Check It Out

Elections Demystified

2008-10-03T19:21:00Z

Every four years the library devotes more than the usual amount of its materials budget to the purchase of books related to the presidential campaign. As we approach what is certainly one of the more interesting U.S. presidential elections of modern times, we’re well-stocked with views of the issues and personalities from right, left and in-between.

The system by which we elect our chief executive often appears odd to residents of other democracies, most of which are parliamentary systems in which the majority party after an election chooses the executive from among its members. France has a president elected directly by the voters (unlike ours, who is chosen by the Electoral College), but also has a run-off system that ensures that whoever is elected has received a majority of the votes cast. The fact that an American President may be elected by less than a majority of the voters is sometimes seen as a problem for our system. (Lincoln, for example, was elected in 1860 in spite of the fact that 60.2% of the vote went to the other three candidates. The length of the whole election process and the astonishing amounts of money spent on it in the U.S. are also highly unusual.

For a recent view on electoral systems and their problems in theory and history, see Gaming the Vote : Why Elections Aren’t Fair (and What We Can Do About It) by William Poundstone. (329 P65, on the new shelf).

The following are few websites related to the current presidential election:

Politics1 ( http://www.politics1.com/p2008.htm ) includes a complete list of and information on all candidates appearing on at least one state ballot.

League of Women Voters ( http://www.lwv.org/Election2008/index.html ) includes a Presidential Voters’ Guide.

Official John McCain campaign site ( http://www.johnmccain.com/ )

Official Barack Obama campaign site ( http://www.barackobama.com )

New Additions

2008-10-03T19:20:00Z

Books

Comforts of a Muddy Saturday/Alexander McCall Smith

Incomplete and Inaccurate History of Sport/Kenny Mayne

Indie Band Survival Guide/Randy Chertkow

Lavinia/Ursula Le Guin

Liberty: a Lake Wobegon Novel/Garrison Keillor

Paint Style: the New Approach to Decorative Paint Finishes/Lesley Riva

Planet Google: One Company’s Audacious Plan to Organize Everything We Know/Randall Stross

Treasures of China: the Glories of the Kingdom of the Dragon/John Chinnery

Willie & Joe: the WWII Years/Bill Mauldin

Wineries of Wisconsin and Minnesota/Patricia Monaghan

Audiobooks on CD

Indignation/Philip Roth

Iwo Jima: World War II Veterans Remember the Greatest Battle of the Pacific/Larry Smith

My Name is Red/Orhan Pamuk

Story of Edgar Sawtelle/David Wroblewski

When You Are Engulfed in Flames/David Sedaris

Music on CD

Evil Urges/My Morning Jacket

Modern Guilt/Beck

Piano Music of Salonen, Stucky, and Lutosawski
Performed by Gloria Cheng

Refuge/Christopher Theofanidis
Leah Lax, libretto/Houston Grand Opera/World premier, recorded 11/10/07

Rockferry/Duffy

DVDs

88 Minutes

Pete Seeger: the Power of Song

Married Life

Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day

Young @ Heart
Documentary/Young @ Heart Chorus (group’s average age is 81) prepare for a concert

Dancing Dolls

2008-10-03T19:19:00Z

Artists and scientists have long been fascinated with the idea of creating mechanical beings that imitate humans. The Greek myth of Pygmalion and Galatea and the Jewish myth of clay golems are just two examples of life given to inanimate objects.

The science of robotics goes back to at least the Middle Ages. Al-Jazari, an Arab scholar and engineer, is credited with inventing the first robot, an automated humanoid waitress, in 1206. In 1770, Wolfgang von Kempelen amazed Europeans with his invention called “The Mechanical Turk”, a chess playing automaton who played and defeated such famous people as Napoleon and Benjamin Franklin. It was a cleverly constructed machine controlled by a person.

Ballet audiences are delighted by the robotic dancing of doll characters. Coppelia, in a ballet by the same name, is a life-sized dancing doll invented by the mysterious Dr. Coppelius. This humorous ballet was adapted from a sinister story by E.T.A. Hoffmann, The Sandman, in which the main character suffers mental anguish when he learns that the girl he loves is a machine. In another adaptation of a Hoffmann story, the Milwaukee Ballet’s Nutcracker has two dancing dolls, gifts from Herr Drosselmeyer to Fritz and Clara. The latest Caldecott winner, The Invention of Hugo Cabret by Brian Selznick, attests to the enduring popularity of stories featuring automatons.

