Good Books - April 2007

Are You Ready?

I know, football is a few months away, but there are a couple of really great football books out there to get you through the long, post-draft spring season:

If you are a fan of non-fiction, I highly recommend The Blind Side by Michael Lewis. It describes the way the game changed when Lawrence Taylor broke Joe Thiesman’s leg, and the left (blind) side tackle became one of the most important, if most overlooked, player on the field. It follows the life of Michael Oher, a young, massively underprivledged boy from urban Memphis, who because of his size and speed, becomes an instant national star at left tackle - despite having never played the game before. It is a really thought-provoking book, and highly recommended to high school readers. Other great football books:

• Crackback by John Coy

• Rash by Pete Hautman

• Damage by A.M. Jenkins

• Bleachers by John Grisham

It’s Coming…

The 2007 Summer Reading Game I DARE YOU…begins on Tuesday, June 25th. All Fairfield teens entering grades 6 through 12 are invited to join. There is no sign-ups, and you can read whatever you’d like. You just let us know what you’ve read by filling out a bookmark and putting in our ballot box, posting comments on this blog, or by emailing the Teen Librarian at nscherer@fplct.org.

We will have a weekly prize drawing. Last year, prizes included $25 gift certificates to EB Games, Borders, Starbuck, CVS, and stickerjunkie.com. We hope that this year will be even bigger and better. If you have suggestions on what we should have as prizes this year, please post a comment on the blog.

In addition to our weekly raffles, for every 100 pages you read and report to us, you will receive a raffle ticket for our grand prize drawing in August. Last year’s grand prize was an iPod…any suggestions for this year?

So make sure to start reporting your reading! Books for school Summer Reading count! You don’t have to be in Fairfield this summer to participate! There is no reason not to take you chance to win some really cool prizes!

Good Music - April 2007

Wizard Rock @ the Library: Ramble on…

I know, we talked about this before, but it is still really exciting to have our second rock concert of the year on Friday, May 4th! Wizard Rock uses the world of Harry Potter for it’s inspiration. Believe it or not, while Wizard Rock might be the most widespread rock movement based on a series of books, it is not the first.

Led Zeppelin often used literary references in their music, notably imagery from the Lord of the Rings trilogy. One of my favorite Zep songs, Ramble On, is a perfect example:

Mines a tale that cant be told,
My freedom I hold dear;
How years ago in days of old
When magic filled the air,
Twas in the darkest depths of Mordor
I met a girl so fair,
But Gollum, and the evil one crept up
And slipped away with her.

Interested in hearing more? Check out How the West Was Won, a terrific live recording from 1972. It is in the Rock section of our Music collection.

Good Movies - April 2007

Fill in the Blanks

Attention all Star Wars fans: Did you know that between 2003 and 2005, the Cartoon Network aired Star Wars: Clone Wars, an animated series that told the story of the battles that took place between the Jedi and the Sith (or, between Episode II: Attack of the Clones and Episode III: Revenge of the Sith.) It is during these important battles that we see Anakin begin to embrace more and more of the darkness within him. We also see a lot of excellent animated battles, find out what happened to the remaining Jedi, and meet some cool characters you never get to see in the film versions. We have put both DVDs together in one box, so you can watch them one after the other! You don’t know the whole Star Wars story until you see Clone Wars!

I have a big head…and little arms!