Noe Valley Voice February 2005
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Books in our Branch

This month's new book list, chosen by Noe Valley librarian Carol Small and Voice bookworm Karol Barske, features tales from a small town circus, an investigation into the last days of Pompeii, and the personal biography of a guide dog. To find out which books are available, call 355-5707, log onto www.sfpl.org, or visit the Noe Valley­Sally Brunn Library at 451 Jersey Street near Castro Street. Besides books, the branch offers magazines, newspapers, DVDs, music CDs, Internet access, and the archives and index to the Noe Valley Voice. Library hours are Tuesdays, 10 a.m. to 9 p.m.; Wednesdays, 1 to 9 p.m.; Thursdays, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.; Fridays, 1 to 6 p.m.; and Saturdays, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.

Adult Fiction

- In Jane Smiley's Good Faith, a novel set in the booming 1980s, a small-town real estate agent is tempted to betray his principles for the promise of easy riches.

- Small G: A Summer Idyll, Patricia Highsmith's last novel before her death in 1995, is a comedy of manners and misdirected love.

- Mantrapped, a "reality novel" by Faye Weldon, tells the tale of a woman who swaps her soul and body with "a Russell Crowe lookalike." The fiction is interwoven with the author's own memoir.

- Stories of clowns and acrobats from the Great Porter Circus, which wintered in Lima, Indiana, from 1884 through 1939, are told by Cathy Day in The Circus in Winter.

Adult Nonfiction

- Bill Moyers offers a collection of 20 speeches and commentaries, covering his Texas boyhood and years in Lyndon Johnson's White House, in Moyers on America: A Journalist and His Times.

- In Ghosts of Vesuvius: A New Look at the Last Days of Pompeii, How Towers Fall, and Other Strange Connections, Charles Pellegrino draws parallels between volcanic upheavals and the events of 9/11.

- In The Bone Man of Benares: A Lunatic Trip Through Love and the World, Terry Tarnoff recalls his travels around the globe, with "a bag, a guitar, and 16 harmonicas."

- Dr. Dean Edell examines an array of health topics and medical myths in Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Healthiness.

Children's Fiction

- Each truck in Truck Duck by Michael Rex has its own type of driver, and when you read the book, you will see why. Ages 1 to 3.

- You can find many familiar objects and watch a creative little person build a boat in Do You See What I See? Seymour and the Juice Box Boat by Walter Wick, who is also the creator of the I Spy books. Ages 3 to 6.

- As time moves through the seasons, a child waits and waits and is finally rewarded when the tree bears fruit in Lois Ehlert's collage-illustrated Pie in the Sky. Ages 3 to 6.

- In The Cat Who Walked Across France, author Kate Banks and illustrator Georg Hallensleben have created a story about a pet who loses a loving home but manages eventually to find another. Ages 4 to 6.

- In Kate Spohn's beginning reader Turtle and Snake's Day at the Beach, two friends go surfing, build sand castles, enjoy teamwork, and receive a prize. Ages 4 to 7.

- Twelve-year-old Annie sees the beginning of her grandpa's slide into dementia, attends the birth of her baby brother, and understands that her ability to see things is being nurtured by art projects at school, in Heartbeat by Sharol Creech. Ages 10 and up.

Children's Nonfiction

- The Scholastic Visual Sports Encyclopedia provides rules and playing techniques and describes necessary equipment for more than 100 sports and games. Ages 7 and up.

- In Dorothy Hinshaw Patent's The Right Dog for the Job: Ira's Path from Service Dog to Guide Dog, you can follow a golden retriever from his birth, through all his training and care, to his working relationship with Don, a blind piano tuner who relies on him every day. Ages 7 and up.

LIBRARY EVENTS

Preschool Story Time

- Children ages 2 to 5 are invited to attend preschool story time at 10 a.m. on Tuesdays, Feb. 1, 8, and 22.

Films for Children

- An hour of short films will be shown for kids ages 3 to 5 on Tuesday, Feb. 15, at 10 and 11 a.m.

Saturday Lapsits

- Share stories, songs, and finger plays with your baby or toddler at the library lapsits at 10:30 a.m. on Saturdays, Feb. 5, 19, and 26.

A Current Mystery

- The Noe Valley­Sally Brunn Library would greatly appreciate your castoff paperback mysteries published in the last five years. Bring donations, in good condition, to the branch, at 451 Jersey Street near Castro. Thank you.