Funny, I seem to have marked thoughts that reflect back on Americans and not the stories about other cultures. It is the diving-into-another-culture stories that make the book worth reading.

Weiner gives us much to think about and deserves its popularity. It is in libraries everywhere.

Weiner, Eric. The Geography of Bliss: One Grump's Search for the Happiest Places in the World. Twelve, 2008. ISBN 9780446580267

Raising Sand by Robert Plant and Alison Krauss

It sounded like a strange idea when I first heard about it: Raising Sand, an album combining bluegrass artist Alison Krauss with Led Zepplin's Robert Plant. Krauss is a very versatile singer and fiddle player unbound by categories and Plant has always stretched the limits of rock, still it sounded unlikely. Of course, I remember that Zepplin used to do some electrified folk songs, like "Gallows Pole." The project was brought together by T Bone Burnett. Mike Seeger is brought in on auto harp for the final song "Your Long Journey." It sounded more interesting the more that I thought. So, I placed a hold at the library.

Well, I have been listening and want to report that it works very well. I do not know how to classify what Krauss and Plant do, but it is good. I hear rockabilly, folk, blues, country, metal, and even French art songs mixed together. Many of the songs are from the 1950s or 1960s, penned by the Everly Brothers, Gene Clark, Tom Waits, Naomi Neville, and Mel Tillis. The Hinsdale Public Library has its copy in the folk display. iTunes has it as country. It does not matter so long as you can find it.

I was not really sure it was Robert Plant singing when I started listening, as he is fairly mellow in the first couple of songs, but as I kept listening, I started to hear familiar patterns to remind me of his Led Zepplin days. When other older rock stars are singing American standards, trying to sound like Sinatra, I like it it that Plant is taking on roots music instead. I particularly like "Polly Come Home," "Gone Gone Gone," and "Please Read the Letter." "Fortune Teller" reminds me a little of "Love Potion No. 9." Krauss and Plant do everything but opera on this album.

I know what I'm going to put on my birthday list - Raising Sand.

My Face is Black is True: Callie House and the Struggle for Ex-Slave Reparations by Mary Frances Berry

Here is another book to recommend during Black History Month.

Callie House was washer woman in Nashville, Tennessee with five children when she was elected as assistant secretary of the National Ex-Slave Mutual Relief, Bounty and Pension Association in 1898. She and many ex-slaves were financially stricken and disenfranchised by recently enacted Jim Crow laws and violence led by the Ku Klux Klan. In the face of overwhelming odds, she led a call for the federal government to repay slaves for their unpaid labor.

According to Mary Frances Berry in her book My Face is Black is True, the campaign was at first ignored by federal authorities and discouraged actively by Booker T. Washington. Eventually fearing that her call could gain widespread support, the Justice Department declared that her organizing activities were fraud and persuaded the postmaster to ban her literature, with the result that she was arrested and imprisoned for one year for using the postal service.

After her release from prison in 1918, House again spent ten years as a poor washer woman in Nashville, which was then a magnet for black migration. Her movement was broken, but she was later an inspiration for Malcolm X and Martin Luther King.

Berry, Mary Frances. My Face is Black is True: Callie House and the Struggle for Ex-Slave Reparations. Alfred A. Knopf, 2005. ISBN 1400040035.

Special Orders Don't Upset Us at Thomas Ford

Lately, I have been making numerous special orders to get books not available through Baker & Taylor, Barnes & Noble, or Amazon. I'm finding most of these items through news stories or features in the Chicago Tribune. Today the item is My Fall From Grace by James J. Laski, which is touted in a column by John Kass. The columnist says that in the book "Laski discusses crooked Chicago politics, Mayor Richard M. Daley's selective memory, and the mayor's private advice to Laski on the use of 'buffers' just like in 'The Godfather' movies." The place to order this self-published book is a website called Author House.

Stop the presses: Now the book is on Amazon. I'm sure it was not there earlier. Well, pretty sure.

Earlier in the week, the book was A Mile Square of Chicago by Marjorie Warville Bear. According to columnist Eric Zorn, it is "a sprawling and meticulously detailed remembrance of the neighborhood of Bear's youth -- the area on the West Side between Ashland and Western Avenues, from Lake Street on the north to Harrison Street on the south, just after the turn of the 20th Century." In his Sunday column, Zorn reported that Bear finished the book 38 years ago and died 26 years ago. The only way to get this posthumous publication is through Google Base. I ordered the book Monday, and it was here on Wednesday.

A month ago, the book was Life is Delicious: A Collection of Recipes from the Hinsdale Junior Women's Club, which was reviewed in the "Good Eating Section" of the Tribune on January 9. Hinsdale is a neighboring suburb of Western Springs, so we wanted the book. The book is available via the organization's website. I called the toll free number and a member hand delivered the book a couple of days later.

All of these books are of local interest. We want to have as much as we can about the Chicago are for students and general readers who grew up in the area. With the library credit card and our Internet access, we continue to watch for items like these.

"Hold the pickles, hold the lettuce, special orders don't upset us."

Brother, I'm Dying by Edwidge Danticat

Stories from Haiti seem to always involve tragedy, and Brother, I'm Dying by Edwidge Danticat is no exception. The final quarter of the book will break your heart. It may also anger you, for much of what happened to Danticat's very elderly and harmless Uncle Joseph was the result of what appears to be totally unjust U.S. immigration policy toward Haitian refugees. The author suggests that if her uncle had been Cuban, he would have been welcomed into the country. Instead, unbending INS officials finished the work of the Haitian gangs.

Danticat is never sentimental but there is much charm in her storytelling. Readers come to admire both her father who immigrated to New York when she was small and admire her uncle who raised her in Port-au-Prince until she was twelve, at which time she joined her parents in New York. When she arrived, the American city seemed just as dangerous as the capital of Haiti, as her cab-driving father was attacked and threatened on several occasions. His calm, peaceful nature always saved him.

I listened to the audiobook on compact discs read by actress Robin Miles, who does an excellent job with voices and frequent Creole phrases. It is an excellent addition to any library's audio collection and should get many checkouts.

