Watch tomorrow morning on KSN for more library info!

Tomorrow morning, bright and early, the KSN morning show will be broadcast from Joplin Public Library! We'll be talking about upcoming programs, great library resources and much, much more!

Library offers award-winning titles

Each January, the American Library Association (ALA) holds its annual Mid-Winter conference. This weekend, the conference is in Denver and on Monday, all the annual book awards will be announced.

This event is usually early in the morning and is full of anticipation. It has been referred to as the “Academy Awards for Books” by people I know as well as some that I don’t. People come to acknowledge the work the various committees have done during the past year and to cheer on their favorite titles.

There are a number of awards given each year, often times with several titles taking “Honor” slots after the winner. There are too many awards to name here (see the ALA Web site for a complete listing of awards along with current and past winners: www.ala.org) but a few of the most popular or well-known are:

• Randolph Caldecott Medal, an award going to “the artist of the most distinguished American picture book for children.”

• John Newbery Medal, an award going to “an author of the most distinguished contribution to American literature for Children.”

• Michael L. Printz Award for Excellence in Young Adult Literature, an award that “honors the best book written for young adults.”

Here are some of the winners and honor titles from past years that I have enjoyed. And it was hard to just pick a few. For these and other winning and honor titles check the library’s catalog either in the library or at www.joplinpubliclibrary.org (click on “JPL Picks, Bestsellers, Award Winners” in the right-hand column.)

‘Knuffle Bunny: A Cautionary Tale’

By Mo Willems (Caldecott Honor Title, 2005)

A wonderfully done book about a little girl who goes to the laundromat with her father only to have her favorite stuffed animal left in one of the machines. Once the bunny is discovered missing, it’s a fast run back to the laundromat to reclaim the precious toy. The sequel, “Knuffle Bunny Too: A Case of Mistaken Identity,” was an honor book this year and the DVD version of “Knuffle Bunny” won the Andrew Carnegie Medal in 2007 as the “most outstanding video production for children.” (Note: The library does not own the DVD.)

‘The Dark-Thirty: Southern Tales of the Supernatural’

By Patricia McKissack (Newbery Honor, 1993, and Coretta Scott King Author Award Winner, 1993)

This is a collection of African-American-themed ghost stories meant to be told or read just before sunset. Patricia McKissack is from St. Louis.

‘The First Part Last’

By Angela Johnson (Printz Winner, 2004, and Coretta Scott King Author Award Winner, 2004)

This well-done story is told by a 16-year-old new father in chapters alternating between the “then” and “now.” He talks about finding out his girlfriend is pregnant, his feelings and the responsibility of parenthood. This is a fairly short book that is a quick read. It is one of my favorite Printz Award winners.

‘Looking for Alaska’

By John Green (Printz Winner, 2006)

Miles Halter has convinced his parents to send him to a boarding school, Culver Creek, his father’s alma mater, for his junior year of high school in hopes of finding what pet Francois Rabelais calls the “Great Perhaps.” This year, Miles finds new friends including Alaska Young, a young, funny, screwed-up and very attractive girl. She turns Miles’ world upside down as he learns about life, himself, and how to go on when someone you deeply care about is suddenly gone.

In John Green’s debut novel, he writes a wonderful coming-of-age story about a teen looking for something other than a normal, unexciting (at least to him) life.

Green’s second young-adult novel, “The Abundance of Katherines,” is a Printz Honor title from 2007.

~ Susan Wray - Library Director

Meet American Girl.... Josefina!

Saturday, January 24th at JPL we'll be celebrating and learning about American Girl, Josefina. Children grades Kindergarten through Fifth are invited to join us as we travel back in time with food, fun and festivities all focusing on Josefina! The fun will begin at 11:00 and end at 12:30. Bring your dolls, dress in costume, or just come and enjoy!

Author finds ‘Comfort’ after daughter’s death

In a sea of bloated, semi-truthful memoirs that seem written especially for Oprah’s Book Club, some shine in their brevity, honesty and utter simplicity. Ann Hood’s “Comfort” is just such a book.

I must admit that I checked it out because, after reading the front flap, I thought it would detail how knitting helped the author through her grief. I was flooded with memories of knitting, knitting, knitting while my grandmother lay dying in the hospital, and I was curious about Hood’s experience.

