Did You Know That April is Lawn and Garden Month?

April 6, 2015March 17, 2015 / Sharon Tyler / Leave a comment

Now that spring is under way you might be thinking about taking care of your lawn and garden. With April being National Lawn and Garden Month I know I am starting to gather my seeds to start indoors and planning just what I want to do in my yard this year. Whether a landscaping change is in your near future, you are plotting your garden, or you are just preparing for regular mowing, it is a perfect time to get the reading resources you need to do it right.

1. The Lawn & Garden Owner’s Manual: What to do and When to Do It by Lewis and Nancy Hill

2. The Organic Lawn Care Manual: a Natural, Low-Maintenance System for a Beautiful, Safe Lawn by Paul Tukey

3. The Complete Compost Gardening Guide: Banner Batches, Grow Heaps, Comforter Compost, and Other Amazing Techniques for Saving Time and Money, and Producing the Most Flavorful, Nutritious Vegetables Ever by Barbara Pleasant & Deborah L. Martin

4. All New Square Foot Gardening: Grow More in Less Space! by Mel Bartholomew

5. Decoding Gardening Advice: the Science Behind the 100 Most Common Recommendations by Jeff Gillman & Meleah Maynard

6. The Lawn Bible: How to Keep it Green, Groomed, and Growing Every Season of the Year by David R. Mellor

7. Lawn Gone!: Low-Maintenance, Sustainable, Attractive Alternatives for Your Yard by Pam Penick

8. Solar Gardening: Growing Vegetables Year-Round the American Intensive Way by Leandre Poisson and Gretchen Vogel Poisson

9. The National Wildlife Federation’s Guide to Gardening for Wildlife: How to Create a Beautiful Backyard Habitat for Birds, Butterflies, and Other Wildlife by Craig Tufts and Peter Loewer

10. Gardening in Miniature: Create Your own Tiny Living World by Janit Calvo

This just scratches the surface for great lawn and garden books in our library. Some more of the best or most unique books I would recommend on the subject include: Vegetable Gardening the Colonial Williamsburg Way: 18th-Century Methods for Today’s Organic Gardeners by Wesley Greene, 1,001 Ingenious Gardening Ideas: New, Fun, and Fabulous Tips That Will Change the Way you Garden-Forever! edited by Deborah L. Martin, Rodale’s Ultimate Encyclopedia of Organic Gardening edited by Fern Marshall Bradley, Barbara W. Ellis, and Ellen Phillips, Gardening Without a Garden by Gay Search, Water Gardening Basics by Helen Nash & Marilyn M. Cook, Taylor’s Master Guide to Gardening, Heirloom Vegetable Gardening: a Master Gardener’s Guide to Planting, Growing, Seed Saving, and Cultural History. by William Woys Weaver, and Lawn Care for Dummies by Lance Walheim & the editors of the National Gardening Association.

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Love (or hate) gardening and want to get some kids involved? Well then don’t forget to check in the children’s room for: Kids’ Container Gardening: Year-Round Projects for Inside and Out by Cindy Krezel, Gardening with Children by Monika Hannemann and others, Roots, Shoots, Buckets & Boots: Gardening Together with Children by Sharon Lovejoy, It’s Our Garden: from Seeds to Harvest in a School Garden by George Ancona, How Does Your Garden Grow?: Great Gardening for Green-Fingered Kids by Clare Matthews, or Gardening Projects for Kids: 101 Ways to Get Kids Outside, Dirty, and Having Fun by Whitney Cohen and John Fisher.

What’s Happening at Cheshire Library in April

April 1, 2015April 1, 2015 / cheshirelib / 2 Comments

Lots of great stuff happening at Cheshire Library this month, including a terrific schedule of programming for School Vacation Week, and at the end of the month, it’s BOOKSALE time!

Navigating Your Financial Landscape: The Basics

Thursday Apr 2, 2015, 7:00 – 8:00 PM

In your 20s and 30s and wondering how you’ll ever afford a house, your future kids’ college expenses, and retirement? Now is the perfect time to start planning your financial future! You’ll learn all about 401ks, investing, building and maintaining credit, and lending options. Presented by Jonathon Dibble of Morgan Stanley. Register on our website.

Cheshire Cats Classics Club- Ben-Hur

Monday Apr 6, 2015, 7:00 – 8:00 PM

The Cheshire Cats Classics Club meets once per month on a Monday evening. Ben-Hur will be discussed at the April 6th meeting. Copies are available to check out from the library.

