“Reading should not be presented to children as a chore or a duty. It should be offered to them as a precious gift.” Kate DiCamillo
Reading aloud to children is an excellent way for parents to nurture a love of reading and also help build the necessary skills for success in reading. During February, the Henrietta Hankin Library offers a family program that encourages reading aloud to children ages birth through sixth grade. Participating families can earn a free book as well as a raffle ticket for the awesome grand prize.
Registration is available either onlineor by visiting the Youth Services desk. Each registered family also receives a goodie bag filled with treats to enjoy while cuddling up and reading together!
An absurd take on modern working culture, artfully directed by Boots Riley; In an alternate reality of present-day Oakland, Calif., telemarketer Cassius Green finds himself in a macabre universe after he discovers a magical key that leads to material glory.
This collaboration album between local Philly based musician Kurt Vile and Australian sing-songwriter Courtney Barnett is a meandering, almost conversational album that is great for relaxed listening.
If you love Raising Arizona, The Big Lebowski, or Burn After Reading then this movie is right up you alley!!! A truly under appreciated comedy gem from the master story tellers: Joel & Ethan Coen. Set in a cartoonishly heightened version of New York City in the 1950’s, this film is packed to the brim with crackling dialogue, hilarious performances, and the kind of trademark camera techniques and cinematography that fans have come to expect from the Coen Brothers.
With no exaggeration or hyperbole, this is hands-down the greatest, most addictive video game that I have EVER. PLAYED. Breath of the Wild offers a level of exploration and freedom of choice beyond anything in the realm open-world gaming to this day. With its soothing landscapes, consistently engaging mechanics, and endless quests, Breath of the Wild will have you hooked from the moment you enter Hyrule.
In this biography (narrator, Robert K. Oermann) and autobiography, famed singer, songwriter, actress and big-hair exemplar Parton recounts her life from truly hard-scrabble beginnings in Tennessee (one of a dozen children) to the plateau on which she now stands, attained through gumption and grit. A case can be made that her talent, longevity and likability make her the preeminent female country artist. There are often hilarious anecdotes and turns of phrase, as when her husband Carl (of 50 years+) asked her after two months of marriage if she’d ever been with another man and she said she wasn’t going to begin the marriage with lie. After all, who was he to deserve an angel? The roster of famous singers, producers and other famous folk with whom Dolly has interacted and speaks about include Connie Smith, Skeeter Davis, Porter Wagoner, Kitty Wells, Willie Nelson, Mac Davis, Emmy lou Harris, Merle Haggard, Johnny Cash, well, everybody who is anybody in the country music field. Song selections are short and do not slow the narrative.
Jim Garry (Robert Mitchum) heeds invitation from Tate Riling (Robert Preston in his typical good cowpoke gone bad role) to join him and homesteaders seeking redress of specious grievances. It is not long before Jim realizes Tate is using hired guns and a crooked Indian agent to essentially ruin the ranch belonging to John Lufton (Tom Tully). Complications arise when Lufton’s daughter Amy (Barbara Bel Geddes) falls for him while his sister (Phyllis Thaxter) attaches herself to Tate. Former Citizen Kane editor, now director Robert Wise was proving himself adept at westerns as he would with all genres. This 1948 film is now considered western noir, like the previous year’s Pursued, also with Mitchum.
A great cast (Simu Liu, Awkwafina, Tony Chiu-Wai Leung, and Michelle Yeoh) perfectly combines humor, martial arts, and familial drama in this Marvel movie.
This greatest hits compilation covers the Irish singer’s first eleven years (1986-1997) and four albums. It includes her biggest song, a cover of Prince’s “Nothing Compares 2 U,” along with her overseas hits and some rarities. If you like her Prince cover, then check out this compilation to discover some more of her great songs.
