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

Harry Potter

As the latest glimpse into the enticing world of Harry Potter rapidly approaches (Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part I hits movie theaters in a mere nine hours!) interest in "the boy who lived" is back on the rise.

The world's fascination is intensified by the fact that this is the second to last part of a long and incredible journey. All of the books have been published and now only two movies remain to be savored. Instead of wringing your hands in despair, use them to pick up a great book, similar in style to Harry Potter. Also, enjoy some fun facts and links to enhance your understanding of this blockbuster series.

Harry Potter Read-Alikes

Charmed Life by Diana Wynne Jones - "...this comic fantasy follows two orphans, one of whom is a witch, when they are summoned to live in a castle full of necromancers." Publisher's Weekly

The Dark is Rising by Susan Cooper - "Susan Cooper, in her five-title Dark is Rising sequence, creates a world where the conflict between good and evil reaches epic proportions. She ranks with C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien in her ability to deliver a moral vision in the context of breathtaking adventure." Amazon.com Review

Eragon by Christopher Paolini - "Here's a great big fantasy that you can pull over your head like a comfy old sweater and disappear into for a whole weekend." Amazon.com Review

The Golden Compass by Philip Pullman - "In The Golden Compass, Philip Pullman has written a masterpiece that transcends genre. It is a children's book that will appeal to adults, a fantasy novel that will charm even the most hardened realist." Amazon.com Review

Graceling by Kristin Cashore - "In this debut fantasy novel, Cashore treats readers to compelling and eminently likable characters and a story that draws them in from the first paragraph." School Library Journal (Starred Review)

The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe by C.S. Lewis - "The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe is, in turn, beautiful, frightening, wise." New York Times

The Lost Conspiracy by Frances Hardinge - "The author is as inventive with language as she is with social and cultural constructs. This novel is just plain fun." School Library Journal

A Wizard of Earthsea by Ursula K. Le Guin - "...Earthsea is a stunning fantasy world that grabs quickly at out hearts, pulling us deeply into its imaginary realms." Amazon.com Review

Fun Facts

*The Hogwarts motto, "Draco dormiens nunquam titillandus" means "never tickle a sleeping dragon."

*The last name Dumbledore means "Bumblebee" in Old English.

*During the filming of Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, the part of Dobby was played by a ball on a stick (he was later added digitally.)

*The newspaper headline "Harry Potter and the Triwizard Tournament," seen in the film version of Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, was considered for the title of the fourth book.

*Several members of the Black family are named after astronomical objects, including Sirius, Regulus, Andromeda, Arcturus, Bellatrix and Cygnus.

*On one of the many occasions in the book Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince that Professor Slughorn gets Ron's name wrong, he calls him Rupert (Chapter 22.) In all movie adaptations of the Harry Potter books Ron Weasley is played by Rupert Grint.

Recommended Websites

jkrowling.com - The official website of the genius behind Harry Potter

harrypotter.scholastic.com - Explore Harry's magical world for yourself - Repel a dementor! Transfigure a rock! Unlock Moody's trunk!

Fun facts found at www.imdb.com

Veterans Day

November 11th is a day to honor all veterans on a national scale. This particular date is quite significant, given that on the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month of 1918, an armistice was called between the Allied nations and Germany in the First World War. The following year, November 11th was celebrated as Armistice Day. It became a legal federal holiday in 1938. After WWII and the Korean War, the name was changed to Veterans Day to honor American veterans of all wars.

The library has a wide variety of resources to help honor American veterans on November 11th and all year long.

CDs
The Civil War: Its Music and Sounds
United States Army Field Band
United States Marine Band

DVDs
Band of Brothers
The Deer Hunter
Full Metal Jacket
Muse of Fire
The Pacific
Platoon
Vietnam: A Television History
The War
WWII in HD

Fiction Books

All Quiet on the Western Front by Eric Maria Remarque
The Marines of Autumn by James Brady
Matterhorn by Karl Marlantes
The Sandbox by David Zimmerman
The Thin Red Line by James Jones
The Things They Carried by Tim O'Brien
Tree of Smoke by Denis Johnson

