Arlington Public Library

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Collection

Trail Tales: Water Rolls, Water Rises

Installed September 2015 – March 2016

 

book jacket: "water rolls, water rises"Water Rolls, Water Rises / El Agua Rueda, el Agua Sube
by Pat Mora, illustrations by Meilo So, translation by Adriana Domínguez & Pat Mora

In an expressive celebration of the world’s waterscapes, verse and mixed-media illustrations swing from placid to tempestuous, creating an effective and fitting ebb and flow. A description of a peaceful river scene inspired by the Yangtze (“Slow into rivers/ water slithers and snakes/ through silent canyons at twilight and dawn”) contrasts with an evocation of a violent Patagonia sea (“In storms, water plunges/ in thunder’s brash roar,/ races through branches from lightning’s white flash”).

The palette also shifts to suit the vista: children in Finland play by a brook framed by brilliant fall foliage, while smoky grays dominate a hushed scene featuring the human and feline residents of Venice, enshrouded in fog. Some of the images and allusions suggest water’s life-sustaining power: men fish in India, Kenyan women fetch water from a well, and in the canals of Holland, “water streams, water slides,/ gliding up roots of tulips and corn.”

 

“Water Rolls, Water Rises / El agua rueda, el agua sube” Text copyright © 2014 by Pat Mora. Illustrations copyright © 2014 by Meilo So.

Spanish translation copyright © 2014 by Lee & Low Books Inc. Permission arranged with LEE & LOW BOOKS INC., New York, NY 10016

trail tales logo

 

The Trail Tales’ squirrel logo was designed by Arlington student Annabella.

 

 

 

Waiting for "The English Spy"?

Daniel Silva’s latest novel features legendary spy and assassin Gabriel Allon tracking down the killer of the a beloved and iconic member of the British Royal Family.

Whether you’re still waiting to read “The English Spy,” or already read and loved it, we think you’ll also enjoy these authors of character-driven espionage thrillers:

 

Plum Island
by Nelson DeMille

Everyone seemed to like the two intelligent, young, and attractive scientists found murdered in their waterfront home. When the Manhattan detective John Corey, recovering from bullet wounds at his uncle’s house, is brought to the case, he begins to suspect that the couple, who had worked on the Plum Island’s animal research facility, might have been stealing and selling genetically-altered viruses. First book in the John Corey series.

 

 

Red Star Rising
by Brian Freemantle

When a dead man’s disfigured body is discovered on the grounds of the British embassy in Moscow, MI5 veteran Charlie Muffin is charged with solving the murder – not an easy task, given porous security at the embassy and Russian obstructionism. More important to Muffin is his hoped-for reunion with Natalia, the former KGB agent to whom he’s secretly married, and their daughter, Sasha – but for safety’s sake he can barely see them. Part of the Charlie M series.

 

 

Night Soldiers
by Alan Furst

A young man is murdered by the local fascists. His brother, Khristo Stoianev, is recruited into the NKVD, the Soviet secret intelligence service, and sent to Spain to serve in its civil war. Warned that he is about to become a victim of Stalin?s purges, Khristo flees to Paris. First book in the “Night Soldiers” series.

 

 

 

Bottled Spider
by John Gardner

A young, inexperienced policewoman in World War II-era London, Constable Suzie Montford is promoted to detective sergeant when the military draft creates a shortage of male police officers. She and her partner are faced with a series of murders of young women, including a popular BBC announcer, strangled with piano wire, the handiwork of Golly Goldfinch, a grotesquely ugly man-child who obeys voices that order him to kill. First book in the Suzie Mountford series.

 

 

A Delicate Truth
by John Le Carré

In 2008, a counter-terrorist operation, codenamed Wildlife, is mounted on the British crown colony of Gibraltar to capture and abduct a high-value jihadist arms-buyer. At the healm are an ambitious Foreign Office Minister, a private defense contractor, and a shady American CIA operative. In 2011, a disgraced Special Forces Soldier delivers a message from the dead, revealing that Operation Wildlife was in fact a complete fiasco and a cover up.

