Memoirs

 by Laurie Robb  Rowan Public Library

You never really understand a person until you …climb into his skin and walk around in it."

Atticus Finch in To Kill a Mockingbird

Perhaps you’ve tried to put yourself in the place of someone going through tremendous heartbreak or joy. Or maybe you've wanted to know how a survivor of tragedy faces each day. You’ve wondered how a person forgives the most unforgivable transgression, from someone else or from herself. 

Memoirs are wonderful tools to help readers understand how other people experience both ordinary and extraordinary life. Like biographies, memoirs chronicle a person’s experiences and can be as intense as Elie Wiesel's Night, or as light-hearted as Jeannette Walls' The Glass Castles. Classic memoirs include Anne Frank’s Diary of a Young Girl, Frank McCourt’s Angela’s Ashes, Maya Angelou’s I Know Why the Caged Girl Sings, and Mitch Albom’s Tuesdays with Morrie.

The past few years have given us bumper crops of exciting and diverse memoirs. Award winning book Lab Girl by Hope Jahren, is about a female scientist who, through determination and love, excels in her field. J.D. Vance's Hillbilly Elegy, which got lots of air time during the election, is about his white working class family in Appalachia. Paul Kalanithi's When Breath Becomes Air is the moving account of Kalanithi's diagnosis of cancer and how he approaches death. You Will Not Have My Hate is the story of a widower who must confront his grief after the murder of his wife in the 2015 Paris terrorist attacks. The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot is the story of a family’s quest to find out more about the woman whose cancer cells would generate countless new medical discoveries.

Another gift that memoirs can deliver is the opportunity to experience the point –of-view of someone living with a disability, mental illness, or other condition. In honor of Autism Awareness Month, a wonderful way to connect or understand autism is to read memoirs written by authors on the autistic spectrum. Temple Grandin, a well-known autism advocate and animal scientist, has several books available at the library. Her memoirs include The Way I See It and Thinking in Pictures. John Elder Robison, brother to Augusten Burroughs and pyrotech guru, is another of my favorite authors on the spectrum. He wrote Look Me in the Eye: My Life with Asperger’s as well as Raising Cubby: A Father and Son’s Adventures with Asperger’s, Tractors and High Explosives. The Reason I Jump: the Inner Voice of a13-Year-Old Boy with Autism by Naoki Higashida is a wonderful memoir that young adults find intriguing. Born on a Blue Day: Inside the Extraordinary Mind of an Autistic Savant  by Daniel Tammet is another perspective of living with autism and Letters to Sam: A Grandfather’s Lessons on Love, Loss, and the Gifts of Life  by Daniel Gottlieb is the touching memoir of a grandfather relating to his autistic grandson. Rowan County author Susan King wrote a moving account of her experiences with her son in the inspiring book Optimism for Autism.

If you can’t wait to pick up one of the newest memoirs, here is a list of suggestions. There is certainly something here for everyone.

·         How to Murder Your Life by Cat Marnell

·         Rest in Power: Enduring Life of Trayvon Martin by Sybrina Fulton and Tracy Martin

·         My Life, My Love, My Legacy by Coretta Scott King

·         Instrumental: a Memoir of Madness, Medication and Music by James Rhodes

·         Scrappy Little Nobody by Anna Kendrick

·         No One Cares About Crazy People by Ron Powers

·         A Life Extraordinary: the Extraordinary Story of One Boy's Gift to Medical Science by Sarah Gray

·         Patient H.M. by Luke Dittrich

·         Storyteller's Nashville: a Gritty and Glorious Life in Country Music by Tom T. Hall

·         Girl Who Escaped ISIS by Farida Khalaf

·         Based on a True Story by Norm MacDonald

So, if you want to connect with someone extraordinary or even someone ordinary in extraordinary situations, pick up a memoir. Through the author, you will have a front row seat to learn, explore, and grow. To me, memoirs are the best of both worlds: true events and great stories (and storytellers). Find your next favorite memoir at the Rowan Public Library.

April is National Poetry Month

by Hope Loman Rowan Public Library

April is National Poetry Month, defined on its official website Poets.org as “the largest literary celebration in the world…marking poetry’s important place in our culture and our lives every April.”  Amongst its many goals, National Poetry Month strives to highlight the legacy and achievement of American poets, encourage others to read poetry, and assist school teachers in incorporating poetry into their classroom curriculum.