Non-fiction Books
Helmet for My Pillow by Robert Leckie
Joker One by Donovan Campbell
The Last Stand of Fox Company by Bob Drury and Tom Clavin
Never will We Forget: Oral Histories of WWII by Marilyn Mayer Culpepper
Radioman by Ray Daves

Websites
History.com
Lehigh Valley area Veterans Day events (from The Morning Call)
U.S. Dept. of Veterans Affairs
Veterans of Foreign Wars

Interesting Facts
~There are currently about 23.2 million military veterans in the United States
~9.2 million of those veterans are over the age of 65
~1.9 million veterans are under the age of 35
~Congress passed a bill that moved Veterans Day to the fourth Monday in October, in 1968 (the law went into effect in 1971.) President Ford returned the holiday back to November 11th in 1975, due to the date's historical importance
~Britain, France, Australia and Canada also honor the vets of WWI and WWII on or near November 11th

How will you commemorate Veterans Day this year?

Interesting facts found on History.com's Veterans Day Facts page.
Information about Veterans Day found on History.com's Veterans Day page.

NaNoWriMo

"Thirty days and nights of literary abandon!" For all you current/sometimes/hopeful authors out there...NaNoWriMo beckons. Put aside your fears and judgements and pick up your pens and laptops. Your inner characters and storylines are begging to be set free.

What on earth is NaNoWriMo, you ask? National Novel Writing Month. The one glorious month out of every year (since 1999) that authors (published and wannabes, alike) are challenged to write relentlessly (a 50,000 word novel) about anything their heart desires. The goal is quantity, not quality. In fact, editing is deeply frowned upon.

The point is to spur anyone interested in writing into action. Too often, internal criticism, fear and lack of motivation keep people from writing. NaNoWriMo combats these setbacks with a breezy, seat-of-your-pants attitude toward novel writing. If you don't suffer from such writing hang-ups, you should consider participating anyway. Here are some fun reasons from the NaNoWriMo website:
-To actively participate in one of our era's most enchanting art forms!
-To write without having to obsess over quality.
-To be able to make obscure references to passages from our novels at parties.
-To be able to mock real novelists who dawdle on and on, taking far longer than 30 days to produce their work.

Whatever the reason, you won't regret partaking in the exhilarating experience that is NaNoWriMo.

Additional Resources:
*Websites
Nanowrimo
Nanowrimo's Young Writer's Program
Meriiam-Webster - online dictionary and thesaurus
Bartleby.com - find quotes from literature
Dropbox - sync your files online and across your computers (in case you write on a variety of computers)

*Books
No plot? No problem! : a low-stress, high-velocity guide to writing a novel in 30 days by Chris Baty
How I write: secrets of a best-selling author by Janet Evanovich & Ina Yalof
The lie that tells a truth: a guide to writing fiction by John Dufresne
This year you write your novel by Walter Mosley

John Lennon

Imagine a world without John Lennon. No Beatlemania or "Give Peace a Chance," no Across the Universe or The Beatles: Rockband. In short, no legendary musician to inspire millions of people around the world for countless generations. John Lennon needs no introduction. He was beloved and controversial, but the indelible mark he made on the world cannot be denied. On Saturday, October 9th he would have celebrated his 70th birthday. Check out the resources included below to help celebrate this occasion.

DVDs - Across the Universe, A Hard Day's Night
CDs - 1, Abbey Road, Anthology 1, Imagine: John Lennon, Love, Magical Mystery Tour, Lennon Legend
Adult Non-Fiction - John Lennon: All I Want is the Truth by Elizabeth Partridge, John Lennon: The Life by Philip Norman, The Lives of John Lennon by Albert Goldman, Memories of John Lennon edited by Yoko Ono, The Songs of Lennon & McCartney, Ticket to Ride by Larry Kane, Once there was a Way by Harry Benson, Can't Buy Me Love by Jonathan Gould, The Beatles by Bob Spitz
Juvenile Non-Fiction - The 10 Most Revoluntionary Songs by Andrea Cameron, John's Secret Dreams by Doreen Rappaport, Real Love: The Drawings for Sean by John Lennon
Video Games - The Beatles: Rockband (Wii, PS3)
On the Web - The Beatles / Yoko Ono reflects on John Lennon's 70th birthday / John Lennon 70th birthday events
Television - LENNONYC

Watch the movies, read the bios, listen to the music and remember the man.

