Buy Book, Support Library

Don't know what to get the bird lover on your holiday shopping list? Buy a signed copy of "Secrets of Backyard Bird-Feeding Success: Hundreds of Surefire Tips for Attracting and Feeding Your Favorite Birds" by Deborah L. Martin. Copies of the book are available for purchase at the library for $20, and a portion of the proceeds will support the library's building fund.

Design Your New Life

Don't miss Successful Retirement Strategies for Baby Boomers & Beyond held on Tuesday, Nov. 29 from 6:30 p.m. to 8 p.m.

A panel of experts present a variety topics, and light refreshments will be served. This will be held in the South Whitehall township building. It's free and open to the public.

Find Out Faster!

Waiting for a library item? If you have supplied us with your email address, the library will now be emailing you throughout the day as your holds become available.

To update or enter your email address, please go to www.parklandlibrary.org and click on My Account. After entering your library card number and PIN, click on Edit Account. Or call 610-398-1361 or stop in at any library location to set up email notifications.

Why email? You get faster notification that your holds have arrived.
No email? No worries. The library will still call you when your holds arrive.
Please note that you have three days to pick up an item before it goes to the next person on the list or back on to the shelf.

Shop Amazon.com and Barnes & Noble Bookfair to support Parkland Community Library

Just in time for the holidays: it’s easy to support the Friends of the Parkland Community Library (FPCL) this year simply by visiting www.parklandlibrary.org and using the amazon.com search box, or by visiting Barnes & Noble of the Lehigh Valley Mall on November 19th or bn.com/bookfairs from November 19th-November 24th.

The Friends of the Parkland Community Library are now a part of Amazon's Affiliate program. This program earns up to 8% of every product purchased through the library's link to Amazon--all at no cost to you. Help support the FPCL and get your shopping done at the same time by visiting www.parklandlibrary.org and using the amazon.com search box. There are no time limits on this fundraiser.

The Barnes & Noble Bookfair for the Friends of the Parkland Community Library starts on Saturday, November 19th from 9 am to 10 pm. Events include children’s storytimes at 10:30 am with storyteller Kathy Long, and 1:00 pm & 2:00 pm with librarian Hannah Killian; scavenger hunt race at 11:30am to race around the store and find answers to win; and an adult and teen storytelling at 7 pm with Robin Berry and Kelly Fitzpatrick. Acclaimed local storytellers, including Karen Maurer and members of the Parkland Community Library Teen Tellers, will share tales from around the world and from their own backyards. The International Day of Storytelling is brought to you by the Lehigh Valley Storytelling Guild.

Can’t make the Bookfair? Visit bn.com/bookfairs to support the FPCL online from November 19th through November 24th by entering Bookfair ID 10525723 at checkout.

Thanks for your support!

Parkland Community Library has something for everyone!

Miss your eaudiobooks through Netlibrary? We now have “One Click Digital” icon on our website to tide you over until Overdrive arrives in mid-December with both eaudiobooks and ebooks in a user-friendly format!
In other news, the library is separating the children’s and adults’ DVD collections. Now kids can browse the DVDs with the red labels or search the catalog by setting limits for “Juvenile DVD”. There are also “new” stickers on our most recent DVDs, and they are searchable in the catalog by setting limits for “New DVD”.
Story times have started and are a hit, as always, thanks to the Youth Services department.
School children looking for assistance for National History Day can click the icon on our website created by the Reference Department, or they can also ask a reference librarian for personalized assistance.
Teen Tellers meet the first and third Tuesdays of the month at 7:30pm.
Parents have been enjoying the monthly workshops on parenting by Redirecting Children’s Behavior of the Lehigh Valley. There is still room for Thursday, October 13th and Thursday, November 17th at 6:30pm.
Adults attend movie night the second Tuesday of the month at 6:30pm; Bookquest the third Wednesday of the month at 7pm; and Knitting Circle the fourth Thursday of the month from 1:30pm to 4pm.
Other programs vary but include Read About It! Books on Screen, author visits, financial planning and more!
Seniors can attend free monthly programs once a month at the library. Upcoming programs include:
“Yikes, I’m Retiring!!! Now What???” on Tuesday, October 18th 10:00 a.m. - 11:00 a.m.
Road Scholar Ambassador on Tuesday, November 1st 10:00 a.m. - 11:00 a.m.
Elder Care Planning on Tuesday, December 6th 10:00 a.m. - 11:00 a.m.
Memory Loss, Dementia, and Alzheimer’s: The Basics on Wednesday, January 11th 4:00 p.m. – 5:00 p.m.
Shopping for the holidays? Consider using the library’s secure Amazon.com search box on our website; a portion of the proceeds will be donated to the library. On Saturday, November 19th, Barnes & Noble shoppers can benefit the library through their purchases online or in the store. Vouchers will be available at the library.
Please contact us at 610-398-1361 or visit the library for more information about our programs and services. The calendar of events can be found at www.parklandlibrary.org

