Remembering

• "Two Brilliant Stars Go Out Too Soon" at Educating Alice
• "Kate McClelland" at Bowen Press
• "A Great Loss in ALSC" at the ALSC Blog
• "Sorrow in Old Greenwich: Visitors mourn loss of librarians" at the Greenwich Time

If you have any links or memories you would like to share, please post them in the comments.

An Inconceivable Loss

We are reeling with shock and grief at the loss of two of our beloved librarians, Kate McClelland and Kathy Krasniewicz. Perrot, our community, and the library world at large will not be the same without these two devoted, caring, and enthusiastic women.

Please keep their families in your thoughts and prayers.

Today's Youth Services Programs

Today's 1 P.M. Fun for 4s and 5s program is CANCELLED.

However, Spotlight will be held today at 4 P.M.

Questions? Please call us at 637-8802.

Delayed Opening Today

The Library will open at 1 P.M. today, Wednesday, January 29th.

There will be no children's preschool programs today. Please call later in the day (637-8802) to check if the afternoon program will be held.

John Updike, 1932-2009

John Updike, the Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist, died today at age 76.

• New York Times obituary, featuring multimedia content including audio and video clips
• John Updike: A Life in Pictures, at the Guardian
• Updike's eassy, "This I Believe," at NPR
• Updike's books available through the Greenwich libraries

Latest Graphic Novels in Youth Services

Grumpy Old Monsters [click here to place a hold on this]
Welcome to Rest in Peace, a retirement care facility for mature monsters with special needs.

Yam: Bite-Size Chunks [place hold]
Mini comics (which originally appeared in Nickelodeon magazine) about Yam, a orange-jumpsuited boy with a magical backpack.

Bionicle #1: Rise of the Toa Nuva [place hold]
The island of Mata Nui was once a paradise-- until the entity known as Makuta arrived, transforming it into a land of darkness and evil.

Hyperactive [place hold]
One day, Joey's metabolism goes berserk, and suddenly he's the fastest person in the world! Soon, everyone wants what he has, especially Seymour Haliburton Itchez, president and CEO of Burnz and Itchez pharmeceuticals. . .

Miki Falls 1: Spring [place hold] *****Staff Pick*****
High school senior Miki is falling for Hiro, the new kid, but he has a weird (and dangerous secret) that keeps him from getting close to her. Fast paced and interesting, but drawn in a soft-edged manga style, you won't be able to wait to read book 2!

Look for these and other great new graphic novels in the new book bin in Youth Services.

Have a graphic novel series you'd like to see at Perrot? Comment on this post or email webmaster@perrotlibrary.org!

Another Passport Day at Perrot

The Old Greenwich Post Office is sponsoring another U.S. Passport Day at Perrot on Saturday, March 28th, 2009, from 9 A.M. to 4 P.M. File the paperwork to get your U.S. Passport. Photo services will also be available at the event, for $15. Bring your checkbook (Passport Fees are $85 for children under 16, and $100 for Adults), and your identification (you will need a previous passport or your birth certificate, as well as a photo ID).

If you'd like more information about Passport Day at Perrot, please call the Old Greenwich Post Office for more info at 203-637-1405.

Remember, according to new passport regulations, you must now show your passport upon your return from Canada, Mexico, or the Carribean. You can read more about these new requirements here. For other general information about obtaining a U.S. Passport, visit the U.S. Department of State's Passport Page.

DVD Diva: Kate Winslet

Kate Winslet has been nominated for 5 Oscars but just recently received two Golden Globes for her roles in The Reader and Revolutionary Road, now playing in theaters. Here are four of the movies for which she was Oscar-nominated:

Titanic: Winslet's first role with Leonardo DiCaprio, in which two people from different worlds meet and fall in love on the brief, tragic maiden voyage of the grand ocean liner.

Little Children: Sarah Pierce is a new stay-at-home mom struggling with the solitude of her new role. Spending every moment with a three-year-old tests the patience of the one-time English scholar.

Sense & Sensibility: In this Jane Austen story, Winslet plays the role of Marriane Dashwood.

Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind: When Joel, played by Jim Carrey, discovers that his girlfriend, Clementine, has had their tumultuous relationship erased from her mind through an experimental scientific procedure, he decides to ease his pain by getting the same treatment.

[The complete list of Kate Winslet movies available in the Greenwich Library system]

2009 Children's Literary Award Winners

The winners of the 2009 major literary awards for children were announced today at the American Library Association's Midwinter Conference in Denver. [Click on each cover to view that title and to place a hold.]


Caldecott Medal Winner: The House in the Night, illustrated by Beth Krommes (written by Susan Marie Swanson)
A spare, patterned text and glowing pictures explore the origins of light that make a house a home in this bedtime book for young children.





Newbery Medal Winner: The Graveyard Book, by Neil Gaiman
Nobody Owens, known to his friends as Bod, is a normal boy. He would be completely normal if he didn't live in a sprawling graveyard, being raised and educated by ghosts, with a solitary guardian who belongs to neither the world of the living nor of the dead.