Banned Books Week 2010

It's that time of year again...Banned Books Week. This annual celebration of your right to read is held during the last week of September. According to the American Library Association "intellectual freedom is the right of every individual to both seek and receive information from all points of view without restriction. It provides for free access to all expressions of ideas through which any and all sides of a question, cause or movement may be explored." This concept is the foundation of our democracy and an inalienable right of all U.S. citizens. Despite this truth, attempts at book censorship, banning and even burning are made daily. The long list of challenged books include Pulitzer Prize winners, New York Times best-sellers, classic works of literature, beloved narratives and more. Avoid the perils of book banning and enjoy the pleasures of reading during Banned Book Week 2010 (and all year long!)

To learn more:

*Check out the BBW video included above. It was created by Andy Woodworth (author of the blog Agnostic, Maybe) to highlight this important week. He was inspired by the new "iPad is" ad.

*If you only have the time or inclination to pursue one of the options included here, I highly recommend Anna Quindlen's New York Times article Public & Private; Don't Read This. Published in 1994, the piece still holds true today and delivers a poignant message.

*The New York Times also published a piece this year by Amanda Christy Brown and Holly Epstein Ojalvo titled 10 Ways to Celebrated Banned Books Week. Although it is geared toward school teachers and students, everyone can benefit from the interesting ideas and links.

*Don't miss the section of ALA's website devoted to Banned Books Week. Here you will find a heaping serving of facts about banned and challenged books.

*Embrace your freedom of speech by sharing your thoughts on book banning and challenging.

Super Mario Bros.

Happy anniversary Mario! Today is the 25th anniversary of the Super Mario Bros. Celebrate this beloved character (and his colorful friends!) by checking out the info below.

Don't miss this fun video from Nintendo made in honor of Mario's anniversary:


Guardian offers 25 Super Mario Bros. facts for 25 super years. Read Keith Stuart's complete article here.

Visit Nintendo's Super Mario anniversary website to enter a video competition, learn about Mario's history, find Mario anniversary events near you and more! Click here to go directly to the site.

Gather the family together to play some of the great Super Mario Bros. video games for Wii from the library:
Mario Party 8
New Super Mario Bros.
Super Mario Galaxy
Super Mario Galaxy 2
Super Paper Mario
Super Smash Bros. Brawl
Wario Land: Shake It!

What is your favorite Super Mario Bros. game?

Oprah's Book Club

Next week marks the 14th anniversary of Oprah's Book Club. Launched in 1996, the club has helped foster a love of reading and book clubs around the world, along with rocketing many authors to stardom. It has evolved beyond simply recommending and discussing books. Fans can now receive weekly book club newsletters, scan a variety of book lists, see and read author interviews, take book-related quizes, participate in book-related classes and much more.

Celebrate this phenomenon by reading one of the club's books! The list can be found on the library's website from the homepage, or by clicking here. To experience all the club has to offer, go to Oprah's official book club website by clicking here. Don't forget to mark your calendar, because a new club selection will be announced on Sept. 17th. See some highlights from the selections below.

The Deep End of the Ocean by Jacquelyn Mitchard - The first selection (1996)
Say You're One of Them by Uwem Akpan - The latest selection (2009)
A Million Little Pieces by James Frey - Possibly the most controversial selection (2005)
The Meanest Thing to Say, The Treasure Hunt and The Best Way to Play by Bill Cosby - The only juvenile fiction selections (1997)
Toni Morrison - Most selected author (Song of Solomon, 1996 / Paradise, 1998 / The Bluest Eye, 2000 / Sula, 2002)

For more info, check out Kate Pickert's article for Time titled "Oprah's Book Club" and/or Marjorie Kehe's article for The Christian Science Monitor called "What's Next for Oprah - And Her Book Club."

The Mother of Father's Day

Did you know that this year marks the 100th anniversary of Father's Day? It all started with a young woman from Spokane, Washington.

