Staff Picks: When you Reach Me

When You Reach Me
Rebecca Stead
2010

Winner of the Newbery Medal (2010), When You Reach Me is the story of 6th grader Miranda and her best friend Sal. The story has three different plot lines. The first is the upcoming appearance of Miranda's mom on the game show The $20,000 Pyramid. This story dominates the focus of most of the adult characters, leaving Miranda focused on the fact that Sal hasn't talked to her since he was punched by a kid in the street for no reason. Oh, and the notes someone keeps leaving for her, telling her about things that happen in her life before they've happened! The first one was the most mysterious; whoever wrote it said they were coming to save her friend's life and their own, and said they needed her to write a letter about events that haven't happened (once they do happen) and also make sure to mention where her spare house key is. Throughout the book, I really liked the detail Stead gave of Miranda's NYC neighborhood (heavily based on her own childhood in NYC), how well all of the young characters played off of each other (they act like real kids!), and of course the time travelling "Notes of Doom" telling Miranda that she can save someone's life just by writing. And who hasn't wanted to be able to write that well?!

Find it at the library with the call number JF Stea.R.

Peter
Librarian
Naylor Memorial Library

Authors to visit MPL!

http://blaine.org/sevenimpossiblethings/

Stop by the Children's Department of the Martinsburg Public Library on Saturday, March 29, 2014 at 11:00 am to visit with authors Cece Bell and Tom Angelberger!

Cece Bell and Tom Angelberger are both children's authors/illustrators. They live in an old church inVirginia and work in a new red barn next door. Cece Bell is noted for her picture books featuring Sock Monkey and other friends. Tom is probably best known for the popular "Origami Yoda" series.

This husband and wife duo teamed up to write and illustrate Crankee Doodle, a hilarious take on the classic George Washington tale. Stop by the Children's Library for some pre-program activity sheets!

Gym America: Personalized Online Nutrition, Fitness & Exercise Programs

Selected by Forbes Magazine as "Best of the Web" for nine consecutive years, Gym America is a custom diet planner and fitness tracker. This revolutionary online personal trainer and nutrition system creates exercise and diet plans based on your individual needs, goals, and schedules.

The system allows you to establish your own health/wellness goals and build a corresponding diet and exercise program either using database suggestions or creating one of your own. Personalized workout suggestions include a comprehensive workout tracker, instructional videos, fitness challenges, and personalized diet plans. You'll enjoy a diet tracker with nutrition scorecards, an in-depth food database, and weight and body-mass ratio trackers.

Work with friends to meet a joint fitness goal and share each other's progress to encourage success with an optional sharing feature. 

Participants in the program can also go mobile and access their nutrition and fitness plans on the go with the Gym America iPhone and iPad apps.

To access Gym America from the library's website, click on the RESOURCES tab at the top of the page, then click on the category for Health/Fitness from the drop-down menu. Next, click on the link for Gym America. You will need to create an account with the site to keep track of your personal information and to record your progress.

Farm Festival

Meet the Children's Librarians at the Farm Festival held at the Martinsburg Mall in conjunction with the Week of the Young Child, Saturday, March 22, 2014 from 10:00 am - 3:00 pm. The library hopes to present some live baby farm animals as well as a hands-on craft. See you there!

NOTE: There will be NO story time at the Martinsburg Public Library on this Saturday. 

Award-winning books come to Naylor!

The Naylor Library is happy to announce the acquisition of many of the American Library Association's 2014 award-winning books. Over a dozen books were given awards, ranging from the YALSA Award for Excellence in Non-fiction for Young Adults to the prestigious John Newbery and Randolph Caldecott Medals. The list of those acquired by Naylor is as follows:

John Newbery Medal for the most outstanding contribution to children's literature:

Flora & Ulysses: The Illuminated Adventures

Kate DiCamillo

Coretta Scott King Book Award, recognizing an African American author and illustrator of outstanding books for children and young adults:

Knock Knock: My Dad's Dream for Me

Bryan Collier, illustrator

Alex Awards are for the 10 best adult books that appeal to teen audiences. Naylor has acquired eight of them:

The Death of Bees

Lisa O'Donnell

Lexicon: A Novel

Max Barry

Help for the Haunted

John Searles

Lives of Tao

Wesley Chu

Mother, Mother: A Novel

Koren Zailckas

Relish

Lucy Knisley

The Sea of Tranquility: A Novel

Katja Millay

The Universe Versus Alex Woods

Gavin Extence

YALSA Award for Excellence in Nonfiction for Young Adults

The Nazi Hunters: How a Team of Spies and Survivors Captured the World's Most Notorious Nazi

Neal Bascomb

The Mildred L. Batchelder Award is for an outstanding children's book originally published in a language other than English in a country other than the United States, and subsequently translated into English for publication in the United States.

