Published on Thursday, November 4, 2010
Forget the turkey and cranberries, let’s celebrate peanut butter! That’s right peanut butter lovers, a whole month just for you, sadly overshadowed by that media maniac turkey.
Peanut butter has a rich history behind it going back as early as 15th-century Africa, where it was used and is still used today in yummy stews. In the U.S. Civil War, soldiers were known to dine on “peanut porridge,” and we all know that in 1903, Dr. George Washington Carver began his peanut research at the Tuskegee Institute in Alabama.
Published on Thursday, October 14, 2010
When his orchestra is dismantled, Daigo Kobayashi decides to move back to the small town of his childhood with his wife to regroup. In need of a job, he answers an advertisement in the local newspaper for a specialist in “Departures,” without even being sure of what this might mean. Turns out, it’s for a “Nokanshi,” a funeral professional that, in Japan, is much more than your run-of-the-mill undertaker.
Published on Tuesday, October 12, 2010
Small Island centers on the lives of four immigrants to London: Hortense Joseph, newly-arrived from Jamaica in 1948; her husband Gilbert Joseph, just returned from the war expecting to be treated as a war hero and not a second-class citizen; their landlady Queenie, raised as a farmer’s daughter; and her husband Bernard, also returned from the war with his own issues to resolve. Winner of the Orange Prize and the Whitbread Book of the Year, this is the quintessential story of immigrants to any land, of opportunities taken and lost, of moments of tenderness and cruelty, of understanding and fear.
Published on Tuesday, October 12, 2010
This is not your average teen tale. In a post-apocalyptic world infected by the unconsecrated (zombies), young Mary must decide if there could be life beyond the fences of her small world ... in the forbidden forest , and if there is does she betray her upbringing and risk everything, including death, to find out? Once out, there is no turning back, and Mary and several others must push forward while trying to survive in the forest of hand and teeth.
Published on Tuesday, September 21, 2010
As part of DC Library's Read-In, on Saturday, October 2, Mt. Pleasant Library is having an edible book contest! Edible books are food creations that look like books, tell the story of a book or make a joke about a book's title.
If you think you'd like to enter our contest, sign up by calling 202-671-3125 or e-mailing polly.ross@dc.gov. Then create a family-friendly entry that's 100% edible, and bring it into the library between 9:30 a.m. and 1 p.m. on October 2.
Special thanks to Dos Gringos Cafe for supporting our contest.
Published on Tuesday, September 7, 2010
Tuesdays in September, 10 a.m.
Baby/Toddler Laptime
At La Casa, 3166 Mt. Pleasant St. N.W. in room 14 on the third floor.
15-20 minutes of songs, rhymes and short books for little ones 4-18 months with a parent or caregiver.
Maximum capacity: 16 people.
Saturday September 11, 1-3 p.m.
Fall Crafternoon
At the interim library.
Come celebrate the fabulousness of fall with crafts and coloring!
Ages 3-13.
Published on Thursday, September 2, 2010
What happens to our
bodies after we die? What exactly is the definition of death? Is it our final destination or is death a term for another one of life’s processes? In this engrossing book, Mary Roach shares some of the more fascinating, bizarre, and educational uses cadavers have had for those left behind, including cadavers used for the benefit of science, body snatching, cannibalism, and the ever evolving and varied ways to dispose of our loved ones in the twenty-first century.
Published on Monday, August 16, 2010
That’s what a friendly patron of my branch began with as we chatted over returned books. Really? That’s a pretty bold and final statement to make. So of course, I had to check it out for myself.
Recommended Books for the Under Five Set
Published on Tuesday, August 10, 2010
Recommended by Polly, Mt. Pleasant Children's Librarian
"The Slap" by Christos Tsiolkas
Published on Thursday, August 5, 2010
At a family barbecue, a group of friends and neighbors witness a man slapping an unruly child who is not his own. This act sets off a series of introspective examinations in everyone who witnessed it, forcing them to come to grips with their lives.
Winner of the Commonwealth Writers' Prize for 2009, this gripping page-turner is an exploration of contemporary middle-class Australian society.
