Help us Fold 1,000 Cranes

The Broome County Public Library invites area youth to be part of a project to make 1,000 paper cranes. According to Japanese legend, if you fold a thousand origami cranes, a wish will be granted, and there are many people in our area who wish for peace, safety, and prosperity. Help us fold cranes to display in the library as a sign of hope for our community!

We’ll be folding cranes in the Young Adult Area of the library on these dates:
Saturday, November 14, 1:00-4:30pm
Monday, November 16, 3:00-5:00pm
Wednesday, November 18, 3:00-5:00pm
Monday, November 23, 5:00-7:30pm

This program is intended for youth ages 13-18, but others are welcome to join in folding cranes. For more information, or if you would like to make origami cranes at home and bring them to the library to be part of the display, please contact Sarah at 607-778-3564 or teen@bclibrary.info.

America's National Parks

Did you get a chance to watch any of Ken Burns' documentary The National Parks: America's Best Idea on PBS last week? I was able to watch a few of the episodes, and I was so interested by the history of the parks. It was amazing to me to learn about the passion and hard work of those who wanted to save beautiful places that were important to them.

When I did a search in our catalog for National Parks, I was surprised and delighted to see that a number of libraries in the Four County Library System own the companion book to the film. (Of course, I put it on hold right away, and I'm enjoying reading it!)

I've had a couple of patrons ask me for books about people they learned about through the series, and although we don't have information about all of them, we do have materials by and/or about the following notable people mentioned in the film:
- John Muir
- Theodore Roosevelt
- Horace Albright
- Shelton Johnson

If the film inspired you to do some exploring of the parks themselves, we've got a few series that might be of interest to you:
- Frommer's National Parks guides
- Fodor's National Parks guides
- Adventures in America's Western Parks (DVD series)
- The World's Greatest Parks (VHS series)
- National Park Guide series

There are many more books about the National Parks and their history! You can search our catalog to find others that are in our system, or you can stop by the library, and we'd be glad to help you find what you're looking for.

Upcoming Special Events for Children

We have a couple of special children's programs coming up next week, and we're pretty excited about them! Take a look:

Monday, October 12, 2:00-4:30pm

Join us for some "Smooth Sailing" and Columbus Day-themed art activities! This event has been generously funded by Senator Tom Libous's BOOKS Program. This event is for children ages 7 and older. Pre-registration required.

Saturday, October 17, 10:00am

American Red Cross-Scrubby Bear visits the Youth Services Department! Scrubby Bear® reminds children and adults that infection can be fought through frequent hand washing. Scrubby is an immediate reminder to scrub your hands, reinforced by his message, “Don’t get sick, and Wash up quick!” The program is most appropriate for children ages 4 through 7. Pre-registration is required.

For more information, or to register for either of these events, you can call 607-778-6456 or email youth@bclibrary.info.

Teen Read Week at the Broome County Public Library

The Broome County Public Library will be celebrating teens and reading during Teen Read Week, October 19-24. We're joining thousands of other libraries and schools across the country who are encouraging teens to read just for the fun of it!



We have two ways for you to join in our celebration:


Teen Read Week Café
Monday, October 19, 6:00pm—Exhibit Room (Second Floor)
Help us to kick off Teen Read Week by enjoying some sweet snacks and hot chocolate! There will be crafts and games available, as well as a chance to share a reading of a favorite poem or short story. For more info, or to sign up, you can contact Sarah at 607-778-3564 or teen@bclibrary.info. (Signing up is not required, but it sure would be helpful!)


Raffle: Read, Review, WIN!
Here’s how it works:
1. Read a book.
2. Fill out a book review form with your name, email, phone number, and at least three sentences with your thoughts on the book. (Review forms will be available between October 12 and October 24.)
3. Put your completed review form in the box on the teen materials shelf by October 24.
4. If you’d like, you may repeat steps 1-3 (up to a maximum of 10 entries).
5. Wait for a call to see if you’re one of the winners. (Winners will be drawn at random on October 26.)

Prizes will include gift certificates for River Read Books in downtown Binghamton.

Twilight Zone - The 50th Anniversary

If you live anywhere near Binghamton, chances are that you already know about the TZ at 50 celebration that's taking place this weekend to mark the 50th anniversary of the airing of the first episode of The Twilight Zone.

There will be plenty of events going on in Binghamton this weekend, and there will be Rod Serling Conferences at Ithaca College and Antioch College. On Saturday evening, WSKG, our local PBS affiliate, will air live performances of two Twilight Zone scripts, along with a short documentary produced by WSKG's Emmy award-winning Brian Frey.

