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edition of the Glenwood Herald) This article might be published in the April Fool’s Day edition of the Glenwood Herald but there’s no “foolin’” about the results of our “Painless Fundraiser.” By bringing in your old inkjet and laser printer cartridges and old cell phones we have raised $38.80 for the 2004 Summer Reading Program! Thanks to all who have helped. Please continue to save your cartridges for us. They may be turned in at the Glenwood Library, the Rosboro Knight Stop, or the Glenwood City Hall. The library will be closed Friday, April 2, so Susan Lantz and I can attend the Summer Reading Program workshop put on by the state library. This year’s theme concerns “Adventures in Reading” and specifically targets the Lewis and Clark bicentennial If you know of any fun things that tie in to this theme, please let me know. We could always use Lewis and Clark re-enactors or someone who knows something about orienteering or camping out. Every year the Arkansas Center for the Book sponsors a program called “If All Arkansas Read The Same Book.” The selection this year is a young adult book, The House on Mango Street, by Sandra Cisneros. Madge Bledsoe, one of the regular library users, graciously agreed to read and review this book. Here are her thoughts: “Sandra Cisneros dedicated this book to “las mujeres”, to the women. This is the story of Esperanza (in English her name means Hope) Cordero. It is told in a series of vignettes (little stories.) Esperanza talks a lot about her name. She was named after her grandmother who was “a wild horse of a woman.” There was no nickname for Esperanza and she sort of envied her sister Magdalena, whose nickname was Nenny. They lived in a “not so good” Latino neighborhood in Chicago. They did not own their house, but rented. They moved a lot to get betters deals on rent. Those of us who have lived through hard times probably remember moving when a cheaper rent house became available. Also, those of us who have lived in large cities will relate to the problems and the joys of an ethnic neighborhood. I could identify with many of Esperanza’s experiences. I enjoyed the book because I did not have to wade through bad language or explicit sex. Ms. Cisneros dealt with a young girl learning about becoming a woman in a tasteful way. Even though problems in the neighborhood were not glossed over I enjoyed reading this book. The House on Mango Street was only 110 pages so it was easy to read.” Ms. Cisneros will be traveling throughout Arkansas during National Library Week, April 19-21. April 19 she will be appearing at the Jonesboro Public Library. April 20 she will be at the Central Arkansas Library System Main Library in Little Rock. You may phone 501 918-3032 for reservations for that 7:00 PM event. She will also appear at the Fort Smith Public Library and the Art Center of the Ozarks on April 21. Call Beth Maxey at 356-4643 for more details. Ms. Cisneros maintains a website at www.sandracisneros.com where discussion guides and related information are maintained. Adult book discussion groups might wish to consider Caramelo, Woman Hollering Greek, or Vintage Cisneros as alternative selections. I always welcome information and feedback on books you have read. Please submit book reviews to me at the library and I will get them into the newspaper so others can see what you think of the books you read. Donations of books and money are always welcome. If we already have a copy of the book I take duplicates to a used bookstore and turn them in for credit so I can get different books for the library. We received five new books from the regional library last week. The titles are: The Zero Game by Brad Meltzer, Death of a Poison Pen by M.C. Beaton, Sun Coast Chronicles by Terri Blackstock, The Fruminous Bandersnatch by Ed McBain, The Kills by Linda A. Fairstein and The Burning Tigris: the Armenian Genocide and America’s Response by Peter Balakian. Thanks to all who looked around and found some of our “missing” library books. We had some cookbooks that were due back in 1993 returned! Please bring your books, videos, and computer discs back so others may enjoy them. Look at the new picture on the library website, http://home.earthlink.net/~glenwoodarlibrary71943/GlenPubLib.html. Babies can be taught to love books and reading! | ||