One Big Happy Family by Lisa Rogak is a feel-good book about animals that have fostered infant animal outside of their own species.  Most of the foster parents featured are dogs that have helped raise everything from a kangaroo joey to a pygmy hippo, but other animal surrogate parents get in on the act as well such as a male orangutan helping with a pair of frisky lion cubs.  In all, fifty stories of inter-species relationships are shared along with photos of the mixed families.  One of the most fascinating pairings shown is a wild lioness that began taking care of an antelope calf shortly after that same lioness and another had killed and eaten the calf's mother.  A quick read at under 150 pages, this is one that is likely to fascinate adults and children alike.

Welcome 2014!

It's hard to believe, but 2013 has ended and 2014 has arrived!  We wish you a happy and prosperous new year and all the wonderfully exciting things you have to look forward to.  The library is closed today, but please come visit us tomorrow, during our normal hours of 9:00 AM-7:00 PM.

The Warren County-Vicksburg Public Library will be closed on Christmas Eve, December 24, 2013 and Christmas Day, December 25, 2013.  Our Board of Trustees and staff wish you a safe and happy holiday season!

Spirit of Steamboat

     Legend has it that Steamboat was the greatest bronco of all time. He never let any cowboy ride him: tough as nails. This horse was so famous that Wyoming put an image of him bucking a rider on its license plates. At least, this is the story Craig Johnson tells in his newest Walt Longmire novella. Sheriff Longmire is sitting at his desk on Christmas Eve reading A Christmas Carol by Dickens. (It's a tradition.) His under sheriff is in Brazil with her mother and his daughter is in Pennsylvania; ready to have a baby. His dispatcher, Ruby, tells him there is someone there to see him. A small wisp of a woman with porcelain skin and dark hair carrying a black garment bag walks into Walt's office and asks if he is the sheriff. She speaks to him like she knows him and she asks about the previous sheriff, Lucian Connally. Walt takes the woman to the Durant Home for Assisted Living where Lucian has just shot out the T.V. in the rec room. Lucian answers the door to his apartment wearing nothing but his boxers, a wife beater t-shirt, and only one leg. After all the pleasantries are out of the way, Lucian asks her what the reason for her visit is. She replies, "Steamboat."
    With that, we flash back to 1988 when Walt has just been elected sheriff for the first time and his daughter, Cady, was only 9 years old. Again, it is Christmas Eve and Walt is anxiously awaiting the med-evac flight of a little girl who has just lost her parents and great-aunt in a fiery car crash. There is a blizzard blowing their way and no one is sure that the helicopter carrying the severely burned girl will make it to Denver. It is slow and unable to maneuver in the high winds and icy conditions. Walt asks if the old B-25 34030 sitting in the hangar could make the trip. Yes, no, maybe is the answer he gets. Even if it could there is no one to fly it. But Walt knows someone; Lucian Connally flew one of these very planes in WWII over Japan. So, with the EMT & pilot of the med-evac helicopter refusing to fly in the gathering storm, and a little girl's life hanging in the balance; Walt enlists, Lucian, a reluctant co-pilot named Julie, and Doctor Isaac to help get the B-25 in the air and the little girl to Denver's Children's Hospital. Walt goes along for the ride, as does the little girl's grandmother; who doesn't speak any English. The harrowing ride that follows tests them all in ways they could not imagine, but the little girl gets to her destination and twenty-five years later, she comes back to Durant to get the whole story and to return a memento to Lucian. Why the mention of the bronco? The name of the plane: Steamboat.

Dexter's Final Cut

I finally was able to read Jeff Lindsay's latest novel, Dexter's Final Cut, the next in the Dexter Morgan series.  Lindsay's series inspired the Dexter Showtime series that ended its run in October 2013.  From what I have read, this book is the final Dexter book, but I am hoping that Jeff Lindsay will write at least one more in the series before he hangs up the Dexter Morgan character.  Dexter Morgan is a blood splatter expert with the Miami-Dade Police Department and a serial killer.  Dexter, however, only kills bad people such as rapists or child molesters who "fall through the cracks" and end up escaping justice.  He has a strict code he follows,  which was given to him by Harry, his policeman step-father.    Dexter does

not function with the ability to empathize with other "humans," so he has spent most of his days studying others around him and trying to fit in.  He is married to Rita, and has one kid with her and two step-kids, Cody and Astor, in whom he sees fleeting images of "Dark Passenger" behavior.  The book opens with a scene in which you finally figure out that Dexter is NOT dead, but acting in a television show.  From there, the book starts over from the beginning and details the events leading up to the television show scene.  Dexter and his sister, Sergeant Deborah Morgan, are chosen to be the folks that several as the "technical advisors" for a forensics television series that is being shot in Miami.  Dexter is delighted when the beautiful actress, Jackie Forrest hires him to be her personal bodyguard after she reveals she has received some stalker-type fan mail and women around Miami that look uncannily like Jackie start dying.  Dexter gets caught up in the high-flying actor lifestyle---will this lead to the end of his life with Rita?  A definite twist at the end involving Astor, truly shakes up the book and the ending is truly topsy-turvy.  I adore Dexter Morgan's character because he truly makes the reader root for him---how bad can he be if he helps rid the world of bad people?  It's a great series that is not easily forgotten.  Jeff Lindsay lives in South Florida with his wife and three daughters and may be contacted at www.Dexter-Books.com, www.facebook.com/jefflindsayauther or at www.doubleday.com.

