Wednesday, June 29, 2011

Author Paula Butturini to Appear at Bernardsville Library




Paula Butturini, a former Chicago Tribune and UPI foreign correspondent and author of Keeping the Feast, One Couple's Story of Love, Food and Healing in Italy, will speak about her book at Bernardsville Public Library on Thursday, July 14 at 7:00 pm. The book was an Editor’s Choice Selection by The New York Times in March 2010.

Ms. Butturini and John Tagliabue, a writer for The New York Times, met in Italy, fell in love, and four years later married in Rome. But less than a month after the wedding, tragedy struck. They had transferred from their Italian paradise to Warsaw and, while reporting on an uprising in Romania, John was shot and nearly killed by sniper fire. Although he recovered from his physical wounds in less than a year, the process of healing had just begun. Unable to regain his equilibrium, he sank into a deep sadness that reverberated throughout their relationship. It was the abrupt end of what they'd known together, and the beginning of a new phase of life neither had planned for.

A story of food and love, injury and healing, Keeping the Feast is a memoir of nourishment and restoration in Italy after a long period of tragedy. It is a contemplation of the extraordinary sustaining powers of food, family, friendship, and grace and the story of the reverberations set off by that one bullet up and down the generations of her entire family, and how they fought for nearly twenty years to find the new place in the world.

Ms. Butturini was born in Bridgeport, Connecticut and grew up along Long Island Sound. She received her B.A. from Wellesley College and has spent most of her adult life in Europe, working and freelancing for numerous U.S. newspapers and the old United Press International in London, Madrid, Rome, Warsaw, and Paris.

Books will be available during the program for purchase and signing. There is no charge to attend the program, but advance sign-up is requested. Register online at http://www.bernardsvillelibrary.org/ and follow the link under Adult Programs, or call the library at 908-766-0118 to sign up.

Monday, June 27, 2011

Forty Years of Graphic Art & Illustration @ Bernardsville Library



Drawings and illustrations by Thomas Calvin Houtz will be on display at Bernardsville Public Library during the summer months of July and August. Mr. Houtz, a Bernardsville resident, works in meticulous detail, and his subjects include antique cars, aircraft carriers, naval destroyers and a series of images of general stores within a 20-mile radius of Bernardsville.

Mr. Houtz was born in Summit and graduated from Bernards High School. After working for Kenyon & Eckhardt, an advertising agency, and a number of magazines such as Newsweek, House and Garden, and Automobile Quarterly, he struck out on his own to become a freelance graphic artist. He is the author of “Paddy’s Racing Potato,” a whimsical tale of Paddy, an Irish mechanic, who creates a racing potato to compete against other racing vegetables in the famous French Grand Prix des Legumes. He has also illustrated a series of Tin Can calendars and has a new children’s book in progress.

The exhibition will be on view during regular library hours unless a meeting is in progress. For further information, call the library at 908-766-0118.

Wednesday, June 15, 2011

Free Computer Classes @ Bernardsville Library

Thanks to the federal Broadband Technology Opportunity Program (BTOP) grant, Bernardsville Library will offer computer classes for the unemployed and under-employed to improve their job search skills. Four hands-on, in-depth classes will be offered on Wednesdays at noon during the month of July. [Classes run approximately four hours.]

Windows Operating System: Wednesday, July 6 at 12:00 pm
This class is for non-computer users seeking to gain a basic understanding of PC components and operations in the Microsoft Windows environment including proper start-up and shut down of the operating system, running application programs, managing and organizing files, folders, and printing.

Microsoft Office Word: Wednesday, July 13 at 12:00 pm
This class will cover the basic elements of Microsoft Word, Office 2010. Emphasis will be on the development of a résumé and cover letter.

Using the Internet in a Job Search: Wednesday, July 20 at 12:00 pm
This class will provide in the basic usage of the Internet, understanding of website addresses, introduction to the major web search engines, and elements of a web search with specific emphasis on web based job searches.

Using Email in a Job Search: Wednesday, July 27 at 12:00 pm
This class will teach the proper usage of web based email, email etiquette, responding to job listings, and online applications. Personal email accounts will be created for those that need them.

The training comes as part of a $5.1 million National Telecommunications and Information Administration American Recovery and Reinvestment Act grant to support the New Jersey State Library’s Broadband Technology Opportunity Program (BTOP). The program’s goal is to make New Jersey’s libraries strategic job-creating facilities by adding computer workstations, upgrading Internet connectivity, and providing job search assistance and workforce development programs.

There is no charge to attend the classes, but advance sign-up is required. Register online at www.bernardsvillelibrary.org and follow the link under Adult Programs, or call the library at 908-766-0118 to sign up.

Monday, June 13, 2011

Heart Health—Understand the Numbers



Take a big step towards living a longer, healthier life. Come to Bernardsville Public Library on Tuesday, June 28 at 7:00 pm when Karen Ellis, RN BSN, will give a lifestyle seminar on heart health and understanding hypertension and cholesterol. Ms. Ellis, who is Community Health Programs Manager for the VNA of Somerset Hills, will present important facts and valuable tips for managing and reducing risk of these two threats to your cardiac health.

Ms. Ellis has been with the VNA of Somerset Hills since 1991. Her first position was as program nurse for the Adult Day Center. She currently manages agency community health programs including community flu clinics, visits to the chronically ill and frail elderly, and health education programs. She also supervises a team of nurses who provide services under our Health Department contracts. She graduated from Muhlenberg Hospital School of Nursing and Seton Hall University.

There is no charge to attend the program, but advance sign-up is requested. Register online at http://www.bernardsvillelibrary.org/ and follow the link under Adult Programs, or call the library at 908-766-0118 to sign up.

