Follow Her Home

Following the trail of evidence from her friends home in posh Beverly Hills to a questionable club in Koreatown, she is confounded with the thread of betrayals and deceits that she uncovers among her inner circle of friends and family. With a stubbornness of a seasoned detective, Song refuses to give up, even when very bad things begin happening to those she loves most. She is alternately knocked out, held at gunpoint, and kidnapped, yet she remains undeterred from finding out the truth about her friend’s father.

Like the noir authors that inspired this novel, Cha, a debut author, uses a stylized but direct way of writing. All the usual noir characters and plots are in place in Follow Her Home, from the femme fatale to the mysterious stranger that tails her every move. However, Cha writes with a refreshing take on the usual noir conventions. Song is eagle-eyed and cynical, but she is also compassionate when you least expect it. Without giving away the major plot points, I’ll at least say that Cha does not give the reader a happy ending to the story. What she does give us, though, is an ending that suggests that Song is an aspiring detective to watch for in the future.

Get ready to Dig Into Reading all summer at the library for our summer reading theme.  Storytimes and clubs will be focusing on underground animals, dinosaur fossils, gardens and worms, construction trucks and more.  June 29 is International Mud Day, so this year our Saturday storytime that day will be all about glorious mud, with a mud pie-making contest at the end (outside).  But there’s lots more going on, so be sure to add the library to your summer schedule.

Our summer reading kick-off party is June 1 from 10:00-12:00, and all ages are invited to visit the library to sign up for summer reading and find treasure!  We will provide a treasure map for anyone interested in seeking out various desks and locations within the library, playing fun games for prizes and learning to talk like a pirate.  Kids can create pirate costume pieces for themselves and watch Pirate Pete’s Puppet Show in the auditorium.

The library’s summer reading program is a fun way to motivate kids to read during the break from school.  Continuing to read on a regular basis is critical for kids to maintain and improve their reading skills so they are prepared to enter the next grade in the fall.  Summer reading also motivates parents to read aloud to their younger children, and teens to read books, magazines or graphic novels that interest them and that don’t come with any assignments or reports attached.  Adults can also join in and have some extra incentive to tackle some titles from their “Too many books, too little time” list.

Participating is easy.  You can register at the library or online, and then just keep track of your reading time to earn prizes like free books, restaurant or store gift certificates, toys, mugs, etc.  Our sponsors are amazingly generous, with Vista Drive-In donating 1000 free ice cream cone coupons, as they have done for more than 10 years, and many other fabulous donations.

Storytimes begin June 3rd with options for babies, toddlers and preschoolers throughout the week, including Saturdays.  Baby Rhyme Time for ages 0-18 months meets Mondays at 11 and Thursdays at 10.  In addition to bouncy rhymes, songs and music, each parent/baby pair gets to read a “choral reader” book together during each session. One week will focus on construction vehicles with our new choral reader board book Dinosaur Dig, which has lots of fun language and colorful pictures.

The “Move & Groove” storytimes for toddlers and preschoolers will feature lots of great story books, flannelboards, action rhymes and dancing to music, parachute play, and digging for treasures or crawling through our cloth tunnel to go along with the “dig” theme.  Our goal is for kids to emerge excited about books and reading every day.

Summer clubs for kids going into kindergarten through 6th grade will be busy with lots of cool stories, games and crafts.  The youngest set will join the Precocious Prairie Dogs Club and will feature some funny and strange underground animals, and one week will include a wiggly-jiggly worm relay outside.  The Digging Detectives Club for 2nd-3rd graders will focus on dinosaurs one week, and they will make their own mini dinosaur island using play dough, sticks, grass, and other natural materials.

Ms. Rachel likes to come up with fascinating and “very grown up” activities for the 4th-6th graders, who can attend the Archaeo-Paleo-Anthro-Pologists club on Wednesdays or Thursdays.  Each week will cover a different ancient culture, plus one week on dinosaur fossils. When they learn about ancient China, Rachel will show the terracotta warriors and then allow kids to try to piece together pottery shards.

We’re showing free kids’ movies every Friday afternoon at 2:00, including several titles based on popular children’s books that involve digging, living underground, saving burrowing animals or traveling inside a giant fruit.

A couple of special treats for animal lovers include the Milford Nature Center program on June 14, and the monthly ZOOfari programs on June 28 and July 26.  Staff from Milford will present “Can You Dig It? Life in a Dog Town,” with amazing facts about prairie dogs and all the animals that depend on them.  Did you know prairie dogs have kitchens, bathrooms and bedrooms in their homes? Learn about burrowing owls, turtles and salamanders that call these tunnels home, too, and meet a black-footed ferret.  The June ZOOfari Tails will focus on animal dads, and in July the stories will be about pond animals with a visit from a live salamander or toad.

We will also be continuing our Sunday afternoon “R.E.A.D. With Dogs” program during which kids can sign up to read to a Reading Education Assistance Dog (certified therapy dog) for 15 minutes or so.  The dogs are beautiful, kind and nonjudgmental, creating the perfect environment for reading practice. Of course, this time can be included on the summer reading logs as kids work toward earning their prizes.

