Upcoming Event: Author Elizabeth Oberbeck

Perrot Library will be hosting an evening with Elizabeth Birkelund Oberbeck, Greenwich resident and author. Ms. Oberbeck will talk about her recent book, The Dressmaker, on Wednesday, June 13th, 2007 at 7:30 PM. in the Library.

Ms. Oberbeck will be speaking about her wonderful novel and the fact that some of the chapters were written at Perrot! In her own words, “While the library atmosphere was conducive to quiet reflection, it also ignited my imagination and sent me happily into The Dressmaker's textured and colorful world..”

More about the book:
Elizabeth Birkelund Oberbeck’s debut novel, The Dressmaker, is the perfect summer read, complete with French couture, weddings and an unforgettable romance. Claude Reynaud, an old-fashioned tailor, designs his famous gowns by hand in a cluttered studio well outside Paris. One spring afternoon, a woman arrives in search of a wedding dress and shatters all his composure: Valentine de Verlay is charming, beautiful, sophisticated, and, of course, engaged. Though he has long since given up on romance in favor of his work, Claude is instantly smitten. As Valentine’s wedding approaches, Claude finds it impossible to keep a safe distance, and everything he’s come to rely on in his small, focused life looks ready to collapse. The Dressmaker is an enchanting portrait of another world, and, above all, a sly and irresistible love story.

Book Review: Disturbing the Dead

Disturbing the Dead, by Sandra Parshall

[Mystery] The bones of a Melungeon woman have been found on an Appalachian mountain-top in Virginia. They are identified as belonging to a woman who disappeared ten years earlier. Author Parshall treats the mystery surrounding this death, and the prejudice directed towards this group of multi-racial people, with great insight and care. This is a fascinating mystery involving a culture about which little is known. --Lynn

On the Road Again!

This week, Mrs. Mac and Mrs. K started their annual trek around the east end of Greenwich, visiting kids at North Mianus School, the International School at Dundee, Riverside Elementary School, and Old Greenwich School to tell them all about our Summer Reading Programs and Book Clubs for kids. They also came armed with info about great books to read! They know they’ll be seeing lots of these students when they drop in to Perrot to "Get Caught Reading" this summer!

Click here for a list of the books Mrs. Mac and Mrs. K talked about. Have you read any of the School Visit books? Comment on this post to tell us what you thought of them!

Storytime Survey

LOOKING FOR OUR Youth Services STORYTIME SURVEY?

Please click here or just scroll down the page a little. Thanks for your input! -The Youth Services Staff

P.S. Don't forget to comment on the survey post with any additional thoughts.

Erin Hunter's Warriors series is now in manga!

Attention Warriors fans...

Erin Hunter's Warriors is now in manga! The first book in a Japanese-style comic book trilogy, the books are a new adventure in the popular series.
In The New Prophecy books, Graystripe, deputy leader of ThunderClan, was kidnapped by TwoLegs. Firestar finally gave the noble warrior up for lost, and appointed a new ThunderClan deputy. Now Graystripe has returned, but there are still unanswered questions: How did he escape, what dangers did he face, and how did he find his way to the new territory? And who is this lovely kittypet he’s brought with him?

All this will be revealed in Warriors: The Lost Warrior. Stop by Perrot for a copy, and don't forget to watch for the next two books in the trilogy!

Book Review: Opening Day

Opening Day: The Story of Jackie Robinson's First Season
by Jonathan Eig

[Non-Fiction] The year is 1947. The team is the Brooklyn Dodgers. Into this picture steps Jackie Robinson. What a season! Eig shows us what a great player Robinson was. He takes us through the slurs and abuse tossed out by fans and press alike. Enjoy this story of an unlikely hero. --Lynn

DVD Diva: War Movies

With Memorial Day approaching, the DVD Diva recommends taking another look at these classic war movies (click on any of the cover images to put in a request for that title) :


Apocalypse Now
A United States Army officer/trained assassin is sent into the depths of a southeast Asian jungle to seek out a renegade colonel and terminate his command during the Vietnam War.






The Great Escape
A high-security German prisoner-of-war camp in 1942 holds only known troublemakers and risk-takers, all of whom are determined to pull off the war's most daring escape.






The Eagle Has Landed
Sixteen German paratroopers are dropped on the coast of England with orders to bring Churchill back to Hitler.