Realization quickly dawned that “Comfort” was about much more than knitting. It follows a mother’s journey through grief after losing her young daughter.

One April afternoon, Grace, the light of her family’s life, falls in ballet class and breaks her arm; 48 hours later, she is in a hospital ICU, dying from a vicious strain of strep that had entered her bloodstream and proceeded to destroy her organs. Intubation, antibiotics, surgery — nothing would save her. “A day and a half after I carried her into the ER, Grace died,” Hood states with a directness that made my chest hurt.

She really needs to say nothing more than that. But she does, and the result is “Comfort,” a slim volume brimming with pain and beauty.

After the horror of telling Grace’s brother, after the nightmare of the funeral, friends and family return to their everyday lives and Hood is left with her sorrow. People try to console her with platitudes, urging her to write down her feelings. But the writer cannot put her grief into words. She can’t read, she can’t cook, she can’t do anything. Until one day someone suggests she do something with her hands. Perhaps learn to knit? She does so, sitting in the corner of a yarn shop, and the meditation of knitting soon calms her: “It quieted the images of Grace’s last hours in the hospital. It settled my pounding, fearful heart.”

Life becomes a series of firsts. The prologue to “Comfort” is the first thing she writes once words return to her. After three months of not cooking for her family, the first meal she makes is Grace’s favorite: pasta shells tossed with butter and parmesan cheese. She cries as she eats it, but “it was, I think, the first thing I had tasted in a long time.” On what would have been Grace’s sixth birthday, Hood gets her first tattoo, a tiny bell, in honor of her beloved Grace Annabelle.

Time passes, and life goes on but does not get any easier. Hood realizes her hold on normalcy is a tenuous one. “I do not live here,” she writes. “I only visit. Even as I stand here, charming, confident, smiling, I glimpse that other place. I stand always perched at the edge. I live in fear of the times when, without warning, I lift one foot, step from here, and go there, again.”

Three years after Grace’s death, Hood finally packs up her room. “Everything, everything is Grace,” she writes. “I am surrounded by Grace’s things, but Grace is gone.” There is clean laundry, folded neatly on the bed. A coat with the tags still on it hangs in the closet, waiting for a 5-year-old who will never grow into it. Half-eaten bags of forbidden candy are hidden at the back of drawers. It’s as if time stood still in that room, kept closed and unchanged since a little girl’s untimely death.

Eventually, Ann Hood and her family make a decision, one that, while it doesn’t erase the profound sorrow they feel at Grace’s loss, brings great joy into their lives. I’ll leave it to the reader to learn how this story continues. Hood’s journey through grief is not an easy one, but you will feel privileged to join her.

~Lisa E. Brown - Administrative Assistant

Books deal with living single, weighty issues

How to Be Single

By Liz Tuccillo

Liz Tuccillo’s fiction debut follows the dating lives of five single women living in New York City.

Julie, the narrator, is a successful 38-year-old book publicist who quits her job to write a book about how women around the world are dealing with being single. Alice is a former legal-aid attorney who recently quit her job so that she could channel all her energy into dating.

Serena, a vegetarian chef for a wealthy New York family, has not been on a date in four years because of her efforts to become a “fully realized human being” first. Ruby is a self-employed executive recruiter who has severe bouts of depression after every breakup. And Georgia is a newly-single mother whose husband left her for a samba instructor.

All the women are friends with Julie, but are unknown to each other until Julia organizes a girl’s night out at Georgia’s insistence. Despite their unfamiliarity with each other and having few commonalities, the four women keep in contact after the girls’ night out and develop a bond while Julie is trotting around the globe interviewing bachelorettes.

Tuccillo, a former executive story editor of HBO’s “Sex and the City” and coauthor of “He’s Just Not That into You,” skillfully moves back and forth between Julie’s jet-setting to the four women in the city. The writing is funny and honest, and readers will relate to the diverse cast of characters and their quirky dating situations.

Change of Heart

by Jodi Picoult

Eleven years ago, Shay Bourne was sentenced to death for murdering 7-year-old Elizabeth Nealon and her police-officer stepfather, Kurt Nealon. As his execution date looms, Shay is moved to a new tier at the state penitentiary and upon his arrival strange events begin to occur — wine flows from the faucets, an AIDS victim goes into remission and a baby bird is brought back to life.