PARKLAND COMMUNITY LIBRARY TO OFFER BOOK DISCUSSION PROGRAM "BOOKS ON SCREEN"

Parkland Community Library has been chosen to sponsor a series of book discussion programs called Read About It!. A discussion group will meet at Parkland Community Library for four sessions from 6:30pm to 8:30pm on the second Wednesday of the month: September 14th, October 12th, November 9th, and December 14th.

The Parkland Community Library will offer Books on Screen. Led by Dr. Carrie F. Myers, English professor at Lehigh-Carbon Community College, the discussion group will explore the relationship between literature and film adaptation. Participants will read and discuss popular titles, including The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, True Grit, To Kill a Mockingbird, and Winter Bones.

Registration is on a first-come, first-served basis. The program is free and open to the general public, and requires no special knowledge about literature. The first 15 participants will receive their own copies of the books featured in Books on Screen. The program is limited to 30 participants. To register, contact Maryellen Kanarr at 610-398-1361 x13 before Wednesday, September 7th or stop by the library for a form.

Quality programs such as Books on Screen make Pennsylvania libraries the place where learning starts. Books on Screen is part of Read About It!, a book discussion series of the Pennsylvania Humanities Council. The program is supported with the federal Library Services and Technology Act funds administered by the Office of Commonwealth Libraries. For more information, visit www.pahumanities.org or contact 800-462-0442 or phc@pahumanities.org.

Join us tomorrow, Wednesday August 17th, for a special guest!

Parkland Community Library will host PCL’s Annual Summer Celebrity:Elaine VietsWed., August 17, 2011 at 7pm in Parkland High School Auditorium 2700 N. Cedar Crest Blvd. Allentown, PA 18104.Free and open to the public! Reservations Requested 610-398-1361 x13.Elaine Viets is the author of two national bestselling mystery series. Her Dead-End Job series is a satiric look at a serious subject – the minimum wage world. Her character, Helen Hawthorne, works a different low-paying job each book. She’s been everything from a telemarketer to a hotel maid. The South Florida series has been called “Janet Evanovich meets The Fugitive.” Publishers Weekly called “Murder Unleashed,” Elaine’s hardcover debut “wry social commentary.”  Ms. Viets will be discussing her unique experiences in the business, answering audience questions and more. She will also sign copies of her books, which will be available to purchase.

PCL 21st Annual Used Book Sale

Got books?

The Friends of Parkland Community Library holds its 21st Annual Used Book Sale from July 30th through August 6th at the Lehigh Career & Technical Institute (LCTI), 4500 Education Park Drive, Schnecksville, PA 18078.

Hours are Saturdays 8am-3pm, Sunday 11am-3pm, and Monday-Friday 10am-8pm.

There is a special preview night Friday, July 29th from 3:30pm-8:30pm with a $10 donation per adult and $3 donation per child (free for FPCL members).

Book donations are currently being accepted until July 28th at LCTI.

Successful PCL Capital Campaign and Summer Reading Club Kickoff Event

The Parkland Community Library’s Capital Campaign Kickoff Event on Saturday, June 25th from noon to 3pm at the site of the future new library building on 354 Grange Road in Upper Macungie was a success!

Executive Director Debbie Jack organized the event as a fun-filled day for families, who received information about the library’s campaign, summer reading clubs, and Friends of the Library.

