Stick It Like You Mean It!

Stick It by T. L. Bonaddio is a fascinating new book that the library just received.  It contains 99 Do-It-Yourself duct tape projects.  The projects range from wallets and purses to necklaces and bracelets, ornaments and CD cases, and each is marked with 1 to 4 stars (one means a five year old could do it and four means adult supervision is helpful).  Each project has many pictures listed of the individual steps required to create the item and the

directions are easy to understand.  The book begins with a list and illustrations of techniques needed to create the products explored in the book.  I especially adore the duct tape flip flops---I believe I am going to have to make me some of those for the summer, since there are many wonderful patterned duct tapes available for purchase at your local hardware store!  This book would be the perfect basis for a summertime craft hour with your kids or a slumber party activity.  T. L. Bonaddio is writer, illustrator and designer who grew up in Scanton, PA and earned her BA in Printmaking/ Book Arts from the University of the Arts.  She enjoys creating books for children, teens and kids at heart.  For more information, visit her web site at tlbonaddio.com.

The Promise of Stardust

The Promise of Stardust by Priscille Sibley is a book perfect for fans of Jodi Picoult!  The story is gripping and centers around one fateful day when Elle Beaulieu slips off a ladder, falls and hurts her head.  She is declared officially brain dead and her neurologist husband, Mathhew, prepares himself and her family to terminate her life support.  Suddenly, there is a wrinkle in the plan--after many miscarriages and a still birth, Elle is pregnant.  The situation changes as Matthew gets embroiled in a battle with Elle's family and his own mother over who has the right to turn off Elle's life support and terminate both her life and the life of her unborn child.  Each chapter describes one day in the life of Elle and her family after the accident, and the novel is a wonderful examination of characters.  If you love family drama and/ or a good ethical story, then this book will be perfect for you. 

Stretch Your Dollars With a New Wardrobe

I just discovered the most fabulous book today!  New Dress A Day:  The Ultimate DIY Guide to Creating Fashion Dos from Thrift-Store Don'ts by Marisa Lynch is a great resource to teach you how to find items at the thrift store and re-vamp them to make cute "new" pieces for your wardrobe.  With just a few well-placed stitches and some creativity, you can update an outdated castoff and make it into something flirty, fun and very comtemporary.   This book is handy, because it teaches you how to "ace" sewing basics and create DIY designer look-alikes.  There are several very clever ideas in this book, including how to make accessories like a garter belt from an old wedding dress, and suggestions for creating a stunning strapless dress from an old bridesmaid dress.  The book includes colored before-and-after photos, sidebars and sewing tips.  This book is a wonderful way to make your wardrobe dollars stretch by remaking flea market/ thrift store finds into something fabulous!

Beat the Tombstone Blues

So, the next time you stay at a bed and breakfast, think about this one simple fact--things are not always as they seem!  In Ken Hodgson's Tombstone Blues, Samantha Sterling is fleeing her new divorce and her old life in Houston, TX, when she becomes the new manager of the Sunset Bed and Breakfast located in historic Tombstone, AZ.  Sidney Munson and his life partner Michael run the bed and breakfast, with the help of Sydney's crotchety mom, Esther.  They enjoy gourmet meals with select guests under the beautiful Arizona sunsets, but as they are both in their fifties, hire Samantha to run the business for them so that they can take much-needed vacations.  Samantha arrives and is immediately suspicious of Sidney and Michael's excessive kindness and strange behavior.  Soon, the secret is out!  The Sunset Bed and Breakfast is a cover for a hit-man operation, and if Samantha wants to survive, she must learn the business too.  This is the basis for a hilarious, charming, action-packed story full of entertaining characters.  There are plenty of side stories involving the residents of Tombstone, and there is definitely room for a sequel.  Esther is as much fun as Grandma Mazur (Stephanie Plum's grandma in her series written by Janet Evonavich) and Sidney and Michael are zany as well as sophisticated.  The plot gets wild and woolly, so prepare yourself for a twisty ride. Ken Hodgson is a former gold and uranium miner, worked in a state hospital and owned an air compressor buisness.  He is an active member of the Mystery Writers of America and International Thriller Writers.  He lives on a small ranch in northen New Mexico with his wife and prime editor, Rita alon with two spoiled cats, Sasha and Ulysses.

Go Barefoot in Paris

Ina Garten is one of my favorite chefs on Food Network.  On her "Barefoot Contessa" shows she prepares tasty meals for her fans, using ingredients she purchases from the stores near her home in the Hamptons.  In her book, Barefoot in Paris, Ina shows readers how to prepare simple, rich French dishes in your own home.  Many of these recipes are classics and share techniques with the recipes.  Barefoot in Paris is also filled with stories of Ina's love of the city, bustling outdoor markets, and variety of shops, from the local charcuterie (butcher shop) to the fromagerie (cheese shop). This book ccelebrates the food that you find on every corner of the city.  The book is filled with beautiful photos and in my opinion, the souffle' pictures are the best ones!  The resources section has great full-color pictures of French ingredients that the reader needs to try, which are included in the book's recipes.  This book is a truly magnificent celebration of French cuisine and how to prepare it.  If you are itching to try your hand at preparing a new style of cooking, this recipe book has great ideas for you to try. 

Heavenly Icebox Pies

Nothing says spring to me like a cool slice of pie!  Tempt your tastebuds (and your culinary skills) with Icebox Pies:  100 Scrumptious Recipes for No-Bake No-Fail Pies!  Author Lauren Chattman's book gives lots of examples of delicious, make-ahead desserts for the beginner to advanced cook.  The recipes are imaginative, fun, and perfect for entertaining, special occasions or as an everyday treat. Besides your usual lemon and chocolate pies, the book includes instructions for making Gianduia Pie (with hazlenuts and nutella), a couscous and apricot pudding pie and a fig and walnut pie!  There is even a handy end section on "Dressing Up" your pie which includes directions on how to make a variety of sauces and fun things such as sugared nuts and nougatine (almond brittle).  With great photos and detailed directions, this book is a sure winner for any pie lover!

