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Mon, 08/16/2010 - 4:23pm

This is Week 5 of a 12-Week series of blog posts reviewing new young adult books. Check back each Monday for a new review.

Finnikin of the Rock, by Melina Marchetta, is a book for readers who don’t mind losing themselves. The land of Skuldenore is not always a pleasant place to be lost – in fact, it is often heartbreakingly dark. But I didn’t mind being lost within it, as long as I was with Finnikin.

Skuldenore is comprised of several countries, such as Osteria, Charyn, and Yutlind. Each country has its own interesting characterization, and there is much that goes into the world-building in this book, which makes it so successful. The country we care most about is Lumatere, Finnikin’s homeland.

Ten years ago, a power-greedy cousin infiltrated Lumatere’s royal castle, slaughtering the king, queen, and princesses. This violence set off another chain of violent events, which ended with the entire country being cursed and sealed off from the rest of the world. Those events are called “the five days of the unspeakable.” The people who escaped during that time roam the other countries, exiled, ignored, and mostly despised. They die from fever, starvation, and at the hands of other countries’ kings. It is not a good time to be Lumateren.

Tue, 07/20/2010 - 3:06pm

At 5 o'clock in the morning, a curly-headed toddler went missing from his bed in the spacious mansion in the English countryside, never to be seen alive again.
Young Saville Kent's soon-to-be-discovered vicious murder at the hands of someone who was surely a family member or trusted servant excited the press, the populace, and the authorities and ultimately drew the attention of one of Scotland Yard's first and finest detectives, Jack Whicher. Like the fictional Sherlock Holmes, Detective Whicher had a keen mind and almost sixth sense for uncovering criminals in the most unlikely places. With no forensics lab modern or otherwise to help him discover the identity of Saville's killer, Whicher used reason and intuition when setting about his task.

Mon, 07/12/2010 - 3:18pm

Manage your investments with information from our newest online database, Value Line - Expanded Library Edition.  All you need is a CRRL library card and access to the internet from anywhere in the world! 

Value Line includes a weekly online presentation of their Investment Survey, full-page reports with analyst commentaries, Timeliness™, Safety™ , and Technical™ ranks on over 3,500 large, small, and mid cap size companies, information and rankings on an additional 4,500 companies and three-to-five year projections of key financial measures, and concise, objective commentary on current operations and future prospects.

Need more info?  Try the Morningstar Investment Research Center, another online database of stock and mutual fund research, data, and analysis.  You can even track your own portfolio! 

Need a tutorial?  Our librarians can give you a half hour demonstration and answer your questions through our Training on Demand service.  Call the Reference Desk at your branch to book your librarian. 

Tue, 07/20/2010 - 3:08pm

 

Celeste, the star of “A Nest for Celeste” by Henry Cole, is a sweet and gentle mouse. She enjoys making beautiful baskets in the safety of her comfy mousehole, which is located within Oakley Plantation in Louisiana. She is occasionally bullied by two nasty, lazy rats, who force her to retrieve food for them from the dining room. The cat is a constant danger in her life, and during one of her food expeditions Celeste is chased away from the safety of her home and must seek refuge in another bedroom.
 
It turns out that this room is occupied by Joseph Mason, a young apprentice to the great wildlife artist John James Audubon (1785–1851). Mason and Celeste form a tender friendship, and Celeste loves riding in Mason’s pocket around the house and watching him paint.

 

Wed, 06/30/2010 - 4:05pm

    It’s high summer now, with the library’s summer reading clubs in full swing and the Fourth of July right around the corner.  Marla Frazee’s award-winning picture book, “A Couple of Boys Have the Best Week Ever,” captures the best of summer from a kid’s point of view.


    James and Eamon are spending the week with James’s grandparents so they can attend nature camp.  While Grandfather Bill tries his best to interest the boys in Antarctica, and Grandmother Pam fills them with banana waffles and ice cream sundaes, the boys enjoy all kinds of fun, most of it unrelated to nature camp.  Identifying birds?  They have more fun training their binoculars on each other’s freckles.  Sleeping in the basement on the blow-up mattress, playing video games, and eating more banana waffles are the highlights of their week.

Thu, 04/14/2011 - 9:56am

After 17 years of deliveries, through rain, sleet, and snow, down country lanes to the remote regions of the CRRL service area, the CRRL's last bookmobile retires today, June 30, 2010.

Tue, 07/20/2010 - 3:16pm

Most books set in the time of King Arthur are fantasies focusing on Merlin's magicks, glittering armor, and tragic, high-flown affairs of the heart.  As the title implies, The Killing Way is not one of those books.

Our hero is not a king's son like Lancelot or a wily wizard. His name is Malgwyn ap Cuneglas, and before the Saxons overran his village, killing his beloved wife, he was simply a farmer.  For revenge, he gladly and madly joined up with young Lord Arthur's band to slay as many Saxons as possible. He proved an able and trusted lieutenant and for a while peace is restored to the land though at a terrible price for Malgwyn.

Tue, 06/29/2010 - 3:27pm

This week, three "new" breeds were recognized by the American Kennel Club to the 164 already recognized. All three could be good family dogs for the right family, but each one requires firm training, early socialization, and lots of activity to allow it to lead the best life possible. From Iceland to Germany to Italy, these breeds' official American recognition has come slowly but is certainly sweet as all three have been the verge of extinction.

Mon, 08/23/2010 - 7:34am

This is Week 4 of a 12-Week series of blog posts reviewing new young adult books. Check back each Monday for a new review. 

After Ever After by Jordan Sonnenblick
Tad Ibsen is a scrawny kid who walks into the classroom on crutches, muttering angrily to himself, with a huge red scar across the side of his head. Why does the teacher seat the new kid next to Jeffrey Alper? “Suddenly I get it,” Jeffrey explains to the reader. “I don’t always catch on so fast, but this time, I put two and two together…I lean over and whisper, ‘Hi, I’m Jeffrey. I had cancer, too.’ He looks at me like I’m a particularly loathsome slice of school-lunch meat loaf and says, ‘Wow, congratulations! What do you want, a medal?’” Of course, they’re best friends from that moment on. 

Wed, 06/23/2010 - 11:37am

    Children’s books are never too far from the minds of children’s librarians.  On a recent hiking trip to the North Carolina mountains, a phrase from a children’s verse got stuck in my head:  “We’re going on a bear hunt, we’re going to catch a big one, it’s a beautiful day, we’re not scared!”  Maybe our bear bells scared them away, but the black bears that populate the coves and ridges of the Nantahala National Forest never showed themselves to our group (thank goodness).

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