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

Library Closings

The Library will be closed Wednesday, December 24th and Thursday, December 25th

to celebrate the coming holidays.

We will reopen Friday, December 26th.
Happy Holidays!

Santa Claus is coming to town!

On December 13th, Santa came to see us at the library.. He read a story and also shared the famous poem Twas the Night Before Christmas. Santa was even nice enough to hang around long enough to hear what all of the good little girls and boys want for Christmas. Everyone made reindeer antlers, decorated cookies and had a great time singing Christmas Carols!

Join us next year for this Ho-Ho-Holiday fun!

‘Artemis Fowl’ series hard to put down

If you like adventures, techno toys or fantasy … heck, if you like a good story, the “Artemis Fowl” series by Eoin (pronounced like “Owen”) Colfer is for you. Set in Ireland, this series is full of technology, adventure and characters that make all six books (so far) difficult to put down.

Artemis Fowl, our anti-hero, is a genius working pretty diligently to add “evil” to his genius status. His entire family tree is full of law-breakers, so being a criminal mastermind at the age of 12 is to be expected, right? With his fiercely loyal bodyguard, Butler (not his real name), a father who is presumed dead and a mother so wrapped up in her own grief that she can’t function, Artemis is free and capable of doing just about anything.

In the first book, Artemis has discovered that fairies and other creatures of myth exist and live in their highly advanced, subterranean civilization. He has devised a plan to replenish his family’s fortune by kidnapping a fairy and holding her for ransom. Unfortunately for LEPrecon (fairy police) officer Holly Short, she’s Artemis’ hostage. Artemis will go to great lengths to accomplish his goal, but with the likes of Foaly, a techno-guru centaur on their side, the fairies are pretty well-equipped to give Artemis and Butler a run for their money.

“The Arctic Incident” finds our fairy friend Holly Short and her LEPrecon Unit dealing with a plot that could expose the fairies’ existence to the entire human race. Meanwhile, Artemis has discovered that his father is, as he has always believed, alive and being held captive by the Russian mafia. The two forces — Fairy and Fowl — must band together to ensure that fairies stay secret and Artemis Sr. is rescued alive.

In “The Eternity Code,” Artemis is dead-set to complete one more criminal act before he goes legit. He has stolen fairy technology, made it into a supercomputer called the C Cube, and plans to sell it to American businessman Jon Spiro. Of course, things go wrong. First, the C Cube pings a fairy surveillance device (and threatens to expose fairies to the world at large), and then Spiro proves to be more maniacal than previously thought. Artemis has no choice but to call for the help of Holly Short to get the C Cube away from Spiro.

“The Opal Deception” centers on Opal Koboi, a pixie who — if not smarter — is definitely more evil than Artemis. Even though Artemis’ memories of his adventures with fairies (and all of the kindness he has learned because of them) have been wiped from his mind, Koboi still considers him Enemy No. 1. She has concocted a very elaborate plan to destroy Artemis and her other enemies — especially Holly Short and the fairy police. Part of her plan, of course, is to rule the world. The entire world. Obviously, she must be stopped, and who better to stop her than Artemis, Holly and the gang?

“The Lost Colony” gives Artemis his greatest challenge yet: puberty. On top of that, Artemis realizes that another-dimensional world full of demons who want to get revenge on humans is quickly unraveling and will soon collide with our own. Artemis calculates when the next inter-dimensional contact will be — and where — only to be out-smarted by the very attractive 12-year-old Minerva, who kidnaps the creature that appears. Now, Artemis must rescue the imp (a demon who hasn’t “warped”) which launches the usual suspects on a truly fantastic, inter-dimensional adventure.

Still can’t get enough Artemis? “The Time Paradox” takes Artemis back in time to battle his 10-year-old self so that he can find the cure for his mother’s mysterious and deadly disease.

