Ordering new books for the "Takoma Park Connection" aspect of Summer Quest's reading plan, I found an unexpectedly beautiful and poignant picture book called My Big Brother by Miriam Cohen, sensitively illustrated with watercolours by Ronald Himler, an outstanding artist/illustrator. In an understated way, the relationship between a young boy and his kind and loving older brother is developed. "My big brother is really smart, but college costs a lot. So he is going into the army." The quiet pain and grief of the mother and the brave attempts of the little boy to be the big brother now are both dignified and heart-rending.
And Tango Makes Three by Justin Richardson is the charming true story of two bonded male penguins at the New York Central Park Zoo who yearn for a chick of their own. By the way, the Library owns the scholarly Biological Exuberance : Animal Homosexuality and Natural Diversity by Bruce Bagemihl which is often refered to in this context.
Alert! Don't leave your required reading until the last week.
Summer reading lists for Montgomery County schools
recommendations for elementary aged children from Montgomery County Public Libraries (not required)
Takoma Park Middle School - required
Silver Spring International - required
Eastern - required
Blair - required (all pdf files) 9-10, 11-AP Lang, 12-AP Lit, Amer Studies
Additional information about local schools.
We will have four copies of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince available Saturday. They will go first to those who filled out green "suggestion for purchase" cards, then to those who subsequently requested a hold. Call us to join the hold queue. At this point (Thursday) you will be in the second set of recipients, probably just a 1-3 week wait. 301.391.7259.
Did you visit the Food Culture USA section of the Smithsonian's Festival of American Folklife? We have the perfect accompaniment, the award-winning and new Oxford Encyclopedia of Food and Drink in America. You cannot check it out, it is in reference. But it is meant to be read and browsed and - of course - savored. Much of the good new reference work is meant as much for the delight of the casual reader as for answering specific questions.
This new title complements the three volume Encyclopedia of Food and Culture, but there seems to be almost no overlap in content. Both are worth sitting down and reading. Recipes? - no, not many. You can find those in our large circulating collection of cookery books. But for the history of food and the culture of food, go to these two titles.
The Oxford Encyclopedia of American Food and Drink won a number of awards: 2005 RUSA Oustanding Reference Source, ALA Outstanding Reference Source, Booklist Editor's Choice for Best Reference, Gourmand World Cookbook Award Winner for "The Best Wine Literature Book in English" Library Journal Best Reference; and 2005 James Beard Award nominee.
The Encyclopedia of Food and Culture won the 2004 Dartmouth medal, the equivalent of the Oscar for reference books.
hot days? dreams of adventure or decadence? Another triad.
792.7 CONRAD Dance Naked: A Guide to Unleashing your Inner Hottie
581.63 HOBHOUS Seeds of Wealth: Four Plants that Made Men Rich (authors of Seeds of Change, yeah - includes both wine and tobacco)
306.099 TROOST The Sex Lives of Cannibals: Adrift in the Equatorial Pacific