If Fall Goes Well: Upcoming Library Events

Fall In!
The breezes are cooler and the leaves have already started to show their colors. Harvest season is here and Halloween is just around the corner. Fear not and enjoy the bounty of public programs the library will offer in October 2013.

Early October Programs
Here's a quick list of early October programs for adults and/or teens, all of them free and open to the public. Phone, stop by the library, or check out our online events calendar any time to find latest news on these and other upcoming events! Registration required where noted.

Tuesday, October 8, 6:30 p.m.
Movie Night at the Library
View and discuss the latest book-to-film adaptation of F. Scott Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby. Directed by Baz Luhrman and starring Leonardo DiCaprio as Gatsby, this version is both faithful to the story and visually intense. But is it better than the book? Big screen, comfy chairs. Phil Carr moderates.

Wednesday, October 9, 7:00 p.m.
Researching the Unexplained: CT's Own Ghostbusters!
The CPRS was founded in 1995 by paranormal researchers Joseph Franke and Orlando Ferrante. Meet the duo as they discuss paranormal activity in our home state. View video and photographs of ghostly images, listen to audio and more! This program is appropriate for adults-teens.
Please register if you plan to attend.

Thursday, October 10, 2:00 p.m.
Sustainability Series: Raising Chickens in Your Backyard
Take a Break and meet Dr. Michael Darre (rhymes with 'dairy'), professor at the University of Connecticut and Extension Poultry Specialist for Connecticut and New England. Dr. Darre will present info on breeds, housing, management, nutrition and health of chickens. Even if you are or aren't an aspiring chicken or small poultry flock owner, UConn's "chicken man" will cover topics relevant to a backyard poultry farm. Please register if you plan to attend.

Turkey Day Is On the Way!

Give Thanks
Thinking ahead to family gatherings, kids home from school, great meals -- original and leftover -- and round-the-clock football games on TV, we offer a short list of fun titles for kids:

Balloons Over Broadway : The True Story of the Puppeteer of Macy's Parade by Melissa Sweet
Fancy Nancy : Our Thanksgiving Banquet by Jane O'Connor
An Old-fashioned Thanksgiving by Louisa May Alcott
Thanks for Thanksgiving by Julie Markes
One Is a Feast for Mouse : A Thanksgiving Tale by Judy Cox
Amelia Bedelia Talks Turkey by Herman Parish
Giving Thanks : A Native American Good Morning Message by Chief Jake Swamp
Gobble, Gobble by Cathryn Falwell
I Know an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Pie by Alison Jackson
In November by Cynthia Rylant
The Night Before Thanksgiving by Natasha Wing
Celebrate the First Thanksgiving with Elaine Landau
Dino-Football by Lisa Wheeler
The Football Cookbook : Simple Recipes for Kids by Sarah L. Schuette

Let the Decorating Season Begin Anew!

In both 2011 and 2012, nasty weather interfered with more than a few Halloween decorating plans. We've heard tell that to many a hearty Boo! was added a heartfelt hoo...

Shake it off and join us on Saturday, November 17 @ 11a.m. to craft a very stylish Thanksgiving wreath. We'll provide a sample wreath, pictured left, and all the materials you'll need to make your own. Remember : the sample is just a guide and your personal touches and creativity will be what makes the wreath special to you and to your family. For kids ages 4-8; click here to register.

"L" Is for "Library and "Z" Is for Zombie

Zombify You! 
Buckle up costume party fans! Get grungy and learn how to "zombify" yourself using guidance from makeup artists Caroline Wilcox and Deb Brennan. With makeup in place, we'll add some accessories, practice the zombie shuffle, and move around like the undead (a very 'rigor'ous way to walk).

This pre-Halloween program is scheduled for Saturday, October 27th beginning at 1 p.m. Appropriate for zombie hordes ages 12 and up; click here to register.