The Milwaukee Ballet will present Marius and the Magnificent Dancing Doll Shoppe on Saturday, November 1^st from 1:30-2:15 p.m. in the Civic Center Auditorium. This program is recommended for kindergartners through 8^th graders. To register or for more information, please call the Wauwatosa Public Library, Children’s Department at 414-471-8486.

Opera News and Views

2008-09-04T17:30:00Z

The popularity of opera has grown steadily in the United States. With the number of professional companies increasing from a few to more than 114 since the 1950s and audiences now at more than 6 million annually, opera is the fastest growing performing art in America.

Opera has also increasingly made its way into the library’s collection. Of course, we’ve always had a good collection of audio opera recordings, first on LP and now on CD, but the number of video recordings of opera available has increased dramatically in recent years, and the library now has more than 65 operas and opera-related DVDs. You can find them all in the online catalog (http://countycat.mcfls.org ) by doing a word search for “opera or operas” and then limiting it to DVDs and the Wauwatosa library location.

Milwaukee has its own terrific professional opera company in the Florentine (http://www.florentineopera.org/ ) which offers at least three productions each season, often with truly stellar casts and artistic/music direction. The library is one of the sites for the Florentine’s “Insights” programs, combinations of informative and amusing lectures by Prof. Corliss Philabaum and musical excerpts by area singers (often members of the Florentine chorus) with piano accompaniment. The first of the programs this season is Madama Butterfly which will be held in the Firefly Room on Saturday, November 1st at 12:30.

Other local opportunities for opera lovers include The Skylight, which always does at least one opera in English each season (http://www.skylightopera.com/ ) and the relatively new, live high definition digital video broadcasts from The Metropolitan Opera now being shown in three Milwaukee area theaters. For a list of the season’s broadcasts and a link to local theaters, see: http://www.metoperafamily.org/metopera/broadcast/hd_events_next.aspx

Little Red Store

2008-09-04T16:49:00Z

The Little Red Store (7720 W. Harwood Ave.) has seen many transformations over the years. Built in 1854 by Dr. Levi C. Halsted, it was originally intended to be a blacksmith shop but instead became the private dwelling for Dr. Halsted. Since then, the Little Red Store has served many purposes. It was the first railroad depot in Wauwatosa and is the oldest post office building in Milwaukee County still standing. It has also served as a general store, grocery store, harness shop, plumbing shop, library and Republican Party headquarters.

The Little Red Store is now undergoing a dramatic restoration. In May of this year, the Wauwatosa Common Council approved a lease agreement with the Wauwatosa Historical Society for the property and agreed to appropriate $150,000 from a block grant for its restoration. With another substantial donation by the Wauwatosa Historical Society, the restoration work began in June. By the end of September, it is expected that the exterior and rough interior work on the Little Red Store will be completed. Work on the interior will continue over the winter with an expected opening in May, 2009. The Little Red Store will see its newest reincarnation as a Wauwatosa visitor and welcome center.

New Additions

2008-09-04T16:44:00Z

Books

Autoimmune Epidemic: Bodies Gone Haywire in a World Out of Balance and the Cutting Edge Science That Promises Hope by Donna Jackson Nakazawa

Flickipedia: Perfect Films for Every Occasion, Holiday, Mood, Ordeal, and Whim
by Michael Atkinson

Green, Greener, Greenest: A Practical Guide to Making Eco-Smart Choices a Part of Your Life by Lori Bongiorno

Keeper of Dreams by Orson Scott Card

One Minute to Midnight: Kennedy, Khrushchev, and Castro on the Brink of Nuclear War by Michael Dobbs

Oscar Wilde and a Death of No Importance by Gyles Danbeney Brandreth

Our Story Begins: New and Selected Stories by Tobias Wolff

Ten-Cent Plague: The Great Comic-Book Scare and How It Changed America
by David Hajdu

What the Gospels Meant by Garry Wills

Working for Yourself: Law & Taxes for Independent Contractors, Freelancers & Consultants by Stephen Fishman

