National Book Award Winners 2009

The 2009 National Book Awards were presented on Wednesday.

Fiction Winner:
Let the Great World Spin, by Colum McCann

In the dawning light of a late-summer morning, the people of lower Manhattan stand hushed, staring up in disbelief at the Twin Towers. It is August 1974, and a mysterious tightrope walker is running, dancing, leaping between the towers, suspended a quarter mile above the ground. In the streets below, a slew of ordinary lives become extraordinary in McCann's stunningly intricate portrait of a city and its people.

Non-Fiction Winner:

The First Tycoon: The Epic Life of Cornelius Vanderbilt, by T.J. Stiles
A gripping, groundbreaking biography of the combative man whose genius and force of will created modern capitalism. Founder of a dynasty, builder of the original Grand Central, creator of an impossibly vast fortune, Cornelius “Commodore” Vanderbilt is an American icon. This is a sweeping, fast-moving epic, and a complex portrait of the great man.

Poetry Winner:
Transcendental Studies: A Trilogy, by Keith Waldrop
In these quasi-abstract, experimental lines, collaged words torn from their contexts take on new meanings. These powerful poems, at once metaphysical and personal, reconcile Waldrop's romantic tendencies with formal experimentation, uniting poetry and philosophy, and revealing him as a transcendentalist for the new millennium.

Young People's Literature Winner:

Claudette Colvin: Twice Toward Justice, by Phillip Hoose

On March 2, 1955, an impassioned teenager, fed up with the daily injustices of Jim Crow segregation, refused to give her seat to a white woman on a segregated bus in Montgomery, Alabama. Instead of being celebrated as Rosa Parks would be just nine months later, fifteen-year-old Claudette Colvin found herself shunned by her classmates and dismissed by community leaders. Undaunted, a year later she dared to challenge segregation again as a key plaintiff in Browder v. Gayle, the landmark case that struck down the segregation laws of Montgomery. Hoose presents the first in-depth account of an important yet largely unknown civil rights figure.

Youth Services Winter/Spring '10 Program Schedule Now Available

The Youth Services Winter/Spring 2010 Program Schedule is now available.

Our program registration is by lottery. Pick up a registration postcard for the program of your choice from the Youth Services Circulation Desk, beginning on Monday, December 14th, 2009. Don't forget to bring a stamp!

Complete registration instructions are available on our website, as our descriptions of all our program offerings.

If you have other questions, please comment on this post!

Tellabration! 2009

Throughout the world, the week before Thanksgiving is set aside as a time to celebrate the time-honored art of storytelling and story listening.

Join the thousands of people, young and old, around the world who will spend a unique and magical hour rediscovering the laughter, the tears and the power of the story, at TELLABRATION!

Check out all local Tellabration! 2009 events here, find out more at Tellabration!'s website, or call 860-439-2764.

Youth Services' Holiday Gift-Buying Guide 2009

It's here! Each year our Youth Services Librarian and young readers put together a list of recommended books to buy for holiday gifts. Our list features picture books, books for beginning readers, books for middle graders, and books for ages 12 and up.

View our list online here. The list is also available at the Youth Services Desk as a paper brochure.

DVD Diva: Cary Grant

Once told by an interviewer, "Everybody would like to be Cary Grant," Grant is said to have replied, "So would I."

Here are some of his movies available at Perrot:

• In the Alfred Hitchcock thriller, North by Northwest, Grant plays a hapless New York advertising executive who is mistaken for a government agent by a group of foreign spies, and is pursued across the country while he looks for a way to survive.


• In The Philadelphia Story a rich woman's ex-husband and a tabloid-type reporter turn up just before her planned remarriage and she begins to learn the truth about herself. With Katharine Hepburn and James Stewart.


• A bishop trying to get a new cathedral built prays for guidance in The Bishop's Wife. An angel (Mr. Cary Grant) arrives, but his guidance isn't about fundraising. With Loretta Young and David Niven.

Book Recommendation: Emily's Ghost

Emily’s Ghost, published by Norton, and written by Denise Giardina, is a fabulous book. The premise that Emily Bronte’s tale needed telling because all her papers were destroyed (except for Wuthering Heights) was an excellent basis for this type of story. Emily's Ghost was well-written and captivating-- this is one of the best books I have read all year!

There's more about the book on the author's website: http://www.denisegiardina.com/emily.htm

-Barbara Glass

Annual Lions Club Grapefruit Sale

The Old Greenwich Lions Club is selling grapefruits and oranges, as part of its annual fund-raising effort to flight blindness worldwide.

Fruits are available for purchase at Perrot (ask at the Adult Circulation Desk). Grapefruits are $16 per case, and juice oranges are $17 per case.

Photo of the Perrot cupola

click to see a larger version

Klara Zimmerman, a junior at Greenwich High School, took this neat photo of Perrot's cupola for an art class. Klara says, "I am a frequent user of the library and I thought it would be cool to take some pictures there for my class. The photography assignment was called Angle of View." Thanks for sharing, Klara!

Tomorrow Night: Tracy Kidder

Perrot Event Reminder:

New York Times best-selling author Tracy Kidder will discuss his books, Mountains Beyond Mountains and Strength in What Remains, tomorrow, Thursday, November 5th, 2009, at 7 P.M. at the First Congregational Church of Old Greenwich.

The author will sign books at 6:30 P.M., and a reception will follow the talk at 8 P.M. in Perrot's children's wing. Please arrive early for this event, as seating is limited!

Please visit Tracy Kidder's website for more information about the author and his books: http://www.tracykidder.com/