It is also during this time that Shay makes a last request to donate his heart to Elizabeth’s sister, Claire.

Picoult deftly uses well-developed characters to broach the subjects of the death penalty, religious freedom and organ donation. Father Michael, Shay’s spiritual adviser, was on the jury that sentenced Shay to death; Maggie Bloom, an ACLU attorney, vehemently opposes the death penalty but must follow Shay’s wishes in campaigning for his heart donation; and June, Claire’s mother, struggles with the decision to accept the heart of a man who murdered her loved ones, or watch her daughter die.

The audio book uses full-cast narration, with Nicole Poole, Stafford Clark-Price, James Fragnione, Danielle Ferland and Jennifer Ikeda narrating the main characters, plus numerous other minor characters. The narrators are excellent, making it nearly impossible to stop listening. Picoult has written a mesmerizing, complex story.

~Jeana - Children's Librarian

Hold Onto Your Hats, Storytime Is Back!

After a month and a half hiatus from storytime, the Children's Department staff is keyed up and ready for the winter/spring session. Miss Judy, Miss Breana, and Miss Megan have been working hard to put together creative and fun weekly themes, and they will proudly kick off the new session, which starts Monday, January 12th, with Winter Wonderland themed stories.

Storytime Schedule

(January 12th - April 25th, 2009)
Family Storytime (children up to 5 yrs) -- Mondays @ 6:00 pm & Saturdays @ 10:30 am
Baby Bookworms (children up to 23 months) -- Tuesdays @ 9:30 am and 10:30 am
Tales for 2s & 3s --Wednesdays & Thursdays @ 9:30 am
Fun for 4s & 5s -- Wednesdays & Thursdays @ 10:30 am
Spanish/English Story Hour (children up to 5 yrs) -- Third Friday of each month at 10:30 am

For more information call: 417-623-2184 or visit joplinpubliclibrary.org/kids/

Writer chronicles year spent ‘Living Biblically'

‘The Year of Living Biblically’

By A.J. Jacobs

While it didn’t sound like something I’d be interested in, a friend recommended “The Year of Living Biblically: One Man’s Humble Quest to Follow the Bible as Literally as Possible” by A. J. Jacobs, so I decided to give it a try. I’m glad I did. Jacobs has an engaging writing style and an inquiring mind which, along with a willing spirit, he brought to his self-appointed task of trying to follow all the rules of the Bible for a year.

A secular Jew, he devoted the first two-thirds or so of the year to following the Hebrew Bible and the last third to the New Testament. Along the way, he talked to people of various faiths as well as atheists and consulted with a number of religious leaders, from rabbis of various movements to Protestants of several denominations and Catholic priests. The Biblical interpretations and viewpoints he received from his sources were, naturally, very wide-ranging and often contradictory. His efforts to live according to the rules were heart-felt and sincere, if sometimes confused. There is a lot of humor, and some serious discomfort, in his interactions with friends and family as well as strangers.

Among the first rules he adopts are those that pertain to dress and appearance, so he begins by growing his beard and trying not to wear mixed fibers. Early on, he creates a list of the Top Five Most Perplexing Rules in the Bible, the ban against wearing mixed fibers being one of them. Mixed fibers crop up occasionally throughout the book, and lead him to one of the interesting people he meets during the course of the year: Mr. Berkowitz, the shatnez tester (shatnez being the Hebrew word for “mixed fibers”). To Jacobs’ surprise, it turns out that there are, in fact, Orthodox Jews who closely follow the rule about mixed fibers, and since you cannot trust fabric labels to be 100-percent accurate, you have to test clothing to make sure that it is wearable. Moreover, the rule appears to apply solely to wearing flax (linen) and wool together. Why? Well, this is one of the 613 rules that Orthodox Jews live by that are chukim — laws without explanation. Of course, there are, as it turns out, many different theories about why those laws came about and what they mean, and Jacobs goes into some detail about that as well. The bottom line for the observant, though, is (essentially) God said so.

