In This Issue

Cynthia's Picks

Before Lewis and Clark : the story of the Chouteaus, the French dynasty that ruled America's frontier - Shirley Christian

Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Check Library Catalog Pub Date: 4/1/2004
ISBN: 9780374110055
ISBN-10: 0374110050

Evocative and enlightening account of a little known aspect of American history: the Mississippi River Valley under the French and Spanish. Popular history at its finest.

Candy girl : a year in the life of an unlikely stripper - Diablo Cody

Publisher: Gotham Books
Check Library Catalog Pub Date: 12/29/2005
ISBN: 9781592401826
ISBN-10: 1592401821

College educated, middle class Cody enters the world of strip clubs initially for kicks and then for cash. See just how long she can take it in this simultaneously fascinating and repulsive look at one particular aspect of the sex trade.

Colma : the musical original motion picture soundtrack - Mendoza, HP

Check Library Catalog Pub Date: 2006

Run, don't walk, to check out this CD! The soundtrack to a film by 20-something Colma natives, it's the touching and timeless story of three friends in that first magical, scary summer after high school graduation. Fabulous, catchy, soulful music that puts American Idol schlock to shame. (Check out the web site www.colmafilm.com for where to catch the film.)

A death in Belmont - Sebastian Junger

Publisher: Norton
Check Library Catalog Pub Date: 4/7/2006
ISBN: 9780393059809
ISBN-10: 0393059804

Author of 'The Perfect Storm,' Junger describes his family's own personal encounter with and narrow escape from the man who claimed to be the Boston Strangler. Literary, creepy, and compelling.

The grail bird : hot on the trail of the Ivory-billed woodpecker - Tim Gallagher

Publisher: Houghton Mifflin
Check Library Catalog Pub Date: 5/18/2005
ISBN: 9780618456932
ISBN-10: 0618456937

Still highly controversial in the birding world, the re-discovery of the Ivory-Billed Woodpecker is detailed in this account by one of the initial spotters. Whether it makes you more or less skeptical, you'll be entertained by the journey.

First Chapter Table of Contents

Nichole's Picks

Crimson - Alkaline Trio

Publisher: Fontana
Check Library Catalog Pub Date: 5/24/2005
UPC: 00601091040922

Incredibly passionate lyrics and awesome music makes this one of my favorite punk albums of ALL time.

Death Note : Boredome - story by Tsugumi Ohba ; art by Takeshi Obata ; [translation & adaptation, Pookie Rolf]

Publisher: Viz
Check Library Catalog Pub Date: 10/10/2005
ISBN: 9781421501680
ISBN-10: 1421501686

One of the best Manga I have ever read. It has great illustrations and an excellent story about a young man who all of a sudden has the power to decide who lives and dies.

A certain slant of light - by Laura Whitcomb

Publisher: Graphia
Check Library Catalog Pub Date: 9/21/2005
ISBN: 9780618585328
ISBN-10: 061858532X

Helen is dead, has been for many years. She now inhabits the body of a high school teacher. This time it's different though, she is seen for the first time by a boy in the class. Is this beginning of a bizarre love story? I loved this book, and the twists will always keep you guessing what happens next.

First Chapter

The scrapbooker's color palette : using color to create fabulous scrapbook pages - editor, Kerry Arquette

Publisher: Cantata Books
Check Library Catalog Pub Date: 12/1/2005
ISBN: 9781579907273
ISBN-10: 157990727X

This is a great book for scrapbookers that talks about color, color combinations and shows tons of great sample layout pages.

Inkspell - Cornelia Funke ; translated from the German by Anthea Bell

Publisher: Chicken House/Scholastic
Check Library Catalog Pub Date: 4/1/2007
ISBN: 9780439554015
ISBN-10: 0439554012

Inkspell is an excellent sequel to Inkheart. The book on tape is really good. Brendan Fraser does a great job with all the voices. Maggie and Mo continue the fight for their lives as they get sucked into a book and start a new adventure.

Sarah's Picks

Upstate - Kalisha Buckhanon

Publisher: St. Martin's Press
Check Library Catalog Pub Date: 12/23/2004
ISBN: 9780312332686
ISBN-10: 0312332688

This is a heartbreaking and beautiful novel told in letters between two young lovers, one of whom is in prison. The audio book is narrated by Chadwick Boseman and Heather Simms, who get the voices exactly right, as the characters change and grow over the years. The language is sometimes harsh, but very real.

Extremely loud & incredibly close - Jonathan Safran Foer

Publisher: Houghton Mifflin
Check Library Catalog Pub Date: 4/4/2005
ISBN: 9780618329700
ISBN-10: 0618329706

I love this novel's quirky style and touching characters, especially precocious 9-year-old Oskar, who has "heavy boots" ever since his father died in the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001.

First Chapter

Mrs. Frisby and the rats of NIMH - Robert C. O'Brien ; illustrated by Zena Bernstein

Publisher: Aladdin Paperbacks
Check Library Catalog Pub Date: 5/1/1999
ISBN: 9780689829666
ISBN-10: 0689829663

Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH, by Robert C. O'Brien is one of my all-time favorite children's books. I read it aloud to my sons when they were young, and they hung on every word. This is truly a "one more chapter, Mommy" book.

Triangle : the fire that changed America - David Von Drehle

Publisher: Atlantic Monthly Press
Check Library Catalog Pub Date: 8/1/2003
ISBN: 9780871138743
ISBN-10: 0871138743

I love the way this book tells the personal stories of the people (mostly young women) who perished in the tragic Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire of 1911, and also puts the fire in a larger context of social justice and the history of the labor movement.

First Chapter Table of Contents

Interweave knits 2006

Publisher: Interweave Press
Check Library Catalog

I've just discovered this quarterly magazine, which has great illustrations and instructions for knitted items. I always thought knitting in more than one color in a row would be far too complicated for me, but the first issue of Interweave Knits I ever read taught me (easily!) how to do intarsia.