Since 2013, the Rowan Public Library has held its own event in honor of National Poetry Month: the annual Teen Poetry Slam.  At the program, aspiring poets between the ages of 11 and 17 can perform three original poems in front of a panel of judges for a chance to win prizes.  Because these poetry events trace their roots back to the Beat poetry movement and readings at Chicago jazz clubs, it’s no surprise that one’s performance at a slam is just as important as the poem itself—enthusiasm and emotion carry equal weight to content or style.  Since the late 1990s, young poets of diverse backgrounds have been attracted to this theatrical format, bringing new life to the national poetry scene as they perform on relevant topics like politics, racial injustice, and current events. Likewise, at RPL’s slam, poems can be on any subject as long as the topic of the poem and the language used is appropriate for all ages.  For those that are interested in participating in the poetry slam, registration can be done online through the Rowan Public Library web page, or by sending an e-mail to hope.loman@rowancountync.gov.   Free and open to the public, the event will be in the Stanback Room  of the first floor of the Rowan Public Library on Tuesday, April 18^th at 5:30 pm.

If potential poetry slammers would like to seek out inspiration before they write their own entries (or if individuals of any age would like to read poems in honor of National Poetry Month), the library has copies of many different poetry collections and individual poets’ works.  From the Young Adult collection, there’s “Earth-Shattering Poems,” a collection that captures intense emotions and experiences with poems such as “Sometimes with One I Love” by Walt Whitman and “If  You Forget Me” by Pablo Neruda.  “Red Hot Salsa: Bilingual Poems on Being Young and Latino in the United States” is a collection of poems written in both English and Spanish by young authors who write about the difficulty of straddling cultures and identities as they also celebrate the food, family, and love in their lives. “Jump Ball: A Basketball Season in Poems” by Mel Glenn is the story of a championship team’s season told through a series of free prose poems from different points of view.  Similarly, “Girl Coming in for a Landing” by April Halprin Wayland tells the story of a year in the life of a teenage girl as she experiences all of the highs and lows of school, friendship, and first love.

For those that prefer fiction, there’s “Bronx Masquerade” by Nikki Grimes, a novel written in verse that tells the story of high school students in the Bronx as they write personal poems based after the style of Harlem Renaissance writers.  “Poisoned Apples: Poems for You, My Pretty” by Christine Heppermann is a collection of free verse poems based on classic fairy tale characters that range from contemporary retellings to first person accounts set in the original stories, all exploring how girls are taught to think about themselves, their bodies, and their friends.

This is only a small sampling of all of the poetry books that are available for your reading pleasure, so make sure to check the catalog for other volumes or ask an RPL employee for help. And make sure to read and celebrate poetry all April long-- perhaps even try your hand at writing some yourself!

Family Storytime: Growing Readers

by Amber Covington Rowan Public Library

Many families take advantage of our storytimes at the Rowan Public Library. We enjoy the audiences and hope to see more of our local families at our weekly storytimes. Often caregivers and parents are looking for guidance to jumpstart their preschoolers experience in reading.

Reading is a way to increase preschoolers vocabulary and narrative skills. Reading a picture book and asking questions throughout your reading is called Dialogical Reading. This technique is based on the American Library Association’s “Every Child Ready to Read @ Your Library” and to learn more please visit http://www.earlylit.net/ecrtr/. Dialogic Reading provides children and caregivers a shared reading time of fully examining and understanding the images and words on the pages of books. The caregiver prompts the child with questions to actively engage the child with reading. As the story continues developing allow the child to express his or her thoughts of the characters, background images, and interactions presented within the book. Allowing the child to express himself while reading allows the child to take ownership in helping read and grasps the sequence of events occurring in the story. The interactive dialogue engages the child with the book and creates a time for the caregiver to help the child think of words to tell the what is happening in the story. 

Providing children ownership of reading and the ability to connect or relate with a book builds their vocabulary and ability to share their thoughts. Caregivers can easily assist the child with words by introducing new vocabulary and pointing at the images on the page to help the child associate with the written text. The role of the caregiver in dialogic reading is very encouraging and allows the child to take ownership in its ability to read.

Preschoolers, ages 2-5, are wonderful reading partners. Plan a weekly, home storytime to read with your child. Make this a special time when you can be silly, making sounds of animals, cars, and planes. Get involved with the words on the page and show excitement in reading to demonstrate to your child the fun in reading a book. Most of all enjoy laughing and sharing time with your family.

