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Newsletter October 2006
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A new survey will help Library serve community better
Last fall a small group of volunteers, dubbed the Public Relations Task Force, was pressed into service by board member Paul De Angelis. Task force members consisted of publicity, communications and graphics professionals, Carol Schneider, Nora Horan, Seth Dolinsky and Juergen Kalwa.
Assigned to examine the Library’s efforts to communicate with, attract and broaden its audience, the group began by taking field trips to see what other libraries in the area are doing, how they’re doing it, and what financial resources they have.
The group has also put together a survey to be mailed to Cornwall townspeople to ascertain what they know about the library and how the library can better serve the community. From these two initiatives the Task Force plans to put together a short report with observations and recommendations. We value your opinions and heartily encourage you to thoughtfully respond to the questionnaire. Look for it in your mailbox in the coming weeks or click here to download it and print it out.Unfortunately you would still have to mail it or drop it off. We are not set up to receive your answers online.
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The following are notable books with particular interest to teens and young adults
Elsewhere by Gabrielle Zevin (Teen)
“Elsewhere” is where 15-year-old Liz Hall ends up after her death in a hit-and-run accident. She ages backward from the day of her death until she becomes a baby again and returns to earth. This calm, wry, beautiful novel asks big questions and suggests interesting answers.
Hitler Youth: Growing Up in Hitler’s Shadow by Susan Campbell Bartoletti (Teen)
What was it like to be a teen-ager in Hitler’s Germany? This excellent history shows the ways in which children were exploited by the Nazi regime. Profusely illustrated with photographs of the time.
The Book Thief by Marcus Zusak (Young Adult)
Death – a kindly, caring Death – is the narrator of this enthralling tale of World War Two; he focuses on a young German orphan, Liesl, the Book Thief of the title. Many adult readers have admired this powerful novel.
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More than two dozen magazines available
Did you know that more than two dozen magazines are displayed along the wall across from the circulation desk? They are there for you to borrow for as long as three weeks.
Here is a partial list:
Horticulture...........Utne Reader.............Consumer Reports
Fine Gardening.......The Economist..........This Old House
Art News................The New Yorker......Smithsonian Magazine
Other magazines that are available: Country Living, Better Homes and Gardens, Fortune, Art in America, National Geographic, Time, Newsweek, Elle, Vogue, Real Simple, Poets & Writer, Old House Journal. And in the children's room there are: Click, American Girl, Muse and National Geographic for Kids
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Media Response
Published on August 2, 2006
The Unexpected Revolutionary: Julia Child, ‘The French Chef’
-- By JUDITH LINSCOTT
CORNWALL — Alex Prud’homme was born the year his great-aunt Julia Child’s groundbreaking (and best-selling) cookbook, "Mastering the Art of French Cooking," was published. So it’s only fitting that he was at work with her on her memoir when she died, at age 91, in August 2004.
Child fans will be delighted to know that a few days before she died, she dined with Prud’homme on lambchops and forbidden red wine, literally enjoying herself until the end of her life.
That, according to Prud’homme, is exactly right. Shortly before she died, he said, she "got very serious and told me some things that I could tell she had really thought through." The message she wanted to communicate to the world, he said, was "take chances. Be willing to make mistakes. Take your time, do it right, use the best ingredients. But above all, have fun."
And that is the woman who comes through loud and clear in "My Life in France," a delightful recounting of Child’s early years in France, when she arrived in 1949 as a newlywed — a self-described loud, 6-foot Californian who didn’t speak a word of French — and proceeded to fall in love again: with the food,with the country and soon, with cooking. Illustrated with photos by her husband, Paul, who was sent to France as an officer in the U.S. Information Service, the book is a charming and evocative tale of a time when the city was recovering from war and everything — for the Childs and the world — was young and hopeful.
Prud’homme, son of Erica and Hector, of Cornwall and New York City (and grandson of Charles Child, Paul’s twin brother), started working with Child on her book in 2003. (The dustjacket photo of Prud’homme and Child was taken by Prud’homme’s wife, Sarah, making the book a real family affair, something Child would have loved). Child had saved stacks of letters from those early years in France and dreamed of writing about that time. Eventually, she asked Prud’homme to help her do it. For Prud’homme, an established journalist and author ("The Cell Game," "Forewarned"), it was a dream assignment.
"It was the most fun writing project I ever worked on," he said recently by phone from Maine, where he was spending part of his "quasi-vacation." He’d just finished a radio interview and had appeared at a book signing the night before. His vacation extends this week to Cornwall, where he will read and sign books at the Cornwall Free Library on Saturday at 3 p.m.
By the time Prud’homme came of age, Julia Child had returned to the United States and was famous not only as a best-selling cookbook author and star of her own TV cooking show, "The French Chef," but also as leader of a culinary revolution that overthrew the tyranny of Jell-O and iceberg lettuce. Between the books, the TV show and media attention (she appeared on the cover of "Time" magazine), Child became a household name (aided, for the younger set, by Dan Akroyd’s hilarious sendup of her on "Saturday Night Live.")