Sonora Smart Dodd was just 16 years old when her mother passed away, leaving her father, William Jackson Smart, to raise six young children. He did such an admirable job that upon hearing a Mother's Day sermon at Central United Methodist Church in 1909, Sonora was spurred to propose a similar honor for fathers. With the help of Reverend Dr. Conrad Bluhm (her pastor at Old Centenary Presbyterian Church,) the Spokane YMCA and the Ministerial Alliance, Sonora organized the first Father's Day on June 19, 1910. Sermons honoring fathers were given throughout the city.

This special day did not receive national recognition for many more years. In 1924, President Calvin Coolidge celebrated Father's Day and encouraged the states to follow suit. In 1966, President Lyndon B. Johnson signed a proclamation for Father's Day to be celebrated on the third Sunday in June and for flags to be flown that day on government buildings. In 1971, President Richard M. Nixon signed a proclamation officially marking the third Sunday in June as Father's Day.

What began as a young woman's wish to honor her own father's dedication to his family, along with recognizing all fathers , has become a 100-year-old, worldwide, annual celebration of fathers, grandfathers, uncles and father figures.

Click here to learn more.

Bloomsday

Celebrate the 106th anniversary of the day that James Joyce's masterpiece, Ulysses, took place! Fans around the world rejoice by reading from the novel, playing and listening to traditional Irish tunes, re-enacting scenes from the story and/or raising a glass in honor of Joyce.

The novel, set in Dublin, Ireland on June 16, 1904, focuses on the escapades of several characters, particularly Leopold Bloom, throughout an extraordinary day.

Join in the fun by picking up a copy of Ulysses or James Joyce's Ulysses: a critical commentary today at the library. Or, try another of his famous works, such as Dubliners or Finnegans Wake.

To learn more about Bloomsday, visit BloomsdayNYC, The Rosenbach Museum & Library, or read The New York Times article Stream of Conviviality for Leopold Bloom's Day.

Choose Privacy Week

Choose Privacy Week Video from 20K Films on Vimeo.

Celebrate the first ever Choose Privacy Week (May 2-8, 2010) by checking out this video featuring individuals such as Neil Gaiman, Cory Doctorow and ALA President Camila Alire.

According to the American Library Association's Privacy Revolution website "Choose Privacy Week is a new initiative that invites library users into a national conversation about privacy rights in a digital age." For more info, visit Privacyrevolution.org.

What are your thoughts on privacy?

Da Vinci Science Center

Celebrate science at the Da Vinci Science Center! Located on Hamilton Boulevard in Allentown, PA, the Center strives to "inspire the exploration, understanding, and appreciation of science through curiosity, creativity, and imagination." The Center features various camps, events and exhibits such as the Little Learners Lab, The Fossil Wall, and Watts Up? Of note this month is the 20th anniversary of the launch of the Hubble Space Telescope aboard the Space Shuttle Discovery. This event will be saluted on its anniversary date of April 24th at the Center's 12th annual Science Hall of Fame Awards program. This year's keynote speaker is former NASA Astronaut Winston E. Scott; click here to learn more about this pioneering American. Visit NASA's site on the Hubble Space Telescope to learn fascinating facts such as these:

*Hubble completes one orbit around the Earth (crossing over the same longitude line) every 96 minutes. Its speed is approximately 8 km per second (5 miles per second.)
*On August 11, 2008 the Hubble Space Telescope completed its 100,000th orbit.
*Provided that Hubble passes closely enough overhead, it is relatively dark, and the skies are clear enough, Hubble can be seen with the naked eye.
*The farthest objects Hubble has seen are galaxies well over 12 billion light years away.

National Library Week

It's time to celebrate libraries - the heart of the community! This year's National Library Week runs from April 11-17 and the theme is "Communities Thrive @ Your Library."

Show your love of libraries this week by visiting PCL to pick up a great book or video game, check out the display case featuring the Lehigh Valley Heritage Museum's exhibit "Energy Past & Present," and attend a free movie showing, a family, preschool or drop-in storytime, the "Read to the Pups" program or the "Animal Kingdom Zoo Expedition." Click here for a complete calendar of events.

Also, take the National Library Week Trivia Challenge! Library trivia will be posted here each day this week. Test your knowledge with this first round of questions and check back tomorrow for answers and new trivia.