Audiobooks on CD

Breaking Dawn by Stephenie Meyer

Logic of Life: The Hidden Economics of Everything by Tim Harford

Off Season by Anne Rivers Siddons

Prisoner of Birth by Jeffrey Archer

Unaccustomed Earth: Stories by Jhumpa Lahiri

DVDs

Best of Radiohead

Counterfeiter=Die Falscher

Eye

Fille du Regiment/Gaetano Donizetti

Smart People

Music on CD

Catered Affair: Original Broadway Cast Recording

Harps and Angels/Randy Newman

Owen Wingrave/Benjamin Britten

Skin Deep/Buddy Guy

This Is Not the World/Futureheads

Read-Aloud Pleasures

2008-09-04T16:43:00Z

What could be a happier memory than sitting beside your parent and listening to a good book? What was your favorite read-aloud -- a Mother Goose Nursery Rhyme, a Grimm’s Fairy Tale or an inimitable story such as the Tawny Scrawny Lion by Kathryn Jackson?

Jim Trelease’s The Read-Aloud Handbook, a great comprehensive resource, lists many reasons for reading aloud to a child: to reassure, to entertain, to bond, to inform or explain, to arouse curiosity, to inspire, to build vocabulary, to create background knowledge and to provide a reading role model. Perhaps the most important reason is to share the pleasure of reading.

There are many ways to spice up the read aloud. Predicting what will happen in a story is made easier in books by Jan Brett because she puts sidebar illustrations on each page hinting at what happens next in the story. Picture books often contain intriguing illustrations or graphics on the end pages that complement the story. Demi is an author/illustrator whose gorgeously illustrated books often tell a serious story or instructive folktale. Two of the best are One Grain of Rice: A Mathematical Folktale and The Hungry Coat: A Tale from Turkey.

Children often enjoy hearing stories about characters that are like them. Rosemary Well’s characters have everyday adventures that all children experience. Two of her most endearing personifications are Max and Ruby from Bunny Money, Bunny Mail, Bunny Party, etc. Wells’ stories are so funny that it is easy to read them with expression.

Children are never too old to hear a story. The Hundred Dresses by Eleanor Estes and Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane by Kate DiCamillo are beautifully written and have discussion value for middle grade school students. Public Enemy Number Two: a Diamond Brothers Mystery by Anthony Horowitz is great fun to read with middle school students or teens.

The Children’s librarians have many more suggestions for entertaining read-alouds.

It's August Already!

2008-08-12T18:39:49Z

Although several owe their names to Roman gods and goddesses, only two months are named after human beings. The Roman Senate named August in honor of the first of the emperors, Caesar Augustus. Born Gaius Octavius, he was later adopted by Julius Caesar (after whom July is named), becoming Gaius Julius Caesar Octavianus. Caesar was still a family name and not yet the title it would become.

Octavian (as he’s usually called in English) ruled as emperor from 27 B.C. to 14 A.D. It was in 26 B.C. that the Senate awarded him the honorific title “Augustus” (meaning venerable, majestic, worthy of honor) and in 8 B.C. that the Senate changed the name of the month, then called Sextilis, to August (Augustus in its Latin form.) The original name meant “sixth” as the old Roman calendar started the year with March and by that reckoning, Sextilis was indeed the sixth month of the year.

To learn more about the calendar and months, try Mapping Time : the Calendar and Its History, by E.G. Richards (529 R39 in the adult library). For more on Caesar Augustus, the library has Augustus : the life of Rome’s First Emperor, by Anthony Everitt (937 Ev27 in the adult library) as well as numerous other sources. The emperor is also well represented in fiction, including most famously, Robert Graves’ novel, I, Claudius, which is nearly as much about Augustus and his wife, Livia, as about Claudius.

Common Council and School Board Minutes

2008-08-12T18:37:00Z

You may know that you can find the agendas and minutes of the Wauwatosa Common Council, committees, boards and commissions on the city’s website at www.wauwatosa.net dating back to 2002. But, did you know that the library has video and dvd recordings of Common Council meetings that date back to1994?

To be precise, the library has:

Common Council and Committee of the Whole meetings from1994 to date

Traffic & Safety, Community Development, Legislation, Licensing & Communications and Budget & Finance committee meetings from 2002 to date

Common Council meetings are held the 1^st and 3^rd Tuesdays of the month and the committee meetings on the 2^nd and 4^th Tuesdays of the month. Meetings are broadcast throughout the following day on Channel 25. Also, believe it or not, as of this month, you can view Wauwatosa Common Council meetings on Google Video and You Tube! Committee meetings should be available in the near future.

