May 2011 RETURN TO HOME PAGE FEEDBACK

May is Mental Health Month and a good time to visit the library for information on a wide variety of topics related to the mind. Librarians can help you find books with tips for keeping your mind sharp, learning about a medical condition, or studying the brain. You can also find novels whose characters exhibit mental illness, and memoirs whose authors provide first-person accounts of living with a particular condition.

 

For Adults

- Mark Vonnegut, a pediatrician and son of writer Kurt Vonnegut, provides a witty account of mental illness in Just Like Someone Without Mental Illness, Only More So: A Memoir.

- Your Mind at Its Best: 40 Ways to Keep Your Brain Sharp, by David Biebel, James Dill, and Bobbie Dill, is a practical guide to a wide variety of ways to exercise the brain.

- In The Secret Life of the Grown-Up Brain: The Surprising Talents of the Middle-Aged Mind, Barbara Strauch reviews science facts showing that certain mental faculties improve with age.

- The Brain Power Cookbook, by Dr. Phil consultants Frank Lawlis and Maggie Greenwood-Robinson, includes more than 200 recipes that may “energize your thinking, boost your mood, and sharpen your memory.”

 

For Teens

- Behind Happy Faces by Ross Szabo provides teens with information about common mental disorders and includes first-person stories on diagnosing, treating, and living with them.

- In Mathilde Monaque’s Trouble in

My Head: A Young Girl’s Fight with Depression, the author describes her depression starting at age 14 and how she overcame it.

- Girl, Interrupted is Susanna Kaysen’s account of her two-year stay in a psychiatric hospital during college.

 

For Children

- Too Old for This, Too Young for That! Your Survival Guide for the Middle School Years, by Harriet Mosatche and Karen Unger, is a reassuring guide that helps children deal with the transition to middle school.

- Real Friends vs. the Other Kind by Annie Fox addresses issues that middle school children face, including gossip, exclusion, peer pressure, and making friends.

- The Feelings Book: The Care and Keeping of Your Emotions, by Lynda Madison, helps girls understand and deal with a range of emotions, including fear, anger, and jealousy.

Picture Stories

- In Red Sled, by Patricia Thomas, illustrated by Chris Demarest, a boy and his father talk about sadness and happiness while sledding on a winter’s night.

- Bye-Bye Time, by Elizabeth Verdick, illustrated by Marieka Heinlen, may reduce the separation anxiety that preschoolers sometimes feel when they are left at the babysitter or in childcare.

- Dinosaurs Divorce: A Guide for Changing Families, by Laurene Krasny Brown and Marc Brown, may help very young children understand why parents divorce and how the change will impact their lives.

 

Other Good Books to Read

The May/June San Francisco Reads pick is Will Grayson, Will Grayson, by John Green and David Levithan. Two teens—both named Will Grayson—cross paths and find their lives going in new and unexpected directions.

 

SF Bay Reads Blog

The San Francisco Public Library’s website, www.sfpl.org, now offers another new place for you to look for suggestions on what to read next: the SF Bay Reads Blog. This new blog contains reviews written by library staff, highlighting fiction and nonfiction from the SFPL collections. You’ll also find links to other sites containing book selection tools, news, and other resources for readers.

 

Summer Reading Programs for Everyone

This year’s Summer Reading Program, “Power Your Mind: Read!” starts on Wednesday, June 1, and runs through Saturday, July 30. Everyone can participate regardless of age. To find out more, check with your local library or go to sfpl.org.

 

LIBRARY EVENTS

 

From Carnegie to Koolhaas: An Artist Talk with Robert Dawson

On Saturday, May 14, at 3 p.m., photographer Robert Dawson will visit the Noe Valley Library to discuss his photo exhibition “Public Libraries: An American Commons,” currently on display at the Main Library. Dawson’s subjects are libraries throughout the United States—from historic Andrew Carnegie buildings to contemporary architecture such as the Seattle Public Library designed by architect Rem Koolhaas.

 

Great Books in May

The Great Books Council of San Francisco will sponsor monthly discussions of famous short stories, essays, and speeches starting on Wednesday, May 11, from 6:15 to 8:15 p.m. The topic of the first meeting will be the Declaration of Independence, available online at http: //www.earlyamerica.com/early america/freedom/doi/text.html.

 

Gathering of the Group

The next meeting of the Noe Valley Library’s Book Discussion Group is Wednesday, May 18, at 7 p.m.

 

Once Upon a Time

Come hear stories, songs, and rhymes at the Tuesday Toddler Tales, held on May 3, 10, 24, and 31, at 10:15 and 11 a.m. If you’re part of a group, call ahead to reserve space. Also, please park strollers by the elevator.

 

Flicks for Kids

Preschool children can watch a half hour of short films on Tuesday, May 17. First showing is 10:15 to 10:45 a.m.; the second starts at 11 a.m.

 

All events take place at the Noe Valley/ Sally Brunn Library, 451 Jersey St. near Castro Street. For information, call 415-355-5707 or go to www.sfpl.org.

BRANCH HOURS

Noe Valley/Sally Brunn Branch Library

451 Jersey St., 355-5707

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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	10-9	12-9	10-6	1-6	1-6

Glen Park Branch Library

2825 Diamond St., 355-2858

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	10-6	10-6	12-8	1-7	1-6	1-6

Mission Branch Library

300 Bartlett St., 355-2800

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1-5	1-9	10-9	10-9	10-6	1-6	10-6