Zombie Page-Turners
A quick list of walking dead favorites for older tweens or older teens, several more subtle than the usual zombie fare.
The Enemy Series by Charlie Higson (In order : The Enemy, The Dead, The Fear)
The Forest of Hands and Teeth by Carrie Ryan
The Chronicles of Nick by Sherrilyn Kenyon (In order : Infinity, Invincible, Infamous)
Raising Stony Mayhall by Daryl Gregory
World War Z by Max Brooks
Pride and Prejudice and Zombies Series
Rot and Ruin by Jonathan Maberry
Zone One by Colson Whitehead

Just for Fun : Preparing for the Zombie Apocalypse
Laugh if you must but the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is capitalizing of the zombie craze.  Here's one in a series of public service widgets designed to encourage emergency preparedness.

Scare Up A Good Book

Silly, Spooky, Scary, Splendid!
Autumn's here, Halloween is just around the corner, and now is the time to start rounding up a few good reads to get in the mood for the colorful, boorific days ahead. Here's a few quick lists of latest (or greatest) titles for kids.

Board Books
Gentle or non-threatening stories in board book format, for your littlest people:
Five Little Pumpkins -- It's Pumpkin Day, Mouse! -- Happy Halloween, Biscuit! -- Ghosts In the House! -- Goodnight Goon : a Petrifying Parody -- Horns, Tails, Spikes and Claws -- Mouse's First Halloween

Picture Books, Early and Easy Readers, and Then Some
Do browse our Holiday Book collection for Halloween titles; several of the latest are listed below. Also listed are a few non-seasonal titles with outside-the-box stories about what might be scary, silly scary, or not so scary after all. As always, parents, choose for yourselves or for your kids.

Bedtime for Monsters by Ed Vere
Black Dog by Levi Pinfold
The Boo! Book : A Haunted Picture Book by Nathaniel Lachenmeyer
Creepy Carrots by Aaron Reynolds
Monster School : First Day Frights by Dave Keane
The Monster's Monster by Patrick McDonnell
My First Ghost by Maggie Miller and Michael Leviton
That One Spooky Night by Dan Bar-el
There Was an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Bat by Lucille Colandro
Trick or Treat by Leo Landry
Vampirina Ballerina by Anne Marie Pace

Non-Fiction for Older Kids
Horrogami : 25 Creepy Creatures, Ghastly Ghouls, and Other Fiendish Paper Projects by Chris Marks
Last Laughs : Animal Epitaphs by J. Patrick Lewis and Jane Yolen
A Halloween Cookbook : Simple Recipes for Kids by Sarah L. Schuette

Who Is Batman?

Our Favorite Caped Crusader...
The Dark Knight of Gotham City first appeared in Issue #27 of the Detective Comics of 1939. The bat guy has been everywhere in popular culture since then.

Leading up to the much anticipated big screen debut of The Dark Knight Rises, be sure to read or re-read the DC Comics core about this legendary superhero. These graphic novels are shelved in the YA section but adults who grew up enjoying Bruce Wayne's doings and deeds are sure to appreciate them, too.

Best Read With Your Cape or Utility Belt...
Batman : Year One
Batman : The Dark Knight Returns
Batman : Dark Victory
Batman : The Long Halloween
Batman : Knightfall 1
Batman : Knightfall 2

Surf's Up
Batman Through the Years Slideshow (Wrap.com)
Evolution of the Caped Crusader (Oklahoma Daily)
The Id, The Ego, And The Superhero : What Makes Batman Tick? (NPR)
Radio Lovers : Free Old Time Radio Shows : Batman

Happy Holidays!

Mix and Match for Kids
From October 1 to December 31 of each year, we have a close bunch of holidays that we celebrate in different ways.

With Halloween long behind us, Thankgiving this week, and December's holiday season just around the corner, here's a selection of kid friendly holiday resources to jump start your late-year family celebrations.

Thanksgiving Day!
FREE (Federal Resources for Educational Excellence)
Check out online resources about Thanksgiving provided by the Library of Congress, Smithsonian Institute, National Archives and more!

