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Book Display Ideas
January 2014
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"Time is but the stream I go a-fishing in."
~ Henry David Thoreau (1817-1862), American author and philosopher, Walden
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FOR LIBRARY STAFF. The ideas and books listed here are meant as starting points to help you gear up and plan for March 2014 displays. Search terms are provided for each of the selected themes to help you find books in your collection and fill out the display. And, if you want more display ideas, other options are listed at the end of the newsletter.
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"Time" in the Title (Adult Fiction)
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As the new year marches on and daylight savings time begins for many people on Sunday, March 9, it might be a good time to revisit the idea of time (before it's too late!).
Search strategy: simply do a title search in your catalog for "time," limiting the results to whatever type of book you want (we chose adult fiction).
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| The Time Keeper by Mitch AlbomAdult Fiction. This magical fable by multi-talented author Mitch Albom addresses the way people think about time. The story begins with Dor, who creates the first clock, and by doing so, unwittingly displeases God. Turning into Father Time, Dor must listen to every human's complaints about time for each generation. When he can take no more, he learns that he will be released from bondage if he can help two modern-day people: an elderly man who's dying and wants more time and an insecure teenager who wants to give up the time she's allotted. In simple yet moving prose, Albom shows how Dor teaches the two of them the true meaning of time and how to appreciate what they have. |
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| In the Time of the Butterflies by Julia AlvarezAdult Fiction. In this well-wrought story based on real people and actual events, Julia Alvarez follows the lives of the four Mirabal sisters, known as the butterflies, who lived in the Dominican Republic under ruthless dictator General Trujillo. Each sister is given her own voice as the novel traces their movement from children to women and underground revolutionaries until, after visiting their husbands in prison, three of them are murdered in 1960. The remaining sister, Ded, now an old woman, then shares her memories each year with the journalists and visitors who always descend upon her. |
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| A Time to Kill by John GrishamAdult Fiction. In Ford County, Mississippi, two 20-something white drug dealers brutally rape a ten-year-old African American girl. Sheriff Ozzie Walls, "the only black sheriff in Mississippi," identifies and arrests the two men even as the girl, Tonya, undergoes surgery for her many injuries. Later, when the two rapists are on the courthouse steps, Tonya's father fatally shoots them, and then hires white criminal lawyer Jake Brigance to defend him. As the case causes a racial uproar, Jake faces the danger and the legal fight of his life. Legal thriller master John Grisham examines a father's retribution and the idea of justice in his compelling debut novel that received little attention until his second book, The Firm, was published; A Time to Kill was eventually turned into a major motion picture. |
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| The Time Machine by H.G. WellsAdult Fiction. This classic 19th-century science fiction novel tells the story of the Time Traveler as he relates his time-traveling experiences to dinner guests. They learn, but don't believe, that he'd hurtled years into the future and encountered a world populated by two distinct races, the childlike Eloi and the disgusting Morlocks who prey on the Eloi. This fantastic read has stood the test of time and is a favorite of many. |
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Graphic Novels for Younger Kids (Juvenile Fiction)
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As the school year nears completion, a lot of kids will be preparing for and taking tests. Some of them probably don't want to look at a text-heavy book right now. So we thought it might be a good time to highlight comics and graphic novels for the younger ages.
Subject search terms: Cartoons and comics; Graphic novels.
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| Babymouse: Queen of the World! by Jennifer L. Holm and Matthew HolmJuvenile Fiction. Babymouse is the queen of the world...in her vivid imagination. In real life, the clever mouse really, really wants an invitation to the most popular girl's exclusive slumber party (even if she has to cancel plans with another friend). Luckily, she has her wits and daydreams to help her get through it all. Is one book of pink sassiness not enough for you? No? Then you'll be pleased to hear the indomitable Babymouse stars in numerous other adventures. The Horn Book says in a starred review, "Nobody puts Babymouse in the corner!" |
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| Owly: The Way Home & The Bittersweet Summer by Andy RuntonJuvenile Fiction. A cute owl named Owly and his worm friend named Wormy have two adventures in this almost wordless graphic novel. In the first story, Owly saves Wormy during a storm. In the second, the two make friends with hummingbirds in the forest. Kids who are just learning to read as well as those who already are proficient will enjoy this quietly sweet 1st volume in a charming series. |
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| Jack and the Box by Art SpiegelmanJuvenile Fiction. In this delightful book by Art Spiegelman, the Pulitzer-Prize winning author of Maus, A Survivor's Tale, a bunny named Jack receives a mischievous and troublesome (in a Cat-in-the-Hat kind of way) Jack-in-the-box toy as a present and gets several unexpected surprises when the toy pops open. Jack and the Box is just one volume in the critically acclaimed, easy-to-read Toon Book series (created by Spiegelman and his wife) that features various authors, artists, characters, and storylines (and is available in several reading levels). |
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| Binky the Space Cat by Ashley SpiresJuvenile Fiction. Binky is a cat with a mission: to protect his humans from aliens, which are everywhere (his humans call them "bugs"). His official certification as a Space Cat has just arrived in the mail from F.U.R.S.T. (Felines of the Universe Ready for Space Travel), and he's decided to build a rocket ship so he can explore outer space and battle aliens on their home turf. But if he blasts into space and leaves his humans behind, who will protect them while he's gone? You don't have to be a cat lover to appreciate this funny, tongue-in-cheek adventure -- but if you are, you'll laugh extra-hard at Binky, the bug-munching kitty with a secret identity. |
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Oil Spills (Juvenile Fiction and Nonfiction)
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Get a jump on Earth Day (which is Tuesday, April 22nd) by doing a display this month about the 25th anniversary of the Exxon Valdez disaster, which caused the leaking of 11 million gallons of crude oil in Prince William Sound on March 24, 1989.