Mister Orange

Truus Matti

(Originally published in Dutch in 2011. The book was translated by Laura Watkinson and published by Enchanged Lion Books.)

Odyssey Award for best audio book produced for children and/or young adults, available in English in the United States.

Scowler

Daniel Kraus, narrated by Kirby Heyborne

Pura Belpre (illustrator) Award, which honors a Latino illustrator whose children's books best portray, affirm, and celebrate the Latino cultural experience.

Nino Wrestles the World

Yuyi Morales, author and illustrator

Robert F. Sibert Informational Book Award is given to the most distinguished informational book for children.

Randolph Caldecott Medal for the most distinguished American picture book for children.

Locomotive

Brian Floca, author and illustrator 

Parrots Over Puerto Rico

Susan L. Roth and Cindy Trumbore, illustrated by Susan. L. Roth

Theodor Suess Geisel Award for the most distinguished book for beginning readers.

The Watermelon Seed

Greg Pizzoli, author and illustrator

William C. Morris Award for a debut book published by a first-time author writing for teens

Charm & Strange

Stephanie Kuehn

we GEEK gardening

Join us at the North Berkeley Public Library on Thursday, March 20, 2014 at 2:00 pm for a gardening program with retired librarian and gardener Jane Sullivan. 

Jane will focus on starting seeds and garden planning. Hope to see you there!

This program is part of our GEEK THE LIBRARY campaign. Click here to learn more!

E-Reader/Audio Book Help Sessions - Rescheduled

Did you get an e-reader or downloadable device for Christmas but are having trouble using it? Did you know the library has both e-books and audio books that patrons can checkout and download free of charge?

The IT staff from the Martinsburg Public Library will host rescheduled help sessions in March at each library to guide you through the setup and downloading process. Sessions are scheduled for the following dates:

North Berkeley Public Library
March 17 | 10:00 am - 3:00 pm

Naylor Memorial Library
March 18 | 10:00 am - 3:00 pm

Musselman-South Berkeley Community Library
March 20 | 10:00 am - 3:00 pm

Martinsburg Public Library
March 21 | 10:00 am - 3:00 pm

Drop by on these dates or visit the main library's computer lab for help. No appointment necessary.

Singin' on the Rails

Singer/songwriter Ed McDade visits the Martinsburg Public Library on Saturday, March 15, 2014 at 2:00 pm on the main floor of the library.

Boomers, Gandy Dancers, Steel Drivers, Greaseballs, Hogheads, Section bosses, and Road Masters come alive in the songs and stories of the resolute men who built, inhabited, maintained, and ran the railroads during the Age of Steam. Ed McDade sings and plays guitar, banjo, harmonica, and rhythm instruments. He breathes life into the old songs and tall tales of the Irish immigrants and African American work gangs whose hard labor, ingenuity, and bravery made the railroads possible.

This presentation will be part-talk, part-drama/comedy, and part-musical performance. The program includes songs like Pat Works on the Erie, Wrech of Old 97, John Henry, Railroad Bill and stories like Casey Jones, Finnigan to Flannigan and O'Callahan's Solution.

Don't miss this afternoon of musical delight at the Martinsburg Public Library!

March at Musselman

Stop by Musselman-South Berkeley Community Library during the week of March 9-15 for Teen Tech Week. Call 304-229-2220 for more information and a complete list of activities!

Also, come out and enjoy a special pajama story time at 10:30 am on March 12th and 13th. Don't forget to wear your PJs!

(Story times are now offered every Saturday at 1:30 pm, as well as on Wednesday and Thursday mornings.)

And join the Middle Reader Book Discussion Group as they talk about The Strange Case of Origami Yoda by Tom Angelberger on Thursday, March 13, 2014 at 4:00 pm. Good time, it will be.

And if you like Tom Angelberger, stop by the Martinsburg Public Library on Saturday, March 29, 2014 at 11:00 am to visit him and another great author named Cece Bell!

Author Steve French visits NBL!

ronschiding.wordpress.com

Local author Steve French will speak at 6:30 pm on Thursday, March 13, 2014 at North Berkeley Library. His topic of discussion will be "Train Robbers of the Upper Potomac." 

The talk will focus on Confederate Major Harry Gilmor's February 12, 1864 robbery of the B&O Express West and the October 14, 1864 robbery of the same train by Mosby's Rangers. Both incidents took place near present-day Bardane in Jefferson County. These stories are also featured in his latest book, Raiders, Scouts, and Train Robbers of the Upper Potomac. 

Copies of Mr. French's book will be available for purchase at the event. 