The Bridge on the River Kwai
British soldiers captured by the Japanese during World War II are forced to construct a strategic railroad bridge, which a commando team is instructed by the British High Command to destroy.

This Year's Edgar Award Winners

Mystery Writers of America has announced the winners of the 2007 Edgar Allan Poe Awards, honoring the best in mystery fiction, non-fiction, television and film published or produced in 2006.

Here are a few of this year's winners:

BEST NOVEL
The Janissary Tree, by Jason Goodwin

BEST FIRST NOVEL BY AN AMERICAN AUTHOR
The Faithful Spy, by Alex Berenson

BEST YOUNG ADULT NOVEL
Buried, by Robin Merrow MacCready

BEST JUVENILE NOVEL
Room One: A Mystery or Two, by Andrew Clements

[Click on any of the cover images above to put in a request for that title.]

See all the winners and nominees at the Edgar Awards Website.

The Golden Y Award

CONGRATULATIONS to the team winners of the Semi-Annual Y2C2 Jeopardy Tournament! The competition was lively, tough, and loud, and only a few points separated the winning team from the other Young Young Critics! In the end, the team of Annie, Peter, Kelley Rose, and Asami prevailed, and they the current holders of the coveted Wonderful Golden "Y" Award! (Yes, it looks like a lobster, but trust us, it’s also a wonderful golden ‘Y’-- stop by the Youth Services Department and see for yourself!)

Would YOU like to win the Wonderful Golden "Y"? If you’ll be a fourth or fifth grader in September, think about joining us! Details are available here.

The 400th Anniversary of the Jamestown Settlement

May 2007 marks the 400th anniversary of the founding of Jamestown, the first English settlement in North America, by some 100 adventurous men who sailed across the ocean in three ships. There have been numerous recent newspaper articles, television documentaries and, of course, several interesting books to commemorate the date:

(Click on each book cover to request that item)

Savage Kingdom: The True Story of Jamestown, 1607, and the Settlement of America, by Benjamin Wooley draws on new discoveries, neglected sources and newly analyzed documents to retell an already dramatic historical event.

Jamestown, The Buried Truth, by William M. Kelso tells of what archaeologists, led by Kelso, have unearthed recently at the site of the 400 year old James Fort, long thought to have washed away into the James River. What they have found in uncovering the structure of the fort and some 500,000 objects paints a revealing picture of the lives and deaths of these early settlers.

Captain John Smith: Writings : With Other Narratives of Roanoke, Jamestown, and the First English Settlement of America is a collection which provides primary source material written by the leader of the first settlement at Jamestown and other accounts of the lost colony of Roanoke. It is from these writings that the story of Pocahontas arises.

A recent Nova television documentary, Pocahontas Revealed, details the archaeological discovery of the Native American village of the Powhatan tribe where the dramatic rescue of John Smith is supposed to have occurred. A combination of dramatic reenactment and scenes from the current discoveries sheds new light on an ever-fascinating story. --Mary B.

Cookbooks: Not Just for People Anymore

As the pet food recall widens, owners are looking for alternative fare to keep their pets healthy and well-fed. For the burgeoning chef, may we suggest a peek at Real Food for Dogs: 50 Vet-Approved Recipes to Please the Canine Gastrome, or perhaps Barker's Grub: Easy, Wholesome Home Cooking for Your Dog. There’s good news for cats too; check out The Ultimate Cat Treat Cookbook: Homemade Goodies for Finicky Felines. Overall holistic pet health, recipes, treatments and more can be found in the recently revised Dr. Pitcairn’s Complete Guide to Natural Health for Dogs and Cats. Bon Appetit! --Mirja

Upcoming Event: The Director's Cut

Upcoming Event at Perrot:

Shakespeare on the Sound’s Artistic Director, Ezra Barnes (and his players) present "The Director’s Cut," a talk about this summer’s production of The Comedy of Errors Wednesday, June 6th, 2007 at 7:30 P.M. in the Library.

This year, for the first time, Shakespeare on the Sound will be performing this year's play, The Comedy of Errors, in Greenwich, in addition to their usual performances in Rowayton's Pinkney Park. The performances will take place in Roger Sherman Baldwin Park at 7:30 P.M., Thursday, July 5th, 2007, through Sunday, July 8th, 2007. The production is free and no tickets are necessary. We at Perrot want to welcome Shakespeare on the Sound to Greenwich and offer this evening as inducement to attend their performances.