Subject search terms: BP Deepwater Horizon Explosion and Oil Spill, 2010--Environmental aspects; Exxon Valdez Oil Spill, Alaska, 1989; Oil pollution of the sea; Oil spills; Oil spills--Environmental aspects.
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| Oil Spill! by Melvin Berger; illustrated by Paul MirochaJuvenile Nonfiction. Oil spills and their consequences can be a confusing idea for kids to fully grasp, but this well-illustrated book explains why oil spills occur and how they are cleaned up as well as offering strategies for preventing them in the future. Part of the Let's-Read-and-Find-Out Science series, Oil Spill! would be useful in the classroom, in the home, or for Earth Day programs. |
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| Creole Belle by James Lee BurkeAdult Fiction. Detective Dave Robicheaux recovers from a gunshot wound in a New Orleans hospital where he briefly sees Tee Jolie Melton, a troubled Cajun woman, who tells him "I know something I ain't suppose to know, and it makes me scared, Mr. Dave." But since Tee Jolie has been missing for months, everyone thinks she was a vision caused by the morphine. Dave himself isn't so sure, especially when her sister is found floating in the water...in a block of ice. Against the backdrop of a bayou-threatening oil well rupture in the Gulf of Mexico, this lyrical 19th book in a popular crime series finds Dave sorting out the bad guys in fine style once again. |
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| A Sea in Flames: The Deepwater Horizon Oil Blowout by Carl SafinaAdult Nonfiction. In A Sea in Flames, world-renowned oceanographer (and MacArthur "Genius Award" winner) Carl Safina discusses the 2010 Gulf of Mexico BP oil-spill disaster, including the shoddy work and safety rules that caused the event and the ineffective responses by big business and government officials after it happened. Safina also addresses the spill's environmental impact on the many animals and people nearby. If you're interested in more books on the worst offshore oil spill in U.S. history, look for A Hole at the Bottom of the Ocean by Joel Achenbach and A Fire on the Horizon by John Konrad. |
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| The Story of a Seagull and the Cat who Taught Her to Fly by Luis Sepúlveda; translated by Margaret Sayers Peden; illustrated by Chris ShebanJuvenile Fiction. While flying with her flock, a seagull doesn't hear a warning and ends up in a watery oil slick. She tries to free her feathers from the sticky black goo, but knows she will die. Before she does, she makes it to shore, at the Port of Hamburg, where she entrusts her egg to Zorba the cat. Zorba promises to watch the egg until it hatches (and to NOT eat it), to take care of the chick and teach it to fly. Can a cat teach a bird to fly? Yes, with help, but you'll need to read this "intelligent, eloquently translated work" to see how. Wonderful and "delicate charcoal and pastel drawings heighten the sense of magic" (Publishers Weekly) in this charming book that combines a touching story with a bit of humor. |
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- It was 60 years ago, on March 1, 1954, at Bikini Atoll in the Marshall Islands, that the United States tested the most powerful nuclear device it has ever detonated.
- Mardi Gras is March 4th; Ash Wednesday is March 5th.
- World Kidney Day occurs March 13th.
- Get out your green books -- St. Patrick's Day is Monday, March 17th.
- Seasons change with the March equinox on the 20th. In the northern hemisphere, spring arrives; in the southern, autumn does.
- Yuri Gagarin, the Soviet cosmonaut who became the first man in space, was born 80 years ago, on March 9, 1934.
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