Book List Contributed to Iditarod

For almost two years librarian Cheryl Hannon and I worked from different states via e-mail to create an updated book list for the Iditarod Web site.  It is posted, and we are proud.  Take a look at Books About Iditarod and Alaska.  (Photo by Mcoughlin, used with CC permission.)

New Moon Rises Tonight

The Twilight Saga - New Moon opens in theaters at the magically appropriate midnight hour.  The movie is the second installment based on Stephenie Meyer's four book series.  The first book, Twilight, was rejected by 14 agents before finally being published in 2005.  Following in close order were New Moon (2006),   Eclipse (2007) and Breaking Dawn (2008).  As I put the books on hold for girl after girl coming to the library, I dismissed the series as teen girl silliness until my own daughter encouraged me to read it, and I couldn't put it down!   Now vampire romances have proliferated.  Have you read any of these 2009 releases?  (photo by Susan Larson)

Bite Me by Melissa Francis
Eternal by Cynthia Leitch Smith
The Eternal Kiss: 13 Vampire Tales of Blood and Desire by Tricia Telep                
Fade Out by Rachel Caine
Royal Blood by Ellen Schreiber
Stargazer by Claudia Gray
Tempted: A House of Night Novel by P. C. Cast
Tenth Grade Bleeds by Heather Brewer
Vamped by Lucienne Diver
The Van Alen Legacy: A Blue Bloods Novel by Melissa De la Cruz

Native American Books for Kids

In honor of Native American Heritage Month, I've compiled a book list for kids. 










1621: A New Look at Thanksgiving by Catherine O’Neill Grace

Counting Coup: Becoming a Crow Chief on the Reservation and Beyond by Joseph Medicine Crow

Crazy Horse's Vision by Joseph Bruchac

Crossing Bok Chitto: A Choctaw Tale of Friendship & Freedom by Tim Tingle

Diamond Willow by Helen Frost

Meet Lydia: A Native Girl from Southeast Alaska by Miranda Belarde-Lewis

Navajo Long Walk: The Tragic Story of a Proud People's Forced March from Their Homeland by Joseph Bruchac

Meet Naiche: A Native Boy from the Chesapeake Bay Area by Gabrielle Tayac

The Porcupine Year by Louise Erdrich (And the two preceding books in the series, The Birchbark House  and The Game of Silence)

The Story of the Milky Way: A Cherokee Tale by Joseph Bruchac

Tallchief, America's Prima Ballerina by Maria Tallchief  

All Saints Day 1512

On November 1, 1512, the public for the first time tilted heads back to view the ceiling masterpiece of Michelangelo: the frescos of the Sistine Chapel.  Pope Julius II commissioned Michelangelo in 1506 to completely redecorate the chapel, and he reluctantly accepted.  He was, after all, a sculptor.  But his reluctant acceptance lead to the incredibly famous nine scenes from the book of Genesis which adorn the ceiling. 

In his book Michelangelo and the Sistine Chapel, Andrew Graham-Dixon writes, "The fresco cycle as a whole radiates a powerful and sometimes oppressively strong sense of introspection. Looking at it feels almost nothing like looking at the real world. It feels, instead, like looking inside the mind of the man who created it."  Reviewer Richard Cook says the book is an accessible look into the mind of Michelangelo.