Noe Valley Voice March 2009
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One-Year Anniversary Coming Up

The Noe Valley­Sally Brunn Library is celebrating a year of grand operation since its grand renovation, with a party on Sunday, March 8 (see details under Library Events). As it awaits the festivities, the branch will continue loaning out books and collecting new reads for your amusement and edification. A few of the latest acquisitions, including children's books suggested by librarian Carol Small, are listed below. To check out your favorites, drop by the library, at 451 Jersey Street. Locals should note that the branch is now open Tuesday through Sunday and is sponsoring more adult programming, such as the "Pride Open" theater event on Sunday, March 22. To contact Small or branch manager Alice McCloud, call 355-5707. For online library news, go to www.sfpl.org.

Children's Fiction

- Yoko can write her name in Japanese, but she struggles to read and write in English; when her kindergarten class gets their diplomas, their names are written in both languages, in Yoko Writes Her Name by Rosemary Wells. Ages 4 to 5.

- In Thump, Quack, Moo...A Whacky Adventure by Doreen Cronin, the chickens, the cows, and Duck get ready for the Corn Maze Festival. Ages 4 to 6.

- Traveling west in a pioneer wagon train, brave Hallie gets over her fear of storms when she witnesses the wildest weather imaginable, in The Buffalo Storm by Katherine Applegate, with illustrations by Jan Ormerod. Ages 6 to 8.

- Nancy Mercado edits Baseball Crazy: 10 Short Stories That Cover All the Bases, told from the viewpoint of both players and spectators. Ages 9 and up.

- When Tom becomes ill, he and his brother John travel across England to find a temporary home for their mind-reading dog Mouse, in A Dog for Life by L.S. Matthews. Ages 10 and up.

Children's Nonfiction

- Our White House: Looking In, Looking Out is a collection of essays, stories, poems, sketch journals, and letters to the president by 108 children's book authors and illustrators. Ages 9 and up.

Adult Fiction

- A Manhattan obituary writer and artist who creates still lifes from found and stolen objects runs off to a Mexican commune in The Sky Below by Stacey D'Erasmo.

- An orphaned gentlewoman in Victorian England inherits a haunted mansion and is determined to unravel its mysteries in The Seance by John Harwood.

- David Vann's Legend of a Suicide examines an Alaskan father's tragedy from the perspective of his son, in five stories and a novella.

- In Running Mother and Other Stories, Guo Songfen examines contemporary Taiwanese culture and history, told by its troubled citizens.

Adult Nonfiction

- New York Times war correspondent Dexter Filkins describes his work in Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Iraq since 1998 in The Forever War.

- In Freedom by Any Means, journalist Betty DeRamus writes about 19th-century slaves and freedmen, caught up in "con games, voodoo schemes, true love, and lawsuits on the Underground Railroad."

Annotations by Karol Barske, of the Voice staff

LIBRARY EVENTS

Library Celebration Features 'Music Jam with Dylan'

- Friends, neighbors, and staff of the Noe Valley­Sally Brunn Library invite you to come celebrate the first anniversary of the library's reopening, at an afternoon of live jazz, refreshments, and prizes on Sunday, March 8, 2 to 4:30 p.m. Kids (and adults) can join the "Music Jam with Dylan" at 2:30 p.m. That would be Dylan Donkin, playing songs, shakers, and percussion instruments.

Sexual Identity 'Pride Open' by Eastenders Repertory Co.

- On Sunday, March 22, 2 to 3 p.m., San Francisco's Eastenders Repertory Company will perform excerpts from Pride Open, a theater work exploring sexual identity through dramatic scenes, monologues, poetry, music, and dance. The full production will be staged April 2-11 at Exit Stage Left, 156 Eddy Street.

Appliqué 101 for Adults

- At Appliqué 101, on Tuesday, March 24, 6:30 to 8:45 p.m., Oakland clothing designer Gina Pericini, of Flock Home Linens, will show you how to take scraps of fabric--"think gingham, vintage floral prints, linen, African prints, [and] little toadstool clusters and birds"--and appliqué them onto a pot holder, apron, or tea towel. This free class, for ages 18 and older, is limited to 15 and requires advance signup. Drop by the branch.

It's Family Story Time

- The library holds Family Story Time on Tuesdays, March 3, 10, 17, and 31, from 11 to 11:30 a.m. The read-aloud program is aimed at children who are 5 or younger.

Double Feature for Kids

- Kids ages 3 to 5 are invited to come watch a half-hour of Short Films on Tuesday, March 24, starting at 10:15 a.m. The program will repeat at 11 a.m.

Toddler Tales Unveiled

- Treat your baby or toddler, age 18 months to 3 years old, to books, rhymes, music, and motion at Toddler Tales, offered on Tuesdays, March 3, 10, 17 & 31, at 10:15 a.m.

All events take place at the Noe Valley­Sally Brunn Branch Library at 451 Jersey Street, between Castro and Diamond streets. For information, call 355-5707.