There is limited seating for this event. For more information regarding this program, contact Jennifer Bartlett at jbartlett@cheshirelibrary.org.

Where to Hike in Cheshire

Monday Apr 6, 2015, 7:00 – 8:00 PM

This program will introduce hiking opportunities located in Cheshire. From meadows to Connecticut’s second largest waterfall, Cheshire has over 1,500 acres ready for exploration. Free hiking maps, property descriptions and directions will be available. The town website, a valuable resource for open space information, will be highlighted. Seating for this event is limited. Register on our website or call 203-272-2245, ext. 4.

Squishy Circuits

Monday Apr 13, 2015, 4:00 – 5:00 PM

Electricity + play-doh = lights? Awesome! Squishy Circuits are a great introduction to the fundamentals of electronics. We will use play-doh that can conduct electricity. Once you know the basics, you can plug in lights and motors to bring you already cool sculpture to new levels of awesome. Drop in anytime between 4:00 pm and 5:00 pm. Ages 6 and up welcomed. No registration required.

LEGO® Junior Maker

Tuesday Apr 14, 2015, 10:00 – 11:00 AM

Do you love building with LEGO® Blocks? Then LEGO® Junior Maker is perfect for you. We will start with a short storytime focused around building. Kids will then have opportunity to use their best creativity to design buildings, creatures, and more using Lego and Mega bloks. They can work alone, or in a team with peers. A theme will be given for kids to design around based on stories read. All ages welcomes. No registration required.

Rocks and Minerals

Tuesday Apr 14, 2015, 2 sessions: 1:00 PM and 2:15 PM

Local naturalist Eric Nelson will introduce children to the identification, characteristics, and historical use of rocks and minerals through fun hands-on activities and exciting demonstrations. For ages 6 and up. Register on our website starting on April 1st.

Ctrl Alt Achieve: Float Your Boat

Wednesday Apr 15, 2015, 1:00 – 2:00 PM

As part of our Ctrl Alt Achieve series, kids can test their creativity and engineering skills at building a boat. Kids will build boats using assorted materials and see how much weight they can hold. For grades Kindergarten – 2nd. No Registration Required.

Touch a Truck at Bartlem Park

Thursday Apr 16, 2015, 10:00 AM – 12:00 PM

Come visit the children’s librarians at Bartlem Park for Touch a Truck. We’ll be present with our book cart for kids to touch and have special prizes to give out. Please bring a nonperishable food item to be donated to the Cheshire Food Pantry.

Have you ever wanted to board one of those huge trucks? Your chance has arrived! This event is made possible due to the generosity of local companies and Cheshire Town Agencies. You may see fire trucks, garbage trucks, dump trucks, pay loader, rescue trucks, law enforcement vehicles and more. There will be a free raffle of toy trucks.

Where: Bartlem Park – 520 S. Main St, Cheshire

Open to All Ages

Robot Petting Zoo

Thursday Apr 16, 2015, 3:00 – 4:30 PM

The first ever CPL Robot Petting Zoo brings out friendly robots for kids & teens to touch, operate, and even program! Some robots follow a line and are programmed with color, some are controlled with apps on a smart phone or tablet. They can look like a ball, a cube, a bird, or even a race car! Come meet our many unusual robots and learn a bit about circuits and electronics at our Robot Petting Zoo. For grades 4—12. No registration required.

Edible Insects with Stamford Museum and Nature Center

Thursday Apr 16, 2015, 6:00 PM

Discover the who, what, where and why behind eating bugs. From mealworm spaghetti to roasted tarantula, we’ll find out why people have been eating insects and invertebrates for hundreds of years. We’ll meet some live bugs that might be on a menu somewhere as well as some animals that eat bugs. Brave participants will also have a change to try an edible snack, if desired, at the end of the program. For ages 5 and up. Register on our website starting on April 1st.

Fab Films: Penguins of Madagascar

Saturday Apr 18, 2015, 2:00 – 4:00 PM

Come enjoy some great box office kids’ movies with Fab Film Saturdays at Cheshire Public Library!
Penguins of Madagascar (2014). From the creators of Madagascar comes the funniest movie of 2014, starring your favorite penguins – Skipper, Kowalski, Rico and Private – in a spy-tacular new film!Running Time 1 hour, 32 minutes. Rated PG. No registration required. Feel free to bring your own snacks!

