Publisher: Inecom,Inc
Check Library Catalog Pub Date: 11/13/2007
UPC: 00806213171021

As a child, my father would take my sisters and me to the train station to see the commuter trains arrive and all the people get out and go home. Then we would go home and eat supper. He was from Pittsburgh. So I just had to check out the DVD Pennsylvania Train Stations Restored and Revitalized. This documentary shows old train stations that have been saved from destruction and brought back to life as restaurants, businesses, museums, homes and one public library! There is something nostalgic, romantic, old fashioned and endearing about trains and train stations—just like my childhood memories.

Publisher: Farrar Straus Giroux
Check Library Catalog Pub Date: 04/29/2008
ISBN-13: 9780374356859
ISBN-10: 0374356858

My grandfather was a postman who delivered the mail with a horse and wagon. Owney, the Mail-Pouch Pooch by Mona Kerby is a picture book based on a true story of a stray terrier puppy, found on a pile of bags in a NY post office. He began riding on mail wagons, then mail trains guarding the mail across the US, Canada and Mexico. He collected depot tags as souvenirs for his collar and eventually traveled on a mail boat around the world.

Publisher: Quayside Pub Group
Check Library Catalog Pub Date: 04/01/2001
ISBN-13: 9780865734340
ISBN-10: 0865734348

A wonderful book that is part of the Gymboree’s Play & Music series is filled with fun, informative and useful games for babies 0 to 12 months. Included in the book are simple and innovative ideas for inexpensive toys. Parent’s can get more ideas for their older babies by also checking out “Toddler Play” edited by Wendy S. Masi.

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Publisher: Arcoiris Records Inc
Check Library Catalog Pub Date: 05/01/2000
ISBN-13: 9781574170085
ISBN-10: 1574170082

This is a soothing album for putting babies to sleep and introducing a bit of Spanish at a young age. Jose Luis Orozco is well known as a bilingual Spanish/English performer of children’s music, and with this album he introduces parents to traditional lullabies in Spanish. My favorite song is “Duerme Negrito.”

Whenever I tell someone I want to keep bees, I tend to get one of two responses:

1) That is weird.
2) Why? Because of colony collapse disorder? For the honey? Why?!

I always respond that I used to work with bees in college and that I have a life-long love of insects, but that’s never enough of an explanation for them. If I always had copies of the following books on hand, surely I’d be able to sufficiently describe why honeybees are so cool. Featured this month are books about honeybees that get my stamp of approval not only for being scientifically accurate but because they highlight the more tender aspects of working closely with thousands of little winged women.

Publisher: Barefoot Books
Check Library Catalog Pub Date: 03/01/2008
ISBN-13: 9781846861468
ISBN-10: 1846861462

I enthusiastically recommend “The Beeman” to anyone who wants to educate a young child on the art of beekeeping or simply enjoys good writing and artwork. A grandfather, the town beeman, guides his grandson in a simple but thorough education on the fascinating world of honeybees. Both the text and illustrations are poetic, bright and warm.

Publisher: Timber Press
Check Library Catalog Pub Date: 05/20/2009
ISBN-13: 9780881929423
ISBN-10: 0881929425

There has been a slue of informative bee books since the much-publicized outbreak of colony collapse disorder, but I will never tire of works that sing the praises of bees and the work they do for us all, describe how they’ve inspired artists throughout the ages, and give the history of how the lives of honeybees and humans have almost always been intertwined.

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Publisher: Bantam Books
Check Library Catalog Pub Date: 04/28/2009
ISBN-13: 9780553804546
ISBN-10: 0553804545

Conan Doyle left Sherlock Holmes to tend bees alone but Laurie King brought in a plucky protégé to rouse Holmes back into the world of crime-solving. In “The Language of Bees”, Holmes and Russell come home to find a beehive curiously devoid of its buzzing ladies – and a greater mystery to solve about a missing human woman. The story features some beautifully written excerpts from a beekeeping text written by the fictional Holmes.

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Publisher: Active Synapse
Check Library Catalog Pub Date: 01/01/2000
ISBN-13: 9780967725505
ISBN-10: 096772550X

The honeybees in Clan Apis are certainly humanized, but unlike most insects in cartoons – I’m talking about you, pitifully inaccurate “Bee Movie!” – the heartwarming story of Nyuki the bee has its origins in real science. If you want to learn about the life cycle of the honeybee in a clever way that’s full of funny moments, then this is obviously a title for you to pick up during your next visit to the library.

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Publisher: Buccaneer Books
Check Library Catalog Pub Date: 03/01/1999
ISBN-13: 9781568497235
ISBN-10: 1568497237

Plath was a beekeeper during her time in England and wrote several intimately bee-themed pieces as her marriage was falling apart: “The Bee Meeting”, “The Arrival of the Bee Box”, and “Stings” to name a few. I’ve always liked the line “I lay my ear to furious Latin” to describe the unintelligible hum of the hive. The more I learn about the business of beekeeping, the more I realize how intimately Plath worked with her bees.

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Publisher: Natl Book Network
Check Library Catalog Pub Date: 11/15/2008
ISBN-13: 9781903141540
ISBN-10: 1903141540

Beautiful photographs, great instructions, and delicious looking recipes – how can you go wrong with this new cookbook written by local author and chef who hails from Belguim! Best of all, I know first hand how talented this chef is since I have taken several of her cooking classes, and have even tasted her delicious watercress soup on p. 29. I saw several new recipes that I want to experiment with in this yummy book too, like the Ghent-style chicken stew on p. 63, it sounds delish!

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Publisher: Little, Brown and Co.
Check Library Catalog Pub Date: 06/01/2009
ISBN-13: 9780316029551
ISBN-10: 0316029556

Lina and her best friend have the same hero – Ugly Betty, so I was drawn to these main characters immediately! There is a charming sprinkling of Spanish in this book about a young middle school girl in a bilingual community in Texas. I enjoyed the “Dichos” (Spanish sayings or proverbs) that are translated at the top of every chapter, like this one: Los amigos mejores son libros – Books are your best friends

Publisher: Kids Can Press
Check Library Catalog Pub Date: 04/01/2009
ISBN-13: 9781554532889
ISBN-10: 1554532884

Look - it’s the latest adventure of Scaredy Squirrel – yea! This favorite character of mine tackles his bad dream fears in his typical methodical scaredy style. If you are an organizer kind of person or a boy scout (remember their motto!), you will appreciate how this squirrel prepares for every possible situation. Gotta love this nutty squirrel!

Publisher: Dial Press
Check Library Catalog Pub Date: 07/31/2007
ISBN-13: 9780385341066
ISBN-10: 0385341067

Here is a book that starts out feeling like a nice quiet read which takes you to a simple village on a faraway tropical island. The only white man living there assumes the vacated teachers role by reading a single book to the class - Great Expectations by Charles Dickens. However somewhere along the way this island story becomes less quiet and more tragic, turning into a story about the resilience of the human spirit. When author Gail Tsukiyami spoke at the library last month, this was the book that she said was one of her favorite reads, so I got curious. Interestingly enough somehow the quieter parts of the book reminded me of the feelings evoked when I read her book, The Samurai’s Garden, at least until this story took some hard turns.

First Chapter