Here in the Children’s Room we enjoy doing crafts.  We have programs which include crafts for Valentine’s Day, Halloween and Christmas. We have a drop-in craft for young children one Saturday morning per month and include crafts as part of our Storytimes.  You can get great ideas for crafts by borrowing items like The Mailbox magazine (from the Educator’s section) or books with the call number j745.5.  You can also get ideas from the internet.  My favorite websites for crafts are DLTK’s Crafts for Kids (which has great ideas for little ones) and the Crayola website (which has crafts for various ages and ideas for teachers).

During our drop-in craft on Saturday November 19th from 10:30-11:15 we will make a Thanksgiving crown from the DLTK site.   A couple of years ago we did a Napkin Ring Toss craft/game from the Crayola website that the kids loved.  It might help keep your young family members occupied while the meal is being prepared.  Here are the instructions:

Love books? Want to see some great authors? Looking for something to do this weekend? Check out the Boston Book Festival in Copley Square. This free event is held every year in Copley Square and features talks (it’s free!), author panels (it’s free!), and other goodies. Outside on the Square visit literary themed booths from a variety of sponsors and organizations, including The Brattle Book Shop and The New York Review of Books. Attend talks at the Boston Public Library, the Old South Church, and Trinity Church. Are you a food lover as well as a book lover? Attend the talk, “Eat your Words” featuring food and cookbook writers (it’s free!), such as Amy Traverso, writer of The Apple Lover’s Cookbook. Are you a fan of memoirs? Come hear some authors of recent memoirs at “Memoir: Getting a Life” Still can’t get enough of Steampunk after the recent festival here in Waltham? Go to the panel, “Steampunk!” featuring popular YA author, Holly Black.
The Boston Book Festival is tomorrow and is hosting free events all day until 5:45. (There are some events which require tickets, but the majority of the events are free.)

Have you chosen your Halloween costume yet? I love to watch the kids come to our Halloween party at the Children’s Room. From babies to pre-teens, the kids get dressed in costumes, get their faces painted and do crafts with Bentley University students. This year’s party will be on Friday, October 28th. Please register here or call 781-314-3425 x4 if you are planning on joining us.

You may want to find a book which would complement the fanciful characters we often see at the party. Follow these links to our booklists on princesses and pirates and click on the books’ titles to see if they are currently available. You can find stories on various themes/characters in our computer catalog. For example, if you would like stories on ghosts type “ghosts juvenile fiction” in the keyword search box, limiting your search to Waltham. You will get a list of the library’s collection of stories about ghosts for children and young adults. If you are thinking of a scarier costume, check out our display area in row 12 to see if our books and movies on face painting are available and check out our collection of scary stories.

We will also be having a Magical Comedy Show on Thursday, October 20th. Children will be entertained and learn Halloween safety tips. Registration is required for this event! Register here or call 781-314-3425 x4.

Have a happy and safe Halloween!
posted by Lisa

Join us on the Library lawn Sunday afternoon from 1 – 4 PM for free music, games, prizes, food and fun.

Co-sponsored with REACH, building strong relationships and healthy families for a closer community.

DATE CHANGE: Originally scheduled for Sat. 10/1, then moved to Sunday to avoid the rain.

Still Available:

• NEW 2011 books for less than 1/2 price!

• Reference sets in great condition at low, low prices

$5/box day: Saturday, 10/1, 9AM – 4:30PM

Support the Friends of the Waltham Public Library

and enjoy book bargains at the same time.

It is family lore that when I was young I wasn’t allowed to ask for a drink when I visited my neighbors so I got around this by quoting a t.v. commercial: “You know orange juice isn’t just for breakfast anymore.” I’m going to revisit my days of mischief in a more constructive way and advise: “You know searching by author isn’t just for books anymore.”

In the Audiovisual Room patrons sometimes ask if they can search for movies by the actors in them or for CDs by their musical artists. We let them know that they can use an author search to do so. The author search is a powerful mechanism for connecting you to the materials you want. It taps into the various people who have contributed to the creation of the piece. You can use an author search to find items by a director or composer too. You want a Julia Roberts movie…great! Here’s what’s available to you. Mozart is more your style…cool! Here is what we have to check out. What projects has Rob Reiner been involved with? Here’s a list of things you can get that he’s acted in or directed.

One cool thing about the author search is that it points you to other materials by a person if they’ve been created under a pseudonym. Take the rapper Sean Combs. Searching by “Combs, Sean”, “Puff Daddy”, “Puffy”, or “Diddy, P” will provide a link to the record for “Diddy” under which his various projects are shown (including his new group, Diddy Dirty Money). This includes his music and acting projects.

So don’t forget to use the author search to ask for your audiovisual cup of tea!

posted by Lisa

Most of us who were alive or old enough to be aware, remember where we were on September 11, 2001. I was working at another public library and pulling into the parking lot when my co-worker asked me if I heard anything on the news about a plane flying into the World Trade Center in New York City. We originally thought that it was a small plane whose pilot accidentally flew off course. It wasn’t until later in the morning that we realized what really happened. Every generation seems to be defined by a major news event and members can tell you exactly where they were when it happened. For my parents, it was the assassination of President Kennedy. (My mother was in gym class). My childhood was defined by the Challenger disaster. (I was home sick from school and saw the shuttle launch live on television). And for the next generation, were the attacks on September 11, 2001. I originally had written a post about how scared people were that day, and how a lot everything seemed to change after that day (and yet how some things stayed the same) but everything I wrote came off as cliche which I thought was a disservice to those who were genuinely affected that day by losing loved ones or who were there in Lower Manhattan or the Pentagon. Instead, I just offer this very brief list of books regarding 9/11, in honor of the tenth anniversary. This list is not, by all means, exhaustive. You can read a more complete list from our catalog here and more suggestions from The New York Times. You can also check out our display of September 11 books in the reference area.