As a caregiver, you hold the power to change your child’s relationship with reading. It all starts with children viewing adults in their lives enjoying reading. Begin your child’s love of reading by visiting one of our libraries and allowing them to see the variety of books available for them to take home and enjoy. Take advantage of the weekly scheduled preschool storytimes at each branch if it fits with your families schedule. As a family, visit as often as you can and set a schedule for picking up and returning books to excite the child about choosing new books to crack open and read at home, in the park, in the car, or at school.  As always, the library is always here to assist you in locating the books to fit your needs.

Resources:  

Looking for books to begin your reading journey check out these options at your local library branch:

Mascott, Amy and Allison McDonald. Raising a Rock-Star Reader: 75 Quick Tips to Help Your Child Develop a Lifelong Love of Reading. New York, NY: Scholastic Teaching Resources, 2015.

Newman, Nancy. Raising Passionate Readers: 5 Easy Steps to Success In School and Life. New York, NY: Tribeca View Press, 2014.

Reid, Rob. Silly Books to Read Aloud. Chicago, IL: Huron Street Press, 2012.

Schulze, Bianca. 101 Books to Read Before You Grow Up: The Must-Read Book List for Kids. Lake Forest, CA: Walter Foster Jr, 2016.

Research Help at the Library

by Laurie Lyda  Rowan Public Library

For students of all education levels, research papers and projects are a routine and necessary exercise in developing critical thinking and writing skills. However, one of the hardest aspects of research-based writing is locating good sources, which are a necessity. This is where Rowan Public Library can be a huge benefit to students seeking research materials for everything from elementary and middle-school projects to high school and college-level research papers.

Often, students are just getting started, and they’re unsure of what they need. If you were given an assignment sheet, bring that with you to the library. A handy copy of the assignment ensures that any assistance you request truly helps you obtain the materials that you need. For example, students may ask staff to help them locate a source about treatments for opioid addiction, when the assignment actually calls for “a peer-reviewed, scholarly article about opioid addiction.”

Use the instructor’s given parameters to determine the purpose(s) of your assignment: Are you writing to inform, so looking for sources that provide foundational facts and information? Are you writing a call to action, so looking for sources that will motivate your audience? Are you writing an argument (and “argument” doesn’t always mean a pro/con approach) and seeking sources that allow you to prove a specific point to your audience? Or does your assignment have a combination of these purposes or an entirely different purpose?

While it’s good to begin a research project with a general subject in mind, like the issue of opioid addiction or the life of Jane Austen, be prepared for your final writing topic to shift as you delve into the research process – it can take some unexpected twists and turns! This often happens as students find information that disagrees with their originally intended thesis (the point their research paper is making): They then have to either revise their thesis or locate enough factual, verifiable information to support their point despite the research that challenges it.

Once you have your assignment and its parameters and a general subject in mind, it’s time to dive into the research process – and RPL’s holdings contain a treasure trove of materials. Whether you’re at a branch or working remotely, as long as you have an internet connection, you can access the RPL catalog. Visit RowanPublicLibrary.org and click on “Find Books.” This takes you to the catalog, and you may see a pop-up window requesting that you log in. If you don’t have that information handy, simply close the pop-up; however, if you do have your library card number and PIN and log in, then you can create lists of the resources you want to check out and also place items on hold. (If you don’t know your PIN, visit your nearest branch and ask a staff member for assistance.)

Placing items on hold is a wonderful convenience that makes locating materials so much easier. Rather than having to travel from branch to branch, when you place an item on hold, you select the pick-up location (Headquarters in Salisbury, East Branch in Rockwell, or South Rowan Regional in China Grove) that works best for you. Your item(s) will be sent to the chosen pick-up location, and you’ll receive a notification when they’ve arrived. So, if you live in Rockwell and need a book from Salisbury but don’t have the time to go get it, you can place that book “on hold.” The book will then be sent from Headquarters to East Branch, and when it’s ready for pick-up, you’ll be notified of its arrival. Pay attention to the return date that you’re given, though; items not picked up within the given timeframe are returned to their home branch, and you’ll have to put them on hold again.

After you’ve explored the catalog and located the books, Ebooks, and movies that might help with your research, head back to RPL’s home page and select “Online Tools.” This link takes you to a listing of the online resources that RPL patrons have free access to. There are many useful options here, and I always recommend that students familiarize themselves with NCLIVE. When you click on the NCLIVE link, you’ll be taken to a page where you can select the database that best fits your research needs. For example, Gale’s “Literature Resource Center” offers author backgrounds, timelines and contextual information, and literary analysis of specific works. Know that you’ll need your library card number and PIN to access these. Rowan-Salisbury Schools students can access these resources with their student ID and PIN. (For RSS students, the PIN is the last four numbers of the student ID.)

