THE BREWER TIMES

The Newsletter of the Brewer Public Library May 2003

ANNUAL BOOK AND BAKE SALE

The Friends of Brewer Public Library will hold their annual Book Sale and Bake Sale on Friday and Saturday, May 16 and 17, at Brewer Public Library. The sale will be held from 10:00 a.m. until 5:00 p.m. on Friday, and from 10:00 a.m. until 2:00 p.m. on Saturday.

Items for sale will include used books, CDs, videos, and DVDs. The bake sale will feature bars and cookies.

Shop for bargains, enjoy a delicious snack, and help make this major fund raiser for the Friends of the Library a major success!

How to help with the Book and Bake Sale

The Friends are currently accepting donations of used books, videos, CDs, DVDs, and cassette tapes. These materials must be in good condition, with no tears or mildew. Please do not contribute magazines, including National Geographics. Also, please do not contribute Reader's Digest Condensed Books. These items are either overstocked or have a history of not selling. If you are unable to bring your items to the library, please call the library at 647-6444 and someone will collect your donations.

To contribute to the bake sale, bring bars or cookies to the library on Thursday, May 15, or Friday and Saturday mornings, May 16 and 17.

What is Your Vision for the Brewer Public Library?

The Library Board and Long Range Planning Committee are looking for public input to create a long range plan for the library. Beginning May 9 there will be posters available in the basement of the library to which patrons may add their ideas. Contributors may remain anonymous. Participation is strongly urged. Help shape the future of the library by making your opinions known to the Board and Planning Committee.

2003 SUMMER LIBRARY PROGRAM

Sign-up for the Summer Reading Program has begun! Children involved in the summer program will visit the library one day per week for a story hour and crafts session and also participate in an at-home reading program. Participants should come prepared for fun and prizes. Sign-up now!

2003 Summer Library Program

Brewer Public Library

June 10 - July 15

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Tuesday Mornings

Ages 3-6

Time: 10:00-11:00

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Tuesday Afternoons

Grades 1-2

Time: 1:00-2:00

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"The Brunch Bunch"

Thursdays

Grades 3-4

Time: 10:00-11:00

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"The Lunch Bunch"

Thursdays

Grades 5-7

Time: 12:00-2:00

MILLENNIUM SPOTLIGHT ON CRIME NOVELS

"Disturbing, poetic, anarchic, punctuated by terrifying bursts of rage and paranoia and powerfully evocative of the lost and desperate sidestreets of American life, these are underground classics now made widely and permanently available." So The Library of America describes CRIME NOVELS: AMERICAN NOIR OF THE 1930s & 40s (Robert Polito, editor).

Crime fiction, and in particular noir fiction, owes its beginnings to the spare and aggressive style popularized in pulp magazines. The six novels in this volume contain themes of crime and guilt, treachery and violence, and the dark unraveling of the human psyche. The novels are The Postman Always Rings Twice (1934) by James M. Cain, They Shoot Horses, Don't They? (1935) by Horace McCoy, Thieves Like Us (1937) by Edward Anderson, The Big Clock (1946) by Kenneth Fearing, Nightmare Alley (1946) by William Lindsay Gresham, and I Married a Dead Man (1948) by Cornell Woolrich.

CRIME NOVELS: AMERICAN NOIR OF THE 1930s AND 40s is available along with its companion volume which covers the 1950s at the Brewer Public Library as part of its Library of America Millennium Collection of classic American Literature. This series of books preserves in authoritative volumes the best works in the history of American letters.

Karaoke Event

The Friends of the Library is a group always open to new ideas, and April 12 saw many of us getting in touch with our "inner musicians" to the beat of Rose and Gaylan Rabine's Spotlight Karaoke Service. New Library Director Michele Nolen-Karras and new Children's Librarian Ed Tiegs were welcomed loudly (and sometimes a little off-key) as they were serenaded with gusto by those brave enough to step up to the mike.

Thanks to the generous donation of their Karaoke jockey services, Spotlight Karaoke Service of Spring Green helped provide an evening of family fun and fund raising for the Friends. Nearly $300 was raised for the Brewer Public Library furniture fund. Goods and services were also donated by the Community Center, Ed's Family Foods, Burnstad's, Kwik Trip, Mobil Mart, Erik Olson and The Richland Observer, WRCO, Nova Video, and all the Friends who donated baked goods and attended our first ever Karaoke event.

A very special thank-you to Dawn Kiefer, who presented the Friends with this fund raising idea, and followed through with much of the preliminary planning. As always, her journalistic skills helped greatly with publicity efforts.

Sincere thanks to all the Friends who provided the sweat equity and made it happen: Ariel, Janet, Cindy and Tom and family, Colleen, Virginia, Michele and family, Ed and family, Harvey and Nick (my family), and all those who helped clean up. My apologies to anyone whose name I forgot; your contribution was important, but my memory is imperfect.

-Kathy Bastian, President, Friends of the Library