 

 

Young Philby
by Robert Littell

Could Kim Philby, legendary British spy turned traitor and one of the Cambridge Five (university students recruited by the Soviets in the 1930s) actually have been a triple agent, working for MI6 while he was purportedly spying for the Russians and then continuing to serve Britain even after he escaped to the Soviet Union in 1963? Espionage-fiction master Littell thinks so and constructs a thoroughly believable scenario – based on some intriguing, if not definitive, historical evidence.

 

 

Favorite Cookbooks of the Noshy Cookies Lady

Memorably Scrumptious for Everyone

Where does a former-librarian-turned-baker turn when she needs a good recipe or a new idea? The Library, of course.

The owner of Noshy (the cookies we serve at Late Night Recess) shares some of her favorite cookbooks:

 

The Fannie Farmer Cookbook
by Marion Cunningham, illustrated by Lauren Jarrett

Everyone should own this, even if you only use if for equivalents listing and the banana bread and pancake recipes. Mine opens automatically to the pancake recipe, where you will also find see half a dozen ways to flavor pancakes (mini chocolate chips and almond extract is my favorite). And ABSOLUTELY follow their instructions on adding the egg whites later.

 

 

Cooking Light: Fresh Food Fast 24/7
by the editors of Cooking Light Magazine

We use our edition of this cookbook weekly, and it has tons of delicious recipes that are easy enough for even for a novice. Bonus for anyone looking to cook healthy: Calorie information with each recipe.

 

 

 

The Feast Nearby
by Robin Mather

A wonderful memoir woven with tales of local food and great recipes. I haven’t finished reading it yet – but I’ve read the first half twice!

 

 

 

 

Chocolate Chip Cookie Murder
by Joanne Fluke

Book 1 of the Hannah Swensen Mystery Series. During my first year in business, a fellow baker turned me on to these food based mystery novels. If you adore the Stephanie Plum books by Janet Evanovich, you’ll love these. Bonus: each book includes a few recipes (I haven’t had time to bake any of the heroine’s cookies yet, but just knowing they’re there makes me happy). Also – there’s a cookbook based on the series!

 

 

 

Surprise Inside Cakes
by Amanda Rettke

Who wouldn’t want to cut a cake and find something as awesome as a rainbow heart? Only about half of the iced cakes I’ve ever made have worked well, so I’m looking forward to trying these.

 

 

Great Cookies: Secrets to Sensational Sweets
by Carole Walter, photographs by Duane Winfield

Another on my haven’t-yet-used-it-can’t-wait-to-try-it list. I especially appreciate that there are photos of almost every recipe. And the author gives you a rating for how delicate or travel-ready, versatile and long lasting each recipe is.

 

 

 

The Cookiepedia: Mixing, Baking, and Reinventing the Classics
by by Stacy Adimando, photographs by Tara Striano

If I was going to write a cookbook, this would be it. Delicious recipes that are clearly explained, with photos, notes, and lots of bright colors and fun! I own this one and am slowly baking my way through it.

 

 

The Flavor Thesaurus
by Niki Segnit

I picked up the Brittish version of this in London just after launching my cookie company, and it’s been indispensable in helping me come up with new flavor combinations for both work and home!

 

 

 

The Tucci Table
by Stanley Tucci and Felicity Blunt with Kay Plunkett-Hogge

Stanley Tucci… ’nuff said.

 

 

 

Cooking in the Moment: A Year of Seasonal Eating
by Andrea Reusing

Seasonal, local food is important to me. Both to cook it, and to support the restaurants and food makers in the area that believe in it too.

 

 

 

Good Eats (vols. 1-3)
by Alton Brown

Where science meets food, with humor! You really can’t go wrong with Alton Brown.