Library volunteers were honored by government officials including Senator Robert Casey, Lehigh County Commissioner Dean Browning, South Whitehall Township Commissioner Brad Osborne, and Representative Gary Day. Special honors were presented to Adult Volunteers Jean Kuttruff and Cynthia Kuzma; Friends of the Library Gloria Hamm and Lorna Rabe; and Teen Volunteers Nicholas Dyszel, Maria Galassi, Andrew Derhammer, Keshav Kumarankandatt, Kelsey-Emily Leinert, Hannah Ticho, Andrew Ivankovits, and Farids Gafarova. Renderings of the new library building were presented to the public.

Community support was vital to the event, such as the donated food and drink from local businesses and individuals including Heeps Inc., Weis, Giant, Wegmans, Aldi, A-Treat, Bottom Dollar Food, Josh Early Candies, Utz, Taylor Rental, Plaza Beverage, Greentree Nurseries, Roberta Marcus and Betsy Drizos.

While event goers enjoyed hot dogs, hamburgers, potato chips, cupcakes, cookies, water, soda, and juice boxes, musical entertainment was provided by Steve Pullara of the Cool Beans Band, and face painting was provided. Cetronia Ambulance Corps and Troy Hein from Channel 69 news provided community interest while characters Curious George and FeRROUS, the Iron Pigs' mascot, also paid a visit and delighted the crowds.

A fun raffle had event goers visit seven tables and get stickers to fill a “passport” that was then entered for a prize. Fyodor D’Souza won the Nintendo DSi and the Woytek family won the Kindle. Everyone went home with a gift bag.

For more information or to donate to the capital campaign, go to http://www.parklandlibrary.org.

Join the Summer Reading Club!

The Parkland Community Library Summer Reading Club begins this year on June 20th and runs through August 13th.

There are four different clubs: one for each age group!

Three Youth Reading Clubs "One World, Many Stories" include:

Read-to-Me Club is for children ages 2 through entering 1st grade
Kids Read Club is for readers entering grade 2 through entering grade 5
Teen Read Club welcomes readers entering grades 6 through 12

One Adult Summer Reading Club "Novel Destinations" includes:
Adult Read Club welcomes readers age 16 years and over.

For Youth Reading Club events and information, go to http://catalog.parklandlibrary.org/Parkland/uploads/Newsletter%201%20color.pdf

For the Adult Reading Club, submit book reviews and get a chance to win a prize through weekly drawings. Each week covers a different continent. Programs held in South Whitehall township building or outside.

Events include:

Travel: Saturday, June 18th at 1pm: Trouble-free Disney Travel presented by Jill Kuritz of the AAA.

Europe: Tuesday, June 21st at 7pm: Bookquest discusses Earthly Joys by Philipa Gregory in South Whitehall township building.

Australia: Thursday, June 30th at 6:30pm: Learn about boomerangs with Boomerang Dave.

North America: Saturday, July 9th at 10am: Northeast Woodland Indians History by the Museum of Indian Culture.

Asia: Saturday, July 23rd at 10am-2pm: Origami with Mark Kennedy.

Africa: Saturday, August 6th at 1pm on library lawn: Drum Circle with Moe Jerant of the Lehigh Valley Drummers.

Finale: Celebrate with Florida mystery writer & summer author Elaine Viets, Wed. August 17th at 7pm at Parkland High School!

There’s Something for Everyone!

“Parkland Community Library to Kickoff Capital Building Campaign with Community Event”

The Parkland Community Library Capital Building Campaign and Summer Reading Club Kickoff Event will include food, games, raffles, prizes, presentations, including Volunteer Appreciation by local officials, arts and crafts, facepainting and photo opportunities with some surprise guests! Our summer reading club kicks off as well with a concert by Steve of Cools Beans Music. It’s a fun-filled family day! We hope you can join us!

When: Saturday, June 25, 2011 (rain date June 26, 2011)

Time: 12:00-1:00 p.m.-Presentations including Volunteer Appreciation

1:00- 2:00 p.m.- Steve of the Cool Beans Band

2:00-3:00 p.m. – Surprise Guests and fun for all!

Location: Grange Road and Ruppsville Road, Upper Macungie Township, PA (future building site)

Please RSVP to the library by June 20th

This is an outdoor event! Please dress appropriately.

