Did you know that you can help us raise money every time you search the internet? The Friends of the Library have just joined GoodSearch, an organization that has partnered with Yahoo to help non-profit charities. All you have to do is go to their website, search “Hamner Public Library,” download their toolbar and use it when you search. The caveat is that they do track who searches what. Of course, all of the major search engines do anyway.

You can also shop through their other retail partners… everything from BestBuy to Amazon to PetSmart.Every time you purchase something, the store you use donates some of that sale back to us. It’s a great way to support us while doing your regular shopping.

Please consider downloading the toolbar and using it as your search engine, buying through good search, and help us to continue the programming that you have come to love and expect from Amelia’s public library!

The Marshall Bullock Summer Reading Program can now be found at programs.hamnerlibrary.org! Check out what neat things we are doing this year! Kickoff begins THIS SATURDAY with our first Juneteenth Celebration.

but family comes first in Amelia. Charles must leave us to go home to his mother in Ohio, and so we bid him a fond farewell. His last day will be May 28th, but we will officially wish him goodbye on THIS FRIDAY at 4 pm. Charles has been with us for two years, and we know that it will be difficult to fill the void he leaves behind. We look forward to seeing you all on Friday to wish him good luck and safe journey.

What:       Farewell Party for Charles

When:      5/21/2010 @ 4 pm

Where:     In the Library

We the People Bookshelf on a More Perfect Union 2010

We have now, thanks to a grant from The National Endowment for the Humanities , in cooperation with the American Library Association added some wonderful books from our youngest readers through our grown-up readers.

 Tico and the Golden Wings by Leo Lionni

A More Perfect Union: The Story of Our Constitution by Betsy and Giulio Maestro

When Marian Sang: The True Recital of Marian Anderson by Pam Munoz Ryan

Cesar si, Se Puede! /Yes We Can! By Carmen T. Bernier-Grand

Eagle Song by Joseph Bruchac

The Great Little Madison by Jean Fritz

 Darby by Jonathon Scott Fuqua

 Chains by Laurie Halse Anderson

 Warriors Don’t Cry by Melba Beals

 Lincoln Shot: A President’s Life Remembered by Barry Denenberg

 Hitch by Jeanette Ingold

 The Souls of Black Folk by W. E. B. DuBois

 American Creation: Triumps and Tragedies at the Founding of the Republic by Joseph Ellis

 Lincoln in His Own Words by Milton Meltzer

 Carver: A Life in Poems by Marilyn Nelson

 Twelve Angry Men by Reginald Rose

 Killer Angels by Michael Shaara

 The Civil War: A film by Ken Burns

 The Civil War: An Illustrated History by Geoffrey Ward, Ric Burns, Ken Burns

 Declaring Independence: The Origin and Influence of America’s Founding Document edited by Christian Y. Dupont

The Friends of the Library will hold our annual business meeting on Sunday, April 18, at 3 pm. We will begin with a short business meeting discussing the past year at the Library and evaluating our goals for our new year. This is a very important time to be a Friend of the Library, as the Friends are some of our most ardent supporters. Who else could fund our programs (including the six-week long Marshall Bullock Summer Reading Program?) and our visiting authors or help us organize our volunteers? The Friends of the Library buy equipment for us; this year they bought our four netbooks that are now used by our patrons, they have purchased materials, bookshelves, and picture frames for us. They organize and volunteer at our annual Halloween Party, and they are always willing to help out at other Library programs and functions.

The Friends always invite a special speaker, usually an author, to the annual meeting. This year, we are very excited to announce that Emyl Jenkins, author of the Sterling Glass mysteries, will be joining us! Sterling Glass is a “woman of a certain age” who works as an antiques appraiser; of course, when the opportunity to solve a mystery rears its head, she jumps at it. 

For Ms. Jenkins, writing is a second career. She, like Sterling Glass, spent the bulk of her career as an antiques appraiser. She lives in Richmond, but has ties to people in Amelia; she even went to school with a former Library Board chair (and current trustee) Margaret Vaughan. I’ve heard her speak before, and she is both funny and down-to-earth, as well as incredibly knowledgable about the world of antiques. You don’t want to miss the meeting this year!

Want to know more about Sterling Glass? And here’s an interview with Ms. Jenkins!

The Hamner Library Trustee Banquet will be held on March 27 (a Saturday) at 6:00 pm. Your $15 ticket supports the Library and its programs. This year, our own Trustee Beatrice Head will be preparing the dinner, and I have it on third-party, independent confirmation that if you miss this dinner, you will be missing not only the Trustee Banquet, but a true feast as well!

This year Demas Boudreaux will be performing for us before, during and after our meal. We will also have the Thirty-Plus Praise Dancers perform; they are an excellent group, and between the music, the dancing and the food, we will be rocking the Elementary School Cafeteria!

So when is this, you ask?

March 27 at 6:00 pm!!!

Mark your calendars, because, believe me, you really don’t want to miss this!

Carla Terry will be teaching a very special “Kids Crafts with Carla” on March 17 at 4 pm. Come by for some magical craft fun! This program is free for participants and suggested for children at least 7 years old and for younger tweens. Everyone, however, is welcome to attend!