 

 

 

Classic Lit With a Modern Twist

Old Tales Worth Revisiting

Looking for something new yet familiar? Try one of these contemporary novels – each author starts with a well known plot, and then updates or retells the story for a modern audience:

 

Re Jane
by Patricia Park

Jane Re, half-Korean, half-American orphan, has been trying to escape Flushing, Queens her whole life. Desperate for a new life, she’s thrilled to become the au pair for the Mazer-Farleys, two Brooklyn English professors and their adopted Chinese daughter.
“Jane Eyre” by Charlotte Bronte

 

 

Great
by Sara Benincasa

In this contemporary retelling of The Great Gatsby, seventeen-year-old Naomi Rye becomes entangled in the drama of a Hamptons social circle and a tragedy that shakes the summer community.
“The Great Gatsby” by F. Scott Fitzgerald

 

 

 

Catherine
by April Lindner

In this retelling of “Wuthering Heights,” Catherine explains how she fell in love with a brooding musician and left her family to return to him, and her daughter describes searching for her mother many years later.
“Wuthering Heights” by Emily Bronte

 

 

 

For Darkness Shows the Stars
by Diana Peterfreund

Told partially through secret letters between forbidden childhood friends, this novel is a postapocalyptic retelling of Jane Austen’s Persuasion. Four years earlier, Elliot refused to elope with Kai, a mechanical prodigy and descendant of the Reduced. Now he’s back as Capt. Malakai Wentforth, flirting with Elliot’s pretty neighbor and being savage to Elliott.
“Persuasion” by Jane Austen

 

 

 

Going Bovine
by Libba Bray

Cameron Smith, a disaffected sixteen year-old who, after being diagnosed with Creutzfeld Jakob’s (aka mad cow) disease, sets off on a road trip with a death-obsessed video gaming dwarf he meets in the hospital in an attempt to find a cure.
“Don Quixote” by Miguel de Cervantes

 

 

 

The Meursault Investigation
by Kamel Daoud, translated by John Cullen

Harum is the brother of “the Arab,” killed by the infamous Meursault, the antihero of Camus’s classic novel. Seventy years after that event, Harun, who has lived since childhood in the shadow of his sibling’s memory, refuses to let him remain anonymous: he gives his brother a story and a name – Musa – and describes the events that led to Musa’s casual murder on a dazzlingly sunny beach.
“The Stranger” by Albert Camus

 

 

 

The Flight of Gemma Hardy
by Margot Livesey

Overcoming a life of hardship and loneliness, Gemma Hardy, a brilliant and determined young woman, accepts a position as an au pair on the remote Orkney Islands where she faces her biggest challenge yet.
“Jane Eyre” by Charlotte Bronte

 

 

 

Confessions of a Triple Shot Betty
by Jody Gherman

Sixteen-year-olds Geena, Hero, and Amber spend the summer working at a Sonoma, California coffee shop, where they experience romance, identity crises, and newfound friendships.
“Much Ado About Nothing” by William Shakespeare

 

 

 

Moonrise
by Cassandra King

Helen Honeycutt has a difficult time fitting in with her new husband’s friends. When she stumbles upon the secret of her predecessor’s death, she must decide if she can ever love again.
“Rebecca” by Daphne du Maurier

 

 

 

Wish You Could Work For Yourself?

Stop Dreaming and Take Action

Are you looking for ways to balance work and your family? Are you thinking about starting a home-based business?

These books, DVDs and websites can help:

 

Start Your Own Retail Business and More
by the Staff of Entrepreneur Media, Inc. and Ciree Linsenman

Personalized shopping experiences powered by the use of mobile devices has helped nearly double the number of retail stores in operation since the last edition. This guide provides the tools to help retail savvy entrepreneurs start a successful retail business in brick-and-mortar stores, online, mail orders, or kiosks.

 

 

How to Start a Home-Based Business – Series
by Various Authors

This series includes titles on home-based businesses such as daycares, retail, craft, app development, web design, graphic design, interior design, food trucks, editorial services and more. Topics include market research, business planning, financing, legal issues, marketing and more.

 

 

Moms Mean Business
by Erin Baebler and Lara Galloway

A guide to creating a successful company and happy life as a mom entrepreneur. Includes sections on time management, self-care, owning your business, business planning, productivity tools and more.

 

 

 

Weeds
DVD [2006-2012]

After her husband’s unexpected death and subsequent financial woes, suburban mom Nancy Botwin embraces a new profession: the neighborhood pot dealer. And it seems like everyone secretly wants what she’s selling – except for her best friend.

