PATRON PICKS--Echoes of Titanic

Rosemarie's pick is Echoes of Titanic, by Mindy Starns Clark and John Campbell Clark

Synopsis:  Kelsey Tate comes from sturdy stock. Her great-grandmother Adele endured the sinking of Titanic and made it safely to America, where she not only survived but thrived. Generations later, Kelsey works for the firm Adele founded nearly 100 years ago.

Now facing a hostile takeover, the firm’s origins are challenged when new facts emerge about Adele’s actions on the night Titanic sank. Kelsey tries to defend the company and the great-grandmother she has long admired, but the stakes are raised when Kelsey’s boss is murdered and her own life threatened. Forced to seek help from Cole Thornton, a man Kelsey once loved—and lost, thanks to her success-at-all-costs mentality—she pursues mysteries both past and present. Aided by Cole and strengthened by the faith she’d all but forgotten in her climb up the corporate ladder, Kelsey races the clock to defend her family legacy, her livelihood, and ultimately her life.

Rosemarie says:  Historically accurate and wonderful!  Keeps you interested from the first page.

PATRON PICKS--The Golden Hat

Mary's pick is The Golden Hat, by Kate Winslet and Margret Ericsdottir.

Synopsis:
Imagine what it would be like not to be able to communicate with those we love. For many individuals living with nonverbal autism and their families, this is their everyday reality. The Golden Hat is an intimate response to this reality created by Kate Winslet, Margret Ericsdottir, and her son Keli, who has nonverbal autism.

Kate and Margret’s stories, their personal email correspondence, and Keli’s poetry give us a profound insight into the world of those living with autism. Kate has shared this story with some of the world’s most famous people, posing the question: “What is important to you to express?” Their responses are a collection of intimate self-portraits and unique quotes.

Mary says:  This book tells a story about autistic kids.  It shows a side of them that captures your heart.  Even nonverbal kids can communicate when given a chance.  A real eye opener.

NATIONAL POETRY MONTH--Our featured poet is Pat Mora

Our featured poet today is award-winning author Pat Mora.  Her books for adults include six acclaimed poetry collections, an essay collection, and a family memoir, House of Houses.  She has also written two poetry books for teens and numerous books for children.  To read more about Pat, check out her website:  http://www.patmora.com/

ODE TO TEACHERS

I remember
the first day,
how I looked down,
hoping you wouldn't see
me,
and when I glanced up,
I saw your smile
shining like a soft light
from deep inside you.


"I'm listening," you encouraged us.
"Come on!
Join our conversation,
let us hear your neon certainties,
thorny doubts, tangled angers,"
but for weeks I hid inside.


I read and reread your notes
praising
my writing,
and you whispered,
"We need you
and your stories
and questions
that like a fresh path
will take us to new vistas."


Slowly, your faith grew
into my courage
and for you--
instead of handing you
a note or apple or flowers--
I raised my hand.


I carry your smile
and faith inside like I carry
my dog's face,
my sister's laugh,
creamy melodies,
the softness of sunrise,
steady blessings of stars,
autumn smell of gingerbread,
the security of a sweater on a chilly day.

PATRON PICKS--Until There Was You

Lia's pick is Until There Was You, by Kristan Higgins

Synopsis:  Posey Osterhagen can't complain. She owns a successful architectural salvaging company, she's surrounded by her lovable, if off-center, family and she has a boyfriend—sort of. Still, something's missing. Something tall, brooding and criminally good-looking…something like Liam Murphy.

When Posey was sixteen, the bad boy of Bellsford, New Hampshire, broke her heart. But now he's back, sending Posey's traitorous schoolgirl heart into overdrive once again. She should be giving him a wide berth, but it seems fate has other ideas….

Lia says she likes it "because we know her and love her!"

