February 2010 RETURN TO HOME PAGE FEEDBACK

It's a new year, and with the cold and rainy weather you may be spending more time at home, thinking about "de-cluttering" your environment, getting better organized, or planning home improvements. Need help with ideas? Try these resources, all available through your local public library.

Resources to Organize Your Life

- The Only 127 Things You Need: A Guide to Life's Essentials, by Donna Wilkinson, offers advice on how to simplify your life and reduce clutter. Authorities on health, fashion, housing, and psychology recommend what to keep and what to throw away.

- The Urban Homestead: Your Guide to Self-Sufficient Living in the Heart of the City, by Kelly Coyne and Erik Knutzen, contains step-by-step projects for growing and preserving your own food within the limitations of small city spaces.

- Cut Your Energy Bills Now by Bruce Harley contains 150 projects and tips that will make your home more comfortable and green. Contains many color phot ographs.

- Haley's Hints Green Edition, by Graham and Rosemary Haley, offers more than 1,000 hints for cleaning and home repair using nontoxic household products.

New Books for Children and Teens

Picture stories for young children:

- Chicken Soup by Jean Van Leeuwen is a delightful farm story for reading aloud.

- Herb the Vegetarian Dragon by Jules Bass is a story about how meat eaters learned to live in peace and harmony with a garden-loving dragon.

- In Oh My Gosh, Mrs. McNosh by Sarah Weeks a dog chases after a mischievous squirrel and literally crashes a wedding.

Fiction for older children:

- Kristen Tracy's Camille McPhee Fell Under the Bus is the humorous story of a resilient fourth-grader who copes with a variety of challenges. Grades 3-5.

- Return to Groosham Grange by Anthony Horowitz is the sequel to the humorous horror story at boarding school Groosham Grange. Grades 5-7.

- Return to the Hundred-Acre Wood by David Benedictus. Winnie-the-Pooh enjoys new adventures with Christopher Robin and his friends in a new book that captures the spirit of the original works of A. A. Milne. Grades 1-4.

Fiction for teens:

- The Glass Maker's Daughter by V. Briceland offers magic, suspense, and a strong-willed heroine in a medieval setting.

- A 14-year-old boy is determined to be the last member of his family to die from lightning strikes, in Jolted: Newton Starker's Rules for Survival, by Arthur Slade.

- Secret Keeper by Mitali Perkins is a novel set during the turmoil of 1970s India that explores relationships between mothers, sisters, daughters, and women and men.

READ CONSUMER REPORTS FOR FREE

Did you know that articles from Consumer Reports magazine are available on the San Francisco Public Library's website? With your library card number and PIN, you can search for artic les in the current and back issues from any computer with Internet access. Here's how:

* Go to www.sfpl.org.

* Click on the link to Articles and Databases.

* Scroll down the list of Articles and News databases and click on EBSCOHost Magazines MasterFILE Premier. You will be asked to enter your library card number and PIN.

* Now you'll see the home page for EBSCOHost Magazines. Click on Advanced Search.

* Type your topic in the box at the top of the screen, for example, toasters. Then scroll down to the box labeled Publication, and type Consumer Reports. Then click the blue Search button at the bottom of the page.

* You'll see a list of articles containing the word toasters. To read an article, click on its PDF full text or HTML full text link.

The library also has print copies of the last 18 months of Consumer Reports, which you can use while you're in the branch.

LIBRARY EVENTS

Toddler Tales and Story Time

- Kids 18 months to 3 years old will love the songs and rhym es at Toddler Tales, held Tuesdays, Feb. 2, 9, 16, and 23, from 10:15 to 10:40 a.m. Family Story Time, for children of all ages, follows on most days at 11 a.m.

Talk About Books

- The Noe Valley Library's Book Discussion Group meets on Wednesday, Feb. 17, 7 to 8:30 p.m.

Rooftop Gardening Made Easy

- Want to grow flowers or vegetables on your deck? Tips on rooftop gardening will be presented in partnership with the Garden for the Environment on Saturday, March 6, 2 to 3 p.m.

All events take place at the Noe Valley­ Sally Brunn Library, 451 Jersey Street near Castro Street; 415-355-5707.