In addition, the library also has Wauwatosa School Board meetings on video and dvd dating back to 2004. School Board meetings are held the 2^nd and 4^th Mondays of the month and broadcast on Channel 13 the following Tuesday at 4 and 8 p.m. and Wednesday at 6:30 p.m. Now, you can also view the meetings on the Wauwatosa School District website at www.wauwatosa.k12.wi.us.

Recordings of these meetings can be checked out for a period of a week with a library card at the Information Desk. For fun, you may also want to check out a recording of Wauwatosa’s 4^th of July parade. The library has videos and dvds of the parades going back to 2001.

New Additions

2008-08-12T18:32:00Z

Books

Bottlemania: How Water Went on Sale and Why We Bought It by Elizabeth Royte

Host by Stephenie Meyer

Lost in Uttar Pradesh: New and Selected Stories by Evan S. Connell

Microcosm: E. Coli and the New Science of Life by Carl Zimmer

Musician's Handbook: a Practical Guide to Understanding the Music Business by Bobby Borg

Nothing to Lose by Lee Child

One Man's America: the Pleasures and Provocations of Our Singular Nation by George Will

Science of Fear: Why We Fear the Things We Shouldn't-and Put Ourselves in Greater Danger by Daniel Gardner

Spice Bible: Essential Information and More than 250 Recipes Using Spices,
Spice Mixes, and Spice Pastes by Jane Lawson

Two Kinds of Decay by Sarah Manguso

Audiobooks on CD

Brief Wonderous Life of Oscar Wao by Junot diaz

Sail by James Patterson

Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the White House: Humor, Blunders, and Other Oddities from the Presidential Campaign Trail by Charles Osgood

Last Kiss by Luanne Rice

Turnaround Kid: What I Learned Rescuing America's Most Troubled Companies by Steve Miller

DVDs

Band's Visit (Bikur ha-Tizmoret)

Earth: the Biography

Mad Men. Season One

Robbie Coltrane: Incredible Britain

21

Music on CD

Daniel Variations/Steve Reich

Lay It Down/Al Green

Loverly/Casandra Wilson

Same Old Man/John Hiatt

Two Men With the Blues/Willie Nelson and Winton Marsalis

Clever Bug Books

2008-08-12T18:31:59Z

Playfully punching holes in a stack of papers, Eric Carle thought, “This could have been done by a bookworm.” His editor thought that a caterpillar would make a better story and the award-winning book, The Very Hungry Caterpillar, was born.

Carle’s six books about bugs are deceptively simple. On one level, these books are cute stories that teach a life lesson. On a literal level, children learn a science lesson about insects or spiders. On the metaphorical level, the titles reveal the essence of the bug’s existence. A caterpillar’s sole goal in life is to eat as much as possible for the next stage of its life. It is reported that some adult fireflies do not even eat, but that their single purpose is to reproduce; thus, The Very Lonely Firefly's search for a mate is vital to its species’ survival. Likewise, The Very Quiet Cricket has to be able to communicate by rubbing his wings together if he is to advance his gene pool.

Eric Carle’s books are not only informative and colorful, but they also bridge the gap between book and toy. The holes and gradually increasing page sizes of The Very Hungry Caterpillar encourage children to touch and poke. The Grouchy Ladybug uses the increasingly larger pages to teach the concept of size. The Very Clumsy Click Beetle and The Very Quiet Cricket contain computer sound chips that produce the sound of the insect; similarly, The Very Lonely Firefly has battery-powered twinkling lights on the last page. Adults could easily miss the raised spider webs, spider’s legs and fly’s wings in The Very Busy Spider, but curious children, who want to touch and feel everything they see, will follow the web, as it grows larger on every other page.

Don’t miss out on these and many more buggy books and activities. “Catch the Reading Bug” summer programs continue at the Wauwatosa Public Library throughout the month of August. The deadline for completing all the reading record cards is Friday, August 29, 2008.

From the Library Director

2008-07-09T14:31:00Z

To all of you who linked to the Wauwatosa Public Library’s recent online survey through WauwatosaNOW.com and offered your comments and suggestions, thank you. Within 24 hours of posting it, more than 1,000 people had completed the survey. Once again, I found myself humbled by the generosity of this community. I’m very grateful for the time and thought you gave to completing the survey. We are in the process now of compiling the data and comments/suggestions for our planning committee and Board of Trustees. Your help was so important. Thank you.