1. Which movie was not based on a book?
a. Precious
b. Up in the Air
c. Avatar
d. Shutter Island

2. Which presidential library is located in Abilene, KS?
a. Eisenhower
b. Truman
c. Ford
d. Hoover

All About Alice

The upcoming release of Tim Burton's 3-D movie version of Alice's Adventures in Wonderland has sparked a renewed interested in the famous story and author. Charles Dodgson, better known as Lewis Carroll, was inspired to write the tale by his ten-year-old neighbor Alice Liddell. The publication of this classic book proved to have a profound impact on the real-life Alice, along with readers worldwide. This is evident in a letter written by Alice Liddell to her older sister: "But oh my dear, I am getting tired of being Alice in Wonderland. Does it sound ungrateful? It is. Only I do get tired."

Interested in learning more?

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Check out Alice I Have Been, Melanie Benjamin's fictional take on Alice Liddell and her life. Click here to read the starred review from Publisher's Weekly, and here to read "Years Beyond the Rabbit Hole, 'Alice' Looks Back," NPR's coverage of the book.

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Also, give the Syfy channel's mini-series version of Alice a try. Click here for details, including a behind the scenes video.

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Click here to read critic reviews of Tim Burton's Alice in Wonderland.

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Library Journal published an in-depth reader's advisory article for Alice's Adventures in Wonderland that can be read here.

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Stop by the library and pick up one of the many items related to Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, including the books Alice I Have Been by Melanie Benjamin, Alice's Adventures: Lewis Carroll and Alice in Popular Culture by Will Brooker, Alice in Wonderland and Philosophy: Curioser and Curioser edited by Richard Brian Davis, The Annotated Alice, and the films Alice and Alice in Wonderland.

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Quote by Alice Liddell taken from NPR's article "Years Beyond the Rabbit Hole, 'Alice' Looks Back."

Best in Show (and Fiction)

Today's post is a double-feature to celebrate the Westminster Kennel Club's 134th Annual Dog Show (Feb. 15th-16th.) First, enjoy some interesting info about the show's history and, then, peruse the reading list to find a great book for dog lovers!

Westminster Kennel Club Historical Highlights:
*The club was formed in 1876 (or earlier) by a group of sporting men who often met to discuss their hunting achievements and the skills of their dogs at a bar in a Manhattan hotel. They decided to form an official club called The Westminster Breeding Association, named after their favorite hotel.
*"The Czar of Russia" was noted as the breeder for a Siberian Wolfhound entered in the 1889 show.
*A German Shepherd named Filax of Lewanno was exhibited at the show in 1917. The dog was a hero of WWI, bringing 54 wounded soldiers to safety.
*The Westminster Kennel Foundation established an annual scholarship program for veterinary students in 1987.
*In 2009, a ten-year-old Sussex Spaniel called "Stump" (formally named Ch. Clussexx Three D Grinchy Glee) became the oldest dog ever to win Best in Show. Stump was later featured on the cover of AARP Magazine.

Fiction for Dog Lovers:
*Andy Carpenter series by David Rosenfelt
*The Art of Racing in the Rain by Garth Stein
*Dog Lover's Mystery series by Susan Conant
*Dog on It by Spencer Quinn
*Melanie Travis series by Laurien Berenson
*Nose Down, Eyes Up by Merrill Markoe
*The Story of Edgar Sawtelle by David Wroblewski
*The Unscratchables by Cornelius Kane

All Westminster Kennel Club info found on the group's webpage.

Happy Birthday, Norman Rockwell

Born on February 3, 1894, Norman Rockwell grew into one of the 20th century's most enduring and beloved artists. His paintings call to mind a sense of nostalgia, as this excerpt from a PBS biography of the artist affirms:

"'I paint life as I would like it to be,' Rockwell once said. Mythical, idealistic, innocent, his paintings evoke a longing for a time and place that existed only in the rarefied realm of his rich imagination and in the hopes and aspirations of the nation. According to filmaker Steven Spielberg, 'Rockwell painted the American dream - better than anyone.'"