NATIONAL POETRY MONTH--Featured Poet: Robert Lee Frost

Our featured poet today is Robert Lee Frost (1874-1963). Frost is highly regarded for his realistic depictions of rural life and his command of American colloquial speech.  His work frequently employed settings from rural life in New England in the early twentieth century, using them to examine complex social and philosophical themes.  Frost received four Pulitzer Prizes for Poetry.

The Road Not Taken

Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,

And sorry I could not travel both

And be one traveler, long I stood

And looked down one as far as I could

To where it bent in the undergrowth;

Then took the other, as just as fair,

And having perhaps the better claim,

Because it was grassy and wanted wear;

Though as for that the passing there

Had worn them really about the same,

And both that morning equally lay

In leaves no step had trodden black.

Oh, I kept the first for another day!

Yet knowing how way leads on to way,

I doubted if I should ever come back.

I shall be telling this with a sigh

Somewhere ages and ages hence:

Two roads diverged in a wood, and I--

I took the one less traveled by,

And that has made all the difference.

PATRON PICKS--The Toucan, by Shel Silverstein

In honor of National Poetry Month, Lia has picked her favorite poem by Shel Silverstein:

The Toucan

Tell me who can

Catch a toucan?

Lou can.

Just how few can

Ride the toucan?

Two can.

What kind of goo can

Stick you to the toucan?

Glue can.

Who can write some

More about the toucan?

You can!

STAFF PICK--The Help (audiobook)

Patti's staff pick is The Help (audiobook), by Kathryn Stockett

Synopsis:  In 1962 Jackson, Mississippi, two African American maids and one white Junior League socialite--seemingly as different from one another as can be, will nonetheless come together for a clandestine project that will put them all at risk.  And why?  Because they are suffocating within the lines that define their town and their times.  And sometimes lines are made to be crossed.

In pitch-perfect voices, Kathryn Stockett creates three memorable women whose determination to start a movement of their own forever changes a town, and the way women--mothers, daughters, caregivers, friends--view one another.  A deeply moving novel filled with poignancy, humor, and hope.  The Help is a timeless and universal story about the lines we abide by, and the ones we don't.

Patti says: The voices in the audiobook are wonderful!  I felt like I was part of the story as I listened to it.  The voice of Minnie is Octavia Spencer, who played the same role in the movie and won an Oscar.  Even if you've already read The Help, you should experience the audiobook!

PATRON PICKS--Defending Jacob

Eva's pick is Defending Jacob, by William Landay

Synopsis:
Andy Barber has been an assistant district attorney in his suburban Massachusetts county for more than twenty years. He is respected in his community, tenacious in the courtroom, and happy at home with his wife, Laurie, and son, Jacob. But when a shocking crime shatters their New England town, Andy is blindsided by what happens next: His fourteen-year-old son is charged with the murder of a fellow student.

Every parental instinct Andy has rallies to protect his boy. Jacob insists that he is innocent, and Andy believes him. Andy must. He’s his father. But as damning facts and shocking revelations surface, as a marriage threatens to crumble and the trial intensifies, as the crisis reveals how little a father knows about his son, Andy will face a trial of his own—between loyalty and justice, between truth and allegation, between a past he’s tried to bury and a future he cannot conceive.

Eva says:  Great story!  Well told!

NATIONAL POETRY MONTH--Featured Poet: William Shakespeare

Our featured poet today is William Shakespeare (1564-1616).  William Shakespeare, also know as the the "Bard of Avon," was an English poet and playwright who wrote 154 Sonnets and numerous highly successful,  often quoted dramatic works, including Hamlet, Julius Caesar, Romeo and Juliet, Macbeth, and Othello.  He is widely regarded as one of the greatest writers in the English language.

(From As You Like It)

All the world's a stage,

And all the men and women merely players; 

They have their exits and their entrances, 

And one man in his time plays many parts,

His acts being seven ages.  At first, the infant,

Mewling and puking in the nurse's arms.