Mary Murphy, Director
Wauwatosa Public Library

Summer Sunflowers

2008-07-01T14:25:00Z

A popular choice for summer gardens is the sunflower (Helianthus Annuus). It’s easy to grow and the large flower with its distinctive rows of seeds is both beautiful and useful. Did you know that people have been growing sunflowers for over 5,000 years? Some archaeologists believe that the sunflower may have been domesticated even before corn.

Sunflowers were grown by Central American cultures in Mexico and Native Americans around the Mississippi valley. Spanish explorers took the exotic plant back to Europe sometime around 1500, where it became popular as an ornamental plant. Developing sunflowers as a commercial crop for oil and seeds began in Russia in the 1800s. By the 1900s, sunflowers had come back home to the United States and they were a lot bigger than they were when they left!

Native sunflowers have many small flowers and are considered a weed in some states. What most people think of as a sunflower today is mostly the result of breeding for seeds and oil. The cheerful face of a blooming sunflower has an undeniable appeal, as you can see on calendars, coffee mugs and in summer gardens everywhere. If you’d like to learn more, a great book on the history of sunflowers is Sunflowers: the unauthorized biography of the world’s most beloved weed by Joe Pappalardo.

New Releases-Some Titles to Tempt You

2008-07-01T14:23:00Z

  Books

America America by Ethan Canin

Cheeses of Wisconsin: a Culinary Travel Guide by Jeanette Hurt

Fearless Fourteen by Janet Evanovich

Freewheelin’ Time: a Memoir of Greenwich Village in the Sixties by Suze Rotolo

My Mistress’s Sparrow is Dead: Great Love Stories from Chekov to Munro

O, the Oprah Magazine Cookbook: 175 Delicious Recipes to Savor with
Friends & Family

Physics of NASCAR: How to Make Steel + Gas + Rubber = Speed by Diandra Leslie-Pelecky

Say You’re One of Them by Uwem Akpan

Uniquely Felt: Dozens of Techniques from Fulling and Shaping to Nuno and Cobweb by Christine White

We Would Have Played for Nothing: Baseball Stars of the 1950s and 1960s Talk
About the Game They Loved by Fay Vincent

Audiobooks on CD

Death and Honor by W.E.B. Griffin

Not in the Flesh by Ruth Rendell

One Minute to Midnight by Michael Dobbs

Other by David Guterson

Rogue by Danielle Steel

Music on CD

Bring Back the Funk/Brian Culbertson

Grammy Nominees 2008

South Pacific: the New Broadway Cast Recording

Violin Concertos/Schoenberg, Sibelius/performed by Hilary Hahn
Viva la Vida or Death and All His Friends/Coldplay

DVDs

Jumper

Persepolis

Puccini Gold

Semi-pro

Walk Slim. Fast & Firm: 4 Really Big Miles

Cats and Dogs!!!

2008-07-01T14:13:00Z

Children’s literature throughout the ages and across cultures has depicted complex relationships between humans and animals. Dogs are typically portrayed as helpful and protective whereas wolves are shown as dangerous, even deadly. Lassie and Old Yeller gave their lives for their human friends. The wolves in Little Red Riding Hood and White Fang, on the other hand, viewed humans as food.

Two books by Jennie Bidner, Is Your Dog a Wolf? How Your Pet Compares to its Wild Cousins and Is My Cat a Tiger?: How Your Pet Compares to its Wild Cousins explore the differences between dogs or cats and their relatives in the wild. Bidner writes that the way to understand our pets is to study their wild counterparts in nature.

Cats, lions and tigers have more mixed representation in children’s books. It is not unusual for children’s books to have cat characters that are naughty or even downright dangerous, such as the menacing feline in The Improbable Cat by Allen Ahlberg. Interestingly, lions are sometimes portrayed as sympathetic towards humans. Consider Androcles and the Lion, for example. In her novel for children, Tiger, Tiger, Lynne Reid Banks depicts the friendship between a Roman slave and a tiger.