Danticat, Edwidge. Brother, I'm Dying. Knopf, 2007. ISBN 9781400041152

Audiobook on 7 CDs. Recorded Books, 2007. ISBN 9781428166318

Kiss Kiss by Roald Dahl

Thanks to Nonanon, who recommend this wonderful book about a month ago.

Kiss Kiss by Roald Dahl is like a case full of boxes of Cracker Jacks. There are lots of surprises inside - at least one in every story. As a reader, I never knew what was going to happen next, nor how the story would end. As a reviewer, I don't want to give those surprises away. I'll just say that they are sometimes darkly amusing, sometimes horrible or even shocking. If you're the kind of reader who likes Edgar Allan Poe or watching Arsenic and Old Lace, you'll definitely want to finish every one of these stories.

As readers of his memoirs or his children's books knows, Dahl wastes no words. There is an economy to his storytelling, and he chooses his words well. Within a page, the reader will be in another time and place following the misadventures of marginal members of society. His victims are usually newcomers, petty crooks, lonely housewives, and other sad people. Babies suffer in these stories.

What is my favorite story? That is hard to say, but perhaps I'll say "William and Mary,"in which a husband wills his brain to science so that he can continue conscienceness in a bowl. "Royal Jelly," with the beekeeper reversing the decline of his infant daughter is a very close second. It is definitely not "Pig," which is too horrible to contemplate. Do not read "Pig" right before going to bed!

Kiss Kiss appears to be out of print. Over 800 libraries still have it, according to Worldcat. Libraries should not withdraw it from their collections, as it is every bit as powerful now as it was nearly fifty years ago. Some of the stories are in The Best of Roald Dahl, but you want to read them all.

Dahl, Roald. Kiss Kiss. Knopf, 1960.

The Breaking Point: Hemingway, Dos Passos, and the Murder of Jose Robles

It may seem hard to believe now, but novelists Ernest Hemingway and John Dos Passos were once friends. They met in Schio, Italy during World War I, where they both were ambulance drivers evacuating a field hospital. Two years later they were together in Paris, living cheaply, meeting Joyce and Stein, and reading each other's work daily. Later, back in the U.S., Hemingway introduced Dos Passos to the woman that he would marry, and the new couple would visit the Hemingways in Key West and Havana annually. So long as both were promising authors, their friendship seemed strong. Success, however, sowed seeds of jealousy.

In The Breaking Point: Hemingway, Dos Passos, and the Murder of Jose Robles, Stephen Koch tells a sad story about how the two novelists went to Spain supposedly to work on a film in support of the Spanish Republican cause. What neither knew was that they were dupes of the Communist Party, who had already made the film. Hemingway did not really care. He was in Spain to find inspiration and to conduct a love affair with Martha Gellhorn. He spent most of his time drinking and unknowingly hanging out with Soviet agents.

When Dos Passos arrived several weeks later, he found that his good friend Jose Robles was missing. Robles's wife told him that her husband had been taken in the night by Spanish soldiers months before and no one in the government would acknowledge whether he was in custody or dead. Dos Passos began questioning every official he could meet, which annoyed the Soviet puppet forces, who were preparing to assassinate most of the true Spanish Republicans. Hemingway had no sympathy. He told Dos Passos "people die - get over it - quit embarrassing us with your questions." The two old friends had a very public argument over whether Robles was a Fascist, a suggestion Hemingway accepted because his Soviet friends told him so.

According to Stephen Koch, Dos Passos met George Orwell in Barcelona and helped repentant American Communist Liston Oak escape the Soviets. He generally acted bravely and responsibly, but lost much of his faith in socialism in Spain. Hemingway, on the other hand, betrayed his wife, his friend, and every principle he ever espoused, but he found inspiration for For Whom the Bell Tolls. His success was hollow, however, and Koch suggests that he never forgave himself for all his sins.

The Breaking Point is for anyone interested in Hemingway, Dos Passos, the Spanish Civil War, or Soviet agents in the West before World War II.

For the Relief of Unbearable Urges by Nathan Englander

Nathan Englander's collection of short stories For the Relief of Unbearable Urges was published in 1999, but it was released as an audiobook in 2007. I do not know why it took so long, but it was worth the wait. As read by Susan Denaker, Paul Michael, and Arthur Morey, the nine stories about Jewish experience are riveting.

Among my favorite stories are the first two, both of which are historical. "The Twenty-Seventh Man" takes readers back to the Soviet Union of the 1930s, when Stalin was purging the country of dissidents, including Jewish radicals. Twenty-six famous Jewish writers are brought to a camp for execution. With them is one unknown writer. They all know they are going to die, but they continue to compose stories to tell up to the end.

In the second story, "The Tumblers," Nazi soldiers bring hundreds of Jews to a train station to ship them to death camps. A circus train pulls into the confusion and a group of Jews from a ghetto accidentally get on board. They soon discover their good fortune will end if they can not come up with an acrobatic act.

The rest of the stories are contemporary, set in either New York City or Jerusalem. My favorite New York story is "Reb Kringle," which tells about a Jewish Santa who has serious problems with his seasonal department store job. The book ends with "In This Way We Are Wise," which intimately recreates the experience of witnessing a suicide bombing in Jerusalem.

What sets these stories apart from lesser stories is Englander's elegant descriptions of desperate situations. At times, the stories are somewhat humorous but there is always a soul or many souls at stake. In most of the stories the need to follow Jewish law is also a complicating factor in the plot. This New York Times Notable Book is a good item to recommend to readers who like literary fiction.

Englander, Nathan. For the Relief of Unbearable Urges. Alfred A. Knopf, 1999. ISBN 0375404929.

6 CD. Books on Tape, 2007. ISBN 9781415938096.

Once Upon a Time When We Were Colored by Clifton L. Taulbert

Once Upon a Time When We Were Colored by Clifton L. Taulbert is an uncommonly sweet book about a bad time when the Jim Crow laws were in full force in rural Mississippi. In his book, Taulbert describes the hardships of growing up in the 1950s and early 1960s, when the blacks had pick cotton at low wages, use different water fountains, attend different schools, and step aside for whites on sidewalks. Ironically, the oppression bound the blacks together, and it is the closeness of the black community of Glen Allan that he celebrates with this memoir.