Ticket sales are now open for our greatly-anticipated, virtual Novel Tea event on Wednesday, March 9, at 7 p.m. featuring #1 NYT bestselling author, Erik Larson, also known for works such as Dead Wake: The Last Crossing of the Lusitania, and The Devil in the White City which is set to be a Hulu limited series. Larson’s In the Garden of Beasts is also currently under option by Tom Hanks, for a feature film.
This will be a LIVE virtual interview with Erik Larson where he discusses his newest book, The Splendid and the Vile: A Saga of Churchill, Family, and Defiance During the Blitz which is a bestselling 2020 work of narrative nonfiction (and due for release in paperback this February) – recounting Winston Churchill’s first year as prime minister of Great Britain—a year marked by the Nazi bombing of England (the Blitz). Britain’s top naval official, Churchill is chosen as prime minister on May 10, 1940, amid widespread discontent with the current leader, Neville Chamberlain. On Churchill’s first day as prime minister, the Nazis invade Holland and Belgium, portending an anguished war on the continent. Larson uses letters, diaries, archival documents, and other primary sources to reconstruct the day-to-day lives of Churchill, his family, and his inner circle—and in doing so, shows, in cinematic detail, how Churchill taught the British people “the art of being fearless.”
Visit https://bit.ly/LarsonLibrary for more event information, online registration, and ticket sales which opens on Monday, January 24 – March 8. Two ticket options consist of: a $55 Premium Tea Ticket which includes a library branded tea tin, chocolates, a signed novel, a book club discussion kit, and tea to enjoy at home while watching a live interview with Erik Larson. In purchasing a Basic Ticket for $35, you will receive a signed novel, a book club discussion kit, and a link to view the live stream.
Proceeds collected during this Novel Tea fundraiser support your local library within Chester County and we are very excited to be collaborating with Reads & Company Bookshop, in Phoenixville, for this event. Your contribution promotes and celebrates reading and writing, but also raises needed funds for the library to meet the changing needs of the community we serve. Your support helps your local library consistently provide opportunities to read, learn, create, connect, and support individual well-being. In doing so you are strengthening your community! Be sure to join us for an enthralling evening!
Due to the easing of COVID restrictions, the Board of Trustees of the Chester County Library System/Chester County Library will now be hosting their monthly board meeting as a hybrid offering. If you have always wanted to attend a meeting but haven’t had the time, this is your opportunity. Please click on this link at 8:30 a.m. on Tuesday, January 18 to join the Chester County Library System Board Meeting virtually; or attend in person at Chester County Library, 450 Exton Square Parkway, PA 19341. The Chester County Library Board Meeting will immediately follow. Find the Chester County Library Board Packet here.
If you are a person with a disability and wish to attend this meeting and require an auxiliary aid, service, or other accommodation to observe or participate in the proceedings, please call Chester County Library’s Administration Office at 610-344-5600 to discuss how we may best accommodate your needs.
Offers a blunt and irreverent guide to achieving the money, relationships, career, and happiness that one desires through recognizing and doing away with self-sabotaging beliefs and behaviors.
Dr. Jennifer Ashton is an ob-gyn and news correspondent. But even at the top there’s still room to improve, and with The Self-Care Solution, she upends her life one month at a time, using her own experiences to help you improve your health and enhance your life. Dr. Ashton becomes both researcher and subject as she focuses on twelve separate challenges. Beginning with a new area of focus each month, she guides you through the struggles she faces, the benefits she experiences, and the science behind why each month’s challenge can lead to better health.
Each month, Rubin tackles a different theme as she experiments with concrete, manageable resolutions—and this time, she coaxes her family to try some resolutions, as well. With her signature blend of memoir, science, philosophy, and experimentation, Rubin’s passion for her subject jumps off the page, and reading just a few chapters of this book will inspire readers to find more happiness in their own lives.
Harvard psychologist and TED star Amy Cuddy reveals how to unleash your boldest self to heighten your confidence, influence others, and perform at your peak. Filled with stories of people facing challenges from job interviews to asking someone out; scientific research on how our bodies change our minds; and strategies like power posing, “Presence” is a must-read for anyone yearning to project their true power.