Last month, the American Library association named the Coretta Scott King Lifetime Achievement Award. Walter Dean Myers is this year’s winner, and we have many of his books. One of my favorites is the story of a nineteenth century African princess who was adopted by Queen Victoria. Sarah’s (royal) family was killed by an invading enemy kingdom when she was only about 6 years old. A British army officer stops her enemies from sacrificing the child by convincing the king to give Sarah as a gift to Queen Victoria. From that moment, Sarah’s life changed forever. At Her Majesty’s Request is a fascinating and well-researched story of a little-known episode in both African and British history.

Books that we have by Walter Dean Myers are:

Fiction in the Wright Children’s Room

• 145th Street: Short Stories
• Darnell Rock Reporting
• Hoops
• The Journal of Joshua Loper: a Black Cowboy
• The Nicholas Factor
• Patrol: an American Soldier in Vietnam
• Scorpions
• Somewhere in the Darkness
• The Young Landlords

Non-Fiction in the Wright Children’s Room

• Amistad: A Long Road to Freedom
• At Her Majesty’s Request: An African Princess in Victorian England
• The Harlem Hellfighters: When Pride Met Courage
• Here in Harlem: Poems in Many Voices
• Now Is Your Time!: the African-American Struggle for Freedom

Fiction in the Teen Section

• The Beast
• The Legend of Tarik
• Monster
• The Outside Shot
• Somewhere in the Darkness

Non-Fiction in the Teen Section

• Bad Boy: A Memoir
• The Greatest: Muhammad Ali
• Malcolm X: By Any Means Necessary
• One More River to Cross: An African-American Photograph Album

It never seems to fail… if I so much as think about installing a new application in Facebook, I am almost guaranteed to get a virus on my machine. It’s gotten so bad that I no longer take any of the cutesy quizzes, use any of the “artist” programs, or even play many of the games. I ignore most invitations from friends to join this or that – although that has a lot to do with the amount of time I am willing to devote to Facebook, too – and I almost never play any of the videos.

And still, I get attacked by malware and viruses. Thankfully, I use a good (free) antivirus program, backed up by a purchased one, and a couple of good anti-malware programs. They tend to catch most everything that comes my way. My favorite free anti-virus program is Avast, although AVG is also very good. I also use Malwarebytes and Ad-Aware against malware, and I’ve also used Spybot.

Recently, though, I’ve found myself helping to clean other computers infected with “Internet Security 2010” or some variant of it. This is a pernicious program that makes the unwary person think that he or she has a virus, then requires the purchase of an expensive program that (you guessed it) doesn’t exist. But hey, now they have a valid credit card, so it’s time for them to go on spending spree! Grrrrrrr…

If you are infected, then it’s really not difficult to clean it off, but it is time consuming. Anyone who has taken one of my computer classes knows that I am very much a do-it-yourself person whenever possible about computers, and there are some great sites to walk you through cleaning this virus. I really like bleepingcomputer.com, because the instructions are step-by-step with pictures.

If using your computer to access the internet is impossible, please come by the library. We can print out the instructions for you, and even help you download the files to your flash drive. In fact, I have most of them on my computer now, ready simply to be copied. Like I said, I’ve done this a number of times already!

Just before Lent begins, I am having a Mardi Gras for my brain and gorging on my old fantasy favorites. Right now, I’m reading Mercedes Lackey’s novels of the SERRAted Edge, the first of which is Born To Run. Now, I don’t think anyone would accuse Ms. Lackey of being a “Great Author,” but for a plain-ole-fun fantasy novel that draws you into the story and lets you forget the world around you, you really can’t beat her. You won’t find heavy themes here (although the story does have darker elements about teen runaways, prostitution and child abuse) but you find… elves. Ms. Lackey writes several series dealing with elves, and in each one the race is different. In the SERRAted Edge novels, they are among the good guys as well as the bad guys. They can’t create things on their own, they are allergic to caffeine, and they race. As in car racing. In Georgia. And, oh yeah, the good elves (and their human friends) fight explosive mage battles with the bad elves.

Obviously, the series is light. I frequently burst out laughing (or at least a good deal of snickering) as I am reading, and anyone around me is treated to a reading of the section. The story follows a human mage (Tannim) who, if you were reading very carefully, you met in Jinx High as a friend of one of the protagonists. He’s an adult now, and in the very first scene of the book he rescues a redneck ghost haunting a stretch of highway. His day job is as a “Test Mechanic/ Driver” for Fairgrove Industries, a front company for the car-racing elves. Add a 65-year-young Irish engineer, an elven lord raised by humans, and a teen runaway in a heap of trouble. Season with evil elves waging an ancient blood feud against Fairgrove. Mix liberally with Celtic myth and modern Georgia, and you have something that is simply fun to read.

Genre: Urban Fantasy.
Why I read it: It’s a Mercedes Lackey novel, and I haven’t read one of her books yet that I haven’t enjoyed. Good battle scenes, teen coming-of-age, magic, usually humorous or at least with light moments. Kind of like a serious reader’s cotton candy… sweet, fun, not very heavy and definitely to be enjoyed.
Who should read it: Fantasy lovers, teens, young adults and adults who are young at heart. Fantasy lovers who can also laugh at the genre.