Library Publicity September News 
Sep 6 | Libraries are people by Everett Reilly, Library Board Every time I go to a library I learn something new. It has been that way as for as long as I can remember going to libraries. As a boy, growing up in Pittsburgh, a trip to the Carnegie Library on a hot summer day was a holiday. It was a time to meet new friends hidden on the long shelves of books. There were no computers in the library back then, in the "50s". Even so, libraries then and libraries now, offered something far beyond just some books. Libraries can be considered a tool to be used to even the playing field. They are the great equalizer; for everyone willing to walk through the front door and take what is offered. Libraries offer equal and free access to knowledge contained in books, papers, and magazines even computers in this modern day and age. And strangely enough librarians today, just as librarians in the "50's" thrive on even small successes in their noble task of providing access to that knowledge and information. "Diane Hofstede, a member of the Minneapolis City Council, writes in an editorial in the Star Tribune, "Libraries are not just brick and mortar, but they are the pulse of our community, they are people. As one librarian told me, it is America that passes through his doors every day, individuals yearning for knowledge, growth and betterment. "" That quote says a lot. I'm certainly grateful that I live in a time and place that allows me to determine what I want to read or learn and be able to find it. People have gone to war to gain those freedoms. But in a free society there will always be risk and imperfections, but there is also the opportunity to read a really good book. With all that in mind, I urge everyone, of all ages, to take advantage of the offerings in our library. There are children activities such as story hours and the Baby Book Club. Programming is included for Preschool Story Hours and there is even an After School Book Club. See the Library Website, www.litch.com/library for a schedule of events. Now, I don't want to leave anyone out; so I will remind the older and much older generations that there is more at the library. There is something to satisfy the tastes of everyone. There are computers, reference books, fiction, non-fiction and how to do it books for your enjoyment. If it's not in our library, the librarians can search the system and get it here in short order. Bottom line sometimes freedom of information isn't always pretty and it is not always easy, but it is there for us to use. The library; it a good place to read the Washington Post and the Wall Street Journal; I'll see you there. |
Sep 13 | Top | The "Real" Fairytales By Jan Pease and Hannah Orsatti Grimm Fairy tales really are – grim! I’d like to introduce you to our own fairy tale expert, Hannah Orsatti, a young woman who has been a library patron since she moved to Litchfield as a child. She is an avid reader, and I have enjoyed many discussions about books as a result of her enthusiasm. This article is the result of a conversation Hannah and I had about fairy tales and their modern versions. We speculated that modern versions of fairy tales have been changed, perhaps sanitized, to make them more acceptable to our sensibilities today. Hannah used Pioneerland Library System’s Interlibrary loan service to obtain many copies of the Brothers Grimm fairy tale collections, searching for older and older editions. Here, in Hannah’s words, is the story. I have known for a while that changes have been made to the original 19th century fairy tales. I have also known two of the main tellers of those tales were the Brothers Grimm, Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm. I recently became interested in what those changes have been. After discovering, to my surprise, there have been few if any changes to newer translations of the Grimm Brothers' tales, I wanted to find out what changes had been made when they were "Disney-ized". I researched many translations and versions and discovered that some tales are still intact. Little Red Riding Hood, for example, has had very few changes, whereas Cinderella, Rumpelstiltskin and many others have been changed quite a bit. In the 19th century, the idea of fairy tales was not just to entertain. The idea was to teach life lessons to children and adults in a way that was intended to scare them into obedience and caution. The lesson learned in Little Red Riding Hood, for example, is "don't talk to strangers, or something dreadful will happen." The original Grimm Brothers version of Cinderella had Cinderella's stepsisters cutting off parts of their feet to fit in the slipper. "Roo coo coo, roo coo coo, Blood is dripping from the shoe: The foot's too long and far too wide. Go back and find the proper bride." is what two little doves sang when the stepsisters went by with the prince¹. The stepsisters had their eyes pecked out by the doves in the end for their evil ways. In a translation of Rumpelstiltskin², Rumpelstiltskin simply stomps himself through the floor in the frustration of the queen guessing his name. In the original Grimm tale, he stomps so hard, he splits in two. Most people will look at these differences and think, "Well I can see why it was changed." But the Grimm Brothers give a harsher punishment for evil doers. The wrongdoers aren't simply not getting what they want (i.e. The stepsisters – the prince and Rumpelstiltskin – the baby princess.) They are punished for their actions. The original fairy tales were not necessarily for children. They were hard to read, but were more true than "everything is wonderful for the good, and the bad simply get miffed." I don't think the modern changes are bad. We just should not forget the old fairy tales and the lessons they taught. ¹The Annotated Brothers Grimm Edited by Maria Tatar W.W. Norton and company, New York – London, 2004 ²Rumpelstiltskin Retold by Edith Tarcov Fourwinds Press, New York, 1973 The Complete Fairy Tales of the Brothers Grimm Translated by Jack Zipes Bantam Books New York – Toronto – London – Sydney – Auckland, 1987 and 1992 The Classic Fairy Tales Iona and Peter Opie Oxford University Press, New York – Toronto, 1974 Cinderella From Walt Disney's Treasury of Children's Classics Edited by Darlene Geis Harry N. Abrams, Inc Publishers, New York, 1978 |