Books and Reading
Here's a few of the latest books added to our kiddo December holiday reading collections:
A Bad Kitty Christmas by Nick Bruel
Harvest of Light by Allison Ofanansky
Babymouse: A Very Babymouse Christmas by Jennifer Holm
A Christmas Tree for Pyn by Olivier Dunrea
Home for Christmas by Jan Brett
Hanukkah, Oh Hanukkah by Olga Ivanov and Aleksey Ivanov
Lighthouse Christmas by Toni Buzzeo
The Littlest Evergreen by Henry Cole

Boo!

Spooky (and Not So Spooky) Halloween Reads for Kids
Halloween is just around the corner.  Check out our Holiday Book section -- a good place to start --  for a range of spooky stories sure to provide excitement and of course, some belly laughs!  For a quick list of recent titles, click here.

You might like also to choose from a list of other seasonal titles, including several local favorites and a few classics.

Nate the Great and the Halloween Hunt by Majorie Sharmat
The Best Halloween Ever by Barbara Robinson
Monsters on Machines by Deb Lund
The Witch Who Was Afraid of Witches by Alice Low
Scary School by Derek the Ghost
Dragonbreath Series by Ursula Vernon
Ghoulish Goodies by Sharon Bowers
Monsters Don't Eat Broccoli by Barbara Jean Hicks
The Boy of a Thousand Faces by Brian Selznick
Thelonius Monster's Sky-high Fly Pie by Judy Sierra
Dogzilla by Dav Pilkey
Plumply, Dumply Pumpkin by Mary Serfozo

Booriffic Upcoming Event!
Register today to attend our annual shindig for kids, scheduled for Saturday, October 29, 10 a.m. in the library Community Room.  Lynn Lewis and Friends will provide the entertainment; great for kids ages 6 months to 8 years-old.  Come in costume (no masks, please) and join the party!   

See You After School 2011!!

Fall FriBrary Time
Fall Footprint Friday
The library offers a regular series of after-school programs to fourth and fifth graders (FriBrary) and to second and third graders (Footprint Friday). Check out recently announced programs in our fall series.

Coming Up at Footprint Friday

September 30 (Ivy and Bean), October 21 (Tale of Despereaux), and November 4 (Alvin Ho)
Each program focuses on a popular book or series. Activities are based on characters, settings, and events that take place inside the pages. The programs offer a great opportunity for young readers to make new friends, socialize, talk about stories, and have some some fun, too!

Coming Up at FriBrary Time

Learn about a topic in the news, explore a new skill, bring your friends and make new friends, too! Reuse/Recyle on October 14 then have some Halloween fun on October 28.  Take part in a martial arts workshop on November 18 and on December 9, build a holiday craft that takes advantage of solar power.

Gearing Up for Halloween...

Fright-Free Events
Join us in October for holiday events featuring crafts, a workshop about healthy Halloween food choices, first in a sci-fi film series, and a fun music-filled party for families.  All events are free and open to the public.

Craft a Creepy Craft for Halloween
Saturday, October 1, 11 a.m.
What Halloween celebration would be complete without a creepy, crawly spider? Work with shapes, patterns, and mixed materials to make this spider your own. For ages 4-7; registration required.

Healthy Halloween with the Conscious Cook

Tuesday, October 4, 6:30 p.m.
Robin Glowa (right), a.k.a. The Conscious Cook, will present on how to make Halloween treats sure to satisfy your sweet tooth and urge to indulge, all without melting your molars. She'll talk about the health benefits of organic dark chocolate, natural but equally sweet alternatives to processed sugar, juicy/fruity delicacies and other fiber-licious treats.

If you are looking for a motivational boost to add "healthy" to your family's Halloween and/or are willing to share your healthy ideas with the group, please join us for DIY demonstrations and tasty samples!

Sci-Fi on the B-List
Tuesday, October 18, 6:30 p.m.
Our fall/early winter film discussion series for adults kicks off with a showing of Them!, a landmark 1954 sci-fi movie about a horror horde of giant crawl-and-crush radiation-mutated ants. Works as a just-before Halloween film, don't you think?

Plan to have some film history fun with this one.  Library staff member Phil Carr moderates the discussion.