PCL's Annual Summer Celebrity

Save the Date!
PCL’s Annual Summer Celebrity: Elaine Viets
Wed., August 17, 2011 at 7:00 pm
Parkland High School Auditorium
Reservations Requested 610-398-1361 x13

Elaine Viets is the author of two national bestselling mystery series. Her Dead-End Job series is a satiric look at a serious subject – the minimum wage world. Her character, Helen Hawthorne, works a different low-paying job each book. She’s been everything from a telemarketer to a hotel maid. The South Florida series has been called “Janet Evanovich meets The Fugitive.”

Publishers Weekly called “Murder Unleashed,” Elaine’s hardcover debut “wry social commentary.” The magazine gave her ninth Dead-End Job mystery, “Half-Price Homicide,” a starred review.

Her Dead-End Job series is taught in universities in the United States and Japan.

Elaine’s second series, featuring Josie Marcus, is a look at the pink collar world of secret shopping. This critically acclaimed series debuted in October 2005 with “Dying in Style” and tied with Stephen King on the Independent Mystery Booksellers Association bestseller list.

Elaine’s short stories have appeared in two New York Times bestselling anthologies. “Vampire Hours” was in “Many Bloody Returns,” edited by Charlaine Harris and Toni L. P. Kelner and reprinted in “Vampires in Love,” published by Barnes & Noble. Her short story, “The Bedroom Door,” was in Mystery Writers of America’s “Crimes by Moonlight,” edited by Charlaine Harris.

She has had short stories published in Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazine and anthologies such as “Drop-Dead Blonde,” “High Stakes,” the award-winning “Chesapeake Crimes I,” Mystery Writers of America’s “Blood on Their Hands,” edited by Lawrence Block; Mystery Writers of America’s “Show Business Is Murder,” edited by Stuart Kaminsky; and “The World’s Greatest Mystery and Crime Stories,” edited by Ed Gorman and Martin H. Greenberg.

Her short stories have been published worldwide, including Britain, Australia, Turkey and France.

Elaine has appeared on national television including the Discovery Channel and the Sally Jesse Show. She was featured on National Public Radio station WLRN with Jeff "Dexter" Lindsay on "Literary Florida."

Elaine has served on the national boards of the Mystery Writers of America and Sisters in Crime.

She won the Agatha, Anthony and Lefty Awards.

From http://www.elaineviets.com/default.asp

It's an exciting time for the Parkland Community Library!

We are now a free Wi-Fi spot. No laptop? Borrow one to use in the library with your driver's license or other official photo ID.

Also, we have e-books that you can download for free (just need a library card) to your Sony Reader, Nook Color, and other e-reading devices that support the Adobe Content Server. Visit our website at www.parklandlibrary.org or call a reference librarian for more information. And congratulations to the winner of our Nook Color drawing, Jen Stempel!

Need a library card but can't get to the library right away? We have online registration through our website.

Can't remember when your library items are due? Sign up for Library Elf on our website, which will send you email reminders.

Need ideas for what to read next? Try Book Browse, a new database available through our website or contact the Adult or Youth Services Librarians for a personal touch.

Looking for new items to check out or place on hold? Do a search of your favorite author or genre in our catalog and click on the RSS feed to get notifications of new items automatically.

Celebrate Get Caught Reading Month every Tuesday in May at noon-1pm. “Like” us on Facebook and then answer a question about the library every Tuesday within one hour timeframe to get a chance to win an autographed copy of a book!

Check the sidebar for our events. All events are free and open to the public unless indicated otherwise.

We hope to see you soon!

The 2011 Pulitzer Prize Winners-Fiction

Awarded to "A Visit From the Goon Squad" by Jennifer Egan, an inventive investigation of growing up and growing old in the digital age, displaying a big-hearted curiosity about cultural change at warp speed.

Finalists
Also nominated as finalists in this category were: “The Privileges,” by Jonathan Dee (Random House), a contemporary, wide ranging tale about an elite Manhattan family, moral bankruptcy and the long reach of wealth; and “The Surrendered,” by Chang-rae Lee (Riverhead Books), a haunting and often heartbreaking epic whose characters explore the deep reverberations of love, devotion and war.

Check them out at the library!

National Library Week

Celebrate National Library Week with us from April 10th-16th. Create your own story @ your library!
Check out our events and enter a raffle for a Nook Color! Tickets are 6 for $5 or $1 a piece. Benefits the library. Prize donated by Lafayette Ambassador Bank, Tilghman Street office. Requires your Parkland Community Library card. Ask how to sign up if you don’t have one!