Meet James Meredith and Celebrate National Library Week 2013!

Celebrate National Library Week, April 13-19, 2013 at the Warren County-Vicksburg Public Library!  This year's theme is:  "Communities Matter @ Your Library."  Our featured event this week is a book singing by author James Meredith on Wednesday, April 17, 2013 at 12:00 PM.  The program will be a Brown Bag Lunch--you are encouraged to bring your lunch to the event and drinks and dessert will be provided by the library.  Born in Mississippi in 1933, James Meredith was raised on a farm with nine siblings. He joined the military after high school and attended an all-black college before becoming the first black student at the University of Mississippi in 1962. Meredith graduated with a degree in political science in 1963. He wrote an account of his experience, titled Three Years in Mississippi, which was published in 1966. He went on to receive a master's degree in economics from the University of Ibadan in Nigeria, and a law degree from Columbia University in 1968.After he graduated, he earned a law degree and became involved in politics. He continues to be active in civil rights and lives in Jackson, Mississippi with his wife Judy Alsobrook.  James Meredith witll be disussing his newest book, A Mission from God:  A Memoir and Challenge for America.  Part memoir, part manifesto, the book is James Meredith’s look back at his courageous and action-packed life and his challenge to America to address the most critical issue of our day: how to educate and uplift the millions of black and white Americans who remain locked in the chains of poverty by improving our public education system.

Eight Habits of Love

8 Habits of Love:  Open Your Heart, Open Your Mind by Ed Bacon teaches you how to take the first steps on a life-changing journey toward self-discovery, creativity and healing, by celebrating and sharing the love that already lives inside you!  This will help you free yourself from the fear, anger and sadness that causes so much suffering in your life.  Using stories to illustrate his points, Bacon reveals how the reader can create a full and meaningful life by developing the habits of generosity, sillness, truth, candor, play, forgiveness, compassion and community.  By learning how to develop these habits in our daily lives, the reader learns how to reject fear's hold and embrace the power and grace within his/her self.  Author Ed Bacon has served as the rector for All Saints, an urban Episcopal Parish in Pasadena, CA with over 4,000 congregants, for over fifteen years.  His church services have attracted visits from many famous figures and he has been a frequent guest on Oprah's Soul Series on Oprah Radio and been a panelist in the "Spirituality 101" segment of The Oprah Winfrey Show.  Bacon lives in Pasadena, CA with his wife, Hope. 

Surviving Disaster

The Disaster Diaries by Sham Sheridan explores how he learned to stop worrying and love the apocalypse.  Sam Sheridan has traveled the world as an amateur boxer and mixed martial arts fighter; he has worked as an EMT, a wilderness firefighter, a sailor, a cowboy at the largest ranch in Montana, and in construction under brutal conditions at the South Pole.  If he isn’t ready for the apocalypse and the fractured world that will ensue, we are all in a lot of trouble.  And yet, despite an arsenal of skills that puts many to shame, when Sam became a father he was beset with nightmares about being unable to protect this son.

With disaster images from movies, books, and the nightly news filling his head, he was slowly driven to distraction:  If an earthquake hit tomorrow and the power grid went down, how much food and water would you need for your family?  If you’re forced outside the city limits, what would it take to survive in the wilderness?  And let’s not even talk about plagues, zombie hordes, and attacking aliens.  Unable to quiet his mind, Sam sets on a quest to learn the things that just might come in handy if our world takes a turn for the worse.

The problem is that each possible doomsday requires a different skill set.  Trying to navigate a clogged highway when everyone has the same bright idea to leave town?  Better prepare by attending the best stunt driving school in the country.  Need to protect your family but have run out of ammunition?  Better learn how to handle a knife.  Is your kid hurt or showing signs of serious mental stain?  Better brush up on emergency medicine and study the psychological effects of trauma.  From training with an Olympic weightlifter to a down-and-dirty apprenticeship in stealing cars with an ex-gang member, from an intense three-week-long gun course in the hundred-degree heat of Alabama to agonizing lessons in wilderness survival, Sam leaves no stone unturned.  Would it be enough if a meteor rocked the earth? Who’s to say?  But as Sam points out, it would be a shame to survive the initial impact only to die a few days later because you didn’t know how to build a fire.

Explore New Family Traditions

The Book of New Family Traditions by Meg Cox examines how to create great rituals for holidays and every day.  Quality family togetherness—everyone wants it, but it seems increasingly harder to get.  In a busy world where kids and parents are bombarded with all sorts of distractions, family rituals can offer a sense of home and identity that is good for the whole family.  In this expanded and updated edition, Meg Cox has gathered hundreds of memorable, meaningful traditions that can make very day special, providing inspiring ideas for mealtimes & bedtimes; problem-solving rituals that soothe squabbles and stop tantrums; milestones, birthday and holidays.  As well as:  tech tips for using social media and other technology to bring the family together; special considerations for divorced families and stepfamilies, and fun craft activities. This book is for a whole new generation of families, and is an essential resource for sparking the fun into family life.

In leafing through this book I read some of the best ideas and wished I had known some of these sooner, most especially in the Hello & Good-bye Rituals.  The Day Care Drop-off Magic Words would have been great when taking my nephews for the weekend.  In the Chore Rituals sections, I loved the mix a duty with a privilege  and the Monster Spray in the Section on Bedtime—pure genius!