One of the topics that Taulbert handles particularly well is the importance of church to the blacks of the South. Many of his stories involve the Allan Chapel AME Church where an ordained circuit preacher came once a month. On other Sundays, members of the congregation lead the service, preached the sermon, and fixed community suppers. When they entered the church, the sharecroppers and maids became important deacons and ladies, admired for their faith and good work. The church was also a sanctuary. In one story, the author tells how the blacks masked a community meeting as a worship service so the local whites would not know that they were sending a delegate to an NAACP meeting in Washington, D.C.

The importance of warm family life also comes through in Once Upon a Time When We Were Colored, as the author tells of growing up with his grandparents. While fishing with his grandmother and her friends was terribly boring, and while his grandfather drove very slowly, they were affectionate and saw that he valued education. Taulbert graduated as valedictorian but then had to go wash dishes in St. Louis because there were no scholarships for blacks in Mississippi at the time. Eventually, he earned several advanced degrees.

Once Upon a Time When We Were Colored is a quick read that many readers will enjoy. Pu it in your Black History Month display.

Taulbert, Clifton L. Once Upon a Time When We Were Colored. Council Oaks Books, 1989. ISBN 093303119X

Riding Alone for Thousands of Miles, directed by Yimou Zhang

Bonnie has done it again - brought home another great foreign language DVD. Tonight we saw a film in Mandarin and Japanese, Riding Alone for Thousands of Miles, written and directed by Chinese filmmaker Yimou Zhang. Most of his other films, like Hero, are filled with action, but this new film is a quiet, gentle drama about fathers estranged from their sons.

Riding Alone for Thousands of Miles stars veteran Japanese actor Ken Takakura and has a small role for Japanese actress Shinobu Terajima. The rest of the cast are Chinese people the director enlisted from the Yunnan province. Most play characters much like themselves. I especially liked Jiang Wen as Jasmine, a translator, and Lin Qui as Lingo, a tour operator, who both show great patience dealing with their unusual Japanese tourist. Young Zhenbo Yang is great as Yang Yang, the prisoner's son.

The setting of the film is spectacular, as the characters venture into remote areas of the Yunnan province, which is at points barren and mountainous. I was reminded of the Badlands of South Dakota in some scenes. The roads seemed to run along steep cliffs without any railings. There are also shots on the coast of Japan and in Tokyo.

I do not want to give away the story, but I do want to recommend seeing the film and the special feature on the making of the film, which comes on the DVD. The title should be added to library foreign film collections.

The Light in the Cellar by Sarah Master Buckey

"All right," said Molly. "And I don't mind spiders that much. So, if it's spiders, I'll go in first, and if it's mice, you can go in first."

Molly McIntire speaks to her new friend Emily, an English girl sent from London to the United States for safety during World War II. While her Aunt Prim is in the hospital, Emily is staying with the McIntire family. The girls pause before they enter an old, dusty garage in search of a key that will let them into Greystone Manor, a frightening old mansion up on the highest hill in Jefferson. You'd pause, too, if you had heard all the rumors of ghosts in the old house.

The book I just finished is The Light in the Cellar by Sarah Master Buckey. While this title in the American Girl Molly Mystery series is aimed at the nine year old reader, I enjoyed it, as it reminded me of the years that I spent reading to my daughter Laura before and after she learned to read. We went through our box set of six Molly books by Valerie Tripp several times, revisiting the spunky girl's adventures with her friends and her exasperation with her brother Ricky.

This recent book has just about everything a classic Nancy Drew book had, without the old racial stereotypes that used to pop up. Molly notices her mother's upset when sugar is missing from the Red Cross center and starts her own investigation. Her friends are reluctantly brought into the effort. She sees mysterious lights, gets locked in a pantry, and wanders through an dark, old mansion. It is pretty classic girl series book fun.

I like how the American Girl books always have a little history mixed in. In The Light in the Cellar, the community is sponsoring a canteen at a local train station where service stop before being shipped to the war. With rationing, it is pretty serious when most of the sugar is missing.

This book has a recipe for wacky cake inside the back cover. If no one has stolen your sugar, you can bake one yourself. It would be nice to have after reading a good book.

Buckey, Sarah Master. The Light in the Cellar. American Girl, 2007. ISBN 9781593691585

The Dream: Martin Luther King, Jr., and the Speech that Inspired a Nation by Drew D. Hansen

When Martin Luther King, Jr., stepped up to the microphone on August 28, 1963, 250,000 people filled the park in front of the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C. Millions more were watching on television, as the networks covered the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom live on their evening news broadcasts. King looked out and thanked the crowd before beginning to read his prepared text. Other speakers of the day were limited to five minutes, but King was the last on the podium and the person that everyone had waited to hear. According to Drew D. Hanson in The Dream: Martin Luther King, Jr. and the Speech that Inspired a Nation, the crowd cheered and called for more as King read. After about ten minutes, he left the text and began preaching in the manner of the Baptist minister that he was. Among his words were "I have a dream."

With running commentary and description of the scene, Drew D. Hanson captures the emotion of the event and the speech in chapter one of his book. As a reader, I felt that I was there, even more than when hearing the recordings. I could not put the book down until I finished that chapter.

In the next chapter, Hansen explains how King drew upon the suggestions of his aides and from his previous speeches to prepare several drafts of the speech. It was a complicated process, and, in the end, King is most remembered for his on the spot inspiration, using blocks of texts from his sermons.

Hansen does not stop with praising of King and the speech. The final chapters are quite sad, as he reports that for the latter part of King's life, the dream became a nightmare. As the level of violence against and by blacks increased from 1963 to 1968, he was often ridiculed by many in the black community as a dreamer. Only his death stopped the downward slide of his popularity.

The author ends by chronicling the legacy of the Dream speech. For several years after the march, it was almost forgotten, but in the wake of King's assassination, it was rebroadcast, republished, and added to the great documents of the democratic curriculum. It is now the thing for which King is most remembered.

The Dream is a fairly quick read that should be out on library displays and in hands of readers during Black History Month.

Hansen, Drew D. The Dream: Martin Luther King, Jr., and the Speech that Inspired a Nation. CCCO, 2003. ISBN 0060084766

Shakespeare: The World as Stage by Bill Bryson

Bill Bryson has turned from humorous autobiography to nearly straight biography with his latest book, Shakespeare: The World as Stage, written for the Eminent Lives Series from Atlas Books. He is not seeking laughs with this book, but his wit is still evident in some of his remarks about Elizabethan and Jacobean culture and about the stupidity of poor scholars trying to prove that someone other than Shakespeare wrote his plays. In this short book, he gets to the heart of the playwright's story and still entertains.