Sinatra and Me

Tuesday Apr 21, 2015, 7:00 – 8:00 PM

Join Pulitzer Prize-nominated writer Franz Douskey as he discusses his book Sinatra and Me: The Very Good Years, an intimate look at the legendary Frank Sinatra by one of his closest friends Tony Consiglio, as told to the author. Seating is limited, please register on our website.

Skype Video Chat with Friends and Family

Saturday Apr 25, 2015, 10:00 AM – 1:00 PM

Here is your chance to “visit” that person who lives too far away to just drop in on! A member of the Rotary eClub of the Southwest will stop by the Cheshire Public Library on Saturday, April 25th, from 10:00am – 1:00pm to sit with you as you make a Skype video call from his computer to the computer of a friend or family member. The webcams and microphones on both computers will let you see and hear each other–almost like sitting in the same room together!
Register on our website, sign up slots will be 30 minutes in duration.

Friends of the Library Semi-Annual Book Sale

Thursday, April 30 – Saturday, May 2, 2015, 9:30AM – 8:00PM

PREVIEW FOR FRIENDS’ MEMBERS ONLY: Wednesday Apr 29, 2015, 6:30 – 8:30 PM

Linda Reads: The Nightingale by Kristin Hannah

March 29, 2015March 5, 2015 / Linda / Leave a comment

The Nightingale by Kristin Hannah is a poignant, beautifully written book that takes us back in history to France during World War II.

The book starts off in present day and the story is told by an elderly woman facing a move into a nursing home to face her last battle, cancer. But first, she has something she must do.

The story follows two sisters, Viann and Isabelle Rossignol, who have always been close despite their differences. Younger, bolder sister Isabelle lives in Paris while Viann lives a quiet and content life in the French countryside with her husband Antoine and their daughter. When World War II strikes and Antoine is sent off to fight, Viann and Isabelle’s father sends Isabelle to help her older sister cope. As the war progresses, it’s not only the sisters’ relationship that is tested, but also their strength and their individual senses of right and wrong. With life as they know it changing in unbelievably horrific ways, Viann and Isabelle will find themselves facing frightening situations and responding in ways they never thought possible as bravery and resistance take different forms in each of their actions.

Ms. Hannah writes heartfelt, vivid descriptions taking great care with every detail. You will be transported to wartime France. You will feel all the pain, joy, love, and hardships of the Rossignol family and those who interact with them. I read the book in one sitting, unable to put it down and the story still lingers with me a month later. It earned a spot on my top ten favorite books list.

On Our Shelves: New Romance for March

March 22, 2015March 3, 2015 / Linda / Leave a comment

Hot, sweet, tender, wild – romance any way you like it!

Historical:

The Devil Takes a Bride – Julia London

Highland Guard – Hannah Howell

A Sinful Deception – Isabella Bradford

Morrow Creek Runaway – Lisa Plumley

What A Devilish Duke Desires – Vicky Dreiling

Earls Just Want To Have Fun – Shana Galen

His Wicked Reputation – Madeline Hunter

The Bedding Proposal – Tracy Anne Warren

The Tempting of Thomas Carrick – Stephanie Laurens

Married To A Perfect Stranger – Jane Ashford

I Loved A Rogue – Katharine Ashe

Diary Of An Accidental Wallflower – Jennifer McQuiston

Romantic Suspense:

Where Secrets Sleep – Marta Perry

The Black Widow – Wendy Corsi Staub

Contemporary:

The First Kiss – Grace Burrowes

First Time In Forever – Sarah Morgan

Every Little Kiss – Kendra Leigh Castle

And I Love Her – Marie Force

Secret Harbor – Anna Sullivan

Catching Cameron – Julie Brannagh

Wild Horses – B.J. Daniels

Running Blind – Cindy Gerard

One Wish – Robyn Carr

How To Kiss A Cowboy – Joanne Kennedy

Kiss Me Hello – Grace Burrowes

Back In The Game – Lori Wilde

Paranormal

The Immortal Who Loved Me – Lynsay Sands

Celebrating the Onset of Spring With Children

March 19, 2015February 24, 2015 / Sharon Tyler / Leave a comment

March 20th is the official first day of Spring, and many of us are more than ready to enjoy the season. It might be a little to early to get out and seriously garden but it is not too early to talk about the season with our kids, grandchildren, students, and so on. So, here are some wonderful easy nonfiction and picture books to share with our younger readers about the wonders of Spring.