Like all of Shakespeare’s plays, The Comedy of Errors has no received version, no absolute way of presenting the play. Because each production is new, the plays have been given new life with each generation. A 1907 production was quite different from a 2007 production. Shakespeare’s glorious text offers opportunities for many different interpretations. When you go to a performance for the second time of, say, Swan Lake or The Lion King, you know pretty much what to expect-- the costumes, setting, music remain the same. But with Shakespeare’s plays there are no prescribed limitations. Not even the text is sacred: nearly always the text is cut, and sometimes lines are added. For example, A Midsummer Night’s Dream has been set in a Brazilian rain forest and in Civil War dress, while Macbeth has been played in severe clerical costumes within a circle of chairs, or in Edwardian dress with many lavish settings.

So when Ezra Barnes, Artistic Director of Shakespeare on the Sound, decided to do The Comedy of Errors, there were all kinds of questions he had to answer. He had to make the play intelligible to his audience-- and fun besides. What are the problems and what are the joys in presenting this play to an audience? In The Comedy of Errors, the audience is in on the secret from the beginning. They know, as the characters do not, that there are two separated sets of identical twins who, of course, get into trouble-- the resulting confusion is resolved at the end of the play. Ezra Barnes will speak about how he brought the play from words on a page to live action on stage, with scenes acted by his players.

Youth Services Book Recommendation: Tiny Tyrant

Tiny Tyrant, by Lewis Trondheim and Fabrice Parme

[Graphic Novel] What if the most powerful person in your nation was a spoiled brat? Although King Ethelbert of Portocristo is only six, he gets to boss around an entire nation! Whether he's trying to test his new bodyguard (by taking out a contract on himself), trying to dig up a dinosaur fossil he can name the Ethelbertosaurus (by having scientists create a huge dinosaur and then going back in time to drop it off in a lava flow), creating an army of robot Ethelberts (to replace all of Portocristo's inferior children), or shrinking things with the Minimatic (because everything is annoyingly sized for adults), Ethelbert's misguided adventures will have you laughing out loud!

Youth Services Storytime Survey

Attention Youth Services Storytime Participants!

Please fill out this brief survey to help us better serve you.

If you have other suggestions/comments about storytimes at Perrot, please comment on this post!

Which of the following storytime options at Perrot would you be most interested in attending? (Please pick two)
	Regular, weekday storytimes (as currently offered)
	Weekend storytimes (INSTEAD of weekdays)
	Rainy day storytimes (one morning storytime)
	Vacation week program (one special event during vacation week)
	“Specials” (once monthly craft/game/tournament program)
	Other
Free polls from Pollhost.com

If you selected "Other" as one of your choices, please comment on this post with your suggestion for a Children's program you would like to see Perrot offer in the future.

Beach Reads

We hope you stopped by our table at Experience the Sound this past Saturday at Greenwich Point!

In case you didn't pick up a copy of our Adult or Children's beach-related book brochures, you can access them online:

• Experience the Sound: Adult Brochure (books from this list are available in the Adult Non-Fiction display area)
• Books About the Beach: Children's Brochure

Chimney Repairs This Week

We are having repairs made to the chimney in Perrot's Adult Wing this week. Please exercise caution in our parking lot. Thank you!

Free Comic Book Day is Saturday!

Free Comic Book Day is this coming Saturday, May 5th, 2007! Free Comic Book Day is a single day when participating comic book shops across North America and around the world are giving away comic books absolutely free to anyone who comes into their stores.

Look up a comic book store near you here, then stop by and get some free comics! Here is a list of the comic books being given away this year. Each store has a selection of these titles. One of the free comics this year is an Owly comic from Top Shelf Productions!

Have a question for Brian Selznick?

Brian Selznick, author and illustrator of The Invention of Hugo Cabret, will be appearing on the Today Show on Friday, May 18th, 2007. And he will be answering YOUR questions! You can send in a question here: http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/18311836/.

Don't forget to tape the show on May 18th, or you can check for Mr. Selznick's answers on the Today Show website (http://www.todayshow.com/).