Noe Valley Voice February 2011
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2011:  A Book Odyssey

By Susan Higgins, Adult Librarian
Noe Valley/Sally Brunn Branch Library

Happy New Year from the Noe Valley/Sally Brunn Branch Library. This month, we’re featuring a sampling of books that have recently been added to our collection, as well as some reading recommendations from the Noe Valley Book Discussion Group. In addition to new books, you may have noticed that there are more movies on DVD, music CDs, and audio books to choose from. All of the audiovisual materials in the San Francisco Public Library system are now part of a “floating collection.” This means that items are shelved at the libraries where they are returned, instead of being sent back to their original branch locations. This has increased the number and variety of titles available for you to borrow, and we’re able to make them available for checkout right after they’ve been returned.


Recent Additions to the Collection

Picture Stories to Read Aloud

- For train lovers who just can’t get enough of Thomas, W. Audry’s 508-page Thomas the Tank Engine Story Collection is sure to provide hours of entertainment.

- Popular author Mo Willems tells the story of a lovable dinosaur and the boy who tried to prove that dinosaurs no longer exist, in Edwina, the Dinosaur Who Didn’t Know She Was Extinct.

- Overcome fears of the dark with Night Lights by Susan Gal, a bedtime story illustrated with pictures of firelight, streetlights, and reading lights.

 

Books for Older Children

- Mallory is thrilled when she gets the lead in the school play, but her best friend Mary Ann does not share her enthusiasm in Mallory in the Spotlight, the latest in the series by Laurie Friedman.

- Middle school boys will enjoy the adventures of Henry and his friends as they try to make their lives more like those of the heroes of their favorite novels, in Masters of Disaster by Gary Paulsen.

- Children will learn about the 38 ingredients in a chicken nugget and other details of the industrial food chain, the benefits of organic foods, tips for cooking their own food and finding “real” food in the supermarket, in a young reader’s edition of Michael Pollan’s The Omnivore’s Dilemma: The Secrets Behind What You Eat, adapted by Richie Chevat.

- “Slow, children crossing” vs. “Slow children crossing”? Have some laughs while learning about the importance of punctuation in Eats, Shoots, and Leaves: Why Commas Really Do Make a Difference, an illustrated children’s book based on the popular bestseller by Lynne Truss.

 

Books for Teens

- Zombies vs. Unicorns, compiled by Holly Black and Justine Larbalestier, includes 12 short stories written by bestselling teen authors that provide varying points of view on the superiority of unicorns or zombies.

- Twelfth-century Sicily is the setting for The Wager by Donna Jo Napoli, a novel based on the Italian fairy tale Don Giovanni de la Fortuna.

- In Shutout by Brendan Halpin, a long friendship between 14-year-old girls changes when one makes the varsity soccer team and the other the junior varsity team.

- Your Money, Day One: How to Start Right and End Rich, by Michael J. Wagner, is a personal finance manual for young adults that provides basic financial education and encourages good habits such as budgeting and avoiding credit card debt.

Adult Fiction

- The Lady Matador’s Hotel by Cristina Garcia tells the stories of six colorful characters who live in a luxury hotel in a nameless Central American capital.

- One Day by David Nicholls, one of the New York Times 100 Notable Books of 2010, provides July 15 snapshots of a relationship over the course of 20 years.

- So Much for That by Lionel Shriver is a novel about marriage, disease, and the shortcomings of the American health-care system.

 

Adult Non-Fiction

- Ferran: The Inside Story of El Bulli and the Man Who Reinvented Food, by award-winning food writer Colman Andrews, is the first biography of renowned Catalan chef Ferran Adria.

- The Best American Travel Writing 2010, a collection edited by Bill Buford, contains stories from popular writers including Susan Orlean, Christopher Hitchens, Simon Winchester, David Sedaris, and others.

- In Poisoning the Press: Richard Nixon, Jack Anderson, and the Rise of Washington’s Scandal Culture, award-winning journalist and professor Mark Feldstein details the long feud between the president and the investigative reporter.

 

Book Club Picks

- The Noe Valley Book Discussion Group has been meeting monthly at the Noe Valley Library on Jersey Street since June 2009. The group usually has 12 to 15 participants of varying ages and interests. All have enjoyed the opportunity to explore new authors and read books that they might not have discovered on their own. Every book they’ve selected has inspired thoughtful and lively discussions. Among their favorites:

- Prodigal Summer by Barbara Kingsolver, a novel exploring environmental issues in southern Appalachia;

- The Sea, the Man Booker Prize winner by Irish author John Banville;

- Suite Fran¨aise, Irene Nemirovsky’s posthumously published book set in German-occupied France; and

- Out Stealing Horses by Norwegian author Per Petterson, one of the library’s San Francisco Reads selections.

 

The San Francisco Public Library’s San Francisco Reads and One City One Book selections have proven to be excellent book club choices. In addition to Out Stealing Horses, the group has read People of the Book by Pulitzer Prize winner Geraldine Brooks, Zeitoun by Dave Eggers, and Flight by Sherman Alexie.

If you participate in a book group and would like to read any of these titles, don’t forget the Library’s Book Club in a Box program, where you can borrow a kit containing 10 copies of a book and a binder of discussion questions, reviews, and information about the author. You’ll find details at http://sfpl.org/bookclubinabox.

 

LIBRARY EVENTS

 

Do the Hambone with Unique Derique

On Saturday, Feb. 12, from 11 to 11:45 a.m., popular hambone artist Unique Derique will clown, play, and talk about African-American music, at an interactive event for children of all ages.

 

Toddler Tuesday

Noe Valley Children’s Librarian Jean Sweeney hosts Toddler Tales—stories, rhymes, movement, and music—on Tuesdays, Feb. 8 and 22, from 10:15 to 10:45 a.m., and 11 to 11:30 a.m. (The show at 11 is less crowded, she says.) Family Films will be shown the third Tuesday of the month—Tuesday, Feb. 15—at two times, 10:15 and 11 a.m.

 

Book Club Thrives

The Noe Valley Book Discussion Group welcomes new members to its monthly meetings. The next gathering will be on Wednesday, Feb. 16, from 7 to 8:30 p.m. Drop-ins welcome.

 

All events take place at the Noe Valley/Sally Brunn Branch Library, 451 Jersey Street between Castro and Diamond streets. For information, call 355-5707 or see www.sfpl.org.

 

BRANCH HOURS

Noe Valley/Sally Brunn Branch Library

451 Jersey St., 355-5707

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1-5

10-9
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Eureka Valley–Harvey Milk Branch Library

1 José Sarria Ct. (3555 16th St.), 355-5616

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12-6
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12-9
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Glen Park Branch Library

2825 Diamond St., 355-2858


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10-6
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Mission Branch Library

300 Bartlett St., 355-2800

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1-5
1-9
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