Cari Boatright Rérat ~ Teen Librarian

Audiobooks offer riveting thrillers

‘The Darker Side’

By Cody McFadyen (Compact disc audiobook)

The transsexual son of a prominent Congressman is found murdered on a commercial airplane. No one witnessed the murder or saw the murderer, despite the fact that the murder occurred during the flight.
An autopsy reveals that the killer left a signature — a small silver cross inserted into the wound. At the request of the Congressman’s grieving wife, the FBI director himself summons FBl Special Agent Smoky Barrett and her team from L.A. to Washington, D.C. to work this extremely sensitive case.

Smoky and her team determine that the attacker has killed before. Another body is discovered with the murderer’s trademark cross in the wound.

As they probe further into the case, they realize that all the victims had something in common: deep secret sins that the killer made them confess before he killed them.

“The Preacher,” as Smoky and her team dub him, has taped all of his victim’s confessions and murders, and he begins putting them on a You-Tube-like Internet site. Clues also indicate that he has been killing for years and wants to be stopped. Smoky and her team race to find out how the Preacher discovered his victims’ secrets before he kills again and before the media discover the Internet videos.

“The Darker Side” is an intense, suspenseful thriller with well-developed characters and vivid descriptions. Joyce Bean lends her usual excellent narrative abilities to this thriller.

This is the third in the Smoky Barrett series, and I highly recommend reading the other books in the series, “Shadow Man” and “The Face of Death” first. Those thrillers give insight into Smoky’s deep emotional and physical scars.

The Joplin Public Library also owns the print version of “The Darker Side.”

‘Exposed’
by Alex Kava

A note is discovered at the bottom of a box of donuts delivered to the FBI offices at Quantico. The note appears to suggest a bomb threat to a Virginia home.

FBI profiler Maggie O’Dell and her boss, Assistant Director Cunningham, with a SWAT team and bomb squad, rush to the home where they believe there is about to be an explosion. But, instead of a bomb, Maggie and Cunningham find an extremely ill mother and her five-year-old daughter. Medical tests reveal that the little girl’s mother has the deadly Ebola virus.

Since Maggie and Cunningham have been exposed to the deadly virus, they are placed in quarantine at the United States Army Research Institute of Infectious Diseases (USAMRIID).

Maggie is given a computer and spends her time in isolation as she waits to see if the deadly virus will manifest itself in her own body. She tracks clues to a killer who seems to be randomly sending out the virus in packages to people across the United States, and discovers that the killer employs clues from cases such as the 1980s Tylenol murders, the Beltway Sniper and the Unabomber.

Agent Tully, Maggie’s partner, investigates on the outside with information provided by Maggie. Tully’s daughter unknowingly provides a valuable clue at the same time that Tully’s ex-wife receives one of the deadly packages.

As the pieces of the puzzle start coming together, they discover that killer’s targeted victims may not be random at all.

Alex Kava’s psychological thriller is the sixth in the Maggie O’Dell series, but was the first for me. It works as a stand-alone novel, although I’m anxious to read the others now that I’ve been “exposed” to this author.

“Exposed” has several plot twists and turns, engaging characters and offers some insight into biomedical research. Tanya Eby Sirois does a fine narration with the audiobook.

Phyllis Seesengood ~ Technical Services Librarian

Esme Raji Codell Really is Fabulous!

This post may seem dated since the event took place in October at the annual Missouri Library Association Conference, however, I feel that anyone as fabulous as Esme deserves to be recognized no matter the tardiness of my post.

Every year at the MLA Conference the Children's Services Roundtable special interest group (of which I am the vice-chair) hosts a meal event, at which an author is invited to speak. This year we had the great fortune to secure award-winning author Esme Raji Codell. She was famous first for Education Esme, her bestselling diary of her first year of teaching and has authored several awarding winning books for children and adults, including Sahara Special, Vive la Paris, Sing a Song of Tuna Fish, and the invaluable guide How to Get Your Child to Love Reading.

Before picking Esme up at the airport, Tracy (my friend and CSRT chair) and I discussed what we thought Esme's personality would be like. We assumed that since she writes fabulous books, that she herself must also be quite fabulous, but one often hears stories about demanding authors, so we were not sure what to expect. From the moment Esme entered the terminal, we knew we were in for a treat. Not only was she gracious, kind and super fun to talk with, she was self-sufficient and the farthest thing from demanding.