Friday, June 10, 2011

Memoirs & Coffee Book Group to Meet



The next meeting of Bernardsville Library’s book discussion group, Memoirs and Coffee, will be held on Tuesday, June 28 at 10:30 am in the library’s Community Room. Pat Kennedy-Grant, Readers’ Services Coordinator for the library, will lead the discussion of Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother (2011) by Amy Chua. [The author will not be present.]

The book, which caused heated discussion when it was first published, is the honest, often hilarious, and always provocative story of one mother’s adventure in extreme parenting. It exposes the clash of Eastern and Western parental worldviews, but is ultimately the story of a mother’s hopes for her daughters and the risks she is willing to take to invest in their future. Tom Brokaw wrote of the book, “Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother is the book we’ve all been waiting for—a candid, provocative, poignant, and vicarious journey through Chinese American culture.”

Author Amy Chua is the John M. Duff Professor of Law at Yale Law School. Her first book, World on Fire: How Exporting Free Market Democracy Breeds Ethnic Hatred and Global Instability, a New York Times bestseller, was selected by both The Economist and the U.K.'s Guardian as one of the Best Books of 2003. Her second book, Day of Empire: How Hyperpowers Rise to Global Dominance-and Why They Fall, was a critically acclaimed Foreign Affairs bestseller. She lives in New Haven, Connecticut.

There is no charge to attend the book discussion, and no sign-up is needed. For further information, call the library at 908-766-0118.

Tuesday, June 7, 2011

Bernardsville Library Summer Reading Clubs Kick-Off









One World, Many Stories: That’s the theme of Bernardsville Library’s Reading Club for children this summer. Children can expand their horizons when they travel, but they can also expand them by reading about other lands, listening to others who have traveled, and enjoying music, dance, games and stories from other cultures. That’s what will happen at the library this summer.

Sign-up for all summer activities begins Monday, June 20, and the official kick-off will take place on Saturday, June 25 at 1:00 pm with Wild Animals and Wallaby Tales, a traveling zoo that will be an amazing, comical, and educational experience for families.

One World, Many Stories is the summer reading club theme adopted by New Jersey and across the United States for children aged 2½ to Grade 6. You Are Here will be geared toward teens in Grades 7 to 12. Travel and foreign countries will be the subject of many of the activities at the library—focusing on the United States, India, Egypt and many more locales. There will be weekly craft programs, drop-in story times, and incentives and prizes to encourage reading, all of which are designed both to entertain and challenge children through the summer months.

Plenty of special events are scheduled, ranging from songfests with local musician Jeanne DePodwin (Mondays, July 11 and 25 at 7:00 pm); open chess games and tournaments under the direction of Martin Sobin (Wednesdays, June 29-July 20 at 7:00 pm); a performance by Kit’s Interactive Theatre, The Mysteries of Ancient Egypt (Thursday July 14 at 3:00 pm); Peacock Surprise with Enjoy Explore India (Thursday, August 4 at 6:00 pm); and Road Trip USA, a “trip” across the country led by tour guides from the library’s Teen Advisory Council (Saturday, July 16, 1:00-3:00 pm). Older children and teens will enjoy a henna (mehndi) workshop (Monday, August 1 at 6:30 pm) and make a connection to Indian culture with Move to the Music, Bollywood Style! with Enjoy Explore India (Thursday, August 4 at 7:00 pm).

Importance of Reading
Studies show that reading as a leisure activity is a powerful tool to increase reading comprehension, speed and vocabulary. Significant learning losses can occur over the summer if children don't read. The idea behind the summer reading programs is to help motivate children to read, to develop positive attitudes about reading and books, and to help students maintain and improve reading skills while they have fun.

Sign-Up
The summer reading clubs are open to readers aged 2½ through high school. Sign-ups for all programs begin Monday morning, June 20 when the library opens. The programs will run from Saturday, June 25 through Friday, August 19. This year, for the first time, special logbooks, in which participants record reading minutes to earn prizes, will be available to download from the library’s website. Middle and high schoolers will be able to earn community service hours in a book buddy reading program. Registration is open all summer. There is no charge to attend the programs, but advance sign-up is usually required. Register online at http://www.bernardsvillelibrary.org/ and follow the link under Kid Stuff, or call the library at 908-766-0118 to sign up.

The Power of "RE-" A Workshop with Andrea Mastrobattista

Inspirational speaker Andrea Mastrobattista will host her next workshop, “The Power of RE: Rejuvenate Your Spirit,” at Bernardsville Public Library on Wednesday, June 22 at 7:00 pm.

“These monthly workshops will help you REplenish your energy, REdiscover your dreams and even REclaim power over your life,” says Ms. Mastrobattista, “Come to learn about the Power of RE and choose your own RE- word to focus on this year!”

There is no charge to attend the library workshop, but advance registration is requested. Register online at http://www.bernardsvillelibrary.org/, and follow the link under Adult Programs, or call the library at 908-766-0118 to sign up.

Wednesday, June 1, 2011

“Moms Mentoring Moms” Will Hear from College Students

Bring a bag lunch on Wednesday, June 15 at noon and listen as a panel of college freshman, recently back from school, discuss their first year experiences and what would have been helpful to know in advance. “Moms Mentoring Moms” is a monthly program designed for parents of high school students and seeks to provide a forum in which parents can come together for an opportunity to interact with other parents to provide support and insight as they wade through the high school years with their children. Both Moms and Dads are welcome.

There is no charge to attend the program, but advance sign-up is requested. Register online at www.bernardsvillelibrary.org and follow the link under Adult Programs, or call the library at 908-766-0118 to sign up.