You can already get a little taste of the summer theme this Saturday at our “Holey Moley” Stories on the Lawn at 11:00.  Just meet on the Poyntz side lawn, bring a blanket or chair or maybe a picnic lunch, and be entertained with funny stories and a cute craft to take home.

Marilyn loved to dance and had asked Jim to take dance lessons with her many times over their years together.  So, signing-up for dance lessons was her first order of business after leaving Jim.  When the dance instructor becomes enamoured with Marilyn’s dancing skill and asks her to join him in a dance contest, feelings of romance begin to grow.

The Dance is about relationships, growing and overcoming fears that keep us from truly loving our partner as they need to be loved.  With Dan Walsh’s ability to write and Gary Smalley’s ability to deal with relationships this is a very enlightening & touching story.

This book is filled with spectacular photos and gives us a new understanding of the complex lives of these amazing animals. The authors also discuss the controversies around hunting and ranching in the areas where wolves are present, and discuss the benefits of the presence of wolves to the environment. The wolf is an amazing animal that deserves our respect and protection, and the insights offered into their lives by this book will hopefully inspire more protection of these spectacular animals.

With summer just around the corner, our thoughts naturally turn to that vacation ritual, the road trip. Load the car, load the map, then forget the map, but don’t forget the kids, for the gleaming highway awaits you. North, south, east, or west, all directions lead to adventure, new sights, new experiences, or homecomings. Manhattan Public Library has a large travel section on the second floor that includes hundreds of titles about venturing onto the open road in search of new and exciting places.

What was perhaps the first road trip was taken by Horatio Nelson Jackson who, to win a 50 dollar bet, claimed he could cross the country by automobile in 90 days. Jackson left San Francisco on May 23, 1903 and drove into New York City 63 days later. You won’t need quite as much time to drive coast to coast, but a good guide could come in handy. “Let’s Go: Roadtripping USA: The Complete Coast-to-Coast Guide to America” features eight classic cross-country road trip routes, along with hundreds of suggestions for places to eat, drink, and sleep along the way. For more about that first road trip, read “Horatio’s Drive,” by Dayton Duncan and Ken Burns.

If you want to get your kicks on Route 66, check out Tom Snyder’s “Route 66: Traveler’s Guide and Roadside Companion.” Manageable sections are highlighted for the entire 2,448 mile length of the Neon Road from Chicago to Los Angeles. The second half of the book features facts and trivia about places and people along the route.

The Interstate Highway System is the envy of the world, but sometimes those old narrow state and U.S. highways offer a truer picture of America. Try “Road Trip USA: Cross-Country Adventures on America’s Two-Lane Highways” by Jamie Jensen. The guide covers 35,000 miles of blacktop through the heart and soul of America.

Feel like rambling? Then “Ramble: A Field Guide to the U.S.A.,” by Eric Peterson is the book for you. Celebrating 250 American attractions and six mythic road trips, this travelogue describes each regional chapter using maps, out-of-the-ordinary statistics, and listings of not-so-run-of-the-mill tourist destinations. Chapters are divided into sections including Big Things and Other Road Art (unique sights), R.I.P. (famous graves), Vice (something naughty going on), Sleeps (where to stay), Grub (where to eat), and Huh (the unusual).

     “USA 101: A Guide to America’s Iconic Places, Events, and Festivals,” by Gary McKechnie, is a reverential yet lighthearted look at America in all its quirky diversity. From the Grand Ole Opry to Mount Rushmore, from polka festivals to monster truck rallies, this guide showcases legendary places and hometown events that identify America.

If you’re looking for something out of the ordinary, “Weird U.S.: A Freaky Field Trip through the 50 States,” will take you there. Author Matthew Lake shows you where to find the world’s biggest ball of twine, among other weird, freaky, and unbelievable creatures and places.

Summer crowds can be unbearable, so a guide to uncrowded spots is just what the doctor ordered. “Off the Beaten Path: A Travel Guide to More than 1,000 Scenic and Interesting Places Still Uncrowded and Inviting,” fills the prescription for an enjoyable road trip. The guide features quick day outings as well as longer vacation trips.

For the more historically inclined, there are several excellent guides from which to choose. “Progressive Nation,” by Jerome Pohlen, for example, is a travel guide to over 400 inspiring landmarks and left turns highlighting the Progressive Movement in the U.S. “America’s Best Historic Sites,” by B.J. Welborn lists 101 places to see, spanning more than 1,000 years of history.

  Civil War enthusiasts will be interested in “The Complete Civil War Road Trip Guide,” by Michael Weeks. The book outlines ten suggested itineraries for short road trips that cover every major battle of the war and contains complete information on and reviews of almost 450 historical sites across the United States related to the Civil War.

Remember to visit the library before you leave, and be careful on the road. Just in case you’re wondering: That big ball of twine could be in Cawker City, Kansas or Darwin, Minnesota or even Branson, Missouri. It all depends on who you ask.