The Anti-Prom by Abby McDonald

Prom time: where everyone dresses up and goes with their favorite person to the greatest event of spring – or not. Meet three young women who have a less than perfect prom: the Popular Girl, the Bad Girl and the Wallflower form an unlikely trio on the big night of their prom and find out what happens next.


Shelved in the Young Adult section, check out this book; or other new and entertaining YA books and try out the comfy chairs.

to Timbuktu by Casey Scieszka and Steven Weinberg

Casey and Steven first met in Morocco in 2004 while in college. A year after their first meeting, they decide to travel outside the United States and pursue their creative interests together. Teaching English in China will be the start of their great adventure. Read the book in our new book section and read their blog: http://allthewaytotimbuktu.com/blog/

Kid's Book Display

In honor of the author Brian Jacques, who died last month in England, the book display in the children's room features his popular series, Redwall.

There are 22 titles in the Redwall series, as well as two picture books.  There are also books about the different tribes in the series, and a cookbook.

Jacques also wrote the Castaways of the Flying Dutchman series, and two books of ghostly short stories.

Uncle Al Capone by Deirdre Marie Capone

The book starts: "I am a Capone. My grandfather was Ralph Capone, listed in 1930 as Public Enemy #3 by the Chicago Crime Commission. That makes me the grand niece of his partner and younger brother, Public Enemy #1, Al Capone."
Deirdre Capone says, "For much of my life, this was not information that I readily volunteered. In fact, I made every effort to hide the fact that I was a Capone, a name that had brought endless heartache to so many members of my family. In 1972, when I was in my early thirties, I left Chicago and my family history far behind me reinventing myself in Minnesota and making sure that no one in my life other than my husband Bob knew my ancestry. I succeeded - even with our four children."
You can find this book at Hibbing Public Library in the new book section.

The Complaints by Ian Rankin

Best known for the John Rebus series; Rebus, a detective sergeant in Edinburgh, Scotland topped out at 19 books. Rankin has a new series with a new character, Detective Malcolm Fox, member of the Complaints division of Lothian and Borders Police Station. Complaints is the Scottish equivalent of Internal Affairs in the States.

Malcolm Fox, working in a small office of 4 officers, investigates fellow officers for violation of professional standards such as bribes, racism and criminal behavior. Fox is called in by Child Protection to help out with a case against a fellow police officer who may be involved in online child exploitation while also trying to help his sister in an abusive relationship. The book can be found in the new book section of Hibbing Public Library.

Ian Rankin has a website: http://www.ianrankin.net/

New in the kid's room

The Crossing by Jim Murphy

Leutze’s familiar painting, Washington Crossing the Delaware, graces the cover of Murphy’s latest book, but the story begins before that dramatic event, when the Second Continental Congress appoints Washington to lead the army in June 1775. Profoundly aware of his personal limitations as a commander, Washington struggles to turn his initially unruly officers and troops into a well-disciplined fighting force before the formidable British army brings the war—and the young country—to an untimely end. Focusing on the Continental army’s progress from Washington’s appointment through the Battle of Princeton in January 1777, this book recounts military events, setbacks, and successes as the tide of the war slowly began to turn. Printed in relatively large type with wide-spaced lines, the text is clearly written and makes very good use of quotes. Text and illustrations, including maps and reproductions of period paintings and documents, are printed in shades of brown. Though sources are not provided for individual quotes, the excellent back matter includes a discussion of Leutze’s iconic painting, a time line of the Revolution, a list of Internet sites, and a lengthy partial list of books consulted. Murphy offers a refreshingly frank, vivid, well-researched account of a pivotal time in American history.  (From Booklist)

Laura Lippman

Tess Monaghan, a private investigator in Baltimore, Maryland, starts out in her first book, Baltimore Blues, trying to help out a rowing friend who wants her to check out his fiance. Tess, former reporter of Irish and Jewish descent, took a long time to find her vocation and stumbled into the private investigator business almost by accident. She often includes quirky relatives and friends in her cases. The people who hire Tess also have more than a few quirks that make the stories entertaining. You can read this series of eleven books by checking our book shelves, interlibrary loan, and the ebook and audiobook collection through Arrowhead Library System. Winner of many awards for mystery fiction, the Tess Monaghan series is not to be missed.