 

 

Work at Home Now
by Christine Durst and Michael Haaren

Want to explore the idea of working at home? This book covers it all, from an overview, convincing a boss, avoiding scams, the different types available, networking and reputable sites, freelance and the resume & interview. Tips from actual teleworkers are icing on the cake.

 

 

 

The Digital Mom Handbook
by Audrey McClelland and Colleen Padilla

Mothers have been looking for the middle ground for more than half a century. Staying at home and raising the kids full-time isn’t it. Working full-time and rushing home to tuck the kids in at 7 p.m. sharp ain’t it either. Even part-time work outside the house can be a scramble for most women, as they try to “have it all” between 9 am and 5 pm. In this book McClland and Padilla show other moms how to find middle ground via the frontier of the Internet.

 

 

Breaking Bad
DVD [2009-2013]

While you may need extra money or want to work from home, this series maybe an entertaining if cautionary lesson in what not to do. After an unremarkable chemistry teacher learns he has terminal cancer, he turns to an exciting life of crime to provide for his loved ones.

 

 

 

Grow Your Handmade Business
by Kari Chapin

Applying her “you-can-do-it” coaching style to the nuts and bolts of business planning, Chapin covers all of the issues involved in turning a creative hobby into a successful business.
More books on Home Craft business

 

 

The work at home sourcebook
by Lynie Arden

This expanded sourcebook covers opportunities from starting your own business, telecommuting to salaried full time work at home opportunities. This book includes step-by-step directions for getting a home-based job.

 

 

Work-from-Home Web Resources

  • Rat Race Rebellion – Looking for a home-based job but don’t know where to start? This website provide leads on home-based jobs and lessons on avoiding scams.
  • Dice.com – The career hub for tech.
  • Job Seekers – Online library resources for your job search

 

 

New Flame: "A Little Something Different"

“Gabe and Lea are perfect for each other. Everyone sees it. Except possibly Gabe and Lea.”

New / Old Flames are our favorite books  – the ones we really think you should read too.

 

A Little Something Different by Sandy Hall
Reviewed by Megan

Relationships don’t happen in a bubble. There’s the barista who watches as you and a certain someone sit across the coffee shop from each other, never quite locking eyes. Your best friend listens as you dissect what he possibly could have meant by “hey” and lends you her favorite sweater because you look great in green. And don’t forget the squirrel in the park where you take your first ambling walk together…

Gabe and Lea are perfect for each other. Everyone sees it. Except possibly Gabe and Lea. In “A Little Something Different,” Sandy Hall treats readers to a classic love story told with a decidedly non-classic twist. Told from the viewpoints of 14 different people around the lovers, the reader never actually hears from Gabe and Lea, and like the watchers never quite knows how they feel, except that there’s something there, if they could just get out of their own way.

Since one of my favorite romance novels tropes is when the characters don’t see they’re perfect for each other, I loved being able to share the fun of this frustration with the characters who watched Gabe and Lea’s story unfold far too slowly (and with pitfalls that really didn’t need to exist). This twist is what elevates the story from cute to charming, and gives the reader a different perspective on what otherwise could have been a fairly typical college romance.

And sometimes watching the people in your life fall in love can be as fun as falling in love yourself, since you get all the fun of anticipation and discovery, without the added angst of self-doubt and fear of rejection.

 

Megan is a Youth Services Librarian at Shirlington, and also run the “Books on Tap” Book Club.

Trail Tales: Have You Heard the Nesting Bird?

Installed April – September 2015

 

Have You Heard the Nesting Bird?
by Rita Gray, illustrated by Kenard Pak

As a boy and a girl walk in fields near their house, they see many birds and hear their distinctive calls. But a quiet bird captures the children’s attention. Sitting in her nest in a tree, the robin is alert but silent. The next morning, the duo hears sounds from the nest, beginning with “tapping cracking” and ending with “breaking shaking.” Three baby birds join the robin and her mate in the nest.

