Cheshire Library

Nancy Pearl’s First Children’s Audio Book

/ Sharon Tyler / Leave a comment

Nancy Pearl just might be America’s most well known librarian. She even has her own action figure! So it is little wonder that I was thrilled to read in USA Today  that she has recorded her first children’s audiobook. She has recorded the audiobook version of Isabella: Star of the Story, which was written by Jennifer Fosberry and illustrated by Mike Litwin.

Isabella: Star of the Show

Isabella: Star of the Story is a fun story which highlights an early love of reading and the use of imagination. When Isabella and her parents head to the library Isabella is transformed into  characters from some of the most popular children’s books. Isabella is briefly Alice, Dorothy, Peter Pan, and a number of other well known personas. When it is time to check out and head home, Isabella decides that it is best just to be herself, at least until it is reading time again.

If you are eager to hear Nancy Pearl at work, here is a book trailer for Isabella: Star of the Story that will give you a taste of what the audiobook will sound like.

Myth, Maggots, Minie Balls, Gangrene, and Glory

/ Jenn / Leave a comment

The first program in our spring Civil War 150th Celebration is Civil War Medicine: Myth, Maggots, Minie Balls, Gangrene, and Glory Monday April 29th at 7PM in the Mary Baldwin room. Carolyn Ivanhoff, housemaster of Shelton Intermediate School returns to present this program.

Medicine in the Civil War was primitive compared to today’s standards. Doctors knew little about infection, blood transfusions, and sterilization. You were more likely to die from wounds sustained on the battlefield than to actually die on the battlefield. Men who knew they would need amputations would sometimes try to amputate the limb themselves, rather than have the doctor do it, knowing their chances of survival were about the same.

Hygiene in camps was almost nonexistent, and therefore disease could run rampant throughout the soldiers. Dysentery, smallpox, measles, and pneumonia were a soldier’s worst enemy, not the men whom they faced on the battlefield. Rations were insufficient and poor, water was not clean or filtered, clothing was tattered and ratty, and sanitation of waste did not exist.

Join us next week as Ivanoff educates us on what exactly it was like to be a soldier during the Civil War and how fortunate we are today to have the medical care we have. Registration is required for this event.

Susan Hood to Spend Earth Day at Maritime Aquarium

/ Sharon Tyler / Leave a comment

[Cover]Susan Hood, author of Spike: The Mixed-Up Monster, will be reading her book at the Maritime Aquarium in Norwalk on Saturday April 20th  to celebrate Earth Day. The book is appropriate for children four and older, and is about an axolotl, a Mexican species of salamander (and one of many creatures in The Maritime Aquarium’s “Frogs” exhibit). Spike keeps trying to frighten other animals until he learns that fear is not the best way to make friends.  Hood will be reading at 10:30 and 11:30 a.m and will stay to greet kids in the afternoon in the “Frogs” exhibit.

Dr. Jay Walshon will be near the “Meerkats” exhibit to read from his Eye See You Africa,  at 1:00 and 2:15 p.m. which uses images paired with riddles and rhymes to bring young readers “eye to eye” with a variety of extraordinary animals.

Both book readings are free with Aquarium admission. Both authors will be selling signed copies of their books. Check and see if the one of the four museum passes for the aquarium is available before heading down discounted admission to the aquarium.

For more information about Maritime Aquarium exhibits, programs and IMAX movies, go towww.maritimeaquarium.org or call (203) 852-0700.

Book Review: March by E. L. Doctorow

/ Jenn / Leave a comment

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March by E. L. Doctorow

This month’s selection for “When Johnny Comes Marching Home: A Civil War Book  Discussion” was March by E. L. Doctorow, not to be confused with Geraldine Brooks’ March.

I selected this book because of the accolades it has received: Pen/Faulkner Award and National Book Critics Circle Award. It was also a New York Times Bestseller. I had given the audiobook version to my husband to listen to, and he could not get past the first three discs. This did not bode well for my own listening of this book.

March tells the story of Sherman’s imfamous march through Georgia, South Carolina, and North Carolina during 1864 and into 1865. There is a rather large, colorful, and diverse cast of characters, led by William Tecumsah Sherman himself. Doctorow does an excellent job incorporating people from all “walks of life” into this story: freed slaves, Southern women, Confederate and Union soldiers, and even a British journalist. However, there were almost too many characters. At some point I lost track of who was where when and what happened to them. Some people stayed behind on different parts of the march and we never heard from them again. After a time, you wondered, “Hey, what happened to…?” and you never found out.

This book is not for the queasy or faint at heart, as there are graphic war scenes, including mass rape, killing of prisoners of war, drowning of freed slaves, and the burning of entire cities. If you’re expecting a nice, wholesome story, you won’t find it here. This is a realistic account of what actually happened during Sherman’s march to the sea. You’ll learn a lot and gain insight into a much maligned man.

Whether you love or hate Sherman and can or can’t justify his actions during the Civil War, one has to admit that he greatly helped end the Civil War and saved thousands of lives who would have been lost if the war had continued. March shows a softer side of Sherman, a man who, while following orders, often found himself at the mercy of his men, who got carried away with the spoils of war.

While I found this book to be interesting and the reader, Joe Morton, engaging, I did not love it. The language and style were easy to read and understand. I’m not sure what Doctorow could have done to take my rating from an “ok” to “great”.

Rating: 3 stars

Book Review: Tap Out by Eric Devine (Young Adult)

/ Sharon Tyler / Leave a comment

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Tap Out

Tap Out by Eric Devine is a book for young adults and adults about how hard reality can be for some young people, and how finding a way out might seem like an impossible dream. This is realistic fiction, and might be just the read some young adults, new adults, and jaded adult readers might be looking for.

Tony Antioch is seventeen, and lives in a trailer park called Pleasant Meadows. Tony dreams of standing up and rescuing his mother from her own drug habits and constant stream of abusive boyfriends. Tony’s friends each have their own troubles to face, and after Rob and school situations bring Tony to a local gym to learn mixed martial arts, Tony thinks he might have found a talent and a way to help him escape from the troubled path that seems set for his future. However, Tony will have to solve some problems of his own before he can help his mother, any of his friends, or himself escape the paths they are on. With everyone around him stuck on a dead end track, can Tony find a way to stay true to himself and face the consequences of the choices he makes along the way?

Tap Out is a hard book to read, because the problems faced by the characters are very real, and very troubling. There are people trapped by their situations with no apparent way out. Tony, Rob, and the people around them feel very real, and I found myself with a racing heart and sweaty palms as the characters faced problems far beyond anything I have ever faced. The book is very gritty, and completely unapologetic in revealing parts of our society that often get overlooked or swept under the rug. I think that is wonderful. I could have done with a few less f-bombs being tossed around, although they were used realistically, but after awhile I did find it a little distracting.

Tap Out is a book I would recommend to older teens and adults. It deals with serious issues, and shows a very harsh reality. It is not an easy read, it is not fun or quick going. In fact there were a few moments in which I had to set it aside for a moment, but then immediately picked it back up because I needed to know what would happen next. Adults who work with teens, regardless of whether or not you think of the teens as at risk for abuse or of getting involved in dangerous situations, would do well to read the book in order to help understand, anticipate, and help teens they encounter deal with some serious issues.

A version of this review was previously posted on Sharon the Librarian.