The following day was the luncheon and despite Esme having a severe case of nerves before addressing the luncheon attendees, her La Vie en Reading presentation was a smashing success. She had the audience laughing, crying, and singing along with Charlie Parker Played Be Bop by Chris Raschka. After signing numerous books and chit chatting with anyone who stopped by the autograph booth, it was time for Esme to depart for home. Tracy and I were sad to see her off, but felt great joy in knowing that we had gotten to meet such a special individual.

If you would like to read something by Esme stop by the Library and we can recommend something, or if you would like to read more about her visit http://planetesme.com.

Great New Children's Books

I love a good children's book- thank goodness I have two sons that love great books as well! Here are some of my favorite new books- I hope you enjoy them as well!

Dinosaur vs. Bedtime by Bob Shea.


At the beginning of the book, a little dinosaur boldly declares that nothing can stop him. Readers then follow him on some of his big matches: dinosaur vs. leaves, dinosaur vs. a big slide, dinosaur vs. a bowl of spaghetti. Little dinosaur conquers them all, that is, until dinosaur vs. bedtime.

The illustrations are simple, interesting, and enough to keep your little one's attention. My 2 year old thought it was just hilarious to "ROAR" along with the book.

Monkey and Me by Emily Gravett



I first picked up this book because of the simple, yet beautiful illustrations. I was not disappointed when I looked inside. The story is about a little girl who has just been to the zoo. She and her sock monkey act out the type of animals that they have seen that day, including penguins, elephants, and, of course, monkeys. The text is simple, but fun, and the pictures are fantastic. This interactive book is a great read aloud for a young child.

And just in case you haven't had enough of Emily Gravett, who is quickly becoming a Children's Department favorite, check out some of her other books: Wolves, Orange Pear Apple Bear and her newest book, Little Mouse's Big Book of Fears.




Another departmental favorite is Zen Ties by Jon Muth.



This book is a great companion to the original, Zen Ties. Jon Muth introduces us to Stillwater, a giant panda who teaches parables to three young children. The storyline and lessons are beautiful and the artwork is stunning, which leaves us with a wonderful book to read to your children. I will admit that I didn't think my three year old would be interested in this book, but he listened, captivated the whole time. I'm sure your family will enjoy it as much as ours.

Santa is visiting the library!

All ages are invited to visit with Santa, sing Christmas carols, decorate a holiday cookie, and make wearable reindeer antlers.

Please provide your own camera to take a photograph with Santa.

The program is FREE and open to the public. For more information, call (417) 623-2184 or visit the Library website at www.joplinpubliclibrary.org.

‘Dirty Secrets’ abound in Gardiner novel

I love a good mystery. Each of these authors is new for me and now I’ll be looking for more of their works.


Happy reading!

‘The Dirty Secrets Club’

By Meg Gardiner



Everyone has secrets. Who has secrets so big and so shameful, even criminal, that they would prefer death over exposure? That’s the question forensic psychiatrist Jo Beckett must find an answer to before others die.

Jo is called to a crime scene that looks as if someone intentionally drove off a bridge hitting a vehicle below. On the leg of the driver, Callie, is the word “dirty,” written in lipstick. On her arm is the word “pray.” The passenger is barely alive and whispers to Jo, “Stop it.” As Jo delves into Callie’s life, she soon learns about the Dirty Secrets Club, a group of people who confess their deepest secret in order to be part of this exclusive group. But the stakes are getting higher to belong. She learns that the San Francisco Police Department has been dealing with suicides or murder-suicides about every 48 hours. Jo is given 48 hours to find out who the next “suicide” will be.

Meg Gardiner expertly weaves the secrets and lives of people who seem to have nothing in common except money and a strong desire to keep their worst secret a secret. This is a page-turner and a book you won’t want to put down. Highly recommended.