Bryson still finds room for interesting details.

• Elizabethans blackened their teeth to suggest they could afford as much sugar as the people with rotten teeth.
• Eton students were required to smoke for their health and were beaten if they neglected their pipes.
• Printing of the First Folio was botched. No two copies came out the same. The Folger Library owns about one third of the remaining copies, and most of them are missing pages or entire plays.

I was most fascinated by Bryson's discussion of Shakespeare's impact on the English language, which was evolving away from Middle English during his day. The playwright is credited with the first recorded use of 2035 words, of which over 800 are in common use. Frugal, dwindle, horrid, barefaced, and zany are words he coined, as are many un- words, like unhand, unmask, and untie. Another very interesting discussion was the unauthorized publication of The Sonnets and scholars great efforts to ignore their homosexual references.

Despite Bryson pointing out frequently that we really know very little about the Bard, I feel I know him better. This is a great read for people who enjoy the plays.

Bryson, Bill. Shakespeare: The World as Stage. Atlas Books, 2007. ISBN 9780060740221

A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith and Dream When You're Feeling Blue by Elizabeth Berg

Having commitments to a couple of different reading discussions, I found myself reading Dream When You're Feeling Blue by Elizabeth Berg at the same time that I was listening to A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith. Written sixty years apart, these two books are not naturally lumped together, but they merged a little in my mind due to circumstances. There are common traits that jump out out me.

Both books look back to times of crisis and change in our country. Tree is set in Brooklyn from about 1903 to 1919, when there were many immigrants settling in the city's tenements and the country joined the allies in World War I. Dream is set in Chicago during World War II, when there is a labor shortage and young women are kissing their beaus goodbye. In both, the cities are vital to the plot. (Kitty is always shopping at Marshall Fields.)

In both books, the central characters are young women coming of age. Of course, Tree is more of a coming-of-age story as we follow Francie Nolan from before she can read to the point that she is ready to go off to college (without having gone to high school). In Dream, Kitty Heaney is already past high school and working. Still, the women share some experiences. They both work in factories at some point in the books, and their incomes help their families. Both feel great pride in helping their families financially. They entertain soldiers before they go off to war. Both escape romantic relationships.

Unmarried mothers and their problems are subplots in both stories.

Reading is important to both Francie and Kitty. Francie reads much more, as she is nearly friendless. It is reading that allows her to rise out of her dire situation. Kitty is much more social, but reading books that have been recommended ignites her character development.

Both books include many details of daily life, including feminine hygiene. In 1943 Smith was being rather bold in including menstruation in Francie's story. Writing in the twenty-first century, periods and missing them is not risky content for Berg.

Both young women adore their fathers. In Francie's case, her father is her main champion, even though he is an alcoholic who can not support the family. He somehow still knows when she needs a kind word or a flower. Kitty's father is a fairly steady guy, who likes to give advice in the dead of night.

Of course, similarities end when you look at the intent of these stories. Kitty is a sort of average woman, a fictitious host for all the typical experiences of women during World War II. There is nothing, however, average about Francie Nolan, who finds hope where it should not be. Her character is memorable.

I liked both books, but I think that A Tree Grows in Brooklyn is the book that people will still be reading fifty years from now.

The Green Book by Elizabeth Rogers and Thomas M. Kostigen

Our energy and resources footprint on this earth is huge, according to The Green Book: The Everyday Guide to Saving the Planet One Simple Step at a Time by Elizabeth Rogers and Thomas M. Kostigen, but there are many things we can do to reduce, reuse, and recycle.

Use wooden baseball bats, which are safer and made from from a renewable resource. Aluminum mining and manufacturing is terribly energy wasteful and environmentally destructive.

Use a commercial car wash instead of washing your car at home to save lots of water.

Keep your microwave clean to keep it energy efficient. Use it to warm up leftovers (instead of the conventional oven) to save energy and lots of money. Cook with it when you can.

The manufacture of laptop or notebook computers uses fewer materials and less energy than desktop computers. Using these smaller computers is also more energy efficient.

Use a voicemail service instead of an answering machine to save energy and non-renewable resources.

The lists of earth-friendly ideas goes on and on. Most are actually very easy if you can just remember to do them, such as share a bigger bag of popcorn at the movies instead of buying two bags.

The authors include reasons with all of their suggestions, sometimes speculating on how great an impact each act would make if adopted by great numbers of people. For instance, if every person flying would pack ten pounds lighter, 350 million gallons of jet fuel would be saved each year. To support their numbers, the authors include fifty pages of web references in the back of the book.

With every chapter, the authors also include celebrity green advice. Will Ferrell drives an electric car, and Jennifer Aniston takes a three minute shower. Instead of tips, other celebrities, such as Robert Redford, explain why they are environmentalists.

This cute little book is inexpensive and definitely belongs in every library.

Rogers, Elizabeth and Kostigen, Thomas M. The Green Book: The Everyday Guide to Saving the Planet One Simple Step at a Time. Three Rivers Press, 2007. ISBN 9780307381354

The Chocolate War by Robert Cormier

I hesitated before I checked out the audiobook of The Chocolate War by Robert Cormier. I had passed it over numerous times when looking for a book to listen to in the car. I was unsure whether I wanted to enter the brutal world of Trinity School again. I had been disturbed by the book back in the 1970s. Would it seem as horrible now?

Thirty years have not lessened the horror of The Chocolate War. It is as creepy as ever. The battle between Brother Leon and Archie Costello of The Vigils, involving side battles with freshman Jerry Renault and a subtle power struggle within The Vigils, is still compelling reading. The difficulty of a second reading is knowing that the end will be ugly, just as the opening line of the book tells readers that it will be.

Looking at a synopsis in Masterplots II after I finished the audiobook, I noticed that essayist said The Chocolate War was fast-paced. I disagree. Cormier lets the reader linger in every tense moments, never rushing anything. He lets scenes mature before advancing. The reader is never let off with diluted drama.