Sibert Medal Winner (for best informational book) and Coretta Scott King Author Award Winner: We Are the Ship: The Story of Negro League Baseball, written and illustrated by Kadir Nelson
Nelson tells the story of Negro League baseball from its beginnings in the 1920s, through its decline after Jackie Robinson crossed over to the majors in 1947.


Coretta Scott King Illustrator Award Winner: The Blacker the Berry: Poems, illustrated by Floyd Cooper (written by Joyce Carol Thomas)
Black is dazzling and distinctive, like toasted wheat berry bread; snowberries in the fall; rich, red cranberries; and the bronzed last leaves of summer.


Geisel Award Winner (for best beginning reader): Are You Ready to Play Outside?, written and illustrated by Mo Willems
Elephant and Piggie can't wait to go play in the sunshine. But will a rainy day ruin all the fun?


For the complete list of this year's ALA award winners and honor books, take a look at the ALA website.

Event Reminder: Margaret Kane lecture

Don't forget... Tomorrow, Wednesday, January 21st, Kathleen Motes Bennewitz, Curator and Director of Exhibition and Programs for the Bush-Holley Historic Site will discuss the work of Margaret Kane. The program will take place in the library at 7:30 P.M.

More info on this event.

Inauguration Coverage at Perrot

Join us in the Children's Program Room next Tuesday, where we will be showing live coverage of the historic inauguration of our nation's 44th president, Barack Obama.

Tuesday, January 20th, from approximately 11 A.M. to 3 P.M.
Program Room in the Radcliffe Wing

Create your own comics online

Make your own comics online at makebeliefscomix.com!

MakeBeliefsComix.com is a free tool to enable kids to express themselves through writing and creating their own comic strips. The site offers fun animal and human characters with different moods, thought and talk balloons to fill in with words, and story prompts. Parents and children can create stories together, print them to create comic books or email them to friends and family. Have fun!

-Mrs. K.

TALL TALES AT THE LIBRARY!

There are a limited number of spaces still available in the SPOTLIGHT! ON TALL TALES program for kids in Grades 2 and 3. Join Mrs. Kennedy to learn about larger-than-life legends on Wednesday afternoons January 28th, February 4th, February 18th, February 25th, and March 4th from 4-5 pm. Call the Library or stop by to register your child.

The March 4th meeting of Spotlight will be a gala concluding event, featuring stilt artist TREVOR THE GAMES MAN! This event is open to all school-age children. Complimentary tickets are available at our Youth Services Desk.

DVD Diva: Hugh Grant

Best known for his work in romantic comedies, Hugh Grant is always enjoyable to watch. Here is a sampling of his earlier films:

Maurice is based on an E.M. Forster story about two Edwardian-era Cambridge graduates that fall in love, but must abide by British society's strict norms regarding homosexuality.


The Englishman Who Went Up A Hill But Came Down A Mountain is the story of a young English cartographer who must tell a Welsh village that their mountain is only a hill.

In Sense and Sensibility, which also stars Emma Thompson, the Dashwood sisters find their chances at marriage seemingly doomed by their family's sudden loss of fortune.

Four Weddings and a Funeral is a romantic comedy about a young man who meets the girl of his dreams at a friend's wedding. However, the timing is wrong, and it takes three more weddings and a funeral before the two finally connect.

In 2002, Hugh Grant worked with Woody Allen in Small Time Crooks, the story of a loser crook and his wife who strike it rich when a bank job gets botched.

Check our catalog for more Hugh Grant films . . .

Book Recommendations for the New Year

Here is a book of intrigue and murder “for the guys”

Born to Run, by James Grippando
Intrepid Miami attorney Jack Swyteck comes to the aid of his former governor father as he investigates the suspicious hunting death of the vice president. This is a real action-packed thriller!

Want more great book selections? Take a look at the new Great Reads from the Reference Librarians list for January 2009.

Favorite Caldecott Winners

The Caldecott Medal was named in honor of nineteenth-century English illustrator Randolph Caldecott. It is awarded annually by the Association for Library Service to Children, a division of the American Library Association, to the artist of the most distinguished American picture book for children.

For January's "Our Picks" list, Youth Services staff have picked their favorite Caldecott-winning picture books from past and present. Take a look!

You can view a list of all Caldecott Winners at ALA's website. Also, did you know that all Caldecott Winners and Honor Books are notated in our library catalog? Simply do a Subject search for "Caldecott Medal Winners" or "Caldecott Honor Books."

Also, Youth Services has a copy of each Caldecott Winner in a special collection in our Reference area, for your browsing pleasure.

Byram Library Renovation Update

The Byram Shubert Library is temporarily closed while Library materials are moved into the renovated building from storage and the Library's temporary space.

While the Library is closed, materials can be placed in the book drop at the temporary space or returned to Greenwich, Cos Cob, or Perrot Libraries. Byram patrons' holds will automatically be sent to Greenwich Library.

The new Byram Shubert Library is set to re-open in mid-January.