Read the series in order by going to the Stop You’re Killing Me website and looking up Laura Lippman or Tess Monaghan: http://www.stopyourekillingme.com/

St. Urho's Day on March 16th

The legend of St. Urho is the Finnish people's answer to the legend of St. Patrick.  It also shows that the Finnish have a wonderful sense of humor.

This is how the legend goes:


One of the lesser known, but extraordinary legends of ages past is the legend of St. Urho, patron saint of the Finnish vineyard workers.

Before the last glacial period, the legend goes, wild grapes grew with abundance in the area now known as Finland. Archaeologists have uncovered evidence of this fact scratched on the thigh bones of giant bears that once roamed northern Europe. The grapes were threatened by a plague of grasshoppers until Urho banished the lot of them with "Heinasirkka, heinasirkka, mene taalta hiiteen." In memory of this impressive demonstration of the power of the Finnish language, at sunrise each March 16, Finnish women and children dressed in royal purple and nile green gather around the shores of the many lakes in Finland and chant what St. Urho chanted many, many years ago; "Heinasirkka, heinasirkka, mene taalta hiiteen," which translated means: "Grasshopper, grasshopper, go away."

The adult males dressed in green costumes gather on the hill overlooking the lakes, listen to the chant, then, kicking out like grasshoppers, slowly disappear to change costumes from green to purple. The celebration ends with singing and dancing polkas and schottisches and drinking grape juice, though these activities may occur in varying sequences.

Colors for the day are royal purple and nile green.

Have a great St. Urho's Day!

Heartstone by C. J. Sansom

Heartstone is the fifth book in the Matthew Shardlake mystery series. If you like a historical mysteries, set in England in the 1500s, this book is for you.

Read the books in order: Dissolution, Dark Fire, Sovereign, Revelation and finally Heartstone.

Eat!

Kid's Cookery
Wednesday, March 16 at 6:00pm

Come on down to Bikini Bottom...er...the library to learn to make some of Spongebob's favorite dishes.*  Kids can find out how to cook for themselves items like Alfredo Jelly-fish Tentacles Primavera and Patrick Starfruit Soda.  They'll also learn some basic kitchen techniques and safety.  This program is free but we'll have enough for just 24 lucky kids to make everything (families are encouraged to share).

*Note: there will be no instructions on how to make a Krabby Patty, since that is a secret!

The Cypress House by Michael Kortya

First Line: They'd been on the train for five hours before Arlen Wagner saw the first of the dead men.

Arlen Wagner and Paul Brickhill are traveling to a new CCC camp in Florida in the middle of the great depression when Arlen has a vision that everyone on the train is going to die. While unable to convince anyone else to get off the train, Arlen and Paul leave the train and are soon picked up by a traveling man who takes them along to a strangely empty fishing lodge on the western coast of Florida. Trapped by the hurricane, they soon become embroiled in the affairs of the sole owner of Cypress House, Rebecca Cady. 
Read more about Michael Kortya and his books here: http://www.michaelkoryta.com/

What To Do With a Used Cell Phone

Sell, trade, or give away but don't just throw away.


What To Do With a Used Cell Phone

New in the kid's room

No Passengers Beyond This Point                                  by Gennifer Choldenko

Questions can be tricky things. Everyone has their own way of dealing with them. India Tompkins can charm her way out of answering most of them. Finn Tompkins is too quiet to be asked in the first place. And Mouse Tompkins? She's a genius - she's used to having all the answers.


But when they find themselves trapped in Falling Bird - a city seemingly without logic - the Tompkins kids are facing a whole slew of impossible questions, all demanding answers, and not even Mouse knows how to solve these.

How do you find your way home when you aren't even on the map? What's the fastest way to wrap your brain around a problem when time itself keeps getting away from you? And if your life at home wasn't perfect, can you be sure you really want to go back?