Annual Halloween Party and Costume Parade
Saturday, October 29, 10:00 a.m.
Our annual Halloween shindig for little people will feature a performance by Lynn Lewis and Friends.  Plan to wear your fabulous costume (no masks, please) and prepare to sing, dance, and show off your best moves.

Good news is this year's event is open to preschool children, as well as their younger and older siblings: 6 months to 8 years.  Click here to register and join the family fun!

Creature Features?

Yeti and Yowie, Manimals & Merpeople
Six years after Stephenie Meyer popularized fictional teenage vampire angst -- and well in to the hugely successful run of the HBO series True Blood (based on the books by Charlaine Harris, latest titles here) -- the fascination with mythical creatures continues unabated.

The Big Picture
For a quick overview of the major players in centuries of folklore -- every 'thing' from Bigfoot, to swamp creatures, to aliens and their hybrids -- try Tracking the Man-beasts : Sasquatch, Vampires, Zombies, and More by Joe Nickell.

For Zombiephiles
While vampire fiction zips in and out our doors, we missed marking Zombie Appreciation Month (May 2011).  For adult readers who did 'observe' try:

The New Dead : a Zombie Anthology edited by Christopher Golden
The Zombie Autopsies : Secret Notebooks from the Apocalypse by Steven C. Schlozman
Zombies : Encounters with the Hungry Dead edited by John Skipp

Slightly off the undead beat is Zombies vs. Unicorns.  Twelve writers, Meg Cabot, Garth Nix, and Scott Westerfeld among them, use genre bending short stories to debate who might win a fantasy vs. horror creature smack down.  For ages 14+...

Arts & Crafts
If you truly dig the whole zombie/monster thing during the off season (not Halloween) try:

Zombie Felties : How to Raise 16 Gruesome Felt Creatures from the Undead by Nicola Tedman & Sarah Skeate
Papier-mâché Monsters : Turn Trinkets and Trash into Magnificent Monstrosities by Dan Reeder

For Kids
Titles in the Captain Underpants, Bailey School Kids, and Dripping Fang series books tend to feature mythical beings. Scooby Doo's escapades with a variety of folklore's famous favorites are fun, too. "Rut Roh!"

On DVD
Plenty o' zombie films for adults, including the 'classics' by George Romero.

As Always
Choose for yourself or for your children...

Scary Stories for Halloween...

Don't Read Them in the Dark!
The Ghost of Crutchfield Hall has arrived in time for Halloween. This story, by May Downing Hahn, follows young Florence as she leaves her orphanage to go live with her great uncle in his mansion outside of London. However, when she arrives she meets the ghost of Sophia, an evil and spoiled child while among the living. Sophia wants Florence to help her as she cooks up grand schemes, despite her cold and sickly ghost status.

Hahn paints a descriptive picture of the old, haunted mansion and wait staff who would have helped run the household in historic England. To make sure you feel a little spooked, she makes sure the ghost has a keen interest in revenge....at all costs.

Check out these other spooky tales to get you in the Halloween "spirit":
All the Lovely Bad Ones: A Ghost Story by Mary Downing Hahn
Scary Stories by Alvin Schwartz
The Battlefield Ghost by Margery Cuyler
Christina's Ghost by Betty Ren Wright
The Ghost's Grave by Peg Kehret

For older, middle grade readers looking for a seasonal tale or two, try:
Darkest Powers Series by Kelley Armstrong
The Empty Mirror by James Lincoln Collier
Ghost Girl by Tonya Hurley
The Light by D.J. MacHale, author of the Pendragon Series
Chronicles of Vladimir Tod Series by Heather Brewer
The Forest of Hands and Teeth by Carrie Ryan

As always, we encourage parents to participate in their child's reading choices.

To Boo or Not to Boo?

Halloween Fan? Here's Some Have Fun Tips

If you are planning a Halloween party, get your food ideas from Ghoulish Goodies by Sharon Bowers or Halloween Parties : How to Throw Spook-tacular Soirees and Frighteningly Festive Entertainments by Lori Hellander. The treats are inventive and most don't look hard to make; even if you're not a wizz in the kitchen. For more conventional and silly (not scary) treats, try Kraft Halloween.

