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MORRISVILLE LIBRARY NEWS
by Mary Brown
May is Amnesty Month at the library. We will forgive
any overdue fines this month if you just return any long-lost
library books. Even if you are like the person in California
who recently returned a book that had been signed out of the
library there in 1944 - and had accrued more than $3600. in
overdue fines - bring that book in to us and pay no fine!
May flowers are budding in the library's garden, and
several great activities are springing to life as well. On
May 3rd at 7 p.m., the Book Talk for adult readers will focus
on Barbara Kingsolver's Prodigal Summer. Copies of the book are
available for sign-out at the circulation desk. Pick up a copy
and join us for an evening of lively discussion led by Roxanna
Pisiak.
On May 7th at 10:30 a.m., Grandma B. will be sharing
the wonders of frogs with the pre-school set as part of the
Pre-School Story Hour series. Bring in the little ones for this
fun-filled hour with books - and the ever-lively Grandma B.
During the month of May, we have in the program room an
interesting display of handmade musical instruments, an interactive
display of musical instruments for children, and an exhibit of
books about music. Stop by and take a look - or try out some
of the "interactive" music makers. The beautifully-made
ones in the display case were crafted by the musical son of our
very own Barb Fogg.
Coming up on May 21st is the vote on the School District
Library proposition. We are hoping you will all vote "YES'
on this proposition since it will help the library so much.
So that you can vote with confidence, this column will be answering
over the next few weeks some of the commonly asked questions
about this proposition.
What is a School District Library? It is a library that
serves the taxpayers who live in the school district. The library
will still remain a public library, and the MECS school district
will have no involvement in running or governing the Morrisville
Library. They are tax collectors only for the library. The
school district and the library will be two separate entities,
each with its own governing board of trustees.
Another common question is: Who owns the Morrisville Library?
Currently, the Village of Morrisville owns the building in which
the library is housed. If the proposition is passed, the village
will deed the building to the newly-elected trustees for a nominal
amount of money. The library will then be owned by the public
and administered by publicly-elected trustees. The public will
also vote on the funding for the library and can participate
in budgetary measures. More question and answers on this important
proposal will be in next week's column.
A big thanks goes out to Diane Spink and children and to
Audrey Howard for spring cleaning the library grounds. A big
congratulations goes out to local resident, Dave Abbott, on the
publication of his new children's book, Lenny, the Little Leprechaun:
The Birthday Surprise.
As we begin to talk about books, remember that you can order
any of these books for sign-out just by clicking on the title
of the book in the online version of this column found on the
library's website (www.midyork.org/morrisville). Clicking on
the title will take you right to the Mid-York page where you
can sign up for the book.
The new book report this week includes Daddy's Little Girl
by Mary Higgins Clark, a chilling story of murder and it effect
years later on the man convicted of the crime and a woman who
helped convict him. Thanks to Bobbie Hill-Quick for this nice
adoption. Other gifts to the library this week include Loren
Estleman's Sinister Heights, a mystery in which Amos Walker,
a cynical, Detroit private eye, is hired by the young widow
of a powerful auto maker to locate her hubby's illegitimate offspring.
The search leads to endless problems like spousal abuse, kidnapping,
the violent death of one of Walker's friends, an assault (by
18-wheeler trucks) on a suburban car factory, and a surprise
offspring. A second gift, Neil Gordon's The Gun Runner's Daugher
, relates the complicated relationship and moral tale of Allison
Rosenthal, the daughter of a wealthy arms dealer and ambitious
young federal prosecutor, David Treat Dennis, who is offered
the prosecution of Allison's father for selling arms to Bosnian
Muslims. Our final gift this week is Robert Rand's My Suburban
Shtetl: A Novel About Life in a Twentieth Century Jewish Village,
a moving story of growing up in an Midwestern suburb of Jewish
Holocaust survivors trying to fit into the world around them.
Other new arrivals include Anita Shreve's Sea Glass, an
absorbing novel about six characters living on the New Hampshire
coast right after the 1929 stock market crash. Each finds unexpected
new purpose as their lives are braided together in the struggle
to survive. Amy Tan's The Bonesetter's Daughter delves into the
complex relationship of Chinese mothers and their American-born
daughters as Ruth Young tries to find out about her mother's
life in China before her mother falls into the memory loss of
Alzheimer's. Sacred Contracts by Caroline Myss, a popular intuitive
healer and teacher, offers a lesson on helping readers recognize
their personal archetypes through part science, part ancient
tradition, and part magic; this book will help readers study
their own Sacred Contracts.
May is the month we ask you to return all those books (without
a fine!) and to vote "YES" on the School District Library
proposition on May 21st.
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