Sep 20 | Top | 1001 books to read By Jeanette Stottrup I stopped at the Grove City Public Library on my way back from a meeting in Willmar and came away with a book I would like to share with you. The title is “1001 books you must read before you die”, prefaced by Peter Ackroyd and written by over one hundred international critics. The general editor, Peter Boxall, explains that this list of titles is not a definitive list but a list that will give the reader a broad offering of the human experience while celebrating the art of storytelling in the form of the novel. How long would reading 1001 books take? Well, let’s do a little math. If a person read one book a week, it would take a mere 19 years and 13 weeks to reach this goal. Let’s take a couple of weeks off a year and make it a nice round 20 years. There may be a few of you that will take up this worthy challenge. The book is arranged with a list of contributors, then a list of the titles in alphabetical order, and last are the titles arranged by century. Each title is reviewed by one of the one hundred critics in about 300 words. Each review is written by someone who knows the book thoroughly and builds an interest that makes you want to read the book. As one contributor said, “these entries might be thought of as a ‘micro-event,’ a miniaturized but complete reading experience that contains within it something of the boundlessness of the novel.” The selection of well known pre eighteenth century titles include Aesop’d Fables, The Thousand and one Nights, Don Quixote, and Pilgrim’s Progress. Other titles are relatively obscure such as Metamorphoses by Ovid, Aithiopika by Heliodorus and Gargantua and Pantagruel by Francois Rabelais. Robinson Crusoe, Moll Flanders, and Candide are representative titles of the eighteenth century titles. Moby-Dick, Walden, Journey to the Center of the Earth, and War and Peace are some of the nineteenth century offerings. The twentieth century consumes three quarters of the books entries with many authors and titles that are familiar to us. Some of the authors from the twenty-first century include Joyce Carol Oats, Margaret Atwood, Philip Roth, E.L. Doctorow, and Paulo Coelho. Alas (tongue in cheek), not one James Patterson or Danielle Steel title could I find. If your aim is not to read the titles from one to 1001 there are a number of other uses that can be made of this book. It is a great overview of our literary history. Anyone can learn much from the short entries. The list of titles could keep book clubs busy for years. An avid reader would be curious to see how many of these titles he or she has read and anyone browsing the book would be impressed by the photographs and art work. All in all this is a neat book that has kept me occupied for a few days of browsing enjoyment and will point the way for anyone looking for a novel with substance. |
Sep 27 | Top | Children and Grief By Jan Pease Recently, I said goodbye to a companion of 18 years, our dog Scruffy. Scruffy was named by our daughter, then five years old, who said he looked, well, scruffy. He tolerated rides in doll carriages and helped raise several kittens into dog-tolerating adult cats. He did very few tricks, but understood several important words, such as “treats,” and “outside”, and “be nice to the kitty.” His record at the veterinarian clinic started in the fall of 1989, and it ended, now, in 2007 as we chose a gentle passing rather than giving him a few more days or weeks as a very sick, very old dog. As with everything, we all accept the death of a pet differently. I probably miss him the most, because Scruffy was my ever-present shadow, following me into every room I entered. As I thought about this event in our l ives, it struck me how this loss was in some ways easier than the loss of our other pets has been. First, he lived a long, good life, with no doggie regrets. But more importantly, our household is now made up of adults. We did not have to help a child through the loss of a beloved pet. Explaining death to children can be difficult. As adults, we have to look at our own system of belief and sense of mortality to begin to explain this process to our children. For many children, the loss of a pet is their first experience with death, grief, and mourning. How we help them learn about these profound subjects lays a foundation for dealing with major losses we all face throughout our lives. Several picture books in the Litchfield children’s collection provide ways to look at death and grief. Starting with the death of a pet, titles such as The Forever Dog, by Bill Cochran, Saying Good Bye to Lulu by Corinne Demas, and The Tenth Good Thing about Barney, by Judith Viorst are written specifically about the loss of a beloved pet. Learning to Say Good-by When a Parent Dies, by Eda LeShan, is written to help older children face the loss of a parent. I Miss You, by Pat Thomas, and The Saddest Time, by Norma Simon, are short picture books appropriate for younger children facing their first experiences with grief. Always and Forever, by Alan Durant, another picture book appropriate for younger children, explores death and grief through a group of forest friends. Stacy Had a Little Sister, by Wendie C. Old, tells the story of a little girl losing her baby sister due to Sudden Infant Death Syndrome. I Remember Miss Perry, by Pat Brisson, is a book for slightly older children. This story of a classroom, whose beloved teacher dies in a tragic car accident, helps children deal with sudden, accidental death. Why did Grandpa Die, by Barbara Shook Hazen, and Lighthouse, a Story of Remembrance, by Robert Munsch, both look at the death of a grandfather from different points of view. Finally, The Fall of Freddie the Leaf, by Leo Buscalgia, and Tear Soup, by Pat Schweibert are books that help children learn to mourn. Pioneerland Library System offers many more books and videos that can help families teach their children about the mysteries of life and death. See you at the library! |
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