Black History Month

February is Black History Month! To celebrate, our suit of armor is sporting appropriate garb and displaying Bob Marley's biography. You can check this whimsical display on your next visit to the library. While you're there, why not check out a biography. In addition to Bob Marley, some famous figures featured for Black History Month are: Tiger Woods, President Barack Obama, Michael Jordan, Ben Carson, Michael Jackson, Martin Luther King, Jr., Donovan McNabb, Tony Dungy, Derek Jeter, Ishmael Beah, Nikki Giovanni, Nathan McCall, Malcolm X, Nelson Mandela, Maya Angelou, Mohammed Ali, Laila Ali, Colin Powell, Tony Dorsett, and Harriet Tubman.

What's that you say? You haven't heard of some of these famous people? Well then, you'd better get reading!

Library Superstars

I just want to give a shout out to three young ladies whom I consider to be library superstars, Briana, Erinn, and Alexandria. If you want to know if a book in our library is a good read, just ask one of them...they've probably read it.

The Blind Side

Have you seen the movie The Blind Side starring Sandra Bullock and Tim McGraw? It's currently playing at the Cinema Center, Williamsport and at Great Escape, Lycoming Mall. The movie is based on a new book in our library, The Blind Side: Evolution of a Game by Michael Lewis. This is the true story of Michael Oher, a homeless and traumatized boy who became an All American football player and first round NFL draft pick with the help of a caring woman and her family. Michael Jerome Oher (born May 28, 1986) is an offensive tackle for the Baltimore Ravens of the National Football League.  He played college football at the University of Mississippi for the Ole Miss Rebels.

Read Michael Oher's exciting true story.....and as I've said before, read the book before you see the movie!!!

Cormac McCarthy

Two new novels the library has acquired, The Road and No Country for Old Men are written by Cormac McCarthy . Cormac McCarthy's real name is Charles McCarthy. He is an American novelist and playwright. He has written ten novels and several plays and screenplays. He received the Pulitzer Prize in 2007 for The Road, which was recently made into a film. His 2005 novel, No Country for Old Men, also adapted as a film in 2007, won four Academy Awards, including Best Picture. He received a National Book Award in 1992 for All the Pretty Horses.

In addition to a 2007 Pulitzer Prize for fiction, The Road also won the James Tait Black Memorial Prize for Fiction in 2006. It is a post-apocalyptic tale of a journey taken by a father and his young son over a period of several months, across a landscape blasted by an unnamed cataclysm that destroyed all civilization and, apparently, almost all life on earth.

No Country for Old Men is  a novel set along the United States–Mexico border in 1980, the story concerns an illicit drug deal gone wrong in a remote desert location. The title comes from the poem "Sailing to Byzantium" by William Butler Yeats. I always recommend reading the book before seeing the movie!

Highest Duty

On January 15, 2009, the world witnessed one of the most remarkable emergency landings in aviation history when Captain Chesley "Sully" Sullenberger skillfully glided US Airways Flight 1549 onto the surface of the Hudson River, saving the lives of all 155 aboard.

HIGHEST DUTY is written by "Sully" himself with Jeffrey Zaslow. He describes some important lessons he learned through childhood, in his military service, and in his work as a commercial airline pilot.

A few weeks after the crash, Sully discovered that he′d lost a library book about professional ethics, Just Culture: Balancing Safety and Accountability, in the downed plane′s cargo hold. When he called the library to notify them, they waived the usual fees. Mayor Michael Bloomberg replaced the book when he gave Sully the Key to the City in a New York ceremony. You can find this inspirational autobiography in the SWAHS Library. Read it and tell us what you think!

A Thousand Acres

A Thousand Acres by Jane Smiley won the 1992 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction. It was made into a film in 1997. This book is written as a contemporary parallel to Shakespeare's King Lear. The plot involves, Larry Cook, an aging farmer who hands his thousand acre farm over to his three daughters and drama ensues. This book is for the more mature reader who likes to think and brood over characters, plot, and themes.

P.S. Don't forget to feed the fish!

Sag Harbor by Colson Whitehead

The year is 1985. Benji Cooper is one of the only black students at an elite prep school in Manhattan. He spends his falls and winters going to roller-disco bar mitzvahs and playing too much Dungeons and Dragons, 

But every summer, Benji escapes to the Hamptons, to Sag Harbor, where a small community of African American professionals have built a world of their own. Because their parents come out only on weekends, he and his friends are left to their own devices for three glorious months. Read this story about being young and black and priveleged in the 1980s.

Whitehead is a 2002 recipient of a MacArthur Fellowship. You can visit his blog at http://www.colsonwhitehead.com/Home/Home.html.