“The Year of Less” documents Cait’s life for twelve months, during which time she bought only consumables: groceries, toiletries, gas for her car. Along the way, she challenged herself to consume less of many other things besides shopping, decluttered her apartment and got rid of 70 percent of her belongings. Blending Cait’s story with inspiring insight and practical guidance, The year of less will leave you questioning what you’re holding on to in your own life — and, quite possibly, lead you to find your own path of less.
The Chester County Library Evening and Afternoon Book Discussion groups have returned to in person meetings. The other groups are remaining virtual. Please see our January titles and dates below. The online groups are being held via Zoom. We are requiring registration for these online book groups in order to send out the Zoom meeting information. Click on the date below to register. Information on our adult book groups can also be found on our website: https://bit.ly/chescolibs-bookgroups.
Registration is required for all book groups. Registration will close at least 2 hours prior to the scheduled start time of the book group. A Zoom link will be emailed to registrants 2 hours before the book group starts. Make sure to check the email address you registered with to receive the link. You do not need a Zoom account to attend the virtual book group.
These programs support the PA Forward Civic and Social Literacy Initiative.
Any cinephile will scoff at designating Fredric March an “alternate super star.” After all, he won two Academy Awards for Best Actor and was ranked the equal of his unofficial rival, Spencer Tracy, who also won two Oscars. Both had the chance to spar with one another inInherit the Wind (1960). However, because there is no The Films of Fredric March, I summarize his sterling career here.
Inherit the Wind
March was born in Racine, Wisconsin and attended the University of Wisconsin-Madison. During World War I he was an artillery lieutenant in the army. After the war he became a banker but by 1920 was a movie “extra” in New York City-based films. This was followed by a contract with Paramount Pictures.
March won his first Best Actor Academy Award for director Rouben Mamoulian’s Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1932). In Hollywood in the Thirties, author John Baxter wrote, “Mamoulian’s inventions for the scenes showing Fredric March’s change from Jekyll to Hyde would alone have made this film memorable. Determined to engineer the transformations without resorting to cuts or opticals, Mamoulian conceived on the spur of the moment a system in which specially toned makeup, coloured lights and coloured filters were used to change the look of March’s face.” There was more to it than that. Makeup turned him into a veritable ape-man in tux and cape.
In the following year’s World War I film, The Eagle and the Hawk, March gave another superb performance. According to Thomas Doherty in Projections of War, March was “extraordinary…as the burnt-out pilot (with what was not then called the thousand-yard stare).”
Death Takes a Holiday
Like Cary Grant, March never tied himself to a long-term studio contract, which necessitated taking any role you were given or else be suspended. Also like Grant, he was adept at screwball comedy and successfully traded bon mots with Carole Lombard in Nothing Sacred (1937). Nor did he seem out of place in historical epics, playing Marcus Superbus (!) in The Sign of the Cross (1932). Fantasy was also up his alley, and he played the title character in the still amusing Death Takes aHoliday (1934). He did very well in large-scale films based on huge historical novels. Think Garbo’s Anna Karenina (1935), as Jean Valjean in the estimable 1935 production of Les Miserables, and Anthony Adverse (1936). He was the doomed Norman Maine opposite Janet Gaynor in the first version ofAStar is Born (1937). High-octane films were inter-mixed with prestigious stage roles in The Skinof Our Teeth, Long Day’s Journey Into Night, and An Enemy of the People.
Les Miserables
In 1946 he was the lead in The Best Years of Our Lives, the Best Picture Academy Award winner for which he won his second Oscar. A movie that never fails to touch viewers’ heartstrings, especially those who participated in World War II or whose parents did, 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die called it “one of the best American movies about returning soldiers ever made—certainly the most moving and deeply felt. It bears witness to its times and contemporaries like few other Hollywood features, and Gregg Toland’s deep-focus cinematography is incredible.” The Essentials called it “A deeply beloved American film from the moment it opened in December 1946, The Best Years of Our Lives spoke to a generation affected by World War II on the battlefield and on the home front.”