Then the whining schoolboy, with his satchel

And shining morning face, creeping like snail

Unwillingly to school.  And then the lover,

Sighing like furnace, with a woeful ballad

Made to his mistress' eyebrow.  Then a soldier,

Full of strange oaths and bearded like the pard,

Jealous in honor, sudden and quick in quarrel,

Seeking the bubble reputation

Even in the cannon's mouth.  And then the justice,

In fair round belly with good capon lined,

With eyes severe and beard of formal cut,

Full of wise saws and modern instances;

And so he plays his part.  The sixth age shifts

Into the lean and slippered pantaloon,

With spectacles on nose and pouch on side;

His youthful hose, well saved, a world too wide

For his shrunk shank, and his big manly voice,

Turning again toward childish treble, pipes

And whistles in his sound.  Last scene of all,

That ends this strange eventful history,

Is second childishness and mere oblivion,

Sans teeth, sans eyes, sans taste, sans everything.

PATRON PICKS--Unorthodox

Barbara's pick is Unorthodox, by Deborah Feldman

Synopsis:
In the tradition of Ayaan Hirsi Ali’s Infidel and Carolyn Jessop’s Escape, Unorthodox is a captivating story about a young woman determined to live her own life at any cost.

The Satmar sect of Hasidic Judaism is as mysterious as it is intriguing to outsiders. In this arresting memoir, Deborah Feldman reveals what life is like trapped within a religious tradition that values silence and suffering over individual freedoms.

Barbara says:  The life of a girl in the Hasidic Judaism roots.  Very well written!  So different!  From the outside world!

PATRON PICKS (DVD)--Dear Frankie

Jacquelene's DVD pick is Dear Frankie (2004)

Synopsis:  After having responded to her son's numerous letters in the guise of his father, a woman hires a stranger to pose as his dad when meeting him.

Jacquelene says:  Thoughtful, insightful story of a young Scottish boy's life, raised without a dad at home, by his mom and grandmother.  Speaks strongly to what a child loses by being "fatherless" and to the strength and love of a single mom.

Happy National Poetry Month!

National Poetry Month is a month-long, national celebration of poetry started by the Academy of American Poets in 1996.  To celebrate, DPL BookTalk will feature a different poet each Tuesday in the month of April.

To start us off is Shel Silverstein!

Shel Silverstein was born on September 25, 1930 and began writing and drawing at a young age.  He became a cartoonist, playwright, poet, performer, recording artist, and Grammy-winning, Oscar-nominated songwriter.

Silverstein's books, which he also illustrated, are a mixture of the sly and the serious, the macabre, and the just plain silly.  His unique imagination and bold brand of humor is beloved by countless adults and children throughout the world.  He died in May 1999.

Some favorites from A Light in the Attic:

ANTEATER

"A genuine anteater,"

The pet man told my dad.

Turned out, it was an aunt eater,

And now my uncle's mad!

OVERDUES

What do I do?

What do I do?

This library book is 42

Years overdue.

I admit that it's mine

But I can't pay the fine--

Should I turn it in

Or hide it again?

What do I do?

What do I do?

THE SITTER

Mrs. McTwitter the baby-sitter,

I think she's a little bit crazy.

She thinks a baby-sitter's supposed

To sit upon the baby.

PATRON PICKS--The Best of Me

Kim's pick is The Best of Me, by Nicholas Sparks

Synopsis:

A high school couple, Amanda Collier and Dawson Cole, are torn apart by unforeseen events which sets them on radically divergent paths.  Twenty-five years later, Amanda and Dawson are brought back to their home town of Oriental to attend the funeral of Tuck Hostetler, the mentor who once gave shelter to their high school romance.  Neither has lived the life they imagined...and neither can forget the passionate first love that forever changed their lives.  As Amanda and Dawson carry out the instructions Tuck left behind for them, they realize that everything they thought they knew was not as it seemed.  Forced to confront painful memories, the two former lovers will discover undeniable truths about the choices they have made.  

Kim says:  What an amazing story of love, strength and coming of age!  It was inspiring and heartbreaking.  Very well written.  A must-read for all book lovers!