Notices

Thank you to our judges, and to Mr. Richard Nelson for coordinating and running the tournament.

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DVDs: The Station Agent, Monsieur Ibrahim, and Hidalgo.

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Department News

Adult Services

Adult Summer Reading Program
We had 20 new readers in August for a grand total of 234 participants in this year's Adult Summer Reading Program. This breaks the old record of 184 participants in 2003. 404 books were read in August and a new record of 1,240 slips were turned in during our entire nine-week program.

August winners were:

Grand prize winner was Robin Angell. She is the winner of a bucket full of goodies including four island themed drinking glasses, a $5.00 gift certificate to LeFever's Restaurant, passes to the African Wildlife Safari, Cleveland Museum of Natural History, Hale Farm and Village, and the National Inventor's Hall of Fame as well as a "Dive Into Life" yard ornament. Robin is shown here with Adult Summer Reading Coordinator and Head of the Adult Services Department Amy Garrett.

Evening Book Discussions
The evening book discussion group with Amy Garrett will be meeting the fourth Thursday of the month except in November, December, and March. November and December discussions will take place during the second Thursday of the month, and the March discussion will take place on the third Thursday. All discussions will begin at 7:00 p.m.

Copies of the books will be available approximately four to five weeks before the date of discussion and will be held at the Information Desk. Books may be checked out for a six week loan period instead of the standard two week period. Copies of the books for the September discussion will be available beginning August 30th.

Alternates (in case we cannot get enough copies of some books) are: Rainbow's End by Bob Adamov, Plain Truth by Jodi Picoult, Hidden Power by Kati Marton, Leaving Home by Art Buckwald, and Two Souls Indivisible by James Hirsch. If you have any questions, please call Amy Garrett at 330-688-3295.

Morning Book Discussions
The morning book discussion group with Chris Caccamo will be meeting the second Friday of the month at 10:00 a.m. from October to May. Books for the October meeting will be available at the Adult Information Desk the week of September 20. As always, sign up is not required. If you have any questions, please call Chris Caccamo at 330-688-3295.

May 13: Angry Housewives Eating Bon Bons by Lorna Landvik

Computer Use
Computers for use by adult and teen patrons are in very high demand! This is a reminder that you can reserve a computer ahead of time. Just call the Information Desk at 330-688-3295 to reserve a computer for a one-hour time limit. Computers may be reserved up to one week in advance.

Computer Training
The library offers classes for beginning computer users and more advanced users. They include Introduction to Computers, Introduction to the Internet, and training in Microsoft Word and Microsoft Excel. Classes are offered both day and evening at no charge. The computer class schedule for October will be released Monday, September 27 at 9:00 a.m. The class calendar can be viewed at www.smfpl.org/calendar.htm. Please call 330-688-3295 if you have any questions.

Computer Volunteer
Computer volunteer Tom Labbe is available to help patrons with computer questions during the following hours: Monday, Wednesday, and Friday from 1:00 - 2:30.

Local History
September is Back-to-School month! Have you ever wondered about the schools, teachers, pupils of Stow's past? Take a trip down memory lane and visit with Paul Coleman, Velma Workman, and others who worked so hard and loved so much to teach Stow's young people! Displays in and near the Local History Room begin after Labor Day.

The Local History Room is looking for "a few good people." Volunteers are needed to staff the Room on afternoons or evenings once a week. The Local History Room is a unique resource for the community, providing access to Stow's 200 year history via books, maps, news clippings, photo albums and more. Volunteers will welcome visitors and help them find information, as well as perform tasks to further organize the collection. If you are at least 18 and like to sleuth out the occasional mystery, please call Bridget Hair at 330-688-3295.

Young Adults

Online Book Discussion
Students ages 10 to 17 - Join our online book discusson group by going to the Online Book Discussion page at www.smfpl.org/bookdiscuss.htm. Each month a different teen or middle grade fiction book is featured. When you've read the book, stop by this page to post a comment about it, and see what other students have to say about it. You can even comment about another book you're reading. It's like having a book discussion group without having to leave your home. There is no registration necessary.

Chess Club
Tuesday, September 28 at 6:30 p.m.

"Dive Into Reading" Teen Summer Reading Program
The Teen Summer Reading Program "Dive Into Reading" concluded August 9. One hundred twenty-two teens read 804 books to make this our most successful teen reading program ever!

Recent Teen Summer Reading winners include: Shijia Hwang, Ashley Rothermel, Kalman Kovacs, Zach Elmore, Kelly Cannon, Adrianna Tondi, Mike Beaver, Maryann Bertele, Janelle Myers, Danka Udovicic, Stephanie DeCapito, Kaitlin McCleary, Tyler Hornbeck, Joe Miller, Stephen Hudson, Katherine Finley, Jessie Bose, Marie Kenepp, Cory Grinder, Jackie Ward, Marisa Conti, Laura Daugherty, and Chris Hejduk. Prizes won include books, movie passes, mall gift certificates, and coupons for Handel's ice cream cones.