‘Antiques to Die For’

By Jane K. Cleland


Josie Prescott is an antiques appraiser with her own antiques shop. Her life hasn’t really gone as she had planned but she’s doing fine in her New Hampshire coastal town.

Things seems to be going well until her good friend, Rosalie, turns up murdered, leaving a 12-year old younger sister, Paige, with nowhere to go. Paige reminds Josie of herself when her mother died, so until arrangements can be made for Paige to go live with her cousin and his family, Paige is staying with Josie.

As Josie delves into Rosalie’s murder, she discovers Rosalie has kept a number of secrets. Josie soon finds herself with a secret admirer who is not happy with her sleuthing in between activities at the antique shop.

This is the third installment of the “Josie Prescott Antiques Mystery” series. A good cozy read with lots of dialogue and action that stands well on its own.

‘When Darkness Falls’

By James Grippando



Jack Swyteck is a criminal attorney in Miami who’s very good at his job. Periodically he takes on pro-bono cases, which is what he believes his latest case to be. But when Falcon, a homeless man who has been arrested for threatening to jump off a bridge, comes up with $10,000 cash to cover his bail, Jack’s not sure things are as they seem.

Before Jack knows it, Falcon is once again in trouble. This time he has killed a police officer, injured another and taken hostages in a local motel and is under investigation for the murder of another woman found in the trunk of the burned-out car (a Falcon) in which he lives. One of the hostages is Jack’s best friend and former death row inmate, Theo Knight.

In all of Falcon’s troubles, he continues to demand to speak to the mayor’s daughter. The mayor is not having any of this and wants Falcon dead. It’s up to Jack to figure out why and how to get Theo and the other hostages out safely.

This suspense novel is well written with lots of description and dialogue that puts the reader in the midst of the action. The characters are well-drawn and Grippando does a fantastic job intertwining their lives, past and present. Highly recommended.

Susan Wray is the director of Joplin Public Library.

The City of Ember

Ember is a completely self contained town. All of the food comes from giant storerooms and greenhouses. All of the books in the library, aside from the history of Ember, have been written by citizens over the years. All the light comes from lamps and floodlights around town, and when they are turned off, the town is completely dark. The book begins with two of the builders forming a plan for what will happen when the city’s supplies run low. They decide to leave instructions for escape in a special box which will open after 200 years. The box is entrusted to the Mayor of Ember, who does not know what it contains, and is passed to each subsequent Mayor. The box eventually becomes lost after the seventh Mayor tries to prematurely open it and dies before he can pass it on.

It’s the year 241 in Ember and Assignment Day at the school. All of the twelve-year-olds draw a slip of paper which has the job that they will perform indefinitely to keep Ember running. Lina Mayfleet receives a job in the Pipeworks, which is the underground workings of Ember, including the generator. A fellow classmate, Doon, draws the job of Messenger and promptly switches with Lina. Once Doon begins his job, he finds that he likes working in the Pipeworks and he wishes to become an electrician to assist with the generator, which is failing and leaving the town in occasional darkness. Lina enjoys delivering messages, but notices that Ember is falling apart, piece by piece, and the Mayor doesn’t seem concerned about the crumbling of the town.

Lina finds a document in her family’s apartment that has been torn to pieces by her little sister, Poppy. Lina examines the document and believes it to be something valuable, but she’s just not sure what it is or how it would be of use. She shows her friends, who don’t see the value, and finally seeks out Doon, who shows an interest in piecing this mystery together. The two soon realize that the document contains instructions for leaving Ember and exploring the Unknown Regions. The pair know nothing about the Unknown Regions, yet embark on a journey that could not only save themselves, but the entire City of Ember.