I enjoyed listening to the book read by George Guidall, 6 1/2 hours. Another version is available read by Frank Muller in only 5 hours and 38 minutes, with an introduction by the author included. I do not know if a quicker reader could be as dramatic.

I wonder what impact the book had, if any, on schools. I notice that they still send their students out selling calendars, coupon books, wrapping paper, fruit, and chocolates. I sense that students in my area have the choice to participate or not, but I remember feeling pressure to sell when I was a student. So, did the book help? A search of the ERIC database returns lesson plans for teaching the novel in literature classes, but I see no reports on the conduct of school fund raising mentioning the title.

I just noticed that Cormier also wrote Beyond the Chocolate War. Dare I enter that world again?

Cormier, Robert. The Chocolate War. Recorded Books, 1993. ISBN 1402522940

Wendell Berry in World Ark Magazine Digitized

Yesterday, I drove my daughter Laura back to Iowa City for her spring semester at the University of Iowa. I've heard remarks about how dull a drive it is along Interstates 88 and 80 - about how there is nothing to see. I disagree. I paid particular attention yesterday and discovered that there was almost always farmhouses, barns, or other agricultural buildings in view. There were vast fields covered in light snow, ponds covered in ice, rivers to cross, and cows and horses breathing out steam in the cold. Near the Mississippi River, I saw a bald eagle circling right over the highway. A redtailed hawk sat on a post. Rather than a void, the land between the western Chicago suburbs and the college town is rich farmland, especially lovely with the snow.

This morning I read the January/February 2008 issue of World Ark, which includes an interview with novelist/poet/farmer/environmentalist Wendell Berry. Berry has written a lot about farmland and the people of rural America. He'd be able to read the land along the Interstate and know which family farms are thriving and which have been taken over by corporations. The maintenance of the barns and house would shout at him. In an interview on pages 16-19, he says that he regrets how our urbanized society has lost touch with its food supply and discusses how even city neighborhoods can reconnect with land. He suggests models from the past to make the future better. Ancient Greek cities included farmland to keep them self-sufficient.

World Ark is a publication from Heifer International, which sponsors giving farm animals to third world countries. I suspect only contributors ever see its articles. I checked Worldcat to see how many libraries carry World Ark and found only five.

There is a way, however, for many people to read this article. Heifer International posts the entire issue on its magazine on its website using services of Nxtbook Media. Click on a page of the magazine and the digital reader turns to the next. The magazine allows zooming, bookmarking, stick notes, saving, and printing. without my having to download any software.

Libraries could use similar digital publishing on their websites for annual reports, tutorials, or online children's books.

Joe Filisko Shines at Friday at the Ford Concert

What a night! Sixty-three people came to the Thomas Ford Memorial Library on a very cold January evening to hear Joe Filisko, a Chicago-based harmonica artist, play the blues. With the meeting room nearly full, he did just that and more. In the end, he got a standing ovation, something rare for our coffeehouse concerts.

Knowing how cold it would be, I wondered before the concert how many people would come. A morning phone call from Ohio (two states away) was a clue that it might be a special night. Word had gotten out among people who love harmonica that Joe was playing a free concert at the library. As soon as I open the front door, people came in, and I was concerned at one point that we might not have enough room. I gave up the seat I had staked out. Luckily for me, the crowd and room balanced with a nice mix of regulars and newcomers.

Joe began his program by humbly explaining the situation. His partner for the night had a family emergency, so he was alone on the stage. This was something that he and I had discussed earlier in the week. He prepared a special program that he had been contemplating for years, highlighting the many ways a harmonica could be played. The program was not a lecture - it was a virtuoso performance.

Joe started with a piece that he had composed himself, which started quietly and had an atmospheric quality, something many people would not associate with harmonica. Then he played "Amazing Grace" to demonstrate many harmonic playing styles. I was really surprised in the third verse by how like a bagpipe that it sounded.

Then Joe got down to the blues, folk, c&w, and Cajun songs. I particularly liked a medley of songs by Deford Bailey, one of the early stars of the Grand Ole Opry. He followed with a song by Peg Leg Sam, who Joe described as a snake oil salesman who used the harmonica in his pitches. On this song, Joe sang and performed harmonica gymnasts, playing the instrument from many angles and even without hands. It is hard to describe. You have to see it to believe it.

Joe also played blues pieces by Henry Whitter, Sonny Terry (who was featured on a postage stamp), and Big Walter Horton.

For many of the songs that he played, Joe held up old vinyl record albums while he described the artists from whom he learned the songs. Most were from small regional recording companies, and I thought that they lent a nice eclectic touch. I bet the records would all be hard to find now. He also had an over-sized harmonica that he hung behind him and used to explain some techniques.

The Western Springs Library Friends, who underwrote the evening, served refreshments, we all stayed warm, and Joe played for nearly an hour and a half. Lots of people swayed to the music. It was a great night.

Joe said that he would like to play other libraries. His contact information is on his website. I recommend him.

My Fellow Americans by Keir Graff

" Now let's go out and bring democracy to America!" said George Libby.

Wow, this was more than I expected. My Fellow Americans by Keir Graff is a fun book to read but disturbing to contemplate. The story moves quickly, and I kept the book near, so when I had time, I could read another section. The central character Jason Walker never gets to rest, and I did not either until I finished the book.

The setting is familiar, especially to me since I live outside Chicago, but something has gone wrong. A tall building is being built along the Chicago River, and Jason Walker likes to take pictures with his old film camera. The president (never named but he was in office when the planes slammed into the World Trade Center) is in his third term. I think I'll stop here on the description of the plot because the reader needs to discover it.

If I were going to analyze, I would mention the book 1984 and the film Brazil. I might also bring up the new book The Suicide of Reason by Lee Harris, which I have not read, but I suspect some of the characters in the book have and taken it to heart. My Fellow Americans would be a good book to discuss.

If there are discussions, I suggest this question: Why does the author always refer to his characters by their full names? In his narration, he never says "Jason," "Gina," "Chad," or "Leo" except in dialogue. I think the author has a reason.

I urge more libraries to add this book.

