Teacher Jeannie Mulgrew in Reenie Raschke's "My Town Montclair"

Local photographer Reenie Raschke has some of the photos from her new book, “My Town Montclair,” on display at the library. Come in and take a look! Like me, you might just learn something new about people you see every day.

“‘My Town Montclair’ is a photographic love song to the village that I have lived in for 25 years,” says Reenie. “By telling the stories of these people we look at every day, I hope to enrich our relationships and cause us to slow down, savor, and get to know one another more deeply.”

Reenie will be at A Great Good Place for Books on February 9th at 7 p.m. talking about her book. “My Town Montclair” is for sale at Sarber’s Cameras, The Book Tree and A Great Good Place for Books.

Members of San Francisco’s Jing Mo Athletic Association will read us a story, demonstrate martial arts and lead us in a lion dance to celebrate the Lunar New Year. Jing Mo, comprised of members from age 5 to 105, encourages its students to practice good morals and ethics.

Tuesday 1/10
Lawyers in the Library – 6-8pm
Free legal advice

Wednesday 1/11
Charles the Clown – 10:30am
Watch Charles the Clown perform his hilarious become-a-clown routine. The show features Biscuit The Dog Puppet, balloon antics, silly magic and comic rhyming.

Thursday 1/12
Toddler Storytime – 10:15-10:45
Baby Bounce – 11:30-11:45

Friday 1/13
Library closed due to budget cuts

Saturday 1/14
Library closed in observance of Martin Luther King, Jr. Day.

Sign up to volunteer with World Book Night, April 23, 2012. Volunteers who are selected will be given 20 free paperbacks (all sorts of genres and age groups, from classics like Maya Angelou’s “I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings” to current best-sellers like Suzanne Collins’ “The Hunger Games” and Dave Eggers’ “Zeitoun“) to pass out to people in their community to people who don’t have good access to books and reading. See the complete list of books chosen here.

See their website for details and to apply to be a volunteer – the deadline to apply is February 1.

Illustration from NY Times best books article; photo by Todd St. John.

Check out the versions from the San Francisco Chronicle and the New York Times and start making your wishlist for when the Montclair library reopens Tuesday, January 3. What was your favorite book you read this year? Feel free to comment.

If our little branch doesn’t have a book you want, did you know how easy it is to request one from another branch in the Oakland Public Library system? Just go to oaklandlibrary.org and search the catalog for your book. Once you’re on the page for your book, click the Request button at the top of the page and have it delivered right to the Montclair branch. You’ll even get an email when it’s ready to pick up. Easy peasy.

Please note: The library staff asks that you please DO NOT return books to the library during the closure. Those drop-off boxes fill up quickly during long closures, and we definitely don’t want any books left out exposed to the elements. If possible, please hang onto your books and return them in January after the library re-opens. Books checked out recently have been given extra-late due dates, so they won’t incur late fees.

Have safe and happy holidays and we’ll see you in the new year!

Their conclusion? It depends on a number of things, like how much you read. “And of course, because it represents one of the most proven models of ‘reuse’ around, the greenest option of all is still your local public library.” Yay!

Happy December! If you’re looking for an original way to count down the days till Christmas with your child, check out this tutorial from Inhabitots about how to make a simple, eco-friendly advent calendar using books. Acquire 24 used holiday-themed books (check thrift stores, library book sales, Berkeley Parents Network, Freecycle and used book stores; use ones you already have; or even check them out from the library) and wrap them up with numbered tags. Bonus points if you use recycled, reusable or repurposed wrappings. Then open and read a seasonal bedtime story every night. You can use the same books year after year or swap them out as the kids get older. Genius!

Some new and old favorites to get you started:
How the Grinch Stole Christmas by Dr. Seuss
‘Twas the Night Before Christmas by Clement C. Moore
A Pirate’s Night Before Christmas by Philip Yates
Olive, the Other Reindeer by J.otto Seibold and Vivian Walsh
Auntie Claus by Elise Primavera
The Christmas Tomten by Viktor Rydberg
The Nutcracker by Susan Jeffers
A Small Christmas by Wong Herbert Yee
Minerva Louise on Christmas Eve by Janet Morgan Stoeke
The Twelve Bots of Christmas by Nathan Hale
Llama Llama Holiday Drama by Anna Dewdney
Olivia Helps with Christmas by Ian Falconer

What are some of your favorite holiday books? If you celebrate a December holiday other than Christmas, please share books for your favorite holiday, too.

The library may be closed for a couple more days, but you can download and read e-books anytime — for free — using the Oakland Public Library’s e-book service.  E-books can be downloaded and transferred to e-book readers, such as the Sony Reader and Barnes & Noble Nook. The e-audiobooks can be downloaded and transferred to Windows-compatible MP3 players as well as iPods.  See the OPL website for links and all the details.

They even have Tumblebooks for kids — animated, talking picture books that can be played on your computer while online. (No downloading is possible.)

Speaking of kids and e-books, did you see the New York Times article last week about how even avid e-reader users tend to prefer actual paper books for their kids?  Interesting stuff.