Bidner writes that it is much easier to train a dog than a cat, although it is possible to train a cat to do tricks as long as the cat is rewarded with food. Dogs are easier to train because they are pack animals. Dogs need training to become well-behaved members of a household.

The Milwaukee Dog Training Club will present two programs with real dogs in the Firefly Room of the Wauwatosa Public Library on Thursday, July 31 at 10:00 am and 1:30 pm. This program is appropriate for students in Kindergarten through 8^th grades. No registration is required. For more information, call the children’s library: 414-471-8486.

Recent Additions: Some Titles to Tempt You

2008-06-02T15:49:00Z

Books

Change Up: An Oral History of 8 Key Events that Shaped Modern Baseball/Larry Burke

Complete Compost Gardening Guide: Banner Batches, Grow Heaps, Comforter Compost, and Other Amazing Techniques for Saving Time and Money, and Producing the Most Flavorful, Nutritious Vegetables Ever/Barbara Pleasant

David Mamet: A Life in the Theatre/Ira Nadel

Enchantress of Florence/Salman Rushdie

Front/Patricia Cornwell

Great Tradition: Classic Readings on What it Means to Be an Educated Human Being/Richard M. Gamble, ed.

Medical Myths That Can Kill You: And the 101 Truths That Will Save, Extend, and Improve Your Life/Nancy Snyderman

Millennial Makeover: MySpace, YouTube & the Future of American Politics/Morley Winograd

Nonverbal Advantage: Secrets and Science of Body Language at Work/Carol Kinsey Goman

When You Are Engulfed in Flames/David Sedaris

Yum-O!: The Family Cookbook/Rachael Ray

Books on CD

Deportees and Other Stories/Roddy Doyle

Dreamers of the Day/Mary Doria Russell

Fighting 69th: One Remarkable National Guard Unit's Journey From Ground Zero to Baghdad/Sean Michael Flynn

Lady Killer/Lisa Scottoline

Wild Nights: Stories About the Last Days of Poe, Dickinson, Twain, James, and Hemingway/Joyce Carol Oates

Music on CD

Day Trip/Pat Matheny

Rain/Joe Jackson

Still/BoDeans

Twilight World/Marian McPartland

What Doesn't Kill Us/What Made Milwaukee Famous

DVDs

Country Matters

Curb Your Enthusiasm. The Complete Sixth Season

Jane Austin Book Club

Shoot 'Em Up

1968 With Tom Brokaw

Catch the Reading Bug

2008-06-02T15:49:00Z

Most people associate the name, “Wauwatosa” with firefly, perhaps due to the line, “Saw the fire-fly, Wah-wah-taysee, Flitting through the dusk of evening,” from Henry Wadsworth Longfellow’s poem, Song of Hiawatha. The name fits our city, for twinkling fireflies are a common sight near the Menomonee River or the Honey Creek on warm summer nights.

Fireflies are one of the few land creatures that can make their own light, produced by a chemical reaction called bioluminescence. This cool light elevates the firefly from a rather ugly beetle to an insect of legend and lore. They are found throughout the world where the climate is wet with warm, humid summers.The early Spanish explorers reported that the Native Americans used caged fireflies to light their homes or tied the large, flashing bugs to their heads as guide lights. Japanese school children liberate thousands of the caged insects on the Emperor’s birthday, perhaps because one legend explains that fireflies are the ghosts of brave warriors who died protecting Japan. Some Italians believe that these glowing insects are the spirits of departed ancestors. A Persian botanist from the 14th Century wrote a cure for earache that includes ground fireflies.

This summer, fireflies and a great number of other insects will be visible in the Children’s Library. “Catch the Reading Bug!” begins with Kick-Off Day on Monday, June 16, 2008. Dr. Bob Kann, Storyteller/Magician/Juggler/Author, will present the program of “Go Buggy: Read! It’s Magic!” at 10:00-10:45 am, repeated at 1:30-2:15 pm in the Civic Center Auditorium. This free program is suitable for families with children 3-years-old and older. For more information: 414-471-8486.

Prom Season-The Rites of Spring

2008-05-15T17:17:00Z

Spring gardens aren’t the only places you find bright colors in May; it’s prom season at high schools across the country. As one of the first formal events in the life of a teenager, the high school prom is considered a vital rite of passage to becoming an adult. Proms today can be lavish, elaborate events that involve limos, hotel ballrooms and dresses worthy of any red carpet.