If you enjoy the creepy side of Halloween decorating, try Extreme Halloween : the Ultimate Guide to Making Halloween Scary Again by Tom Nardone. Also consider sharing a little quality time at the library on Halloween; join us for our annual pre-school party!

It's Going to Be Spooktacular!

Annual Costume Party for Little People
Join us in your favorite costume on Saturday October 31, at 10 a.m. for our annual Halloween costume celebration! David Costello, author and illustrator of the charming and boo-riffic book, Here They Come, will be joining us for a story, monster drawing activities, and more!

Following David's program, don your walking shoes (or assemble that stroller) for our grand parade to the Village Center! Here you'll enjoy and learn about a day-long schedule of festivities delivered by our neighbor businesses and Epoch Arts group, offered in collaboration with the East Hampton Economic Development Commission.

To participate in the library's costume party, click here to register, phone 267-6621, or stop by the library. Spots are limited, so register today!

Further Reading and Planning
Here's a short list of books that may be helpful as you prepare to enjoy our Village Center's festivities on October 31st. More information to follow on how to make a Halloween day of it on Main Street!!

The Halloween Handbook : 447 Costumes by Bridie Clark and Ashley Dodd

Baby Costumes by Bettine Roynon

Best of Halloween Tricks & Treats

Halloween : a Grown-up's Guide to Creative Costumes, Devilish Decor & Fabulous Festivities by Joanne O'Sullivan

Pumpkin Carving by Ed Palmer

Play with Your Pumpkins by Joost Elffers and Saxton Freyman

Post by Kathleen Sands

Scrapbooking Life and dah, dah, dah...

A Murder or Two...
Laura Childs' Death Swatch is the latest addition to her 'scrapbooking' mystery series. Amateur sleuth and scrapbook store owner, Carmela Bertrand must deal with a neighbor's ghastly murder in the excitement -- and wildness -- of Mardi Gras! Who dunnit? Was it a rival float builder or a mob hit? Nobody knows. Scraps of clues and theories weave the plot together.

Motif for Murder takes place after Hurricane Katrina in Carmela's store, Memory Mine. Even after a reconciliation with her ex-husband, Shamus, Carmela's family problems are not over. Shamus is kidnapped, Uncle Henry is shot, and her sister-in-law throws her out of the house. Is there a clue to the murder in Carmela's keepsake scrapbook dedicated to Uncle Henry?

Frill Kill features a Halloween celebration at Memory Mine, the scrapbooking store. A celebrated model is found murdered in back of a dumpster. Who did it and why? Plentiful clues are sprinkled throughout the story.

If reading about scrapbooking sparks your interest in the real-deal hobby, here's a few titles you might like to try.

Content developed by library staff member Bev Simmons

Scaring Up a Good Read

Chilling Tales

Looking for a change of pace read? Do you like short-format stories but with a non-fiction twist? Let's not leave out the main question -- do you believe in ghosts? No, it's not Halloween but for the ghost-story fan in you, we recommend:

Ghost Hunters of New England, penned by Alan Brown, covers New England hauntings in a state by state format. Associations, societies, and teams of investigators showcase parapsychology at its best.

For those of you interested in reading outside our region, Edrick Thay's Haunted Houses covers haunted real estate all over the U.S.

Deborah Blum’s Ghost Hunters tells the story of leading intellectuals, who at the turn of the 20th Century risked their reputations to pursue – and debate -- psychic research.

Head's Up: Lorraine Warren to Speak in East Hampton

Leading psychic researcher, Lorraine Warren is a New England legend and has been called "America’s Top Ghost Hunter." With her late husband Ed, the duo investigated the Amityville Haunting & Southington Funeral Home Case.

Accompanied by Tony Spera, Mrs. Warren will speak about her investigations into the supernatural world on Saturday, March 14, 2009. Registration begins February 1st.