As the fifth anniversary of Hurricane Katrina approaches and our community prepares to engage in One Book, One Community events, I would like to recommend a middle-grade fiction novel,Ninth Ward, by Jewell Parker Rhodes.  Ninth Ward is the first middle grade novel written by Rhodes, an award winning author of adult fiction. It is also the first middle grade novel written about Hurricane Katrina.

12-year-old orphan Lanesha lives in the Ninth Ward of New Orleans with 82-year-old Mama Ya-Ya, her caretaker. The story begins on Lanesha's birthday, a few days before Hurrican Katrina hits in 2005.  Lanesha is teased by her peers at school because she talks to ghosts, but she is a strong and independent character and so the teasing doesn't bother her. Mama Ya-Ya has the feeling something bad is going to happen soon, but she doesn't know what it is until she and Lanesha hear the news announced on the TV. What happens next is a tale of  a struggle for survival in what was to be the tragic aftermath of catastrophic flooding in the Ninth Ward of New Orleans after Hurrican Katrina passed through.

This amazing tale has already received a Parents' Choice Gold Award and is the latest pick for Al Roker's Book Club.

The 2010 One Book, One Community selection is Zeitoun by Dave Eggers.

Take a look at some of the new books available in September.

Adam & Eve by Sena Jeter Naslund
And Thereby Hangs a Tale by Jeffrey Archer
Bad Blood by John Sandford

Attention Dog Lovers! National Dog Day is being celebrated August 26th, but you can enjoy great dog stories all month long. Check out the list of titles available at the library.

Books and DVDs:

Fiction located in the fiction section under author's last name.
Mystery located in the mystery section under author's last name.

Elizabeth Adler (Fiction)

Maeve Binchy (Fiction)

Sandra Brown (Fiction)

Catherine Coulter (Fiction)

Always looking for a new author to try?

The New Yorker magazine has chosen its "20 Under 40" list of fiction writers worth watching.  It's been more than a decade since the magazine published such a list, which features noteworthy young writers who are relatively unknown but may emerge as future literary stars.  The previous list included authors like Jhumpa Lahiri, Nathan Englander, and Junot Diaz.

Here's the new list.  Dip right in.  For more information, click here.

Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
Chris Adrian
Daniel Alarcon
David Bezmozgis

Spring is here.  Time to get outside and loosen up.  This month, when you come to the library, browse through our displays for inspiration.

Gardeners and nature lovers are eager to get their hands dirty.  We've got an impressive range of materials on display to get your floral imagination going and to sharpen your cultivating skills.

After freshening your yard and garden, sit back and enjoy a funny book from the "Humor Me" display.  It features books of wit and laughter that are sure to tickle you.

Finally, young and old alike can enjoy the sleuthing skills of Nancy Drew.  We celebrate the 80th anniversary of the consummate girl detective with a display of all things Nancy.

Take a look at some of the new books available in June.

Almost Perfect by Susan Mallery
American Music by Jane Mendelsohn
An American Type : A Novel by Henry Roth & Willing Davidson

I kept reading good things about Sarah Blake's new novel, The Postmistress, but I thought, "not another book about World War II." Well, yes, it is another book about World War II, but a good one, told from yet another vantage point. The Postmistress is told partially from the viewpoint of a young woman, a journalist, stationed in London on the eve of the United States' entrance into WWII and partially from the viewpoint of the postmistress of a small town in Cape Cod.

War Dances by Sherman Alexie is this year's winner of the PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction. The PEN/Faulkner Award is America's largest peer-juried prize for fiction in the United States.

This year's finalists include--

I recently finished a wonderful work of historical fiction called Honolulu by Alan Brennert, which is the absorbing tale of a young Korean mail order bride who arrives in Hawaii in 1914 in search of a better life. Her dreams, unfortunately, don't become reality, at least at first. Her marriage turns out to be a disaster, but she proves to be a strong woman who ultimately finds love and community. Her life in Honolulu is a far cry from what she would have been offered as a woman in Korea.

Books & Bagels will be discussing the popular book (and now movie) The Lightning Thief on Saturday, March 13 from 2-3 pm. Books & Bagels is for children in grades 4-6. We'll talk about the book, enjoy bagels and cream cheese, then have fun making origami creatures from Greek mythology. FREE!

I rarely have "Oh my God!" moments when reading a book, but I did when I read Audrey Niffenegger's latest work Her Fearful Symmetry. You might recognize the author's last name because she penned the best-selling novel (and movie) The Time Traveler's Wife. Her current work is about a set of twins, their extremely close relationship, their relationship with their

I must admit I first chose this book because of its lovely cover: a hummingbird noses a pretty pink flower on a background of lavender and green.   And the inside is just as sweet.  This book has been described as “Steel Magnolias” meets “The Help”, but I think it reminds me more of “The Secret Life of Bees”.

 CeeCee Honeycutt is twelve years old and has spent her life dealing with her mentally ill mother and absent father.  After her mother dies tragically, her great aunt Tootie sweeps in and takes CeeCee to live with her in Savannah .  Tootie is a rich widow, and CeeCee lives in the luxury of a gorgeous southern mansion, complete with a beautiful garden, a loving housekeeper who is a great cook, and an assortment of eccentric women friends of her aunt.

 This lacks the depth of “Bees”, though. Aunt Tootie is almost too good to be true, as is Oletta, her housekeeper.  Conflicts that arise are easily and perhaps unrealistically solved.  Even the annoying neighbor is not quite bad enough to deserve everyone’s hatred and the accident that befalls her – she’s stupid and silly, but not really evil.

And yet I found myself looking forward to picking up the book.  It was like grabbing a rocking chair on Aunt Tootie’s porch and observing her garden and lady friends -full of color and warmth and contentedness.

J. D. Salinger, best know for his novel The Catcher in the Rye, died Wednesday at his home in New Hampshire.
Other works by Salinger at ELPL include Nine Stories and Franny and Zooey.

Also check out Dream Catcher by Salinger's daughter, Margaret Ann Salinger.

To read the New York Times article about Salinger click here.