What a delight! The Blockbuster video store in Claremont, N.H. has donated 43 DVS videos for your enjoyment. DVS videos have an extra line of narration added to the sound track to describe the action on screen. With DVS, visually impaired people don't have to rely on the dialogue to carry the story, or rely on family or friends to describe the action.

Most of the titles are valued extra copies, but thanks to this gift we can announce SIX NEW VIDEOS -

THE LION KING

(Disney - G)
POCAHONTAS

(Disney - G)
SCHINDLER'S LIST

(Universal - R) 2 tapes
SOUND OF MUSIC

(20th Century Fox - G)
TOY STORY

(Disney - G)
WINNIE-THE-POOH

(Disney - G)

Pig O'My Heart

Recently there's been a stir in the children's book field. Two Freddie books are being re-published! Freddie, if you missed the series, is a adventure-loving pig living on an almost-ordinary farm. Although he manages to get himself and his animal friends into and out of many scrapes, Freddie's real love is writing poetry. Sometimes he runs out of poem before he runs out of inspiration, but he's more likely to run out of inspiration before he runs out of poem. When I was about ten, I loved Freddie dearly and hounded the library for each adventure.

But for you who enjoy Talking Books, there are not two but SEVEN Freddie titles you can read! Now don't say you're too old for these, because they're funny, adventuresome, lighthearted, and a reminder of the childhoods we enjoyed before television and organized sports took over.

RC 17044 Freddie and the Baseball Team from Mars
RC 23577 Freddie Goes to Florida
RC 26385 Freddie the Detective
RC 26515 Freddie and the Perilous Adventure
RC 27319 Freddie the Politician
RC 27320 Freddie the Pilot
RC 27774 Freddie Goes Camping

RC 44569 Penrod
RC 43030 Penrod & Sam

For you students who have been impatiently trying to get through to RFB&D by telephone - there is now an e-mail address for book requests! Send them to custserve@rfbd.org.

Now is the time to start considering options for scholarships. In addition to the many you will find through your school's guidance office, remember that RFB&D offers scholarships under two programs - one for their visually impaired students, and another for their learning disabled/dyslexic students. Contact RFB&D for more information.

Here in N.H., the National Federation of the Blind of N.H. offers several scholarships to visually impaired students in high school and any level of post-secondary education, including adult learners returning to school after a break. For applications and additional information, contact the Scholarship Committee Chair, Mr. Louis Gosselin, at his office - 361 Lincoln Street, Manchester, N.H. 03103. Telephone: 669-8733.

Internet Users - Info Wanted

We're trying to maintain a list of readers' e-mail addresses. If you're on the net, please send us a message - any kind of message - so that we can have your address for faster communication. And if you've changed your address, please let us know about that, too. Thanks very much!

Of course, these addresses would be just for our information. We wouldn't give them to other people or organizations unless we had your specific permission.

Popularity of AudioBooks Growing -
You Heard it Here First!

The business of commercial audiobooks is booming - it's a 1.6 billion dollar industry with a reported annual growth rate of 30%. More publishers are entering the field every month. It's a wonderful way to absorb the classics of world literature that seem so daunting in print. A person can rent the complete text of Leo Tolstoy's War and Peace for just $48.75, or just over $1 an hour - not including postage. Or he can buy the complete set of tapes for $360.00. As essayist David Hacker wrote in the June 1998 issue of ForeWord magazine, "Perhaps literature's future lies in not only talking books but also in talking newspapers and talking magazines...[they] are bringing back the ancient art of storytelling."

You, if you wish, can read the complete text of War and Peace at absolutely no cost, including no postage. You can also read an amazingly wide selection of current and past books, all professionally performed and made available at the current rate of some two thousand new titles each year. AND you have had this service available in one format or another for over sixty years.

Yes, indeed - you heard it here first!

Keep 'em Moving!

If you read Guideposts or Choice magazines on cassette or disc, remember - issues of those two magazines need to be returned to this library so that you can have future issues mailed to you. We receive only a limited number of copies of each title, and they are shared among many readers.

AFB Announces Career Bank

The American Foundation for the Blind has opened a Careers & Technology Information Bank (CTIB), a database of information based on interviews with 2,000 blind or visually impaired people about their jobs and the technology they use.

This kind of information can be of value to individuals who are in training for careers, or in school trying to decide on a career; to parents who want to learn of vocational opportunities for a visually impaired child; and to teachers & counselors who are looking for information about career options for their students or clients.

The CTIB has a part of the AFB Web site at www.afb.org and a separate e-mail address: techctr@afb.net. It can also be reached by mail or telephone: CTIB, American Foundation for the Blind, 11 Penn Plaza, Suite 300, New York, N.Y. 10001; telephone: (212) 502-7642.

Each One, Reach One

You are our best source of referral for your friends, neighbors, relatives, and acquaintances who need to know about talking book services. You, better than any other person or agency, can spread the word about our services — because you use and enjoy them every day.

You know how this service works, and how to use the cassette books and players. You know the wide range of books and magazines available.

Why not take some time today to think about the people you know who might enjoy and benefit from Talking Books. As part of your own community, you meet and talk with people who might not otherwise ever hear of this service. Please reach out from your experience as a talking book reader, and help another person regain the joy of reading.

Curtain Up!

A group of performers in North Carolina have banded together to form the Blue Ridge Radio Players, dedicated to reviving the delights of full-cast radio drama. These Players have been sending us cassette tapes of their performances. Here are some of those we have available for your listening pleasure.

RCA 97064
The Phantom of the Opera
An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge

RCA 97066 three Sherlock Holmes adventures:
The Sign of Four
The Red-Headed League
Silver Blaze

RCA 97067
The Devil's Disciple (G.B. Shaw)
The Pussycat and the Expert Plumber

RCA 97069
The Spectre Bridegroom (W. Irving)
Jeff Peters as Personal Magnet (M. Twain)

RCA 97070
The Wizard of Oz (L.F. Baum)
The Dreadful Dragon of Oz

RCA 97071
Jeff Peters (M. Twain)
Triple-A Credit

RCA 97072
The Star Boarder
Run For Your Lives!

RCA 97073
Monkey Boy
The Monkey's Paw

RCA 97074
Three Strikes - You're Out!
Insomnia

RCA 97075
The Necklace (deMaupassant)
The Cask of Amontillado (Poe)

Pam's Picks

For autumn reading, Pam suggests you consider these books that have been getting Raves from readers.

RC 42742 Hey, Cowboy, Wanna Get Lucky? by Baxter Black
NPR's retired large-animal vet has written a comic tale about the adventures of a couple of good ol' boys trying to make it on the rodeo circuit.

RC 45008 Memoirs of a Geisha by Arthur Golden
Sold by parents to feed the rest of the family, she tells her bittersweet tale after her retirement.

RC 35863 Rum Punch by Elmore Leonard
a nonstop tropical adventure, now the hit movie "Jackie Brown".

RC 44838 MEG, a Novel of Deep Terror by Steven Alten
summarized as "Michael Crichton meets Clive Cussler in 'Jurassic Shark.'"

RC 36536 Outlander by Diana Gabaldon
this time-travel romance trilogy set in Scotland has been delighting readers who've been willing to try something "different." Others in the set are Dragonfly in Amber and Voyager.

RC 41770 Secret of the Villa Mimosa by Elizabeth Adler
When an amnesiac woman searches for her past in France and Hawaii, a 30-year-old murder comes to light.