Here is some interesting trivia, in honor of this American icon's birthday:
*Rockwell's first commission was for four Christmas cards, which he received before he turned sixteen.
*He painted 322 covers for The Saturday Evening Post.
*Rockwell, in collaboration with his son Thomas, published an autobiography, My Adventures as an Illustrator, in 1960.
*He was hired as art director of Boys' Life, the official publication of the Boy Scouts of America, while still in his teens.
*Rockwell received the Presidential Medal of Freedom, America's highest civilian honor, in 1977.
*He is the official state artist of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.

All information found on the Norman Rockwell Museum's website and the "About Norman Rockwell" section of PBS.org.

Beloved Novelist Passes Away at 77

Best-selling author Robert B. Parker passed away on Monday, January 18th in his Cambridge, Massachusetts home. A spokesperson for the Cambridge police department reported that the death was due to natural causes, but no other details have been released. Parker wrote more than 60 books, covering such genres as westerns, young adult and mystery. His most popular characters include Spenser, a detective whose first name is never revealed, and Jesse Stone, a small-town police chief. Spenser was the basis for a 1980s television series and Stone has been played by Tom Selleck in several made-for-TV movies.

The Associated Press reports "...he was acclaimed as a master in his own right. 'Hard-boiled detective fiction was essentially dead in the early '70s. It was considered almost a museum thing,' said Ace Atkins, author of 'Devil's Garden,' 'Wicked City' and several other novels. 'When Parker brought out Spenser, it reinvigorated the genre...I wouldn't have a job now without Robert Parker.'"

All information found in articles in The Associated Press and ArtsBeat blog of The New York Times.

Another "Lost Symbol" Twist

Marilyn Schlitz, president of the Institute of Noetic Sciences in California, woke up one day to find that Dan Brown's clever surprises weren't confined to the pages of his best-selling books. After reading rumors on Twitter that one of the main characters in The Lost Symbol was a researcher at the Institute, Schlitz picked up a copy and read through the night.

She was amazed to find many correlations not only between the Institute's research and the book's plot, but also between the fictional character Katherine Solomon and Schlitz herself. She noticed several experiments done at the Institute in The Lost Symbol, but also found much that tended more toward science fiction. In addition, despite a lack of physical similarities, Schlitz and Solomon both started their careers at age 19 and studied prayer and healing and distant intention and both women's father and brother were 32nd degree Masons and members of the Scottish Rite.

Schlitz was especially surprised to find herself and the Institute starring in The Lost Symbol because she had never spoken with Brown. The day the book was published, however, "Dan Brown sent a very sweet e-mail saying, 'As you know, I'm a big fan of the Institute of Noetic Sciences. I had hoped to give you a heads-up,' Schlitz says. 'But because of the security around the book, he wasn't able to. But he was hoping we were enjoying the attention'" (Hagerty). With increased activity on the Institute's website and calls for interviews with NPR and Dateline NBC, it seems as though Schlitz truly is finding this to be a pleasant surprise.

Hagerty, Barbara Bradley. "Woman Reads Dan Brown Novel, Discovers Herself." NPR. 12 Oct. 2009. http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=113676181>.

Banned Books Week

It's fitting that this blog can count Banned Books Week as its birthday, because both this special week and libraries worldwide champion intellectual freedom. Here are some fun facts in honor of Banned Books Week (Sept. 26 - Oct. 3, 2009):

*The 1987 Pulitzer Prize winning novel Beloved by Toni Morrison has been challenged multiple times on the grounds of violence, language and sexual content.

*One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest by Ken Kesey was challenged by a California school district in 2000 after parents protested that teachers "can choose the best books, but they keep choosing this garbage over and over again."

*Little Red Riding Hood retold and illustrated by Trina Schart Hyman, a 1984 Caldecott Honor book, was pulled from recommended reading lists in two California school districts in the early 90s because one of the items the heroine carries in a basket for her grandmother is a bottle of wine.

Do you read banned books?

Thanks to the American Library Association and multiple newspapers, including The Seattle Times, for the image and information. For more info, please visit the ALA's Banned Books Week website.

Inaugural Post

Welcome to the Parkland Community Library Adult Services Department blog! Stop by weekly to read news from the library world and PCL, in particular. Find fascinating book reviews, useful websites, fun polls, new fiction, DVD, CD, video game, CD book and large print arrivals, program information and other enlightening snippets.