The Best Years of Our Lives
In the 1950s March played his age: Willy Loman in the 1951 film version of Death of a Salesman, furniture manufacturer controller in Executive Suite (1954), admiral in The Bridges at Toko-Ri (1954), television network president in The Man in the Gray Flannel Suit (1956), widowed clothing manufacturer conducting an affair with a young receptionist (Kim Novak) in Middle of the Night (1959).
Like Henry Fonda, in the 1960s March had the maturity and gravitas to play the President of the U.S. Curiously, both had that opportunity in 1964: Fonda in Fail-Safe, March in Seven Days in May.
To summarize, Fredric March’s career was second to none. He chose his roles wisely and deserves to be ranked among the “great stars.”
By Kim
References
Arnold, Jeremy. The Essentials: 52 Must-See Movies and Why They Matter. 2016.
Baxter, John. Hollywood in the Thirties. 1970, c1968.
Doherty, Thomas. Projections of War: Hollywood, American Culture, and World War II. 1993.
Attention all those with the itch to create! The Henrietta Hankin Branch Library has a brand new Makerspace. What is a makerspace, you may ask? A relatively novel and evolving concept, according to Merriam-Webster, makerspace is defined as “a communal public workshop in which makers can work on small personal projects.” The tools available in our Maker Space are complementary to the ones available in the Chester County Library’s Digital Media Lab, but don’t replicate them. Our new Makerspace houses the following:
a book binding machine,
a CNC Mill printing machine
a Cricut printing machine
a Sewing machine & Serger
and a Virtual Reality game and learning center
Binding MachineCNC Mill PrinterCricut machine and softwareSewing MachineSergerVirtual Reality Kit
Our book binding machine, the CoilBind S-20A, can punch up to 20 sheets of paper at once (46 holes). It uses 4:1 pitch plastic binding coils, which can be inserted by either using the rapidly spinning electric coil roller on top of the machine or by twisting them manually into the document. It can bind documents up to 2-inches thick. So bring in your children’s books, your professional presentations, or personal projects!
The CNC mill printer is a Nomad 3. CNC (computer numerical control) mills are used for anything that requires precision carving from a solid block of material. A variety of cutting tips allow users to easily cut into materials including soft metals, wood, and plastics. The Nomad 3 incudes integrated software to help make the user experience as easy as possible. Among the many uses one can make of this machine are creating molds for jewelry or other art, engraving, making lithopanes from real photographs, or creating prototypes for business plan pitches.
Our Cricut Maker is top of the line! It’s a smart cutting machine that can handle fabrics, leather, paper, and balsa wood. This machine is a great complement to our high-end sewing machine in its ability to cut fabric patterns. It is also great for scrap-bookers, card makers and crafters of all kinds. Our library staff have been enjoying using the machine to create materials for our popular series of craft programs and take-and-make projects.
The high-end sewing machine is a Bernina 475 QE. It is powerful enough to handle the thick layers of even your biggest quilts while providing consistent thread tensions to make every stitch perfect. It also includes little extras like the thread cutter that keeps projects moving towards completion. The serger, a Bernina L460, is great for overlocking of seams at the fabric edge. It can handle any type of fabrics and is excellent for fine hems in delicate silk or satin fabrics, cutting and sewing heavy linen, fleece and denim fabric, and can create flat and even seams and hems with its differential feeds. The differential feed also will help in producing ruffles, or any type of gathering.
Our Valve Index Virtual Reality kit allows visitors to the Henrietta Hankin Library to explore the world of virtual reality, either for entertainment or education. In addition to playing games, users can take part in virtual learning experiences, such as completely building and dismantling a car engine from scratch, in full 3 dimensions!
So come on in and bring your imaginations to life! Staff and volunteers are on hand to meet with you to get you started.
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