New Junior Non-Fiction Titles

From giant flying monsters to customizing your clothes, we have brand new books to keep you learning new things!  Series titles you will find include Be Creative, where you will discover tips for making cards, gift wrap and tags, or giving your bedroom or clothing a personal look. Learn to Draw will have you sketching dinosaurs, reptiles and insects as well as cats and kittens.  Prehistoric Safari takes you on a journey to discover and, sometimes, escape from some of the largest dinosaurs on land or sea.  Finally, What's Next?  explores the future of architecture, communication, medicine, space exploration, transportation and warfare.  There is something to interest all ages in these fascinating books.  Come in and check one out.

Totem Poles at the Library

On display at the Worthington Library is a group of fantastic totem poles made by the students at RH Conwell Community Education Center as part of their study of North America during December.  This was a mini-course that taught the children about the Native American way of life which included geography, a history of some of the tribes and culminated in a background of the totem pole.  Children from each class designed and built totem poles, the younger ages helped by the older until a whole community of totem poles had sprung up.  They have been on display at the school for several weeks and now they have come here.  Don't miss seeing the creativity and playfulness of the students' work.  Come into the library and head down to the children's room where the display is presented in all its glory.  This is the first of many displays from Conwell and each is sure to be a delight.
Upstairs on the walls are Althea Mason's beautiful nature-themed paintings and on the shelves you will find a collection of pottery by Valerie Babcock whose work runs from traditional to whimsical.  Everywhere you look, you'll find art!

Humor, Fantasy and More

On the New Shelf this week, you'll find the latest Thursday Next novel by Jasper Fforde, The Woman Who Died a Lot as well as a good selection of fantasy such as Todd McCaffery's Sky Dragons from the Pern series his mother made popular and the first two installments of a new series by a new author.  This promises to be quite good and definitely an author to watch for.  Look for The Name of the Wind and The Wise Man's Fear by Patrick Rothfuss.  Others on the shelf are Hilary Mantel's second prize winner, Bring Up the Bodies, Michael McGarrity's Hard Country, Debbie Macomber's The Inn At Rose Harbor, John Sandford's Mad River and Jo Nesbo's Phantom.  The final (really!) Maximum Ride adventure by James Patterson can be found in Young Adult (if you're quick).  Look for Nevermore.
Two new non-fiction books are Nate Silver's The Signal and the Noise and Willie Nelson's biography, Roll Me Up and Smoke Me When I Die.
Don't forget we have great writers here in town, as well.  Join the Friends of the Worthington Library and The Worthington Historical Society at the Blackburn Inn on Tuesday night as they host this season's Writers Read.  Begins at 7:00pm on Tuesday, January 8.

Happy New Year from the Worthington Library!

To ring in the New Year, we have new books on our shelves.  This week's selection includes Joydeep Roy-Bhattacharya's The Watch.  Here is a review:

The Watch       

By Joydeep Roy Bhattacharya

   The Barnes and Noble website calls The Watch a "heartbreaking and haunting novel" and I could find no better adjectives to convey the quiet, and then not so quiet, intensity of the story. It takes place at a lonely and isolated base in Kandahar. After a battle, a woman with no feet shows up, pushing herself along in a cart by her hands and stops outside the base demanding the body of her brother so she can bury him. She ultimately becomes a pivotal force as the soldiers and those in charge become annoyed, then confused, then angered by her presence and her persistence. First they think she is a spy; or maybe she is what she says she is; or maybe she is hiding a bomb. The inmates of this base, for they are imprisoned in their fort, end up stymied by what to do and not just because her brother's body is being held to be shipped out and displayed on television.  The voices of the different soldiers as they confront this anomaly, as their nerves and consciences get more provoked, offer a disturbing slice of the need to become less humane in order to survive as a soldier.

For the younger set, we have Chris Colfer's The Land of Stories: The Wishing Spell.

This fantasy, aimed at the tween age group, written by one of the actors on the television show Glee, was really enjoyable. Twins Alex and Conner Bailey are struggling with big changes in their lives; their father died unexpectedly and while their mother struggles to make ends meet, they are coping with their grief. Additionally, Conner is a good student and Alex is not- and the contrast, in the beginning of the story is a perfect set up for how they both grow in new ways further on in the plot.  In a kick off familiar to most, the children "fall into" fairy land through the pages of a story book of fairy tales. It was a book handed down from their grandmother to their father, who used to read it to Alex and Conner.