 

 

 

 

“Have You Heard the Nesting Bird?” is used with permission of Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Text copyright © 2014 by Rita Grey. Illustrations copyright © 2014 by Kenard Pak. All rights reserved.

trail tales logoThe Trail Tales’ squirrel logo was designed by Arlington student Annabella.

 

 

 

Bird Watching in Virginia

Who is Singing that Beautiful Song?

April – May is Warbler migration season in Northern Virginia, but there are great opportunities for year round bird watching in our area.

Learn more about local birds and bird watching with these books and films:

 

Finding Birds in the National Capital Area
by Claudia Wilds

Wilds provides information on birding from Delaware to North Carolina, including maps, directions, and descriptions. Accessible to the novice and detailed enough for the experienced birder.

 

 

 

The Warbler Guide
by Tom Stephenson and Scott Whittle, drawings by Catherine Hamilton

Warblers are among the most challenging birds to identify. They exhibit an array of seasonal plumages and have distinctive yet oft-confused calls and songs. The guide enables birders to quickly identify any of the 56 species of warblers in the United States and Canada.

 

 

 

Birders: The Central Park Effect
DVD [2013]

A diverse group of full of attitude, New Yorker reveals how a hidden world of beautiful wild birds in the middle of Manhattan has upended and magically transformed their lives.

 

 

 

Living On the Wind: Across the Hemisphere with Migratory Birds
by Scott Weidensaul

The one truly unifying natural phenomenon in the world, bird migration stitches the continents together. Starting at a wildlife refuge in Alaska, the author follows birds on their southward migration, discovering how birds navigate on their journeys, using the sun during the day, the stars to orient by night, or even the Earth’s magnetic field as a compass.

 

 

 

The Singing Life of Birds
by Donald E. Kroodsma ; drawings by Nancy Haver

Anyone who wonders why birds sing, if their songs are learned or inherited, why mockingbirds sing at night, or why some species mimic will find engaging answers in this authoritative and entertaining book on bird vocalizations. discusses how songs develop, different bird dialects, extremes of male song, songs in the hour before dawn, and avian species whose females also sing.

 

 

 

Bird Talk: What Birds are Saying and Why
by Lita Judge

Birds have lots of ways of communicating: They sing and talk, dance and drum, cuddle and fight. But what does all of the bird talk mean? Filled with gorgeous illustrations, this fascinating picture book takes a look at the secret life of birds in a child-friendly format that is sure to appeal to readers of all ages – whether they’re die-hard bird-watchers or just curious about the creatures in their own backyards.

 

 

Virginia Bird Watching: A Year Round Guide
by Bill Thompson III and the staff of Bird Watcher’s Digest

The birds that frequent the backyards of Virginia differ from the birds that frequent the backyards of Tennessee. In addition to unique descriptions, each bird profile includes a range map to identify each bird’s North American distribution. One hundred birds are profiled, each with a color photograph, to ensure accurate identification.

 

 

 

Build Your Own Birdhouse and Feeders
by John Perkins

Perkins, an architectural design technician, offers 25 designs for birdhouses and feeders of varying complexity. This title includes such elaborate designs as a medieval tournament tent and a log cabin, as well as a traditional dovecote and a martin condo.

 

 

100 Birds and How they Got their Names
by Diana Wells, illustrated by Lauren Jarrett

Provides a short history and illustrations of one hundred common and exotic birds, including the cardinal, goose, bird of paradise, and the flamingo.

 

 

 

A Birder’s Guide to Everything
DVD [2014]

A fifteen year old birding fanatic, thinks that he’s made the discovery of a lifetime. On the eve of his father’s remarriage, he escapes on an epic road trip with his best friends to solidify their place in birding history.

 

 

 

 

Scary Robots are Delightfully Scary

We Love Artificial Intelligence…

Even before Asimov’s “I Robot,” humans have been fascinated by the idea of artificial intelligence.

And recent films like “Her,” “Chappie” and “Ex Machina” prove that we’re still fascinated by our love and fear of robots and drones. So check out more of our favorite books and films that explore the idea of humanity – in a world where the line between humans and robots gets closer all the time.