Non-Fiction

• Out of the Blue: The Story of September 11, 2001 from Jihad to Ground Zero by Richard Bernstein and the staff of The New York Times
  Stories of September 11 told from a New York Times reporter and his colleagues.
• After: How America Confronted the September 12 Era by Steven Brill
  The United States in the aftermath of September 11.
• Firefight: Inside the Battle to Save the Pentagon on 9/11 by Patrick Creed
  Tells the story of rescue workers and ordinary people who tried to save lives at the Pentagon.
• Never Forget: An Oral History of September 11, 2001 by Mitchell Fink
  First hand accounts of those who witnessed the devastation on September 11.
• A Decade of Hope: Stories of Grief and Endurance from 9/11 Families and Friends by Dennis Smith
  A former firefighter collects interviews with several first responders, politicians, and family members. Also, read Report from Ground Zero by the same author.
• The Looming Tower: Al-Qaeda and the Road to 9/11 by Lawrence Wright
  A writer for The New Yorker details the history of Al-Qaeda and the events leading up to September 11.

Fiction

• Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close by Jonathan Safron Foer
  A nine year old boy tries to find the lock that goes to the key his father, who died at the World Trade Center on 9/11, left him.
• Cinnamon Girl: Letters Found Inside a Cereal Box by Juan Felipe Herrera
  Yolanda must deal with past tragedies when her uncle becomes injured at the World Trade Center on September 11.
• The Usual Rules by Joyce Maynard
  After her mother dies at work in the World Trade Center on September 11, Wendy must leave her beloved step-father and brother to go live with her father, whom she barely knows.
• The Submission by Amy Waldman
  Mohammed Khan is the anonymous winner to construct a memorial for victims of a terrorist attack. When it is revealed that he is Muslim, Khan finds himself facing a lot of wrath over his selection.

posted by Laura

My mom used to celebrate the start of the school year by singing “September, September, I love you September” to the tune of Tomorrow from the musical Annie. Now school starts in August for Waltham students…and judging by the number of fun school stories out there the start of school is fun for more than moms and dads. Among others there are the Wayside School series by Louis Sachar for 5th-6th grade level readers and the My Weird School series by Dan Gutman for 3rd-4th grade level readers. Younger readers can enjoy school stories by authors such as Miriam Cohen and we have a bunch of books for those just starting school or pre-school. If school gets too serious we also have school joke books at the call number j818.54.

posted by Lisa

Waltham set a record for the number of contributors and number of photos contributed at a Mass. Memories Road Show!! Staff at the Mass. Studies Project will be working hard to process the photos, video and data and will update here once they are live on the website.

If you haven’t seen it yet, take a look at the WCAC-TV piece on the Road Show done by Chris Wangler.

Our official stats for the Waltham Mass. Memories Road Show (July 16, 2011):

204 attendees

195 contributors

582 images (including 85 keepsake photos)

50 videos

Thank you to all of the contributors, organizers and roadies who made the event such a success!  And thanks to the sponsors:

Waltham West Suburban Chamber of Commerce

Friends of the Waltham Public Library

Waltham Historical Society

National Archives

UMass Boston

Mass Humanities

Waltham Museum

I listen to a lot of audiobooks. Some are like sitcoms: they’re entertaining while they’re on, but they don’t really stick with you. But then, there are some that are really well done and make a big impression. It struck me recently, during a conversation with a friend about Kathryn Stockett’s The Help, that many of the audiobooks that have really stood out for me have had multiple narrators. Octavia Spencer, one of the 4 narrators of The Help, will also appear as an actress in the upcoming movie version.

I find multiple narrators can really add something to a story. Sometimes it helps the listener keep multiple characters, points of view or time periods from getting confusing. Here’s a list of some of the audiobooks with multiple narrators available in the Minuteman Library Network. Feel free to click the links to be taken to the catalog to check availability or to place a request.

2666 by Roberto Bolano (Fiction) available on CD

The Art of Detection by Laurie King (Mystery) available on CD

As I Lay Dying by William Faulkner (Fiction) available on CD

The Boleyn Inheritance by Philippa Gregory (Fiction) available on CD

The Collectors by David Baldacci (Fiction) available on CD

Dune by Frank Herbert (Science Fiction) available on CD or downloadable WMA

Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close by Jonathan Safran Foer (Fiction) available on CD

From a Buick 8 by Stephen King (Fiction) available on CD

Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Society by Mary Ann Shaffer (Fiction) available on CD

The Help by Kathryn Stockett (Fiction) available on CD or downloadable WMA

The History of Love by Nicole Krauss (Fiction) available on CD

The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien (Science Fiction) available on CD

Last Orders by Graham Swift (Fiction) available on CD

Let the Great World Spin by Colum McCann (Fiction) available on CD

A Long Way Down by Nick Hornsby (Fiction) available on CD

My Sister’s Keeper by Jodi Picoult (Fiction) available on CD or in Spanish on CD

Swan Thieves by Elizabeth Kostova (Fiction) available on CD or downloadable WMA or Playaway

Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfield (Fiction) available on CD

The Time Traveler’s Wife by Audrey Niffenegger (Fiction) available on CD

Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen (Fiction) available on
CD or downloadable WMA or Playaway

Happy Listening!

posted by Deb 8/2/2011