However, they didn’t start out that way. High school prom (short for promenade, meaning a march of the guests at the beginning of a ball or other formal event) became popular in the United States in the 1930s and 40s. At the beginning, a prom was a simple affair; students would wear their Sunday best for tea, socializing and dancing. In the 1950s, automobiles and fancy prom dresses became much more important, as did the social status of the members of the prom court. Prom night became a significant picture taking event as well, similar to a graduation or a wedding, marking an important step in a young person’s life.

Although some of the social rules about proms have changed, for instance, groups of teens will sometimes go together instead of the traditional boy-asks-girl arrangement; prom remains a major event in the social life of high school students. It can also be a major expense. The average prom couple can spend close to a thousand dollars for a dress/tux, dinner, flowers, hair and nails, limo (a stretch Hummer has become a favorite!), tickets, and after-prom parties. The hot fashion tips for 2008? Traditional tuxes for the guys, with vest and tie matching their dates’ dress. For the ladies, bold colors or metallics, beading or sequin detailing and beaded corsage wristlets that double as bracelets after the prom.

Prom 2008 at Wauwatosa East and West is coming up May 17^th. Watch for the stretch Hummers!

New Releases-Some Titles to Tempt You

2008-05-01T19:52:00Z

Books

AARP Crash Course in Estate Planning: the Essential Guide to Wills, Trusts, and Your Personal
Legacy by Michael Palermo

Bobby Flay's Grill It by Bobby Flay

Common Wealth: Economics for a Crowded Planet by Jeffrey Sachs

Craft in America: Celebrating Two Centuries of Artists and Objects by Jo Lauria

Quicksand by Iris Johansen

Perennial Combinations: Stunning Combinations that Make Your Garden Look
Fantastic Right From the Start by C. Colston Burrell

Physics of the Impossible: the Scientific Exploration into the World of Phasers, Force Fields,
Teleportation, and Time Travel by Michio Kaku

Runner's World Guide to Road Racing: Run Your First (or Fastest) 5-K, 10-K, Half-Marathon,
or Marathon by Katie McDonald Neitz

Sundays at Tiffany's by James Patterson

What Moves at the Margin: Selected Nonfiction by Toni Morrison

Audiobooks on CD

Certain Girls by Jennifer Weiner

Last Lecture by R. Pausch

Miracle at Speedy Motors by Alexander McCall Smith

Santa Fe Dead by Stuart Woods

Steppenwolf by Hermann Hesse

DVDs

Before the Devil Knows You're Dead

Doctor Who: the Complete Second Series

Enchanted

Juno

There Will Be Blood

Music on CD

Terry Riley: the Cusp of Magic/Kronos Quartet and Wu Man

Juno: Music From the Motion Picture

Moment of Forever/Willie Nelson

Standards & Ballads/Wynton Marsalis

Watershed/k.d. lang

Books on MP3 CD? What Are They??

2008-04-22T19:30:04Z

Audio books on CD are now common in the library; in fact, we no longer purchase books on tape. But you may recently have noticed a new format for audio books – MP3 CDs.

The MP3 CD format has some advantages for audio books, most importantly the fact that a book that requires up to 20 regular CDs will fit on just one or two MP3 CDs. The cost is also considerably lower.

Will you be able to play this new format on your existing players? Many CD players sold in the past few years, even boom-box style ones, can play them and many new cars are coming with MP3 CD-capable CD players installed as standard equipment. In addition, almost any DVD player sold in the last few years will play them with no problem.

The library has just under 100 of these on the shelves now, with titles ranging from recent fiction to literary classics, to current non-fiction. Here’s a sampling:

The 47^th Samurai by Stephen Hunter

Agnes and the Hitman by Jennifer Crusie

Animal, Vegetable, Miracle by Barbara Kingsolver

The Boys of Everest by Clint Willis

Defending Baltimore Against Enemy Attack by Charles Osgood

Emma by Jane Austen

Good Rat by Jimmy Breslin

Kabul Beauty School by Deborah Rodriguez

No Simple Victory by Norman Davies

Sin in the Second City by Karen Abbott

Swim Against the Current by Jim Hightower

You can spot them by the bright red spine label with white lettering that says, “MP3 CD Your CD player must be able to play the MP3 format.” We hope that you’ll give them a try.