The children travel through the world of fairy tales and meet all the classic characters. But their lives in Fairyland are very different than the stories we all know; and Alex and Conner are faced with the seemingly impossible task of getting back home. They have to go on a quest to various parts of Fairy Land to acquire the tokens they need to escape.

Their adventures help them work as a team, despite having different strengths-and the conclusion of the story will be surprising for the youthful audience.

Also for younger readers, we have an excellent series Outdoor Adventures which contains seven books about various outdoor sports such as canoeing, hiking, hunting and fishing.  Well written and containing chapters on necessary skills, safety, environmental concerns and joy of the sport, these fill a much needed gap on our sports bookshelf.

For young adults, we have a selection of interesting and informative non-fiction:  Budgeting Smarts , Electric Cars, Manga, and a biography of Lady Gaga.  On the fiction shelves, find The Raven Boys by Maggie Stiefvater and Long Lankin by Lindsey Barraclough.

Search for you ancestors at the library.  They'll be waiting for you on Thursday, January 3rd at 7:00 pm during our Genealogy Club. 

The Friends of the Worthington Library will again team up with the Worthington Historical Society for a winter Writers Read.  This one will be held on Tuesday, January 8 at 7:00 at the Blackburn Inn.  Don't miss it:  these are fantastic!

This month's Book Club is reading Steve Jobs by Walter Isaacson. We will be discussing it on Thursday, January 24 at 7:00pm.

 

Remember that the library will be closed on January 1, 2013. We'll see you on Thursday!  Have safe and happy new year!

 

Upcoming Events and New Items on the Shelves

This month, The Worthington Library's Book Club is reading Spencer Quinn's Dog On It.  This is a fun, quick read for a busy season. You'll enjoy how Quinn captures the thoughts of the dog through his actions; he really nails it!  We'll be discussing this book on Thursday December 27 at 7:00pm.  Remember that we'll be closed on Dec 25 for Christmas and January 1, 2013!
In January, the book will be Steve Jobs by Walter Isaacson.  Jobs was a complex, interesting man and Isaacson is an excellent biographer.  There will be a lot to discuss on Thursday, January 24 at 7:00pm. Join us!

Also in January, the Friends of the Worthington Library and the Worthington Historical Society are sponsoring another Writers Read program.  Don't miss this sampling of the best of our local authors.  Previous Writers Reads have been humorous, insightful and moving.  This season's offering will be Tuesday, January 8, 7:00pm at the Blackburn Inn.

On the shelves this week, you will discover a lot of new-to-us materials, many donated by library patrons. 
DVDs  The Girl with the dragon tattoo
            The Girl who played with fire
            The Girl who kicked the hornet's nest
   note: these are the original Swedish versions
            Copycat
            The Exorcism of Emily Rose
            Murder by numbers
            Sherlock Holmes: the complete series (television)

CDs     The chronicles of Narnia - all seven books
            Bloodline by James Rollins

Large Print   Soft touch by Maeve Haran

Young Adult  24 girls in 7 days by Alex Bradley
                     The American Plains Indians by Jason Hook
                     The Apaches by Jason Hook
                     The American Indian Wars, 1860-1890 by Philip Katcher
                     U.S. Cavalry on the Plains, 1850-1890 by Philip Katcher
      New!:      How to draw vampires by Mike Butkus
                     How to draw wizards by John Rheaume
                     How to draw zombies by Mike Butkus

Thanks to all who have donated these gently used books, cds and dvds.

WHAT'S ON THE NEW SHELF

Some new books are on the New Books shelf this month. Here is a list:
The Bridge by Karen Kingsbury
In the belly of Jonah by Sandra Brannan
Last to die by Tess Gerritsen
Peaches for Father Francis by Joanne Harris
Sleep no more by Iris Johansen
Sunrise Point by Robyn Carr
Winter of the world by Ken Follett
XO by Jeffrey Deaver

Non fiction titles:
Killing Lincoln by Bill O'Reilly
Plutocrats by Chrystia Freeland
The receptionist by Janet Groth
A thousand mornings by Mary Oliver

In Young Adult fiction, we have Cassandra Clare's The Mortal Instruments series including:
City of bones
City of ashes
City of glass
City of fallen angels
City of lost souls

In Junior fiction, look for
The third wheel, Diary of a Wimpy Kid, book 7 by Jeff Kinney
Penny and her doll  by Kevin Henkes

Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel is available on CD

The Worthington Library

Presents

Hungry Town

In concert – 7pm, Nov 17, 2012

At the Worthington Historical Society

 Called the modern representatives of tradition-based folk music.

All are welcome to enjoy this free concert.

Refreshments served.