Grilling and Chilling

Summertime and the grilling is easy...  Fourth of July, BBQ's at the beach, picnics on the square. Come in and "check out" our new cookbooks located on the 2nd floor of the library. And when the grill is too hot, recipes for cool treats for the family can be found upstairs in our cool cooking collection.

The gardener & the grill: the bounty of the garden meets the sizzle of the grill / Adler, Karen

Grilling Gone Wild: Zesty recipes for meats, mains, marinades and more/Couch, Peg



Grilling vegan style:125 fired-up recipes to turn every bite into a backyard BBQ / Schlimm, John E.

Salad for dinner: complete meals for all seasons / Kelley, Jeanne Thiel.

Martha's American food: a celebration of our nation's most treasured dishes, from coast to coast / Stewart, Martha.

Ripe: a cook in the orchard / Slater, Nigel.

Ice Cream & Milkshakes: Delicious and Cooling Summertime Treats

Ice Cream and Iced Desserts: Over 150 Irresistible Ice Cream Treats-from Classic Vanilla to elegant bombes and terrines

One Book/One City LF Continues

Have you had a chance to read Manhunt: The 12-Day Chase for Lincoln’s Killer by James L. Swanson?  It’s the featured title in this year’s One Book/One City LF program.  There’s still plenty of time to participate. The library owns 20 copies of Manhunt.  If you would like to read Swanson’s book you can call the Reference Desk at 847-810-4610 or visit our catalog to reserve a copy.

Lake Forest College professor, Steven Rosswurm will lecture on “Lincoln: the South’s Enemy?”  this coming Monday, June 25 at 1:00 pm.  Later in the summer, on Wednesday July 18, Judy Levin will lead the final book discussion on Manhunt in the Children's Activity Room at 7:00 pm.

Looking for more? The Library owns a number of lecture courses and DVD productions on Lincoln and the Civil War:

Professor Allen C. Guelzo, Gettysburg College, has recorded a series of lectures on DVD entitled Mr. Lincoln: The Life of AbrahamLincoln.  And  Professor David Zarefsky, Northwestern University, presents Abraham Lincoln: In his Own Words on audio CD.

DVD productions include the History Channel’s Gettysburg, PBS’ The Civil War by Ken Burns, NOVA’s Lincoln’s Secret Weapon about the first ironclad warship, and Looking for Lincoln by Henry Louis Gatres. Jr. and Doris Kearns Goodwin.

Four bibliographies on the Civil War are available on our Staff Picks page under “Explore” in the on-line catalog, BiblioCommons. Or pick up a bookmark next time you visit the building. 

Register, read, and participate in the One Book/One City LF. A grand prize drawing will be held at the beginning of August.

Sponsored by Friends of Lake Forest Library and the Dick Family Foundation.

Freegal Music App Now Available

For nearly two years, the Lake Forest Library has offered the Freegal Music service to its cardholders, allowing them to choose and download three free music tracks per week to a desktop or laptop and then to transfer them to an MP3 device for listening.  Now with the new Freegal Music app, Apple and Android mobile users can use their mobile device to select tracks and then download directly to the devices.

iPhone, iPad, and iPod Touch users can find the free app by searching for "Freegal Music" in the Apple iTunes App Store.  Android phone and tablet users will find the app in the Google Play store.  Once you have downloaded the app, enter your home zip code and choose Lake Forest Library from among the subscribing libraries.  Then enter your Lake Forest Library card number, and, once validated, you will be in the app's main area, where you can browse, search, and download music.  You will stay logged in and will not need to re-enter your card number unless you go to "Settings" and select "Logout."


Here are highlights of the app's screens:


Home Screen:  Your weekly download allocation and number used; Top 10 weekly downloads from Lake Forest Library and nation-wide; search icon; blue arrow to play song clip; larger white downward arrow to download song.


My Music:  All your downloaded tracks can be viewed by artist, song, or album and played from here.


Playlist:   Where you can organize your tracks by categories you name.  Tracks can be played from this screen and from "My Music."


Browse:  Browse tracks by Artist, Song, or Genre.


Settings:   Where you can log out, which is useful if you're accessing your account from multiple devices.


Note:  Currently the Freegal Music app is not allowed to export files to iTunes or any other software, but within two weeks of downloading a song to your app, you can log in to your account on a computer, choose "recent downloads," save desired track to your computer, and move it into iTunes.  Then when you sync your mobile device, the track will be in iTunes on your mobile device.


Follow these links for more information:

Freegal App Basic Info. and Link

Freegal Web Access Information

Write Your Favorite Author!

Miss the days when you could write a letter to your favorite writer? Well, have you tried Twitter?

Many popular authors use Twitter, and some use it very frequently! Take Neil Gaiman for instance. You may have read his books American Gods, Stardust, and Anansi Boys or your children may love Coraline, Odd and the Frost Giants, and the popular graphic novel series: The Sandman. He is a prolific Tweeter, you can find his profile by searching @neilhinmself.