Graff, Keir. My Fellow Americans. Severn House, 2007. ISBN 9780727865229

No Place for a Woman: A Life of Senator Margaret Chase Smith by Janann Sherman

With Senator Hillary Clinton running for the nomination for U.S. President, it is a good time to remember Senator Margaret Chase Smith. It would also be a good time for libraries to display No Place for a Woman: A Life of Senator Margaret Chase Smith by historian Janann Sherman.

In 1964, Smith, a moderate senator from Maine, ran for the Republican nomination for U.S. President. She was the first serious woman candidate for the high office. At that point, she had been in Congress twenty-four years, many as the only female senator. She was not expected to win the nomination, but there was serious discussion of her chances to be Barry Goldwater's running mate. The Arizona senator said that he would have no qualms about a female on the ticket, and she seemed to lean farther right in the period before the 1964 Republican Convention. In the end, it did not happen, and Smith was lukewarm in her support of the Goldwater-Miller campaign.

One of the great early stories of her life is how Smith had to borrow sixty dollars from her grandfather to go on the high school trip to Washington, D.C. She was inspired by seeing all the monuments and met some government officials. She had to pay her Yankee grandpa back with six per cent interest.

Though she was not a feminist, she hired mostly young women from her state for her staff and chastised her congressional colleagues for being bad boys when they acted out of self-interest or unethically. A widow, who said that she too busy with national affairs for a family, she faithfully sat at the bedside of her dying aide, Bill Lewis. Historian Janann Sherman's book is an admiring profile of a powerful woman who lived ninety-seven years, mostly in Maine.

I am putting No Place for Women in my book on biography.

I now need to find an updated biography of Shirley Chisholm.

Sherman, Janann. No Place for a Woman: A Life of Senator Margaret Chase Smith. Rutgers University Press, 2000. 298p. ISBN 0813527228.

My Luis Tiant Toothbrush

My Luis Tiant toothbrush,
With a picture of his face
In the space you might see Big Bird,
The Road Runner, or Mark Grace.

My Luis Tiant toothbrush,
Lime green and somewhat fat,
I saw it in a dream.
Can you imagine that?

Librarians in the Jury Box by Nancy Kalikow Maxwell

The January/February 2008 issue of American Libraries includes an article that I appreciated and enjoyed, for it really speaks to what has happened in my life and in my library. It is entitled "Librarians in the Jury Box: Why Do Information Professionals Make Such Desirable Jurors?" by Nancy Kalikow Maxwell. It can be found on pages 50 to 54.

It has not happened recently, but the staff at my library has often gotten jury notices. In Cook County, Illinois, the jury system has a one day or one trial call. If you do not get assigned to a jury the day of your call, you are released. If you do, you serve until the case is done. Most of the staff has gone for the one day, or even no days, when there is a phone number to call ahead to see if any juries will actually be selected that day.

I have twice been interviewed by attorneys in the jury selection process and was selected both times. So, I'm two for two. In both cases many prospective jurors were being rejected, and I was retained after only a few quick questions. Maybe Maxwell is correct in saying that attorneys readily accept librarians.

The first case I served on concerned assault and battery. The defense attorney tried to discredit the witnesses but failed. The case took three days, and we found the defendant guilty.

The second was a medical malpractice case. The doctor being sued was not on the scene when an infant was injured during emergency delivery. It was the doctor's weekend off. The claim was that he had not filled out a form completely at one of the mother's prior examinations. The jury decided the form was irrelevant in the emergency delivery. The case took five days, and we found the doctor innocent.

Both experiences were very education and satisfying, and I would readily serve again. It would be interesting to hear other librarians report on their experiences as jurors. Have many of us served on juries?

Driving Lessons, a Film by Jeremy Brock

Bonnie brought home another great movie of which I had no knowledge, Driving Lessons. It stars Rupert Grint, who everyone will recognize as Ron Weasley in the Harry Potter movies. It is a contemporary story of a shy young man, pressed by his mother to get a job, who becomes the daytime companion for a retired actress. The film was written and directed by Jeremy Brock, who was one of the screenwriters of The Last King of Scotland. Scotland is about the only thing the films have in common, as Driving Lessons is very funny.

I do not want to give away too much about the movie, but I do want to encourage you to see it. One reason to do so is the great cast.

Rupert Grint does a great job as Ben Marshall. To date, he has not gotten many roles other than Ron Weasley. Perhaps he is being selective, and, if so, he has chosen very well. This film shows that the audience can forget his known role after five or ten minutes into the story.

Julie Walters is Dame Evie Walton, a retired British actress who needs someone to do chores and take her to appointments around London. Ironically, she is Molly Weasley in the Harry Potter movies, but I did not recognize her. She is alternately sensible and outrageous.

Laura Linney is Laura Marshall, Ben's mother, who is teaching him to drive. She has many expectations for her son, and she takes her role as the vicar's wife a little too far. You may remember her from The Squid and the Whale and from The Truman Show.

Nicholas Farrell is the vicar, Robert Marshall. I have been a fan of his since he was Aubrey Montague, an aristocratic athlete in Chariots of Fire. He was also in The Jewel in the Crown, Kenneth Branagh's Hamlet, and many series shown on Masterpiece Theater and Mystery. In this film, he is as shy as his son.

Teens will like this movie, as it shows how hard it is to deal with crazy adults. It will also appeal to Harry Potter and Masterpiece Theater fans. I would further suggest the movie to people who enjoyed Harold and Maude. Like the old cult classic, it has a frustrated young man with an overbearing mother, and he becomes attached to a wild old lady.

According to Worldcat, 307 libraries own copies of the DVD of Driving Lessons. They should put it on display. It'll get snapped up.

Chaucer by Peter Ackroyd

Being a poet gained Geoffrey Chaucer entry into many nobles' courts, but it did not pay his rent. According to biographer Peter Ackroyd in his compact volume Chaucer, to keep his apartment above Aldgate Gate, where he could see everyone entering and leaving London to the east, the son of a wine merchant had to keep accounts for the King, gather tariffs and taxes, and represent the British crown on missions abroad. While in Italy and France, Chaucer always listened to the poets, noting their cadences, voices, and storytelling. In London, when not involved in lawsuits, he wrote and recited his poems.