Don't know what to read next? Want to broaden your horizons? The Adult Services librarian can suggest books that may interest you! Reader's advisory...just one more service offered by Parkland Community Library.

The 2011 Tournament of Books

Book lovers, start your reading! The Morning News has recently announced the contenders for this year's Tournament of Books. Now in it's seventh year, this event (presented by Field Notes and sponsored by Powell's Books) pits some of the past year's best books against each other in a bracket-style showdown. Some of this year's judges include popular fiction author Jennifer Weiner, Time assistant managing editor Radhika Jones and The Walkmen lead singer Hamilton Leithauser. You also have a chance to alter the course of events through the "Zombie Round" - where the two most popular books among readers that were earlier eliminated get a second chance to take down the semi-finalists. The winning book is crowned "The Rooster" aka "The Champion Book of the Year." The contest starts on Monday, March 7th, but the titles are announced early to give readers a chance to savor each book before the battle begins. Take a look at this year's nominees and get ready to cheer on your favorite in the 2011 Tournament of Books!

The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake by Aimee Bender
Nox by Anne Carson
Bad Marie by Marcy Dermansky
Room by Emma Donoghue
A Visit From the Goon Squad by Jennifer Egan
Freedom by Jonathan Franzen
Lord of Misrule by Jaimy Gordon
Bloodroot by Amy Greene
Next by James Hynes
The Finkler Question by Howard Jacobson
Skippy Dies by Paul Murray
Model Home by Eric Puchner
So Much for That by Lionel Shriver
Super Sad True Love Story by Gary Shteyngart
Kapitoil by Teddy Wayne
Savages by Don Winslow

January 2011's Must-Reads

Kick off the new year with some fantastic new books! This month's selections include a coming-of-age story with a dash of magic, an engaging new detective series set in South Africa, an enthralling treatment of the 1920 Wall Street bombing, a Shakespeare-quoting, lively trio of homeward-bound sisters and the poignant stories of military wives. If January is any indication, 2011 is sure to bring outstanding books for all!

Among Others by Jo Walton (Jan. 18th) - "World Fantasy Award-winner Walton (Tooth and Claw) turns the magical boarding school story inside out in this compelling coming-of-age tale...this outstanding...tale draws its strength from a solid foundation of sense-of-wonder and what-if." - Publishers Weekly (starred review)

The October Killings by Wessel Ebersohn (Jan. 18th) - "South African author Ebersohn kicks off a promising new series pairing psychologist Yudel Gordon...with Abigail Bukula, chief director of South Africa's justice department, who can more than hold her own with the brilliantly eccentric Gordon...The complexities of South Africa a decade after the end of white rule help fuel a compelling plot that builds to several dramatic climaxes." - Publishers Weekly (starred review)

Death Instinct by Jed Rubenfeld (Jan. 20th) - "The 1920 bombing of Wall Street, the most deadly act of terrorism in the United States until the Oklahoma blast of 1995, provides the framework for Rubenfeld's excellent follow-up to The Interpretation of Murder...Rubenfeld deftly wends his way through the shifting landscape with a historian's factual touch and a storyteller's eye for the dramatic and telling." - Publishers Weekly (starred review)

The Weird Sisters by Eleanor Brown (Jan. 20th) - "The Weird Sisters in Eleanor Brown's delightful debut could have been weirder, considering their upbringing...With lively dialogue and witty collective narration, the sisters' untangling of their identities and relationships feels honest and wise, and the questions they raise about how we carry our childhood roles into our adult lives will resonate with all readers, especially those with their own weird sisters." - Amazon.com Review (Amazon Best Books of the Month, January 2011)

You Know When the Men Are Gone by Siobhan Fallon (Jan. 20th) - "The crucial role of military wives becomes clear in Fallon's powerful, resonant debut collection, where women are linked by absence and a pervading fear that they'll become war widows...Fallon writes with both grit and grace: her depiction of military life is enlivened by telling details, from the early morning sound of boots stomping down the stairs to the large sign that tallies automobile fatalities of troops returned from Iraq. Significant both as war stories and love stories, this collection certifies Fallon as an indisputable talent." - Publishers Weekly (starred review)