"April is the Cruellest Month"

Poet Samuel Taylor Coleridge wrote "And the Spring comes slowly up this way." Although he wasn't referring to New Hampshire, the quote fits, especially after this long, cold winter. But April is here and it's a busy month.

April is both "Keep America Beautiful" month and Poetry Month. In addition, the week of April 6-12 is National Library Week. Several famous people had April birthdays: Hans Christian Andersen (April 2), Joseph Pulitzer (April 10), Thomas Jefferson (April 13), Leonardo da Vinci (April 15), and William Shakespeare (April 23). Surprisingly, April is also the anniversary of many tragic human events:

RC 17086 The Last Battle. Last three weeks of the war against Germany in April, 1945
RC 27265 The Discovery of the Titanic. Robert Ballard's quest to find the wreck of the "Titanic", which sank on April 14, 1912
RC 32063 The Presidency of Harry S. Truman. Truman is catapulted into the presidency by the sudden death of FDR on April 12, 1945
RC 36896 Ablaze. Story of the victims of the Chernobyl disaster of April 26, 1986
RC 40691 Lost Moon. Astronaut Jim Lovell describes the flight of Apollo 13, when an oxygen tank exploded on April 13, 1970
RC 41123 In Their Name. Commemorative book describing the events around the April 19, 1995 bombing in Oklahoma City
RC 43072 April Morning. Classic novel about the Revolutionary war battles of Lexington and Concord
RC 48164 Killing the Dream. Examines the assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr., on April 4, 1968
RC 52027 April 1865. In April 1865, Richmond lies in ruins, General Lee surrenders, and President Lincoln is assassinated
RC 54746 Allegiance. Events leading up to the first shots of the Civil War, fired at Fort Sumter on April 12, 1861

New Hampshire Center for the Book

The Library of Congress has made New Hampshire the final state with a Center for the Book. This program, in existence for 25 years, promotes interest in books, reading and libraries. New Hampshire's Center for the Book will coordinate various activities and programs concerned with books and reading. One possibility is a children's book award. An advisory committee has been appointed and plans are being made to kick-off the program. The Library of Congress will sponsor the Third National Book Festival in Washington, D.C. on Oct. 4, 2003

Hadley School Courses

The Hadley School for the Blind in Illinois offers over 90 distance learning courses for the blind, their families, and professionals in the field. These courses are tuition-free and available via audiocassette, braille or large print. The courses range from English Literature and World History to Braille Literacy, Independent Living, and Your Bible. The mission of the Hadley School, founded in 1920, is to promote independent living through distance education for blind people and their families. To find out more about the courses call the school at 1-800-323-4238 or visit their website at www.hadley-school.org.

An Average Book?

The Library of Congress produces over 2,000 books each year on cassette. The average cassette book is 12 hours long on 8 sides recorded on 2 cassettes. The average book costs $5.50 per copy to produce and they usually distribute 984 copies of each book. About half the cost is for narration and the rest for production.

Cassette Players

Cassette machines are returned to us regularly and we are not quite sure of your wishes. Mailing a machine back to us could mean you wish to drop service, or it might mean you need a replacement machine. Please call us at 1-800-491-4200 or send us a letter to let us know your needs.

Videos

The Library of Congress adds up to 25 films each year to the National Film Registry. This registry (now numbering 350 films) is a list of notable films that will be preserved for posterity because of their cultural, historical, or aesthetic importance. Movies must be at least 10 years old to qualify. Several of these important films have been produced as described videos for the blind. I have listed below the videos we own that are represented on the National Film Registry:

African Queen DVC 3
Alien DVC 4
Beauty and the Beast DVC 117
Casablanca DVC 19
Do the Right Thing DVC 29
E.T. the extraterrestrial DVC 31
The Godfather DVC 44
Gone with the Wind DVC 159
My Man Godfrey DVC 250
Psycho DVC 76
Raiders of the Lost Ark DVC 77
Roman Holiday DVC 80
Singin' in the Rain DVC 88
Sound of Music DVC 93
Star Wars DVC 102
Ten Commandments DVC 238
To Kill a Mockingbird DVC 106
Wizard of Oz DVC147

Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood DVC 252
Bridget Jones's Diary DVC 253
Spider-Man DVC 254
Scooby-Doo DVC 255
The King and I DVC 256
Insomnia DVC 257

Just call us at 1-800-491-4200 to borrow one of these films for a two week period.

Hot Crime Novels

Booklist magazine reviewed hundreds of crime novels from May 2001 through April 2002. In that period they identified ten crime novels as the best of the year. We are fortunate to own six of them. And the winners are:

RC 52533 Seven Up by Janet Evanovich. Bail bondswoman Stephanie Plum tries to bring in an elderly mobster
RC 53008 Open Season by C.J. Box. A Wyoming game warden finds three murdered outfitters
RC 53531 The Nautical Chart by Arturo Perez-Reverte. An unlikely couple searches for sunken treasure using an antique chart
RC 53657 Tishomingo Blues by Elmore Leonard. A high diver, Civil War reenactors and mobsters converge at a Mississippi casino
RC 54139 Bleeders by Bill Pronzini. The "nameless detective" is almost killed investigating his client's murder
RC 54477 The Falls by Ian Rankin. A maverick Edinburgh detective investigates the murder of a wealthy college student

Remembrances

This winter we were saddened to lose two of our favorite people. We will miss them.

Leonard "Lenny" Nystedt was a long-time volunteer who repaired our cassette machines. Lenny was a life member of the Telephone Pioneers of America and established the machine repair program in Concord. He was a conscientious and dedicated worker.

Glen MacIver was a great patron of our services who brightened our day when calling for books. He never complained about his debilitating illness. His humor and musical talent were appreciated by our staff.

Happy Birthday Peter!

Did you know that Peter Rabbit is 100 years old? The tale of the naughty rabbit began as a letter to a child. Beatrix Potter privately printed the tale in 1901, before a publisher agreed to publish the book with the addition of Potter's own watercolor illustrations. The Tale of Peter Rabbit sold 50,000 copies by 1903.

Potter was a pioneer of children's illustrated books, designing "little books for little hands". And she was also a good businesswoman, marketing dolls, puzzles and other toys related to her books. Potter went on to write 22 more books in a thirteen year period. She married in 1913 and became a sheep farmer in the country.

The story of Peter continues into the next century. It has been reprinted 250 times and translated into 35 languages.

RC 48836 Complete Tales of Beatrix Potter with background notes
RC 13395 The Tale of Beatrix Potter. Adult biography
RC 40963 Beatrix Potter. Biography for grades K-3

Bootstraps & Pie

The New Hampshire Humanities Council is sponsoring the series "Bootstraps & Pie: Claiming America" this year to answer the question "What is America?" Programs will explore our American culture. One fun program is "Feed Your Head: a celebration of cultures and cuisines" with food and music at the Red Hill Inn in Center Harbor on June 22. Authors Chitrita Banerji (Bengali Cooking) and Barbara Haber (From Hardtack to Home Fries) will be guest speakers. For more information call the NHHC at 224-4071.