Who Asked You?

Terry McMillan's Who Asked You? is her eighth novel and is set in a mixed-race Los Angeles neighborhood.  The story opens with Betty Jean, the matriarch of the family, who works at a hotel, cleaning rooms.  Her daughter, Trinetta, drops off her two kids with Betty Jean and then disappears, leaving Betty Jean to try and raise them the best way she knows how.  Betty Jean's white neighbor, Tammy, is her best friend, and she is dealing with her own daughter who can't seem to find a job and move out of her house, as she tries to help Betty Jean with her grand sons.  Added to the mix are Betty Jean's son, Dexter, currently serving a prison term, and her invalid husband who is suffering from Alzheimer's.  Each character narrates the story, in alternating chapters, and the result is an interesting story told from many different points of view.  Betty Jean also has two sisters, each with their own set of issues, and her relationships with them and their family members figure prominently in the book.  This book addresses the burdens and blessings of family and trusting your own judgment even when others don't agree with you.  The characters are signature McMillan, and will leave you thinking.  If you liked McMillan's Waiting to Exhale, you will enjoy this book too. 

Happy Thanskgiving!

No matter where you are celebrating thanksgiving, or with whom you are celebrating, the staff and board of trustees of the Warren County-Vicksburg Public Library wish you and your family a safe and happy holiday!  Our patrons and friends are the best, and we could never be the wonderful member of our community that we are, without your help.  Thank you for your continued support of our library's programs, mission and staff.

 

The stories behind lost cat posters

'The Secrets of Lost Cats' by Dr. Nancy Davidson is a recent addition to our non-fiction collection.  Dr. Davidson's connection with lost cats began when her own cat, Zak, disappeared and she made a lost cat poster of her own as she searched for, and eventually found, him.  After that, she began to make a study of lost cat posters, wondering about the cats and the owners searching for them.

The book covers seven years and twenty lost cat posters in areas ranging from Alaska to Amsterdam, talking as much about the people who love cats as about the cats themselves.  There is also a very handy section in the back that advises the best actions to take if your own cat becomes lost or if you happen to come across a cat that appears lost.

After Dead

This post is for all of my fellow reader friends out there who are also mourning the end of the "Sookie Stackhouse" series.  I just finished reading After Dead the new Charlaine Harris novel.  This book was written by Harris in response to the enormous amount of questions she received from her readers while she was writing the thirteenth and final novel in the series.  Readers wanted to know what happened to many characters who had appeared in other books but just couldn't be in the final book. So, in Charlaine Harris' own words, "in the

interest of satisfying the readers who've been following Sookie's adventures for years, I herewith present my coda to the books that have dominated my professional life for over a decade."  This book is organized alphabetically by the names of the characters and it is truly an interesting read!  I enjoyed finding out what had happened to many of my favorite characters and even though the book is short, it is a must read for every Sookie Stackhouse fan.  Charlaine Harris is a New York Times bestselling author for both her Sookie Stackhouse and Harper Connelly Prime Crime mystery series, and she has lived in the South her entire life.  Please visit Charlaine Harris on the web at www.charlaineharris.com or at facebook.com/CharlaineHarris.

If You Were Here

If You Were Here is the newest novel by author Alafair Burke, a former prosecutor who now teaches criminal law and lives in Manhattan.  She is the author of nine novels, including the Ellie Hatcher series and several stand alones.  This novel is set in Manhattan, and stars McKenna Jordan, a magazine journalist (and former prosecutor) who is chasing down a story.  Her friend has been missing for years but when she sees a subway video of a heroic

act, she swears the woman in the video is her long-lost, presumed dead, friend, Susan.  Susan was also a classmate of McKenna's husband, Patrick, at West Point.  NYPD concluded that Susan disappeared after a tiff with her dad about the end of her military career, but McKenna thinks that there is something more to the story.  Thus begins a story of twists and turns as McKenna uses her reporting skills to ferret out the truth of Susan's disappearance and the story she was embroiled in.  The action is quick, the mystery is a good one and all in all this is a very suspenseful read.  This novel is a standalone book and may be read without reading any other novels first.  If you are interested in discovering more about the author, check her out online at www.alafairburke.com