Ackroyd says that Chaucer was very private and guarded person in many ways. He had to be in the employ of the crown in an especially violent time in London. There were many kidnappings, murders, and rapes, the latter a crime of which the poet was accused but settled out of court. Reading the poetry is one of the keys to understanding him. His work shows him to have a complicated group of interests and to be drawn more to bawdy comedy than art. He was more heard than read in his own time, as he presented his poems at many social gatherings.

Chaucer was not the first British poet, but with Troilus and Criseyde and Canterbury Tales, he wrote the rules for the next seven century of English verse. Ackroyd quotes extensively from them without translating the Middle English to modern spellings. I was surprised how much I could read of it if I sounded it out.

In the introduction, the author states that this is the first of a series of Ackroyd's Brief Lives. He added J. M. W. Turner to the series in 2006 and will release Newton later this year. Libraries should consider them all.

Ackroyd, Peter. Chaucer. Nan A. Talese, 2005. 188p. (Ackroyd's Brief Lives). ISBN 0385507976.

My Fellow Americans by Keir Graff Noted by Mary Schmich

In her column in the Chicago Tribune today, Mary Schmich tells about the books that are piling up on her desk, and the first she highlights My Fellow Americans by Keir Graff, a senior editor at Booklist. Many of us in the library world also know that Keir is the daily blogger who brings us Likely Stories. It is a rare day when he does not have an interesting bit of publishing news or reflections on controversies in the book world.

Schmich scans the book quick and is much amused by the character Ronald Flush, a billionaire developer, who is building a very tall building where the Chicago Star-Tabloid used to stand. I hope she finds time to read the entire book.

*****

Schmich also lists other books with a Chicago setting. The other title that interests me is Chicago Afternoons with Leon: 99 1/2 Years Old and Looking Forward by Kenan Heise (ISBN 9781434347374), a biography of an alderman who was a thorn in the side of the original Mayor Daley. I do not find it in any library and Baker and Taylor has no inventory. Amazon has it. I'm trying to get it.

The Kennedys: Portrait of a Family by Richard Avedon

At this point in time, when a new political star may be rising, The Kennedys: Portrait of a Family by Richard Avedon is a very interesting book. Could the United States ever have another first family with the style and confidence of the Kennedys? Are there photographers who could frame them the way Avedon did the Kennedys on January 3, 1961?

In some ways, this book is just about a day-long photo shoot of the president-elect and his family at a vacation home in Florida. Not all of the details are clear. Whose idea was the session? Did Jacqueline Kennedy choose Avedon after having denied many previous photo proposals? The people who could answer these questions have all died without addressing these questions. What is clear, however, is that Avedon took indoor and outdoor photographs, and then he submitted high impact articles to both Look and Harper's Bazaar from the images taken that day.

There are some preliminary photos in the book, showing Jackie as a camera assistant at the Washington Times-Herald in 1953, the couple at their wedding, and Avedon photographing Elizabeth Taylor. With these is text by Shannon Thomas Perich, a curator at the Smithsonian, telling about the photographer's career, about the impact of the articles, and about the donation of all the negatives and proofs to the Smithsonian. Best of all, there are copies of all the contact sheets from the indoor sessions and illustrations showing how Avedon touched up the photographs to make great portraits.

My daughter really liked the series of photographs of father and daughter. Caroline holding her father's hand to her cheek is outstanding. The series of Caroline holding her six-week old brother is also guaranteed to please anyone who likes babies and small children. These joyous photos contrast with the shots of JFK and Jackie, who seem a bit reserved. It is hard to look at these photos without layering them with the tragedies to come.

Readers interested in the art of photography or in the history of the presidency will find this book fascinating. It is a standout among the hundreds of books about the Kennedys.

Avedon, Richard. The Kennedys: Portrait of a Family. Collins Design, 2007. ISBN 9780061138164.

Travels with Herodotus by Ryszard Kapuściński

In 1955, when young Polish journalist Ryszard Kapuściński mentioned to his editor that he would enjoy going abroad, he was thinking about Czechoslovakia. He was stunned when she called him to her office and announced that he was going to India, a country that was pursuing better relations with Soviet-era Poland. He knew little about the country. He knew nothing about its languages. As a sort of odd parting gift, she handed him a copy of the new Polish translation of The Histories by Herodotus.

The trip to India was only the first of many trips described in Travels with Herodotus. He soon was stationed in China and later spent many years in Africa as the only Polish correspondent for a continent. Wherever he went, he took his book. As he read, he began to wonder more about the ancient Greek, whose situation must have been much like his own in some ways. How did Herodotus get his stories? Did he have troubles with translators? Was he suspected of being a spy? Was he a spy? Why did the Greek write up his travels when there was no publishing as we know it now?

Travels with Herodotus has two story lines, one set in fifth century B.C.E. and the other in the 1950s to 1990s. The ancient story gets the greater emphasis, as Kapuściński tells us much about the lands Herodotus visited. There is an especially long section about the wars between Greece and Persia. As a reader, I wish the author had told us more about his own experiences instead. The first few chapters about when he went to India and China led me to expect more of his own story. Perhaps I was reading the wrong book. It appears from the author bio that Kapuściński, who died in 2007, wrote many other books about his experiences.

I do now better understand Herodotus and ancient Greek perception of the known world. I also found the stories of ancient wars relevant to today. In one, the Greeks and Persians have been lined up against each other for weeks, but lacking favorable omens, both have delayed their attacks. In the meantime, a banquet is held to which warriors from both armies are invited. Over dinner one Persian tells one Athenian how sad he is that so many of his men will die in the coming days. The Athenian agrees but says that a soldier is bound to do as he is commanded even when no good will come of it.

Some history readers will enjoy the book, which I recommend to larger public libraries.

Kapuściński, Ryszard. Travels with Herodotus. Knopf, 2007. ISBN 9781400043385

A Reference Librarian Hero

“I expedite the use of the library,” Mr. Smith said over lunch at the Algonquin Hotel, explaining just what it is he does. “I’ve been called a connector. I’m in a position to save people time. I know where to find things.” (NYT, 12/31/07)

These are wonderful words from David Smith, a reference librarian about whom the New York Times has written. They say just what we should strive to do at the reference desk. We do it every day, so it seems a bit strange to think of it as a remarkable mission, but it surprises people to find someone so helpful.