Others have decided to get in on the Serling celebration, too. The Chamber of Commerce has created a special pamphlet, complete with a map of Serling-specific sites to visit in Binghamton. We've got a Rod Serling postage stamp now, and a BC Transit bus with a larger-than-life image of Mr. Serling.

It's appropriate that we should have such an over-the-top celebration because Rod Serling was proud of his Binghamton heritage. In an interview, he's quoted as saying,

"Everyone has to have a hometown. Binghamton's mine. In the strangely
brittle terribly sensitive makeup of a human being, there is need for a place to
hang a hat, or a kind of geographical womb to crawl back into, or maybe just a
place that's familiar because that's where you grew up.

"When I dig back through memory cells, I get one particularly distinctive feeling and that's one of warmth, comfort, and well-being. For whatever else I may have had or lost or will find, I've still got a hometown. This, nobody's gonna take away from me."

And, of course, if you're interested in delving more into The Twilight Zone or into Rod Serling's past, the library has a wealth of resources.

We have:
- books about Rod Serling
- Twilight Zone Radio Dramas on audiocassette and CD
- episodes of The Twilight Zone on videocassette
- graphic novel adaptations of Twilight Zone scripts
- and more!

Also, if you want to read articles about Serling and about past Twilight Zone-related local events, Local History has LOTS of information.

Fall Book Reviews

The Friends of the Broome County Public Library have announced the dates for the Fall 2009 Book Reviews. The Reviews will take place on Wednesdays, 12:00-1:15pm, in the Library's Decker Room. Lunch may be purchased at Porfolio's Cafe, which is located in the rotunda of the library, across from the Decker Room.



Wednesday, September 23, 12:00-1:15pm

The Greatest Story Ever Sold: The Decline and Fall of Truth from 9/11 to Katrina by Frank Rich

Reviewer: David Rossie, Press & Sun Bulletin Writer




Wednesday, September 30, 12:00-1:15pm

As Time Goes By: Boomerang Marriages, Serial Spouses, Throwback Couples, and Other Romantic Adventures in an Age of Longevity by Abigail Trafford

Reviewer: DeWitt Henricks, Binghamton University Adjunct Lecturer in Communications




Wednesday, October 7, 12:00-1:15pm

Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln by Doris Kearns Goodwin

Reviewer: Gerald Smith, Broome County Historian





Wednesday, October 14, 12:00-1:15pm

Little Pink House: A True Story of Defiance and Courage by Jeff Benedict

Reviewers: Gerald Loy and Tom Rossi, Professors, Broome Community College




Wednesday, October 21, 12:00-1:15pm

Nonviolent Communication: A Language of Life by Marshall B. Rosenberg, PhD

Reviewer: Catherine Stuckart, Binghamton attorney





Wednesday, October 28, 12:00-1:15pm

Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark by Alvin Schwartz

Reviewer: Rawn Spearman, Retired IBM Employee, GED Teacher





Wednesday, November 4, 12:00-1:15pm

The Help by Kathryn Stockett

Reviewer: Cheryl Ebert, Trustee of Broome County Public Library, Retired Teacher in the Johnson City School District





Substitute

Retribution: The Battle for Japan 1944-45 by Max Hastings

Reviewer: Norman J. Sweeney, Chairman of Book Reviews, Friends of the Library, Superintendent Emeritus of the Chenango Forks School District

More Books Made into Movies

Here are a few more upcoming movies that are based on books.

(Click on the pictures for links to the movie websites and the books in our catalog.)

Brief Interviews with Hideous Men (release date September 25) - based on the 1999 book by David Foster Wallace

Coco Before Chanel (release date September 25) - based on L'irreguliere by Edmonde Charles-Roux - English translation (Chanel) by Nancy Amphoux

The Private Lives of Pippa Lee (release date October 23) - based on the 2008 book by Rebecca Miller

The Vampire's Assistant (release date October 23) - based on the Cirque du Freak series by Darren Shan

The Box (release date November 6) - based on the short story "Button, Button" by Richard Matheson

Disney's A Christmas Carol (release date November 6) - based on the book by Charles Dickens

The Men Who Stare at Goats (release date November 6) - based on the 2004 book by Jon Ronson

Fantastic Mr. Fox (release date November 13) - based on the book by Roald Dahl


The Blind Side (release date November 20) - based on the 2006 book by Michael Lewis


The Twilight Saga: New Moon (release date November 20) - based on the 2006 book by Stephenie Meyer


The Road (release date November 25) - based on the 2006 book by Cormac McCarthy


Invictus (release date December 11) - based on Playing the Enemy by John Carlin


The Lovely Bones (release date December 11) - based on the 2002 book by Alice Sebold