Little kids love getting dressed by themselves and picking out their own clothes. In Seymour Chwast's new book, Get Dressed!, they will also have fun using their imagination by connecting different outfits and guessing their (very adventurous) uses. Warning: Reading This Book May Inspire Many Games of Dressing Up!

This is a highly interactive book, made of sturdy cardstock, with multiple flaps and a magnetic cover that makes it look like a suit jacket.  Watch this fun book trailer for a peek of what's inside:

Now in a library near you!

Tags: Children's books, Pre-K, Recommendations

If the second season of the hit PBS series Downton Abbey has you thinking of what Oscar Wilde said about there being only two types of tragedies: “One is not getting what one wants, and the other is getting it”, we may have just the thing.  Our newest reading list, Can’t Get Enough Downton Abbey, will have Downton fans reading happily, regardless of their opinion of season two.

You’ll find beloved favorites like Oscar Wilde, Evelyn Waugh, and E.M. Forster, but you will also find less familiar reads.  Don’t miss The Go-Between, L.P. Hartley’s nearly perfect coming-of-age novel set on an English country estate in the summer of 1900. Also, take a look at our choices for young adults, such as The American Heiress and The Luxe. For a taste for what life was really like on an English estate in the years before and during the first World War, check out our selected memoirs and nonfiction, like Below Stairs and of course, Lady Almina and the Real Downton Abbey : the Lost Legacy of Highclere Castle.   

Tags: Recommendations

Our Children's Librarians recently asked each other for lists of our favorite Halloween books to share in spooky storytimes and to recommend to little goblins to take home and read with their families. Here is the list we came up with.

From picture books that will make you laugh to sinister poetry you better read with the lights on, this list has something for everyone.

What are your favorite books for this time of year? Come on down to one our storytimes and tell us what you like to read during those long fall nights with the wind howling and the skeleton fingers of bare branches knocking at your window?

Tags: Children's books, Holidays, Pre-K, Recommendations

If you’re a movie lover, then you might be familiar with the video distribution company The Criterion Collection. This company is known for re-releasing classic and foreign films, as well as films made by celebrated directors. Many times you can only find the critically acclaimed and celebrated foreign language films in their collection.

Now, I know many people are hesitant to watch foreign language films because they don’t want to be bothered with the subtitles or they feel that reading will distract them from the action or storytelling of the film. Well, I have an easy answer for this: Borrow the DVD from the library! You can always pause and rewind if you feel you missed something. There are a lot of foriegn language gems out there that you shouldn't miss.

So today I’ll post some of my favorite Criterion Collection films the library has ready to loan (don’t worry, they aren’t all subtitled):

Click on the film title to request material from the Free Library.
Click on the trailer link to watch the film's trailer or a scene from the film.

The 400 Blows  – This French New Wave film is considered a classic of French cinema by some. It portrays the story of a troubled boy in Paris. (Rating PG) trailer

Black Orpheus – This 1959 film is set during Carnival in Rio de Janeiro and adapts the Greek myth of Orpheus and Eurydice. It won the Palme d’Or (the highest prize at the Cannes Film Festival) and an Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film. (Rating PG) trailer

Monty Python’s Life of Brian –  This hilarious film was considered controversial at the time of its  release in 1979 due to the religious satire, and it was banned in many movie theatres. The film follows the life of Brian, a man who lived next door to and was born on the same day as Jesus Christ, and who spends much of his life mistaken for the messiah. (Rating R) trailer

My Own Private Idaho - The story of two friends (River Phoenix and Keanu Reeves) who start on a journey of self discovery and learn about the hardships of friendship. (Rating R) trailer

The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou  – This comedy by Wes Anderson stars Bill Murray (who in my opinion, is reason enough to watch any film), as Steve Zissou,  a oceanographer on a quest to get revenge on a shark that ate his partner (think Moby-Dick). (Rating R) trailer

Battle of Algiers  – This 1966 film depicts the guerrilla warfare that took place during the Algerian War. This film is critically acclaimed and was nominated for two Oscars. (Rating PG) trailer

Do the Right Thing - This 1989 film takes place in one day (the hottest day of the summer) and showcases racial division and bigotry in a Brooklyn neighborhood. Directed by Spike Lee, it was nominated for two Oscars. (Rating R)  trailer

The Blob -  This 1958 horror film stars Steven McQueen as teen on the run from a giant alien blob that terrorizes his town. (Rating G) trailer

The library currently has more than 170 items from the Criterion Collection - browse all.

Tags: Recommendations, Reviews

I first heard about mattter/antimatter from Star Trek when I was a kid, which--to be honest--sparked a lot of my fascination with science and technology. In Star Trek, they use matter/antimatter as a source of fuel for their ships (which should not to be confused with the warp drive/core, which uses matter/antimatter and dilithium crystals to go faster than the speed of light, but I digress). So the question is: What is matter/antimatter and is antimatter real?

In general terms, matter is everything – it's anything that has mass and takes up space (the substance that makes up physical objects). In more specific terms, matter is made up of atoms and molecules, such as protons, neutrons, and electrons. So antimatter is a form of matter that is equal in mass to ordinary matter but with opposite electrical properties. For instance, antimatter has “positrons” which are like electrons but with a positive charge and “antiprotons” which are like protons but with a negative charge.

Now the cool thing is, when matter and antimatter collide, they annihilate each other in a burst of high-energy photons – meaning energy (lots of it) is created. Now before you get too excited about a new source of energy, keep in mind it would cost (according to NASA) “one-hundred-billon dollars to create one milligram of antimatter” and not to mention antimatter can only be collected very slowly, a few particles at a time.

The NASA website also reminds us that it would cost far more energy to create antimatter than the energy one could get back from an antimatter reaction. Also, antimatter is a very volatile substance and would need the same safety precautions as nuclear reactors.

Well, at least we know antimatter is real and scientists are currently making advancements, such as CERN (European Organization for Nuclear Research), where scientists recently created antihydrogen for the first time. For now, I will just dream of a future with starships fueled by antimatter that boldly go where no man has gone before.

Interested in Matter/Antimatter? Check out these resources:

• Antimatter: The Ultimate Mirror by Gordon Fraser
• Physics of the Impossible: A Scientific Exploration into the World of Phasers, Force Fields, Teleportation, and Time Travel by Michio Kaku
• Origins: Fourteen Billion Years of Cosmic Evolution by Neil deGrasse Tyson and Donald Goldsmith
• Antimatter by Frank Close

Tags: Recommendations