Teen Summer Reading Program starts today!

Teens going into grade 7 or older can participate in our Teen Summer Reading Program. When you sign up at the Red Wing Public Library, you will get a free "transformation" pen (while supplies last) and be eligible to win Target gift cards in weekly drawings. Read a book and submit a review to qualify for the drawings!

Puppet show on Tuesday, July 1!

Come join the Schiffelly Puppets at the library on Tuesday, July 1 at 2:00 for a wild and crazy trip to Neverland as they present "Captain Schnook, Stinker Bell and the High Frying Adventures of Peter Pan." No registration required.

New cookbooks

Just in time for the summer entertaining season, we have a bevy of new cookbooks. Here are just a few:


Yum-O! The Family Cookbook






The Best American Recipes: The Year's Top Picks From Books, Magazines, Newspapers and the Internet





Bobby Flay's Grill It!






One-dish Meals: 100 Delicious Recipes






Outstanding in the Field: A Farm to Table Cookbook





The Splendid Table's How to Eat Supper: Recipes, Stories, and Opinions from Public Radio's Award-winning Food Show

Classic television shows

While the library certainly has lots of new movies and current television shows on DVD, we also have quite a few classic (both recent and old time) series as well. Here is just a sampling of what's available:


Sex and the City






Friends






Seinfeld






Northern Exposure






Perry Mason






Bonanza





Flipper





Andy Griffith Show

Sally Setzer Memorial Garden

With funds donated in memory of Sally Setzer, former Director of the Red Wing Public Library, we've been renovating the outside alcove between our front door and our Teen area (facing East Avenue). We have a new stone patio with planters and benches and a cozy view of the park across the street. A plaque commemorating Sally will be installed soon. Stop by and share the peace and beauty of this lovely shady spot.

Minnesota author Maureen Millea Smith to visit library

On Saturday, June 28 at 10:00 am, Maureen Millea Smith, author of When Charlotte Comes Home, will come to the library to discuss her work and sign copies of the book. When Charlotte Comes Home won a 2007 Minnesota Book Award in the Best Novel & Short Story category. Ms. Smith describes the book as “...a novel of family, love, and loss set in the 1960s and 1970s. When Charlotte Comes Home is set in 1960s Omaha, Nebraska, and is narrated by Fred Holly, looking back on those years when he came of age and his youngest sister, Charlotte, fell ill.”

Among the latest DVDs to arrive at the library are:

Love in the Time of Cholera (Rotten Tomatoes rating 27%)







The Nanny Diaries (Rotten Tomatoes rating 34%)





Charlie Wilson's War (Rotten Tomatoes rating 83%)






I am Legend (Rotten Tomatoes rating 68%)

Summer is a great time for audiobooks!

Summer, the season of long trips, is the perfect time for audiobooks. Not only do we own lots of audiobooks on CD and audiocassette, we can get for you hundreds of different titles on Playaways, which are self-contained, easy to use and very small units containing both an MP3 player and an audiobook. We also have a variety of ways to help you pick out an audiobook to enjoy: free copies of AudioFile magazine (while supplies last); brochures with suggested books and narrators; and a separate section for the newest books on CD. The latest arrivals include:

Bull's Island by Dorothea Benton Frank







Certain Girls by Jennifer Weiner








In Defense of Food: An Eater's Manifesto by Michael Pollan








The Miracle at Speedy Motors by Alexander McCall Smith








Boom!: Voices of the Sixties by Tom Brokaw

Browsing collection

Many of you know that the library has a display of best sellers just inside the front door. These books check out for 2 weeks and may not be renewed, thus enabling more people a chance to get the most in-demand books. What you may not know is that these books cannot be requested - that means it's possible to find and check out books which have long waiting lists. All you have to do is visit! Come early and often for your best chance at getting a copy of the very latest best sellers.

Lots to do at the Library this week!

We are in the thick of our Summer Reading Program, but that's not all that's going on at the library this week. Some of our summer reading events required advanced registration and have filled up, so if you registered ahead of time, don't forget your appointment!

lHere's a quick overview of this week's events.

Tuesday June 17:
- Baby Storytime (11:00 am and 6:30 pm)
- Dog Day Afternoons (1:00-3:00 pm, registration filled)
- Friends of the Library meeting (4:00 pm)

Wednesday, June 18:
- Paint a Mural with Lynn Brown (10:30-11:15 am, registration filled)
- Dog Day Afternoons (Day 2, 1:00-3:00 pm, registration filled)

Thursday, June 19:
- Paint a Mural with Lynn Brown (10:30-11:00 am, registration filled)

Yes, yes! Keep the library open!

