New This Week
December 21, 2009
Column: At the Library
From: Cranbrook Public Library
By Mike Selby
If you are looking for that perfect book, movie, or audio program to curl up with over the holidays, the Library is your best bet. We have over 700 Christmas-themed books, which range from Charlie Brown and Rudolf all the way to Martha Stewart and John Grisham. Lesser known but highly-rated ones include L. Frank Baum’s THE LIFE & ADVENTURES OF SANTA CLAUSE, Louise May Alcott’s A QUIET LITTLE WOMAN, and J.R.R. Tolkien’s THE FATHER CHRISTMAS LETTERS.
Preschool and Toddler Story Times are taking a Christmas break. Both will be back again the first week of January.
Come and check out our new Christmas display, courtesy of Gordon Jackson.
Please note our holiday hours:
December 24th 9 am to 3 pm.
December 25th, 26th, 27th, & 28th closed.
December 29th 9 am to 9 pm.
December 31st 9 am to 3 pm.
January 1st closed.
January 2nd 10 am to 6 pm.
January 3rd closed.
The Library will be open during our regular hours for any dates not mentioned above.
ADULT NEWLY AQUIRED SHELF:
Schroeder’s Antiques Price Guide 2009 (745.1)
Stones into Schools " Greg Mortenson (371.823)
Metallic Thread Embroidery " Jacqueline Friedman Kreinik (746.44)
Island Lake Lodge : The Cookbook " Keith Liggett (641.50)
Improve Your Spanish (Teach Yourself) (468.2421)
Itsy Bitsy Yoga for Toddlers and Preschoolers " Helen Garabedian (613.70)
Good Grief : Healing Through the Shadow of Loss " Deborah Morris Coryell (155.937)
Printmaking & Mixed Media " Dorit Elisha (760.28)
Leonardo " Maria Costantino (759.5)
The Comics Since 1945 " Brian Walker (741.5973)
Wild Weather : The Truth Behind Global Warming " Reese Halter (363.738)
Cooking Well : Osteoporosis " Marie Annick Courtier (641.563)
Cooking Well : Multiple Sclerosis " Marie Annick Courtier (641.563)
Head Over Heels " Sam & Jenny Bailey (362.43)
Under Arrest : Canadian Laws You Won’t Believe " Bob Tarantino (349.71)
Living With Chronic Pain " Jennifer P. Schneider (616.0472)
Savage Peace " Ann Hagedorn (973.9)
Managing Diabetes and Pre-Diabetes " Bob Greene (616.462)
Betty Crocker’s Cookbook for Women " Rita F. Redberg (641.5)
Hope for Animals and Their World " Jane Goodall (591.68)
The 6 Week Cure for the Middle-Aged Middle " Mary Dan Eades (613.25)
Cash in a Flash " Mark Victor Hansen (650.12)
The Road to Woodstock " Michael Lang (781.66)
Intelligence for Your Life " John Tesh (650.1)
Gretzky’s Tears " Stephen Brunt (bio)
Small Beneath the Sky " Lorna Crozier (bio)
The Glass Seed " Eileen Delehanty Pearkes (bio)
Look at the Birdie " Kurt Vonnegut (fic)
2666 " Roberto Bolana (fic)
One Door Away from Heaven " Dean Koontz (fic)
Hell’s Aquarium " Steve Alten (fic)
The Perfect Man " Sheila Oflanagan (fic)
The Scarpetta Factor " Patricia Cornwell (mys)
Acts of Mercy " Mariah Stewart (mys)
The Interpretation of Murder " Jed Rubenfeld (mys)
The Taken " Inger Ash Wolfe (mys)
Dark Places " Gillian Flynn (mys)
The Paris Vendetta " Steve Berry (mys)
Divine Misdemeanors " Laurell K. Hamilton (sci fic)
The Book of Secrets " Tom Harper (pb)
The Daisy Club " Charlotte Bingham (pb)
The Darkening Glass " Paul Doherty (pb)
Silent Night, Haunted Night " Terri Garey (pb)
The Ghosts of Christmas Eve (DVD)
The Secret of the Nutcracker (DVD)
Home Alone (DVD)
It’s a Wonderful Life (DVD)
Miracle on 34th Street (DVD)
A Touch of Frost : Complete Seasons 6,7,8,9, & 10 (DVD)
Encounters at the End of the World (DVD)
YOUNG ADULT & CHILDREN’S NEWLY ACQUIRED ITEMS:
Chosen " Ted Dekker (ya fic)
Pop " Gordon Korman (ya fic)
The Good Neighbors " Holly Black (ya fic)
Walls Have Eyes " Clare B. Dunkle (ya fic)
Sent " Margaret Peterson Haddix (ya fic)
Shiver " Maggie Stiefvater (ya fic)
Eon : Dragoneye Reborn " Alison Goodman (ya fic)
In Odd We Trust " Dean Koontz (ya fic)
The Indigo Notebook " Laura Resau (ya fic)
Soulstice the Devouring " Simon Holt (ya fic)
Carter House Girls : Books 1 to 6 " Melody Carlson (ya fic)
Becoming Beka : Books 1 to 4 " Sarah Anne Sumpolec (ya fic)
Blood and Chocolate " Annette Curtis Klause (ya fic)
Sharks " Ian K. Kergusson (j 597.3)
Out of this World " Jacob Berkowitz (j 576.839)
The Kids Guide to Service Projects " Barbara A. Lewis (j 361.370)
Adventures on the Ancient Silk Road " Priscilla Galloway (j 950)
Jacob Two-Two on the High Seas " Gary Fagan (j fic)
Dora’s Christmas Carol Adventure (DVD)
A Muppets Christmas Letters to Santa (DVD)
Santa Buddies (DVD)
Thomas & Friends Holiday Express (DVD)
Toppy and Binoo Snowflakes (DVD)
Mickey’s Magical Christmas (DVD)
MIKE’S BOOKNOTES:
It was the morning of Boxing Day, 1956, when Theodor Geisel knew something was wrong. At 53, Geisel had built a prosperous career as a political cartoonist, magazine illustrator, and War Department artist. Married to a beautiful actress, Geisel lived in a fairly isolated mansion on Mt. Soledad, California, overlooking the small town of La Jolla. As he brushed his teeth that morning, he realized his life felt empty, and he knew why. He hated Christmas, and he wished it would go away. Although he was as tired as any middle aged person without children of the over-commercialization, the noise, the fuss, and false sentimentality of the holiday, he also had a deeper reason. He wife had cancer, and would soon commit suicide. This would darken any day, let alone the festive season.
Yet Geisel quickly stopped feeling sorry for himself. As he told Redbook Magazine the following year, “the problem wasn’t with Christmas, the problem was with me.” Geisel immediately began to write a story, to “see if I could rediscover something about Christmas that obviously I\'d lost.”
So Geisel"who wrote under the penname Dr. Seuss"wrote about the grouchiest of characters, one with pink eyes, tight shoes, and a heart two sizes too small. HOW THE GRINCH STOLE CHRISTMAS hit the bookshelves in 1957, and has been a bestseller ever since. Even though that green furry sourpuss tried to hijack their Christmas, the Whos in Who-ville showered him with goodwill anyway. “Perhaps Christmas doesn’t come from a store,” the Grinch (and the rest of us learn). “Maybe Christmas…perhaps…means a little bit more.” Born of Geisel’s pain, THE GRINCH is easily one of the most heartwarming and endearing stories of all time. Thank-you Dr. Seuss!