Students often begin their research using popular search engines and find promising articles only to hit a paywall that prevents public, free access to the article. Take note of the publication’s title, the article’s title, the publication date, and the author’s name, and then perform a search for that article through RPL’s online resources. Hopefully, you can find what you’re looking for there.

In addition to online databases, depending on the subject you’re researching, you might also explore the Edith M. Clark History Room’s page and even visit the History Room in person. Located on the second floor at Headquarters in Salisbury, its expansive collections are a boon for any researcher, particularly those interested in North Carolina history.

As your research progresses, it may take a bit of time to review your findings and decide what materials best meet your needs, so try to give yourself plenty of research time. Also be sure to keep track of your research. Keep an inventory of the articles you’re consulting, and always, always record the source information – you’ll need those details for the citations required by all research documentation styles.

Keep in mind that RPL has resources to help with every stage of a research-based assignment: All branches have areas where patrons can work, from study tables and carrels to computer labs, and Headquarters and South Rowan Regional offer small study rooms as well. In addition to research materials on an abundance of topics, RPL’s collection also includes writing and research guides, as well as documentation style guides. And if you need assistance with any part of your research process, ask a staff member – remember, many of us chose our careers because we love research!

Laurie Lyda

March 3, 2017

Good Readers Make Good Writers

by Jenny Hubbard Rowan Public Library

           

I taught high-school English for years, and, ten times out of ten, the students who wrote well were the ones who had began reading for pleasure at an early age.  The ones who hadn’t read for pleasure in the past (and didn’t care much for it in the present, either) found themselves trapped in a vicious cycle.

So how do you, the parent or guardian (or the actual teenager in question), help to make up for lost time?

This isn’t one you can blame on the teachers.  While the mechanics of writing can, to some degree, be taught, eloquence and flair cannot.  As Mark Twain said, the difference between the right word and the almost-right word is the difference between the lightning bug and the lightning.  The difference between a reader and a non-reader is just as startling. And for a reluctant reader, longer is rarely better.  If your teen is no bookworm, Sports Illustrated, Rolling Stone, National Geographic, and Vanity Fair feature stellar writing. On the second floor of the main branch of the library, you will find these magazines (and more), with comfy chairs nearby.

Once the reluctant reader has been hooked by your sneaky little plan, it’s on to longer material:  books.  True-crime stories offer a seedy allure irresistible to most everyone.  On the second floor (not far from the magazines!), have your kiddo scan the shelves at 364.1523.  If something doesn’t reach out and grab him or her, biographies and memoirs can be just as compelling.  If your daughter plays soccer, why not lead her to Solo: A Memoir of Hope, by Hope Solo?  If your son aspires to world domination, why not hand him The Family Romanov: Murder, Rebellion, and the Fall of Imperial Russia, by Candace Fleming?   I have yet to meet a reader, young or old, who didn’t tear through The Glass Castle, by Jeannette Walls.   Brown Girl Dreaming, by Jacqueline Woodson, is a gentle, affecting, easy-to-read memoir (and it’s short!).  

War accounts and dog tales certainly attract younger readers, but combined, they pack a lasting punch.  From Baghdad, with Love: A Marine, the War, and a Dog Named Lava, by Jay Kopelman, is only one possibility.  I used to teach Tim O’Brien’s semi-autobiographical account of his experience in Vietnam, The Things They Carried, to tenth-grade boys, who often finished it way ahead of schedule.  Other books they lapped up were The Autobiography of Malcolm X and Into the Wild, by Jon Krakauer, about a young man who rejects his cushy life for a solo journey into the Alaskan wilderness.

Speaking of getting lost in the woods, I recall Stephen King’s The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon as a quick, thrilling read.  It’s not a true story, but, as much of King’s fiction, it reads as if it could be.  For sunnier fare, teens might enjoy the novels of Alan Bradley, which feature girl detective Flavia de Luce. Though written for adults, they are easy to read, and they’re funny, too, and speaking of funny, Bossypants, by Tina Fey, not only made me laugh out loud, but it also made me think.  I like thinking; like listening, it’s a highly underrated skill.  And that brings us to a full circle that is not a vicious cycle:  good writers are good readers are good thinkers are good writers are good….