September 2009

Children's Programs Resume in September
Babygarten Begins Wednesday, September 2nd
For babies 0-12 months and a parent or caregiver, Babygarten will stimulate your baby’s senses with books, music, and rhymes.  Time for free play and parental sharing.  Held in the library meeting room the 1st and 3rd Wednesdays of each month at 9:30 am.

Beyond the Garten Begins Friday, September 4th
For children 12 – 30 months and parent or caregiver.  Beyond the Garten introduces your child to books, flannel board stories, finger plays, movement, and music.  Held in the library meeting room the 1st and 3rd Fridays of each month at 9:30 am.

Gail Long's Storytime Begins Thursday, September 10th
For all ages. Presented by a dynamic and engaging storyteller! No registration required. Families welcome!  Held in the library meeting room every Thursday at 10:30 am.

Storytime School

Ms. Syndy's Storytime School begins Monday, September 21st.  This six week series for children ages 2 1/2 - 5 years uses crafts and story telling to make learning fun!  The theme is "Colors" for the first series.  Meets every Monday at 10:30 am in the Children's Activity Room.

Check out the library's web calendar for the most up to date information on progam dates and times.

September is Library Card Sign-Up Month
A Library Card is the most important school supply of all
September is Library Card Sign-up Month, and the O'Fallon Public Library wants to make sure that all children in the city of O'Fallon have the smartest card of all – a library card.  Studies show that children who are read to in the home and who use the library perform better in school and are more likely to continue to use the library as a source of lifetime learning.   

Observed since 1987, Library Card Sign-up Month is a time when the American Library Association (ALA) and libraries across the country remind parents that a library card is the most important school supply of all. 

Book Club
Book discussion group meets September 28th

The selection for September is The Rescue Artist:  A True Story of Art, Thieves, and the Hunt for a Missing Masterpiece, by Edward Dolnick.  The book club meets the 4th Monday of each month at 7:00 p.m. (no December meeting) and new members are always welcome!

Teen Book Club
New!  Meets September 22nd


Meets Tuesday, Sept. 22nd @ 4:00 pm in the library meeting room.  Come to the library for a  discussion of  Suzanne Collins' book The Hunger Games with other teens who have read the book.
 

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Director's Picks

Plenty of new books are arriving at the library.  Here are some top picks from a devoted lover of thriller and suspense!

1. Evil Heart, by Chlesea Cain September 2009
   Gretchen Lowell is still on the loose. These days, she’s more of a cause célèbre than a feared killer, thanks to sensationalist news coverage that has made her a star. Her face graces magazine covers weekly and there have been sightings of her around the world. Most shocking of all, Portland Herald reporter Susan Ward has uncovered a bizarre kind of fan club, which celebrates the number of days she’s been free.
2. Dexter by Design, by Jeff Lindsay September 2009
   The macabre, witty New York Times bestselling series (and inspiration for the #1 Showtime series, Dexter) continues as our darkly lovable killer matches wits with a sadistic artiste--who is creating bizarre murder tableaux of his own all over Miami.
3. The Spire, by Richard North Patterson September 2009
   Both a razor-sharp thriller and a poignant love story, this twisting tale of psychological suspense is Patterson’s most compelling novel in years.
4.  The Lost Symbol , by Dan Brown  September 2009
   Dan Brown’s new novel, the eagerly awaited follow-up to his #1 international phenomenon, The Da Vinci Code, which was the bestselling hardcover adult novel of all time, will be published on September 15, 2009.

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Movie Day
September 20th @ 2:00 pm
Monthly Sunday movies are back.  Join us for the 2009 version of Escape to Witch Mountain on Sunday, September 20th @ 2:00 pm.  Held in the library meeting room.  Popcorn provided! Rated PG & recommended for ages 9 and up.

While hardly the first Western spoof to ride out of Hollywood, Support Your Local Sheriff is easily one of the best. James Garner plays the confident, cool-headed cowboy who strolls into a wild gold rush town on the way to Australia and takes the job as sheriff.

What's Up Doc?-1972
Too many kooks spoil the comedy soup? Not when BARBRA STREISAND and RYAN O'NEAL lead a madcap cast (including screen-debuting MADELINE KAHN) on a zany quest that's like a classic screwball comedy - only screwier!

Love and Death-1975
Writer-director Woody Allen's 1975 comedy finds the familiar Allen persona transposed to 19th-century Russia, as a cowardly serf drafted into the war against Napoleon, when all he'd rather do is write poetry and obsess over his beautiful but pretentious cousin (Diane Keaton). A total disaster as a soldier, Allen's cowardice serves him well when he hides in a cannon and is shot into a tent of French soldiers, suddenly making him a national hero. After his cousin agrees to marry him, thinking he'll be killed in a duel he miraculously survives, the couple must hatch a ludicrous plot to assassinate Napoleon in order to keep the coward Allen out of yet another war. Allen and Keaton show what a perfect comic team they make in this film, even predating their most celebrated pairing in Annie Hall. Working so well as the most unlikely of comedies, of all things a hilarious parody of Russian literature, Love and Death is a must-see for fans of Woody Allen films. --Robert Lane

Miller's Crossing-1990
Arguably the best film by Joel and Ethan Coen, the 1990 Miller's Crossing stars Gabriel Byrne as Tom, a loyal lieutenant of a crime boss named Leo (Albert Finney) who is in a Prohibition-era turf war with his major rival, Johnny Caspar (Jon Polito). A man of principle, Tom nevertheless is romantically involved with Leo's lover (Marcia Gay Harden), whose screwy brother (John Turturro) escapes a hit ordered by Caspar only to become Tom's problem. Making matters worse, Tom has outstanding gambling debts he can't pay, which keeps him in regular touch with a punishing enforcer. With all the energy the Coens put into their films, and all their focused appreciation of genre conventions and rules, and all their efforts to turn their movies into ironic appreciations of archetypes in American fiction, they never got their formula so right as with Miller's Crossing. With its Hammett-like dialogue and Byzantine plot and moral chaos mitigated by one hero's personal code, the film so transcends its self-scrutiny as a retro-crime thriller that it is a deserved classic in its own right. --Tom Keogh

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Strange Folk Festival
Join the library at O'Fallon's Strange Folk Festival

The library will be hosting The Writer's Block Tent @ O'Fallon's Strange Folk Festival on September 26th & 27th.  This event takes place at O'Fallon's Community Park.  We hope to see you there!  For more information about the Festival go to StrangeFolkFestival.com.

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Handmade Card Class