No Safe Haven by Kimberley and Kayla R. Woodhouse

Jenna and her daughter Andie are flying home after a hospital visit for Andie, who has a rare medical condition. The pilot deliberately sabotages their small plane which then crashes on the side of a mountain in Denali National Park. Cole Maddox, friend of Jenna’s husband and last minute passenger on the plane, vows to protect Marcus’ family after Marcus is murdered by the same people Marcus and Cole both used to work for. This shadowy military group has turned rogue and murders Marcus for the software he refuses to hand over to the highest bidder. By protecting the United States and Marcus’ family, Cole must keep Jenna and Andie alive while dodging the enemy and using their collective survival skills to get them off the mountain to find the missing software. Andie and Jenna help Cole by knowing skills taught to them by living in Alaska and also relying on their faith in God to help themselves as well as Cole, who is having a crisis in faith with the death of his own wife and daughter.
Andie’s many medical issues, not being able to regulate temperature or sense pain, gives a new twist to this survival story. Author Kayla, also has the same medical condition, which adds interest to the story. Part thriller and part Christian fiction, this book appears to be the first in a new series.
Check out our Christian fiction in the new fiction and large print section.

In Memory Of

The Informationist by Taylor Stevens has been donated to the library in memory of John Vucetich.

Stevens' debut novel has gotten rave reviews from publishing sources as well as other best selling authors.  It has been described as gripping, ingenious, and impeccably paced.  The main character, Vanessa "Michael" Monroe deals in inforamtion - expensive information - for corporations, heads of state, private clients, and anyone else who can pay for her unique brand of expertise.  She grew up in and is very familiar with the lawless central Africa area but has left that behind and is building a new life and career in Dallas.

Then, a Texas oil billionaire hires her to find his daughter, who vanished in Africa four years earlier.  It's not her usual line of work but she can't resist the challenge.  Munroe finds herself back in the land of her childhood, betrayed, cut off from civilization, and left for dead. 

Find this new thriller in the Adult New Fiction section in the library's reference/reading area.

New Large Print Books

Archaeologist Dilara Kenner gets a cryptic message about Noah's Ark from family friend Sam Watson. Dilara must find Tyler Locke, a man she has never met.

Winter of 1777, and the army winters at Valley Forge with little to sustain them except Washington and von Steuben who turns the army into a professional fighting machine.

Iris James, postmistress, in a small town in Cape Cod, during 1940, keeps the secrets of the townspeople.

Fourth in the Hollywood series, LAPD Nate Weiss is chasing a group of teenage burglars.

Craig Blacklock at the Library

Meet Minnesota photographer Craig Blacklock at the library. Craig will be in the library auditorium on Monday, March 14, 2011, at Noon.


Craig Blacklock is a nature photographer, and has published many books. Some of his more popular titles include “The Lake Superior Images”; “The Duluth Portfolio”, which won the Northeastern Minnesota Book Award; and his newest book “Minnesota’s North Shore”. The program will be about 1.5 to 2 hours long, will include a question and answer session, and a book signing. He will talk about his work on Lake Superior and show still pictures and videos.

The Craig Blacklock program is sponsored by Arrowhead Library System, the Minnesota Library Legacy Fund, and Hibbing Public Library. It was funded in part or in whole with money from Minnesota’s Arts and Cultural Heritage Fund.

Sing You Home by Jodi Picoult

Zoe Baxter, music therapist, says, "When I tell people I am a music therapist, they think it means I play guitar for people who are in the hospital - that I'm a performer. Actually, I'm more like a physical therapist, except instead of using treadmills and grab bars as tools, I use music."
For fans of Jodi Picoult, she needs no introduction. Visit her website at: http://www.jodipicoult.com/
Sing You Home can be found in the new book section of Hibbing Public Library.
To see Jodi Picoult in person: March 11 at 7:30 PM Edina Performing Arts Center at Edina High School, 6754 Valley View Rd, Edina, MN.  For more information, call: 952.920.0633