Noe Valley Voice March 2005
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Books in our Branch

This month's new book list, chosen by Noe Valley librarian Carol Small and Voice bookworm Karol Barske, features a dark Balkan comic novel, an anthology of Cuban graphic design, and a story about an underworld inhabited by giant "intelligent" rats. To find out which books are available at the library, go to www.sfpl.org, call 355-5707, or visit the Noe Valley­Sally Brunn Library at 451 Jersey Street near Castro Street. Besides books, the branch offers magazines, newspapers, DVDs, music CDs, Internet access, and the archives and index to the Noe Valley Voice. Library hours are Tuesdays, 10 a.m. to 9 p.m.; Wednesdays, 1 to 9 p.m.; Thursdays, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.; Fridays, 1 to 6 p.m.; and Saturdays, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.

LIBRARY EVENTS

Preschool Story Time

- Children ages 2 to 5 are invited to attend preschool story time at 10 a.m. on Tuesdays, March 1, 8, and 29. The library address is 451 Jersey Street, between Castro and Diamond.

Films for Children

- An hour of short films will be shown for kids 3 to 5 on Tuesday, March 15, at 10 and 11 a.m.

A Solution for Those Mysteries Piling Up on Your Nightstand

- The Noe Valley­Sally Brunn Library would greatly appreciate your castoff paperback mysteries, published in the last five years. Bring book donations, in good condition, to the branch, at 451 Jersey Street near Castro. Thank you.

Adult Fiction

- In Astonishing Splashes of Color, by Booker Prize finalist Claire Morrall, a woman who sees people in auras of color tries to uncover secrets of her childhood.

- April Fool's Day, a debut novel by Josip Novakovich, tells the darkly comedic tale of a Croatian "Everyman," and his struggle to survive through senseless wars and absurd ruling regimes.

- The 14 lyrical stories in Janette Turner Hospital's North of Nowhere, South of Loss take place in the Australian rain forest and the humid American South.

- An eccentric young woman in China recovers from a mental breakdown during the times of the Cultural Revolution in A Private Life by Ran Chen.

Adult Nonfiction

- In Deflation: What Happens When Prices Fall, public radio commentator Chris Farrell proposes a new way to look at economics.

- Cuba Style: Graphics from the Golden Age of Design features lush tropical posters, ads, and package designs from the 1920s through the 1950s.

- Simplicity and quality ingredients are the keys to good cooking, says Bay Area chef-author Wolfgang Puck, in Wolfgang Puck Makes It Easy: Delicious Recipes for Your Home Kitchen.

- In The I Hate George Bush Reader: Why Dubya Is Wrong About Absolutely Everything, editor Clint Willis includes essays from Calvin Trillin and Molly Ivins.

Children's Fiction

- In The Very Best Daddy of All, a picture book illustrated with pastels by Leslie Wu, author Marion Dane Bauer shows that fathers do many different things to love and nurture their offspring. Ages 2 to 5.

- In Peek! A Thai Hide-and-Seek, written by Minfong Ho and illustrated by Holly Meade, a father and his young daughter enjoy a game in which the father asks the animals in the jungle for "help" finding his slightly mischievous child. Ages 2 to 5.

- Using haiku riddles and mixed-media pictures, poet Jack Prelutsky and artist Ted Rand cleverly describe 17 animals in If Not for the Cat (...and the scarcity of cheese, I could be content). Ages 4 to 7.

- Molly is upset when her classmate declares, "No one has two mommies," but through discussion, she and her classmates become more accepting of the wide variety of families in the world, in Molly's Family, written by Nancy Garden and illustrated by Sharon Wooding. Ages 5 to 8.

- During his visit to the bee farm owned by his uncle, a wumblebug named Hector learns that friendship is more important than honey, in Hector Finds a Fortune, written by Elizabeth Shreeve and illustrated by Pamela Levy. Ages 7 to 10.

- In Gregor the Overlander, by Suzanne Collins, an 11-year-old boy and his 2-year-old sister fall through a hole into a strange underground world populated by mean talking rats (and friendly bats). Soon they learn it is the boy's destiny to save their father, who disappeared from their New York home a few years earlier. Ages 10 and up.