 

Or how about Jodi Picoult? Twitter is a great place for fans to make connections to authors by just adding an @ symbol followed by the authors screen name in a tweet. Jodi Picoult is @jodipicoult, pretty easy! Somehow she manages to take a break from writing books like Between the Lines, My Sister's Keeper, and the Pact to answer tweets from her fans:

The author of the Hummingbird's Daughter, Luis Alberto Urrea, tweets with his wife about writing and their life. Find him @Urrealism. Twitter is a great way to get a personal connection to the author, and it is always interesting to see that they have the same funny stories that we do! Case and point:

 

 You can follow an author on Twitter to get updates as they tweet. Many writers use Twitter to promote events such as signings or readings. Mystery writer Harlan Coben, @HarlanCoben, uses Twitter for philanthropic events:

Try it out for yourself, head on over to Twitter and see if your favorite author tweets. And don't forget to follow us on Twitter @lakeforestlib to find out about great programs or to ask us for a great new book to read!

And if you can't find an author on Twitter, we do have a reference book for addresses: The Writer's Directory.

One Book/One City LF

Book Discussion with Judy Levin
Monday, June 11 at 12:30 pm


Judy Levin will lead a discussion of Manhunt: the 12-Day Chase for Lincoln's Killer by James L. Swanson on Monday, June 11 at 12:30 pm in the Children's Programming Room.  Other book discussions will be held on Wednesday, June 20 at 1:00 pm at the LB/LF Senior Center and Wednesday, July 18 at 7:00 pm at the Library.  These programs are free and open to the public.


Lovers of history, true crime and adventure will be interested in Swanson's Manhunt.  The author leads readers through a fast-paced account of the hunt for John Wilkes Booth.  This in-depth look at the notorious actor/assassin highlights the emotions and perspectives of Booth and his co-conspirators leading up to the assassination and during their 12 days at large.  Told from Booth's perspective, Swanson reconstructs the story using eyewitness accounts, primary documents and records to take the reader from the audience of Ford's Theater on April 14, 1865 to hiding with Booth in the Zekiah Swamp.


"With a deft, probing style and no small amount of swagger, Swanson, a member of the Lincoln Bicentennial Commission, has crafted pure narrative pleasure, sure to satisfy the casual reader and Civil War aficionado alike." - Publishers Weekly


Read an excerpt from NPR.
Interact with the history Channel's Map of Booth's Run.
Watch James L. Swanson talk about his book.


Or enjoy the story with your family by checking out Swanson's Young Adult version Chasing Lincoln's Killer.


Manhunt is a gripping narrative about the assassination of one of this nation's most beloved leaders.  Plan to join your Lake Forest friends and neighbors in these sure-to-be interesting discussions of a fascinating period of American History.


Click here for more information on One Book/One City LF.  Sponsored by Friends of Lake Forest Library and the Dick Family Foundation.

Pinpoint Reading

Guiding children to appropriate reading material is a task most parents heartily participate in.  We librarians are equally interested in assisting young people in finding books that are readable, yet challenging and will provide a quality reading experience.  Educators have attempted to systematize the learning to read process through different gradient systems.  Adult panels come up with “nominee” lists for children to read and vote on, create grade level lists, and request book suggestions which tie-in to school wide assignments and promotions.  Our Children’s Library cooperates fully with schools by labeling and housing together books which have been leveled, numbered, nominated or required as part of a summer reading assignment. Currently we have shelves of books according to Guided Reading Level, Monarch, Bluestem, and Rebecca Caudill nominees, and District67’s  Character Traits books.  We have lists of suggested books by grade  and easy access to the Lexile level of most books, including a list of high level (over 1000) books for young readers.  Parents and students can take advantage of these pinpointed reading materials by knowing the student’s  Guided Reading Level letter, or Lexile number.  Is there a summer reading assignment tucked in your child’s backpack?  Don’t wait until the last few days before school starts to begin.  The book you want may be unavailable!

But to paraphrase, if you label it , will they read it?  Learning to read is an individual process that can occur in leaps and bounds, or plateaus.  Telling a child to read only books which correspond to his or her tested number or letter can stagnate progression.  The systems themselves operate on algorithms which sometimes give confusing or misleading results.

Same Guided Reading Level  (M) ...

... as this book.

  Simple picture books, easy readers and chapter books may all share the same Guided Reading letter.  Children who have tested at a high Lexile level are discouraged from reading “easy” books, even though the subject matter appeals to their age group.  Most importantly, children may be discouraged from exploring a wide range of books.  The best motivation for improving reading skills is interest in the book itself.  Do we only want children to read the books that have been deemed “the best” by adults,

Do you know this book?

But I bet you've heard of this  popular  series

 or correspond to their grade? I would like to see levels and lists used as a starting point, not to pinpoint.