Grand prize winner was Stephanie DeCapito who won an mp3 player. Stephanie is shown here with Teen Librarian Christina Getrost.

Wacky Golf
The Wacky Golf and Ice Cream Social was held August 13 for participants of the Teen Summer Reading Program who read five or more books, and for Teen Volunteers. Teens enjoyed playing putt-putt golf in the library, eating ice cream sundaes, and playing board games. Thanks to all who participated!

Teen's Top Ten 2004
Help create a nationwide list of books chosen for teens by teens as the best reads of the year! Choose from a list of teen-nominated titles, all of which are available at Stow-Munroe Falls Public Library.

Readers ages 12 to 18 can vote for their favorites anytime during Teen Read Week, October 17-23, through the library's teen website at www.smfpl.org/tslinks.htm. Click on the "Books" section and go to "Teen Reads." Pick up a list of the selected titles in the Teen Scene section of the library.

For further information on Teen programs please go to the Teen Services web page at www.smfpl.org./TS.htm.

Children's

Certified Therapy Dog
Wednesday, September 8 at 7:00 p.m.
Come meet Kelsey, a Certified Therapy Dog, and her handler Ted Maringer while he narrates the book Wilfred Gordon McDonald Partridge. This is a wonderful tale that celebrates both the exuberance of childhood and the dignity of old age. You'll be sure to love the story as much as the illustrations! The book is written by Mem fox and illustrated by Julie Vivas.

Ted Maringer is the Director of Volunteers at Harbor Light Hospice. Kelsey is a six year old greyhound that loves visiting patients in many local nursing homes and also participates in reading with child programs whenever possible.

Fall Storytime
Fall Storytime runs September 13th to November 19th. Registration began August 30th.

To see Storytime days and times, please go to the Children's Department web page at www.smfpl.org/CS.htm.

Please call 330-688-3295 for further information or go to the Children's Department webpage at www.smfpl.org/CS.htm for a complete list of children's programming.

We hope you will join us in celebrating 80 years of service and visit the library to try YOUR luck each month!

Drive-Up Window
Don't forget about the Drive-Up Window service at Stow-Munroe Falls Public Library. This is an especially helpful service during inclement weather! The drive-up window is open during regular library hours and closes 15 minutes before library closing.

Pick 5 Bestsellers Club
How would you like to automatically be placed on the reserve list for five of your favorite popular authors? Join our Bestsellers Club and that's exactly what will happen! Just pick up a form at the Circulation Desk and join over 300 satisfied members. Are you already a member, but would like to change an author or two? Ask for an "add/delete" form at the circulation desk. It's just that easy!

Honorees
Arabica gift certificates have been awarded to the following patrons visiting the Stow-Munroe Falls Public Library recently: Janice Schrock (450,000th check-out of 2004), Jennifer Freeman (500,000th check-out), Sandra Coddington (16,000th window check-out), Yvonne Brown (17,000th window check-out), and Virginia Slagle (4,000th new registration of 2004). Congratulations!

Cardholders have their privileges at Stow-Munroe Falls Public Library!

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Beginning September 10, the Corner Gallery will feature James Porterfield of Hudson exhibiting fine art prints from the James Allen collection. The collection focuses on a single image displaying vivid colors of nature creating a pleasing sense of well-being. To view these prints online go to www.jamesallencollection.com.

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The Friends, one of the largest organizations in Stow, is a citizen support group for Library services and activities. They sponsor booksales as well as the annual Needlework Show and other activities. Friends meet the third Tuesday of every month (except December and July) at 2:00 p.m. in the upstairs meeting room. Friends membership is currently at 495 members.

If you are interested in joining Stow-Munroe Falls Public Library Friends of the Library you may call the library at 330-688-3295 for further information, or you may go to the Friends page on the library website (www.smfpl.org/friends.htm) for an online application.

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A special display at the Questions and Directions Desk inside the front door features the "We the People Bookshelf on Courage" titles. The National Endowment for the Humanities and the American Library Association selected fifteen books, including picture books, novels and non-fiction books that exemplify American history and culture and depict courage. All are available for check-out.

If you would like to participate in this community program, just pick up a booklist at the Questions and Directions Desk, check off the book or books that you have read, fill in your name and phone number and turn it in. You will receive an invitation to our community reception and book discussion in October and you will also be eligible for several prizes.

Items on display are available for check-out. Please help yourself.

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     September's Spotlight shines on "Back-to-School." Once again it is time for students to be heading back to school. Stow-Munroe Falls Public Library is ready to help students of all ages with materials, programs, and online information. The Children's Department is for children up to age 12 (or through sixth grade). Children will find materials such as encyclopedias, books, videos, and magazines on the second floor of the library. Parents will find helpful materials in the special Parent/Teacher section. Watch for announcements of educational (and fun) programs, such as the upcoming "Pioneer Challenge" (Monday, Sept. 18 at 7:00) and "Land of the Frozen Tundra" (Monday, September 20 at 7:00) programs on courage. Librarians are available to assist with special requests and they work closely with Homeschoolers to provide appropriate materials. The Children's Department website at www.smfpl.org/CS.htm contains information on current activities and programs, as well as links to Homework Help and age-appropriate websites.