In addition to the material about trying to follow all the rules he can find (and manage to follow — some rules are illegal, like “kill magicians”), Jacobs writes about his family life, particularly his long-suffering wife, Julie. During the course of the year, they go through the attempt to add a second child to their family which brings in another layer of rules to think about as they consider in vitro fertilization. Is that biblically OK or not? Again, opinions differ.

Over the course of the year, Jacobs goes to Israel (where he meets one of the surviving 700 or so Samaritans), a snake-handling church in Tennessee, a Bible study and sermon at Jerry Falwell’s Thomas Road Baptist Church in Virginia, and a Bible study group run by Evangelicals Concerned (a gay and gay-friendly group of Evangelicals) in New York City, where he lives.

It’s a hard-to-put-down book (I read the 559 page large-print edition in three sittings) written with sincerity, humor, puzzlement, consternation and hope. It’s hard to say which I enjoyed more — Jacobs’ personal quest or the bits and pieces of information about various rules, sects and people. It is a mind-opening work of one man’s search for meaning and connection. The library owns large- and regular-print editions.

~Linda Cannon- Collection Development and Circulation Supervisor

Best of the Best

In 1999, the National Education Association made a list of the 100 best books for children and young people. Though there have been lots of great new books released, these classics stand the test of time and make for great reading with you and your child. Here are some of my favorites from the list: (Click on each book for a link to Amazon where you can learn more.)

The Giving Tree by Shel Silverstein
The Snowy Day by Ezra Jack Keats
Corduroy by Don Freeman
Where the Wild Things Are by Maurice Sendak
The True Story of the Three Little Pigs by Jon Scieszka
Are You my Mother by Philip D. Eastman
Caps for Sale by Esphyr Slobodkina
Hatchet by Gary Paulsen
Sarah Plain and Tall by Patricia MacLachlan
The Indian in the Cupboard by Lynne Reid Banks
Number the Stars by Lois Lowry
Matilda by Roald Dahl
Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing by Judy Blume
The Trumpet of the Swan by E.B. White

There are so many more wonderfully delightful children's books out there, which leads me to this question? What is your favorite Children's book?

~Breana- Children's Assistant

Mankind's Oldest Taboo

I have never felt the need to recommend fiction to those looking for an entertaining read. Truth is peculiar enough that there is rarely need to venture into the realm of fabrication for intellectual stimulation or for raw entertainment. With that in mind, I endorse a look at Dinner with a Cannibal: The Complete History of Mankind’s Oldest Taboo by Carole A. Travis-Henikoff. Though macabre to the core, this book offers food for though to any who care to harvest it.

The title is self-explanatory. Travis-Henikoff essentially explores the who, what, when, where, why and how of cannibalism. The author makes the argument that not only does cannibalism exist, but that it has been an integral part of hundreds of cultures – a fact which the author claims to be disputed in the world of paleoanthropology. There is far more to cannibalism than the ill-fated Donner party, or airplane crashes in the Andes. While the author assesses both of these situations in passing, she focuses instead on societies where cannibalism forms an integral part of a larger culture.

The reasons people find for eating one another are as diverse as the participants themselves. In addition to situational survival cannibalism such as what happened to the Donner party, and deviant individual specimens who think people taste good, some cultures embraced traditional cannibalistic practices as in the case of people who systematically eat first their dogs, and then their old women in a survival sequence established as a last-ditch effort to ward off otherwise inevitable starvation.

Religious practices – which drive modern humans to drag trees into our living rooms and eat things we find in our socks – drove early Mesoamericans to sacrifice choice specimens to ensure the coming of rain, the viability of crops and various and sundry other small favors from the gods. Once dispatched in honor of the deity of the day, priest gave the bodies to the masses for their culinary enjoyment. These victims were sometimes members taken from the group, and sometimes prisoners taken in battles with other groups.

As a subset of religious cannibalism there was a practice among the Wari of New Guinea who ingested the bodies of relatives who died natural deaths. Though the natal group (spouse, children, and parents) were not permitted to participate, extended family were duty-bound to consume the bodies of their departed relatives. To the Wari, this was more generous than to inter them in the cold damp ground, but it was often not a pleasing task. The feast could not begin until the whole family was assembled, when the main course was elderly this sometimes took days to achieve, and the entrée was no longer appetizing. Nonetheless, consumption was not for pleasure, but an execution of sacred duty and must be performed without regard for culinary enjoyment.