The families were very close and often visited, says Prud’homme, who remembers a memorable Thanksgiving when Child served pumpkin soup in the pumpkin (take that, Martha Stewart). "I thought that was very cool."
A restaurant meal with Child was "quite an event," he says. They would always be given the best and biggest table and patrons inevitably would line up to say hello or get her autograph. At times she’d have to ask the maitre’d to step in so she could eat. After the meal, she would always visit the kitchen to thank everyone, "from the chef down to the pot scrubber."
Says Prud’homme: "Going out to eat with Julia was never quick."
Nor should it be, she would probably say.
"One of her most important messages was, take time in life; get to know people," said Prud’homme. "That’s a seemingly simple message, but very profound." Child, he said, was "one of the most genuine people you’d ever meet, very honest, very direct. She’d speak to the president and a bum on the street the same way."
Prud’homme remembers the time Child visited his family in Cornwall and got lost on the way. She knocked on the door of a neighbor, who "happened to be making a meal that wasn’t turning out well," recalls Prud’homme. "So Julia steered her along and then was on her way."
Having read "My Life in France," I can say with authority, that is so-o-o Julia.
Alex Prud’homme reads from "My Life in France" on Saturday, Aug. 5, at 3 p.m. at The Cornwall Free Library. Admission is free; the public is invited. Refreshments will be served.
Meeting Schedule
The next Friends of the Library meeting will take place on Friday, October 13 at 9 am.
The next Library Board of Trustees meeting takes place on Friday, October 13, at 3 pm.
Looking back to some very successful events
As most of you know, the Library was buzzing with events as May turned into June: a spring book sale and a spectacularly successful rare book auction, followed by a crowd-packed CartoonFest day of panels, jazz, receptions and evening show featuring such New Yorker luminaries as Victoria Roberts, Jack Ziegler, and Roz Chast. The auction and CartoonFest attracted many out-of-towners; we expect to provide a fuller report on both in a future newsletter. Meanwhile, check out write-ups in the Library website archive.
A less-celebrated but equally important event took place on June 13, when twenty-four Sixth graders from CCS attended the first Sixth Grade Luncheon at the Cornwall Free Library. They were given a tour of the building, its specialty areas and services by Amelia Buck, Children's Librarian. As the tour came to an end, she had them break up into groups of four to try their hand (and newly found library expertise) at the Library Scavenger Hunt. The library was soon humming with youngsters searching on-line, on shelves and in stacks...a very exciting sight.
At tables set with tablecloths, the sixth graders and their hosts enjoyed fried chicken and an array of salads prepared by parents and Friends of the Library. Ice cream bars from KC Baird finished off the meal and the students left with a new impression of the Cornwall Free Library.
This very successful event was inspired by a new focus of the Friends of the Library to actively improve services for middle and high school library patrons and pursue new ways to make them feel the library as “their place”. “I wanted this luncheon to show we will treat them as the young adults they are,” said Tom Levine, president of the Friends.
RE: web site changes - send us feedback
The Cornwall Free Library web site has a distinctive new look. Its main feature: a magazine style layout with several columns that help organize images and text. The changes are about more than window dressing. Reading online is about 25 percent slower than reading from paper. Therefore, the amount of text and how it is presented are important considerations when designing web pages.
The new effort will go beyond that; the Library web site will be extended to become a platform for net-savvy users with an interest in downloadable material.The Public Relations Committee and webmaster Juergen Kalwa would like to hear from website visitors. Send your emails with comments and suggestions to cornwallibrary@biblio.org.
EXHIBITS, PROGRAMS & EVENTS
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Art at the Library
Beginning Oct. 3rd, there will be a show of paintings by Tom Walker.
In the case, will be a mixed media aviary by Marc Simont.
Senior Issues Program
The Western Connecticut Area Agency on Aging is producing a program especially for seniors and their caregivers on Friday, Oct. 6 from 8:30 am– noon in the Community Room. Three different speakers will address topics on aging and legal issues.
An Inconvenient Truth
Al Gore discusses his bestselling book and film, An Inconvenient Truth, on The Charlie Rose Show, which recently aired on PBS. A tape of this show will be shown on Saturday, October 14 at 4:00 PM in the Community Room.
Mother/Daughter Book Group
This fall, the Library will hold a reading discussion group for third and fourth grade girls and their mothers sponsored by the Connecticut Humanities Council. Join us on Wednesday, October 18 from 6:30 - 7:30 PM for the second book in our series, The Courage of Sara Noble. For more information or to borrow a book, call the Library at 672-6874.
Children’s Story Hour
Story Hour continues on Fridays at 1:15 pm through October, for four and five year old children. Kindergarteners may take the bus from CCS to the library after school.
Columbus Day Book Sale
Calling all bibliophiles! The Annual Columbus Day Book Sale is coming.
Saturday, October 7 from 9 – 4 PM.
Sunday, October 8 from 11 – 4 PM (half-price sale).
Monday, October 9 from 10 – 2 PM (bag sale).
The Library will accept book donations until Friday, October 6.
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