Though this book is written for children, it contains adult ideas and concepts that are very interesting. The book has the perfect amount of suspense, drama and character development to keep your attention, along with a plot line that makes you wonder how different our lives would be without many of the luxuries we now enjoy. Jeanne DuPrau wrote three additional books in this series: The People of Sparks, the Prophet of Yonwood and the Diamond of Darkhold. I enjoyed The City of Ember enough to read the entire series and it is my recommendation that you omit the third book from your reading log. It didn’t hold any valuable information and completely veered off the story set forth in the first two books. This book won the Mark Twain Award in 2006 and has recently been made into a feature film starring Bill Murray and Tim Robbins. If you’re looking for a great series for your child or yourself, The City of Ember might be just the ticket.

~Breana- Children's Assistant

Memoir an unmerciful mirror

The Night of the Gun
By David Carr

Although I love a good autobiography, the one genre I tend to avoid is the addiction memoir. I usually find them mawkish and somewhat lacking in truthfulness, as evidenced by the debacle with James Frey’s “A Million Little Pieces.”

When I picked up “The Night of the Gun” by David Carr, it was with some trepidation. But I had heard him interviewed on National Public Radio and was intrigued by the book’s subtitle: “A reporter investigates the darkest story of his life. His own.”

His story did not disappoint. There are few books about which I say this, but I hated to put it down when sleep or work beckoned. Carr details his descent from hard-partying college student to full-blown crack addict, as well as repeated trips to rehab. Along the way, he raises twin daughters, squanders opportunities both professional and personal, battles cancer, and becomes a successful journalist.

What struck me most about “The Night of the Gun” was Carr’s lack of self-pity. He takes a microscopic, unsympathetic look at himself. He had a family that loved him, some education, a lot of talent, and a series of jobs that would have allowed him to advance far in his chosen career had he managed to stay clean.

Basically, he was a major screw-up, and it was no one’s fault but his own. As he puts it, “Truly ennobling personal narratives describe a person overcoming the bad hand that fate has dealt him, not someone like me, who takes good cards and sets them on fire.”

As expected, he admits to abusing ridiculous amounts of illegal substances, but he also doesn’t spare the reader the grittier aspects of his dark period. He confesses to dealing drugs, beating up his girlfriend, pulling a gun on a good friend, even leaving his infant daughters alone in a car on a cold Minnesota night while he went to score drugs.

The latter two incidents become central to the book. “The Night of the Gun” touches on an event that was a mystery to Carr until he started researching his hazy past. (He put his reporting skills to work, spending years interviewing people who had known him at various points in his life, and examining old medical and arrest records.)

He recollects a night when he ended up on a good friend’s doorstep, very high and very confrontational; his friend met him at the door with a gun. Or so Carr thought, until he interviewed his friend years later. He closes this first chapter with a sentence replete with meaning: “This is a story about who had the gun.”

The winter night he abandoned his daughters in a car for hours was his rock-bottom. The walk back to his car — “with drugs in my pocket and a cold dread in all corners of my being” — must have been the longest of his life. He knew they were alive only when he saw their breath.

“God had looked after the twins, and by proxy me, but I realized at that moment that I had made a mistake. He could not easily forgive. I made a decision at that instant never to be that man again.”

From that point on, his story takes a more hopeful turn, though not a completely charmed one. His daughters go into temporary foster care while he again checks in to rehab. (The passage in which he describes rehab staff disinfecting the oozing track marks in his arms left me a bit queasy.)

After completing treatment, he takes back his daughters and gradually rebuilds his life, only temporarily sidetracked by a battle with Hodgkin’s lymphoma. He begins to eke out a living in journalism, building on his successes and repairing his tarnished image. He marries and has another child.

Yet he continues to fight his demons. It makes for painful reading when he describes how he started drinking again, nearly losing everything he had worked so hard to rebuild.

As the book closes, Carr admits that his sobriety — like any addict’s, I suppose — is not an entirely rock-solid thing: “I could be drunk tomorrow or shooting dope even as you read this but the chances of that are low as long as I make a daily decision to embrace who I really am and then be satisfied with that at the end of the day.”

In keeping with the candor that imbues “Night of the Gun,” Carr remains realistic but hopeful to the end. And despite his determination not to be heroic, there is something ennobling about that.

~Lisa E. Brown - Administrative Assistant