The list goes on and on. The Chinese used human flesh, organs, and even embryos for medical and cosmetic purposes. (The author intimates that this practice is not altogether dissolved in China.) Revenge cannibalism involves eating ones enemies after killing them in the ultimate display of abhorrence. Infanticide, while a common element of survival cannibalism situations, also forms a ritual part of multiple cultures where the firstborn, or in some cases only the firstborn son, is consumed in the belief that it will secure future fecundity of the mother.

This is only a sampling of what Dinner with a Cannibal has to offer. While certainly not something to be enjoyed over dinner, the book is a fascinating read, and reveals practices of cannibalism across cultural boundaries and on every inhabited continent. While the book is thoroughly lacking in proper citations or footnoting, the bibliography is extensive, so with work the majority of her research may be replicable. The author is prone to rambling and irrelevant tirades that sometimes border on flights of fancy unbecoming in a scholarly work, and some chapters seem only very slightly relevant to the subject matter. Because of these shortcomings I would hesitate to endorse this book for very serious scholarship, but it is entertaining as a stand alone work, and provides the reader with a thought-provoking alternative to just another novel.

~Denna - Reference Assistant

Database offers access to ‘Great Lives’ volumes

The beginning of 2009 is a busy time with resolutions, the inauguration of a new president, the Super Bowl, and taxes!

Yes, tax time is right around the corner. Joplin Public Library does not carry the paper tax forms but has access to forms via the Internet. Forms are available at the IRS Web site (www.irs.gov) and through the Thomas Gale LegalForms database.

Yes, tax time is right around the corner. Joplin Public Library does not carry the paper tax forms but has access to forms via the Internet. Forms are available at the IRS Web site (www.irs.gov) and through the Thomas Gale LegalForms database (www.joplinpubliclibrary.org) under the “Reference” then “Online Services” links. Under “Tax Forms” on the database you will find links to the IRS Web site and the tax Web sites for all 50 states.

A database that was used in the past to access many different forms including tax forms will not be available after Jan. 15. The Facts on File Business and Personal Forms database is being discontinued by the publisher. The publisher does offer reproducible forms in a paper format that are available in the library, but these do not include the tax forms.

If you want historical information on taxes instead of forms or on presidential inaugurations, you can use the Salem History database. This database was recently updated to include content from the reference set “Great Lives of the Twentieth Century.”

Joplin Public Library has the multivolume “Great Lives” set which goes from ancient times to the 20th century. The set is divided by time period: “The Ancient World”; “The Middle Ages”; “The Renaissance and Early Modern Era”; “The 17th Century”; “The 18th Century”; “The 19th Century”; and the “20th Century.” At this time, only the content from the 20th century set is available online.

When you use the database, you will search all of the content and the tabs across the top of the results page sorts the results. You have tabs for “History/Event,” “Primary Source” and “Biography.” Typing “taxes” in the search box returns 232 results, with 128 of those results listed under the “Biography” tab giving access to “Great Lives of the Twentieth Century.”

The other Salem database that the library offers, Salem Health, has also been updated. “Salem Health: Cancer” is a four-volume set that was added to the library collection, and all of its content is now available through the Salem Health database.

Salem describes this set as 835 essays on diseases, conditions, symptoms, cancer-related syndromes, chemotherapy and other drugs, cancer centers, genetics, the biology of cancer, medical specialties, tests, procedures, complementary and alternative therapies, lifestyles, healthy and preventive strategies, and social and personal issues surrounding cancer. A search on a type of cancer results in articles that define the cancer type, give risk factors, tell how the cancer progresses, list symptoms, incidence, diagnosis, treatment and prognosis. The essays are informative and written for the lay person to read and understand.

Another database update is for the Sanborn Fire Insurance maps. Last year, the publishers dropped home access to this database using your library card number. The library was recently provided with a username and password that can be given to Joplin Public Library card holders to enable them to use the database from home. If you would like access to this database outside the library, come by or call the reference desk at 624-5465. The reference staff will verify that you have a valid library card and then provide you with the password and username.

Please visit the Joplin Public Library Web site from home or come in the library for access to these databases and many others to help you with your information needs.

~Patty Crane- Reference Librarian