Mr. Rayner’s editorial , “No, no! Don’t close library early” in today’s Red Wing Republican Eagle makes a compelling argument against decreasing library hours during the summer months. The Library Board could not agree more. In fact, having the same year around hours is part of the library’s new long range plan, “Objective 2:1 – Increase summer hours to the level of winter hours Action Plan: Library Director and Library Board will incorporate the necessary funding in the 2009 budget by 12/31/08.” The Library Board has requested a slight increase in staffing for the 2009 budget to accommodate this goal, and this afternoon I will be meeting with the City’s Personnel Committee to make the Library Board’s case for increased staffing. Thank you Mr. Rayner, your timing could not have been better!

James Lund
Director

New DVDs

Among the latest DVDs to arrive at the library are:

Theatrical releases:

The Number 23 (Rotten Tomatoes rating 8%)
The Last Legion (Rotten Tomatoes rating 17%)
Hot Fuzz (Rotten Tomatoes rating 90%)

BBC productions:

Sense and Sensibility
Persuasion

National Geographic productions

Inside the Green Berets

Politics

In this presidential election year, there's lots of demand for books on politics. Here are a few of the latest to arrive at the library:


What Happened: Inside the Bush White House and Washington's Culture of Deception by Scott McClellan






Moyers on Democracy by Bill Moyers







Right is Wrong: How the Lunatic Fringe Hijacked America, Shredded the Constitution, and MadeUs All Less Safe (and What You Need to Know to End the Madness) by Arianna Huffington.






The Revolution: A Manifesto by Ron Paul






Against the Tide: How a Compliant Congress Empowered a Reckless President by Lincoln Chafee.








Upstream: the Ascendance of American Conservatism by Alfred S. Regnery.

Read to Feed!

Our Summer Reading Program starts today! Stop by today or later this week to pick up your reading bags (while supplies last) and see what's cookin' at the Red Wing Public Library! Sign-ups for events and tickets for the Zoo Man visit will also be available starting today.

This summer, besides the usual exciting array of animals, music, storytellers and more, the public library is continuing the “Read to Feed” program carried out by Sunnyside and Burnside schools. Through reading, money is raised and donated to Heifer International, a nonprofit organization. This money is used to buy farm animals for families in need around the world. Beatrice’s Goat, a children’s picture book about a real family who received a goat from Heifer International, may be checked out from the library. More information can be found at Heifer International.

Here’s how the library’s program will work:

For every 15 minutes or more of reading or being read to for 5 days, complete the form found in your library bag and at the library, bring it to the Reference Desk, and you will be given a fake dollar. Take this dollar to the boxes in the story well and vote for the animal of your choice by placing it in the designated box. Friends of the Library will match these “dollars” with real money, which will be sent to Heifer International at the end of the summer program to buy these animals. The more minutes spent reading means more animals can be purchased. It is the hope that Read to Feed will encourage children to read as well as become global citizens making a difference.

Along with this, the returned reading forms will be dropped into a box at the Reference Desk. Three names will be drawn weekly to each win a free book.

British television

Interested in what our neighbors across the pond watch on TV? Check out these series and movies, all available on DVD from the Red Wing Public Library:

Doctor Who

Ballykissangel

Catherine Tate Show

Rome (shown on HBO)

Hamish MacBeth

Inspector Lynley Mysteries

Lilies

and many more...

Star Wars

Just in time for your children's summer reading, here are the latest Star Wars books to arrive at the library:




Star Wars Epic Battles











Star Wars Clone Adventures, Vol. 10










Star Wars: The Story of Darth Vader








Star Wars: The Ultimate Visual Guide









And, of course, there are many more to choose from - come check 'em out!

New books

Our two featured books this week run the gamut from faith to science.

Founding Faith: Providence, Politics and the Birth of Religious Freedom in America, a work by Beliefnet.com cofounder Steven Waldman, argues that "[t]he culture wars have distorted the dramatic story of how Americans came to worship freely...[T]he United States was not founded as a "Christian nation," nor were the Founding Fathers uniformly secular or Deist. Rather, the Founders forged a new approach to religious liberty, a revolutionary formula that promoted faith--by leaving it alone." The book has garnered praise from across the political and religious spectrum.




Diandra Lesley-Pelecky, professor of physics at the University of Texas at Dallas, has written a fascinating account of what happens and why during a NASCAR race. Ever wonder "[h]ow do drivers walk away from serious crashes? How can two cars travel faster together than either car can on its own? How do you dress for a 1800°F gasoline fire?" Then The Physics of NASCAR is the book for you!

Summer Reading Program Starts June 9th

Our Summer Reading Program starts next Monday, June 9th! Stop by on or after the 9th to pick up your reading bags (while supplies last). Signups for events and tickets for the Zooman visit will also be available that day.

Mysteries Have Moved!

Our Mystery collection has been relocated to the newspaper/magazine area (where the oversize books used to be). We are making space to expand our fiction collection!