Placed where he is in the New York Public Library, Mr. Smith assists many famous writers. The article includes their praises of the librarian. Roy Blount, Jr. was shocked when Smith offered his help. Why are people so scared of librarian?

Read and be inspired.

Roberts, Sam. "The Library's Helpful Sage of the Stacks." New York Times. December 31, 2007. Page E1.

The Pocket Guide to African Mammals by Jonathan Kingdon

Recently, ecotourism in Africa has been hurt by fear of terrorism and political unrest. While current events in Kenya are troubling, there are still safe countries to visit, including Tanzania and Botswana. These countries need tourist dollars to continue to protect their wildlife. Going on camera safari is still a wonderful thing to do. If you go, you will need a field guide to mammals. The Kingdon Pocket Guide to African Mammals by Jonathan Kingdon is an excellent choice.

Jonathan Kingdon has previously published numerous larger works on the mammals of African and on human evolution. Distribution of these mostly academic books in public libraries is rather spotty. With the pocket guide, public libraries should take notice and add it to their collections. It is authoritative, affordable, and easy to shelve until it is borrowed and taken to Africa.

The pocket guide is a handy item to have while sitting in a Land Cruiser near an African water hole where the animals congregate. It shows more of the small mammals than other guides than I have seen. Kingdon's illustrations will help you distinguish between a gerenuk and a springbuck, between a wild boar and a bush pig, and between bush hyrax and tree hyrax. He includes continental distribution maps, tells you animal habitats, and describes behaviors.

This colorful pocket guide is also good for libraries that have students with animal assignments. It should be shelved with The Safari Companion by Richard D. Estes, which goes into greater depth about African mammal behaviors.

Kingdon, Jonathan. The Pocket Guide to African Mammals. Princeton University Press, 2004. ISBN 0691122393

Warm Springs: Traces of a Childhood at FDR's Polio Haven by Susan Richards Shreve

Thanks to Maggie for recommending this book, which I enjoyed.

In 1951, when novelist Susan Richards Shreve was eleven years old, she was sent to Warm Springs, Georgia for the treatment of polio. Unlike some of the children who were in full-body casts or iron lungs, she was relatively mobile. Because she had contracted a milder form of polio as an infant and had recurring episodes, she could walk in an awkward manner, but at the foundation she chose a wheelchair to be like her love-at-first-sight boyfriend Joey Buckley. She tells of her two years there in Warm Springs: Traces of a Childhood at FDR's Polio Haven.

Readers might at first think that Shreve had a total lack of good sense. She excelled at getting into trouble for complete ignoring the advice or commands of adults. Several accidents could have been avoided if Shreve had not created odd situations. As a young girl, however, she seems to have had a much better understanding of her fellow patients than staff. When asked to stop agreeing with Joey that he might someday play football for the University of Alabama, she refused. She knew that the severely crippled boy needed his dreams as a source of strength.

What I find hard to imagine now is how young children were so casually separated from their families at a time when they endured painful surgeries. The kids had to support each other after their reconstructions, surgeries moving muscles to new locations in their bodies. Shreve also seems to have been able to roll into nearly any room she chose.

Shreve is best when telling about her own misadventures. Warm Springs is a must read for those who enjoyed her novels. At times humorous and always readable, it would be a good book club book for older baby-boomers who remember the time.

Shreve, Susan Richard. Warm Springs: Traces of a Childhood at FDR's Polio Haven. Houghton Mifflin, 2007. ISBN 9780618658534.

It's All Too Much: An Easy Plan for Living a Richer Life with Less Stuff by Peter Walsh

Happy New Year!

It's self-help book season. I am not usually fond of personal psychology books, but if I see practical titles, I may glance at them. It's All Too Much: An Easy Plan for Living a Richer Life with Less Stuff by Australian organizational consultant Peter Walsh caught my eye. People hire the author to come into their homes and help them dig out from their over-abundance of things, and he has talked about what he does on television and in magazine articles. What he offers is mostly just common sense, but that is sometimes in short supply. That's why we have self-help books.

The author begins by describing our current situation. Many people have filled their houses with things, and those of financial means are trying to cope by adding onto their houses, buying bigger houses, putting some of their things in "temporary" storage, or even buying second houses. He thinks this is ridiculous. Having so many things rarely makes anyone happier. He proposes having fewer things.

Walsh indicates that people will not succeed in clearing their houses of clutter unless they first clear their minds of the bad thinking that leads them to buy and retain so many things. He recognizes that there may be legitimate sentimental reasons to keep some items, but he urges self-examination. If one's dream house is being fouled by the clutter, it is time to establish principles and act upon them.

The plan that Walsh proposes is called F.A.S.T.

• Fix a time to work.
• Anything that has not been used in twelve months goes.
• Someone else's stuff gets returned if possible and pitched if not.
• Trash (anything that is no longer usable) is taken out.

The author offers ideas for every room in the house and for prevention of clutter in the future. I suspect everything that he says has been in other anti-clutter books, but he is entertaining without being smug, and there is an obvious need for his advice. Many libraries should consider this book.

Walsh, Peter. It's All Too Much: An Easy Plan for Living a Richer Life with Less Stuff. Free Press, 2007. ISBN 9780743292641

Cookie, the Major Mitchell's Cockatoo

Cookie, the Major Mitchell's Cockatoo
Originally uploaded by ricklibrarian.

Bonnie and I often go to the Brookfield Zoo on New Year's Day, which is open every day of the year. Being a cold snowy day, there were not many people about the place, so we had good views wherever we went. We were glad that we went, for we saw many active animals, many exhibiting interesting behaviors, such as howling or calling. Hudson the polar bear was playing a blue plastic toy. We saw the baby gibbon from afar. A quartet of penguins was rapidly swimming around in the Living Coast tank. A guenon was howling in th Tropic World indoor rainstorm.

On most of trips to the zoo, we stop by the Perching Bird House to see Cookie, its oldest resident. Cookie was there when the zoo open in 1934. No one really knows how old he is. At his latest physical exam, his bone density was low, so he now has a special sunlamp to help him get more vitamin D.

I posted another photo of Cookie, a nice orangutan shot, and many snow scene photos in a folder on Flickr called Snowy Day at Brookfield Zoo. Take a look.