The event is hosted by the Falling Waters Battlefield Association which will also hold its bi-monthly meeting after the presentation.

we GEEK art

www.playgrounddetroit.com

In March, the Martinsburg Public Library celebrates art with our year-long GEEK THE LIBRARY campaign. Each month a topic will be pulled from the GEEK bucket located near the front entrance on the main floor of the library. The topic selected will be highlighted for the month in related displays and activities.

Look for displays and activities that focus on art throughout the month of March.

If you would like your topic of interest to be in the running for display and activities at MPL, please fill out a GEEK slip the next time you stop by. We look forward to seeing what you GEEK!

Introduction to Genetic Genealogy

www.rootsweb.ancestry.com

A presentation on the basics of genetic genealogy will be given by Keith Hammersla, Director of Information Services at the Martinsburg Public Library, on Saturday, March 8, 2014 from 2:00-4:00 pm in the Campbell Beall Room (genealogy and local history research room) on the top floor of the library.

Genetic genealogy involves the use of genealogical DNA testing to determine the level and type of genetic relationships between individuals. Testing objectives, the different types of testing currently available, and the interpretation of results will be some of the topics that are covered. Additionally, examples of how genealogy problems can be solved through genetic genealogy will be presented.

For those interested in taking genealogical research one step beyond traditional research methods, plan to attend and learn about this fascinating process and new developments in genealogical research.

March 2014: From the Director's Chair

The third month of the year brings the third letter in the acrostic poem LIBRARY - B. The most obvious word associated with this letter is books, of which the Martinsburg-Berkeley County Public Libraries have 204,102, and we continue to add more daily. There are also 7,837 digitized books and more added monthly. Whatever format, books are a staple of every library, even those eliminating those in print.

For me, two other words which come to mind are blessing and bravery. Probably not what you expected, right? Libraries are blessings. Spending between $4.00 and $32.00 per capita across the United States, libraries provide materials, computers, programs, a community center, and helpful staff to anyone who walks through our doors. In Berkeley County the total tax dollar support, from all local sources, averages less than $18.00 per year per person. Some people spend more than that in a day on computer games such as Candy Crush; more than that in a week for fast food meals; or more than that in a month for coffee.

It is a blessing that we live in a country that encourages the keeping and dissemination of knowledge to all citizens, not just those in power, or the rich, or the highly educated. Unfortunately, tax support for libraries has been waning. The poor economic climate is often blamed. Libraries are seen as non-essential services and as such, no longer necessary.

Access to and use of information is important to ensuring that the economic climate will change. People have to know where and how to find a job, how to start their own businesses, how to make wise decisions about their health, their money, and their futures. The one central, free location for this information is a quality library. That takes dedicated, stable, and sometimes expensive funding.

The Internet is a money-based source of information. If you don't have money for the monthly fees, for the computer or other devices, for the subscription fees to various sites, your access is severely limited or nonexistent. But you can access the Internet free at the library. Without local, state, and federal funding, free libraries may become a thing of the past.

Generous and thoughtful people have blessed this library with bequests and annual gifts. Their contributions have enabled the library to expand our buildings, our collection, and our staff. However, it is impossible to budget for those donations which are not always consistent or dependable.

B is also for the blessing that the library is to the community; for the blessing of politicians who understand the importance of libraries and vote for adequate funding; and for those members of the community who give freely of their time and money.

The third word that comes to mind is bravery. You might think this is an odd word in relation to libraries. But it isn't. If a librarian handles book selection the right way, there will always be someone complaining. All views should be represented, not just one side to the exclusion of other ideas. Some librarians have been fired for putting books or other materials on the shelf despite the objections of some members of the community.

Tolerance is built when patrons have access to read and determine for themselves solutions to problems or concerns. To refuse to read, listen, or give credence to any other point of view is to become intolerant.

The other side of bravery in libraries comes from the non-English speaking parent who brings her child to story time so that the child can understand the English language and interact with others. A child who is having difficulty reading bravely takes her/his place by the reading dog and reads out loud. The teenager who is having problems at home or school comes to the library to find material for school assignments, information on bullying, to find books that will take him/her to other worlds so s/he can escape their situation if just for a few hours.

Every day people walk through our doors looking for ways to manage their debt, to find out more about health issues, to look for work, to access email which keeps them in touch with family and friends across the country and the world. It takes bravery on their part to come here and ask for help in finding these things.

People who have managed all their life to get by without being able to read come to the library to be tutored. What courage it must take to admit that you can barely sign your name then being the struggle to change the situation, whether you are 18 or 80.

Bravery is many things to many people but to me it is being able to face yourself and your situation and do something about that. Firemen rush into burning buildings, police face armed criminals, soldiers defend their country in many ways. For other people, their bravery is admitting that they need help, then trying to find that help.

Books + blessings + bravery = LIBRARY