    Teens in seventh grade and up will find Young Adult reference books, Cliffs Notes, and fiction in the "Teen Scene" section next to the videos on the first floor. Classic paperbacks (books often assigned by English teachers) are also in the Teen Section. The homework table holds books pulled for particular homework assignments, such as the Colonial project or leaf identification. Teen Librarian Christina Getrost is available to answer questions and make suggestions for Teen reading. Non-fiction books for Teens are designated by a yellow dot on the spine of the book. They are shelved with the Adult Non-Fiction books. The Teen website at www.smfpl.org/TS.htm contains current activities, links to great websites, new books, and Homework Help. The Homework Help page has pathfinders for teachers who wish to provide online information for assignments. Teens can even review books online or take part in an online book discussion.

    Teens as well as college students and adults can use the library's online databases by clicking on "Research Databases" on the library's website at www.smfpl.org. Depending on the database, you can search for magazine articles, literary criticisms, authors' biographies, business information, and much more. You must have your library card to access the databases. Teens and adult students also are able to access the library's new testing and education database with their library card. Access the testing site by going through Infotrac Database. Use this database to look for colleges and graduate schools, find scholarships, and take on-line practice tests. Practice tests include ACT, SAT, MCAT, GRE, and GED.

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September's staff pick is the new novel An Unfinished Season by Ward Just, recommended by Reference Associate Jim Williams.

"It's a terrible thing, hatred. Terrible," says the acclaimed psychiatrist and Bataan survivor, Dr. Jason Brule, to his daughter's new boyfriend, nineteen year old Wilson Ravan, the main character in An Unfinished Season. While the story takes place in the summer of 1952, Wilson's memory of Dr. Brule's comments about hate ring true. Within the first moments of their meeting, Wilson knows that Dr. Brule is a man haunted with memories he cannot talk about or let go. Rather than the usual awkward pleasantries that pass between a father and his daughter's boyfriend, Dr. Brule talks about hatred. Hatred, he claims, "...is a product of fear. Not their hatred....Your hatred. Yours. It's your hatred of them, and this hatred becomes an obsessin to you, a passion that you can only know when you see them...these degenerates, so-called members of the human species....In your passion you become like them, and you find yourself thinking thoughts that are unimaginable and committing acts that are more unimaginable still. The line dividing them and you vanishes...."

Dr. Brule's anguished comments to a then uncomprehending Wils Ravan seem to speak directly to us. While we have not suffered the horror of what Dr. Brule calls "The Hike," we have suffered the horror of September 11. Danger lies in the control that hatred and fear can have over one's life. Like the memories that have tormented Brule's life, man in America today may be allowing the horror of 9-11 to control their beliefs, thinking, and values. Have the memories of that horrible event and the resulting fear, enhanced by frequent warnings and coded colors alerts instilled fear and hatred of things foreign, Islamic, or Arabic? Many are worried that this fear and hatred may lead to an erosion of the country's basic freedoms and values. Perhaps Brule's beliefs about fear and hate explain otherwise decent Americans acting as they did as guards in Iraqi prisons. Perhaps the fear created by the atrocities of 9-11 explains why some leading governmental figures can pronounce the Geneva Accords as "quaint." Memories, as Just explains, can be powerful motivators for both good and bad.

Actually, Just's book is not as deadly serious as Wils's meeting with Dr. Brule suggests. Essentially, the novel is about memories and how our memories are always with us, sometimes guiding and comforting us, sometimes haunting us. Young Wils lives just outside Chicago's wealthy Northcoast. Because his father is a well-known businessman, Wils is frequently invited to elegant Northcoast debutant dances. That's how he meets Aurora Brule, Dr. Brule's daughter. Also through his father's business, Wils has gotten a summer job working as a "gofer" at a seedy and gossipy Chicago tabloid. It is Wils's integration of his memories of these three often conflicting aspects of his summer of 1952 that forms the backbone of Just's wonderful novel. Just has the canny ability to conjure up the ideas, feelings, and atmosphere of 1952, and to those of us who experienced that time, his novel will jar loose many memories. Just's novel gives you cause to recall your own experiences and to understand how your memories have helped you become the person you are today. "People came into your life without warning, stayed awhile, and went away, always leaving something of themselves behind....They left their mark and remembering them was a way of remembering yourself at a certain age and how you played the hand you were given...." I believe this fine new novel by Ward Just will leave its mark on the reader and leave something of itself behind for a long time.

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September's website is The Ohio State University's Ohioline at http://ohioline.osu.edu/index.html. Sponsored by the College of Food, Agriculture, and Environmental Sciences, this site provides information on yard and garden, food, community, business,and family issues. You will find fact sheets on such diverse topics as composting, household record-keeping, West Nile virus, and sibling rivalry. Look here to find local county extension offices.

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