New Books
7
th
Heaven by James Patterson
A New Earth by Eckhart Tolle
And Another Thing by Dan Wooten
The Appeal by John Grisham
Boom! By Tom Brokaw
Born Standing Up by Steve Martin
Carrot Cake Murder by Joanne Fluke
Change of Heart by Jodi Piccoult
The Choice by Nicholas Sparks
Duma Key by Stephen King
Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert
Firefly Lane by Kristin Hannah
The Flamenco Academy by Sarah Bird
Gossip Girls series by Cecily Von
Ziegesar
My Name is Red by Orhan Pamuk
People of the Book by Geraldine
Brooks
Plum Lucky by Janet Evanovich
Return to Titanic by Robert Ballard
Someday by Karen Kingsbury
Soul Catcher by Michael White
Zan-Gah by Allan Shickman
New DVDs
3:10 to Yuma
Bee Movie
Facing the Giants
The Game Plan
Hairspray
The Namesake
No Reservations
Snow Buddies
Transformers
Underdog
New Games
Guitar Hero II
Guitar Hero III
Gifts and Memorials
Ed and Laura Evans
Monday Morning Coffee Group
Book Review By Laura Evans
Author Dorothea Benton Frank was introduced to me when her lastest book appeared on the New York
Times Bestseller list. Although Full of Grace was not her first geographical novel it was her first to be
acclaimed. Sherrard Library now owns her entire collection. The reader instantly becomes a part of
the Carolinas which the author skillfully sets. She was born and raised on Sullivan's Island, and, thus,
the title of her first novel. Sullivan's Island is touching, thoughtful, funny, and centers around a young
woman's journey towards truth. Dorothea Frank takes you to the beaches where you feel the ocean
spray and sense the cool breezes. She shares wisdom, reality, architecture, generations, celebrations,
and teaches the art of Gullah the language and culture of the south, which Dorothea calls simply
`Lowcountry magic'. Her characters are full of life and spirit; her observations hysterical. Each story
is independent of the next, however the reader is occasionally reintroduced to characters from the other
Islands. If you have wanted to visit the Carolinas, let Dorothea Franks be your guide. Your trip will
include Plantation, Isle of Palms, Shem Creek, Pawley's Island, and Full of Grace. Add a trip to Bull's
Island when it is released this spring. The island stories will tug at your heartstrings and tickle your
funny bones!
While your soul is being filled with the grace of the South, you may visit with the author in live chat on
April 7
th
. Visit her website for details.
On Loving Libraries
When I learned to read, I was reading billboards out loud everywhere we went. My parents got the clue
to buy me some books. My first was a book of illustrated fair tales and nursery rhymes (originally coded
messages about politics in Olde England, disguised as children's stories). Still, these writings made me
hungry for more and I read everything I could get my hands on. When we moved to a small town where
we didn't know anybody, I was a shy child and it was hard making friends, until I discovered the library.
Authors became my friends, like story-tellers keeping me company and guiding me to new
neighborhoods and worlds. They gave me brave companions having new experiences. Even when I felt
scared, I knew I would be okay because "we" would solve the problems and get home safely.
When school was out in summer, I would ride my bike to the library and fill the basket with books. In
a few days, I would be back for another load. In those "old days" before dishwashers, I propped a book
on the kitchen sink so I could read while washing dishes. I often read under the covers at night with a
flashlight because the ending of each chapter was too exciting for me to close the book.
My mother would shake her head and call me a "book warm". I read pretty much everything in that small
library in Palmyra, Mo. and was starting the encyclopedias and National Geographics. Then I got to high
school and a whole new library! Along the way, books gave me things to talk about, so I found a way to
make some real-life friends at the same time.
Some books I remember to this day with smiles of pleasure, my best memories of youth.
The Judy Bolton, girl detective series, was a favorite. Yes, we've all heard about Nancy Drew and I tried
one of her tales, titled Der Rehtaef, which turned out to be "Red Feather" backwards. I thought that was
pretty lame. For my taste, the book couldn't hold a candle to Judy's escapades. Judy, Judy- she was my
role model.
During my years of working overtime, my reading got restricted to books on tape and CD, as my car
became a library on wheels. These gave me a change of pace, laughter, and the spices of many cultures.
When I went to college I majored in English literature, thinking it would be a snap! What I learned
was that any good piece of writing, including movies, has a theme, a message, a piece of wisdom the
author has been cooking for a long time, like a bone in a stew pot. And usually, it will be clearly stated
somewhere. The art lies in making the message come alive to soak into our eyes and ears, our thinking
brain, our emotions, and, if it is a VERY good piece of literature, we will feel it even in our nerve
endings, a flash of electricity. Then that message is burned into the DVD of our minds forever. The
professor in The History Boys says it well: "A hand reaches out of the book and grabs you."
I walk carefully through the library. From all side, hands reach out to pull me in to some delicious new
thing. If I come up missing some day, you know where I'll be.
March 11, 2008 Written with love for literature and libraries by Ms. Steve Drucker
Meet Jaimee Buttgen
We would like to introduce the newest member of the Sherrard Public Library staff, Jaimee!
Jaimee is 17 years old and will be graduating from Sherrard High School in May where she is active in
choir, dance, and drama. She will be attending Western Illinois University in Macomb, starting in August,
and will be studying Journalism. Jaimee will be performing in the Spring musical Beauty and the Beast at
the high school.