 

Robopocalypse
by Daniel H. Wilson

In the near future, at a moment that no one will notice, all the dazzling technology that runs our world will unite and turn against us. A movie based on the original novel is in pre-production.

 

 

 

Love + Sex with Robots: the Evolution of Human-Robot Relations
by David Levy

Draws on cutting-edge research, as well as examples from cultural history and psychology, to explore humanity’s fascination with the scientific potential of emotional relationships with artificial intelligence.

 

 

 

Battlestar Galactica
DVD [2005]

After losing the war against the Cylon robots, the Battlestar Galactica crew heads toward the fabled 13th colony, Earth. Galactica Commander Adama and President Laura Roslin are facing the problems of waning supplies and crushed morale. Along the way they have to deal with the credible threat that Cylons may be aboard the ship.

 

 

Military Robots and Drones: A Reference Handbook
by Paul J. Springer

Provides a general history of robotic warfare; examines key individuals, agencies, documents, and models; discusses controversies within the field of robotic and drone warfare, such as ethical considerations; and explains how increased reliance on robotics has affected the structure and strategy of the military.

 

 

 

Flood and Fire
by Emily Diamond

In 22nd-century Cambridge, England, thirteen-year-old Lilly Melkun must try to stop the strange, uncontrollable robots that were activated when a sinister-looking chip in her hand-held computer triggered a false anti-terrorist alert.

 

 

 

The Peripheral
by William Gibson

As a favor to her brother, Flynne Fisher fills in on a mysterious job beta testing a new game. Remotely flying a copter around a high-rise building, Flynne’s job is to simply keeping the paparazzi drones away from one of the apartments, but everything changes when she witnesses a murder.

 

 

 

Blade Runner
DVD [1982]

Los Angeles, 2019: Rick Deckard of the LAPD’s Blade Runner unit prowls the steel & microchip jungle of the 21st century. His job is to track down and eliminate assumed humanoids known as ‘replicants.’ Replicants were declared illegal after a bloody mutiny on an Off-World Colony, and are to be terminated upon detection.

 

 

 

Moral Machines: Teaching Robots Right from Wrong
by Wendell Wallach and Colin Allen

Machines that look like people, fall in love, and wreck worlds may be on their way, but realistically the problem now is with computer programs that act autonomously – by playing roles in electric blackouts and blocking credit cards, and machines that drive subway trains and guide military vehicles.

 

 

 

Waiting for "A Spool of Blue Thread"?

Anne Tyler’s beautifully written tale of the Whitshank family “untangles the threads that bind and sometimes choke all of them.” (Library Journal)

Whether you’re still waiting to read “A Spool of Blue Thread,” or already read and loved it, we think you’ll also enjoy these character-driven family stories:

 

After This
by Alice McDermott

A portrait of an American family during the middle decades of the twentieth century evokes the social, spiritual, and political turmoil of the era as seen through the experiences of a middle-class couple and their children.

 

 

Olive Kitteridge
by Elizabeth Strout

In 13 linked stories that delineate the life and times of fussy but sympathetic Olive Kitteredge, Strout beautifully captures the sticky little issues of small-town life-and the entire universe of human longing, dis-appointment, and love.

 

 

Gilead
by Marilynne Robinson

As his life winds down, Rev. John Ames relates the story of his own father and grandfather, both preachers but one a pacifist and one a gun-toting abolitionist.

 

 

 

We are Not Ourselves
by Matthew Thomas

Eileen Tumulty, raised by immigrant parents in Woodside, NY, in the ’40s/50s, is determined not to settle for some boisterous, glad-handing type. Serious-minded scientist Ed Leary seems exactly the right sort to carry her to the larger world, but their marriage founders as she realizes that he really doesn’t care about increasingly bigger, better homes, cars, and jobs.

 

 

Widow for One Year
by John Irving

A girl discovers her mother in bed with a teenage boy; later the mother abandons her. Meanwhile, her father is seducing young girls. So begins the story of Ruth Cole, a famous writer struggling to overcome childhood traumas and find love.

 

 

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