Screening of "A Place Out of Time"

Join us on Tuesday, February 2 at 6:30 pm for a screening of "A Place Out of Time: The Bordentown School." Dr. Leslie Wilson, Professor of History at Montclair State University, and filmmaker Dave Davidson will introduce the film and lead a discussion following the screening.

Narrated by Ruby Dee, this film tells the story of this school in Bordentown, New Jersey which was an educational utopia and cultural oasis for African-Americans for more than 70 years. Founded in 1886, the school was forced to close in 1955 after the Brown v. Board of Education decision. The demise of the Bordentown School was an unexpected casualty of the fight for social and educational justice in the Civil Rights Movement. The film features remarkable archival footage and interviews with historians and Bordentown School alumni.

"A Place Out of Time: The Bordentown School" will be featured on the award-winning PBS documentary series P.O.V. and has been screened at numerous New Jersey film festivals, including the Newark Black Film Festival.

This program is being offered through the New Jersey Council for the Humanities' "Justice: A Dialogue Through Film." It is free and open to the public.

For more information on this marvelous program, as well as this compelling documentary, go to http://www.njch.org/justicefilms.html.

Author Brad Parks on The Power of Storytelling

On Tuesday, January 26, author Brad Parks will be speaking at Caldwell College's Werner Hall at 7pm. This presentation by the former Washington Post and Star Ledger reporter is part of an ongoing collaboration among the Caldwell Public Library, Caldwell College and Mount St. Dominic Academy.

Parks, the author of a new mystery series set in New Jersey, will give a talk entitled “The Power of Storytelling: A Writer’s Journey from Journalist to Novelist,” that will touch on both his fiction and non-fiction work.

A book-signing of his new book, “Faces of The Gone” will immediately follow the talk. Copies will be available for purchase that evening.

The program is free and open to the public. For more information, please contact Karen Kleppe-Lembo at (973) 226-2837.

About the Author: Brad Parks’ debut novel, a mystery/thriller titled FACES OF THE GONE, was released from St. Martin’s Press on December 8, 2009. A reformed newspaper reporter, Brad spent a dozen years covering news and sports for The Star-Ledger and The Washington Post. His work has been recognized by the Associated Press Sports Editors, the National Headliner Awards, the National Association of Black Journalists and others. Most recently, he won the New Jersey Press Association's enterprise award for a four-part series on the 40th Anniversary of the Newark Riots.

A Phi Beta Kappa graduate of Dartmouth College, he lives with his wife, Melissa, and two young children and is currently at work on the next Carter Ross adventure. www.bradparksbooks.com.

A Visit from Spot!

Where's Spot?

On Saturday, January 23rd he will be right here at the Caldwell Public Library from 11:30 a.m. to 1:00 p.m!

Stop by and say hello. We will read some of his stories and make a simple craft with Spot visiting us periodically.

THIS WEEK AT THE LIBRARY

As we start a new week of our new year, may I suggest, if you haven't done so already, that you:

1) Stop in to renew your library card privileges, if need be.

2) Check out the showcase dedicated to Caldwell's own "The Amazing Kreskin" who will be honored tomorrow by the Mayor and Council at their evening council meeting. He will also be sharing birthday cake with us in the children's room of the library at 3:30 p.m. as he reads one of his favorite books from his childhood. JOIN US for cake and celebrating!

3) Visit The Gene and Kathryn Collerd Local History Resource Room where derivative exhibit of "The Collerd Collection," as curated by talented professional photographer (and Caldwell Public Library Board Member) Bruce White, will be on display for the month of January.

And, once you "ooh" and "aah" at the exhibit, may we suggest a LOVELY calendar created from the images contained in "The Collerd Collection," for a mere $15, and on top of everything, it will benefit the Library. We still have 2010 Calendars featuring the Gene and Kathryn Collerd Collection right here at the library.

We are open until 8 p.m. this evening and tomorrow evening, and we are open until 5 p.m. Friday and 9 a.m. until 1 p.m. on Saturday. Pick one up today, or tomorrow at Kreskin's birthday party, or any day this week you bring your children to Story Time (winter sessions start this week, did you sign up yet?), or when you come to see Spot on January 23d, or when you come to hear Brad Parks on January 26^th?

GET READY FOR LONGFELLOW

“Music is the universal language of mankind”

“Lives of great men [and women!] all remind us
We can make our lives sublime,
And, departing, leave behind us
Footprints on the sands of time”

“Listen my children and you shall hear
Of the midnight ride of Paul Revere,
On the eighteenth of April, in Seventy-five;
Hardly a man is now alive
Who remembers that famous day and year."

“There was a little girl,

Who had a little curl,

Right in the middle of her forehead.

When she was good,

She was very good indeed,

But when she was bad she was horrid”

The above quotes are but four snippets from the vast amount of Longfellow's poetry.

Our community is delighted that a third experience with The Big Read has been presented to us. After “The Shawl” as well as “The Age of Innocence” we know what is in store: Great and miraculous moments, innumerable memories, fabulous collaborations and cooperation, imaginations soaring and excitement overflowing!

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

As I type this on Friday, January 8, 2010, the first week of the new year is coming to an end I am both excited, and exhausted!

Happy New Year to all and thank you for your support and friendship, your patience and understanding, for reading, using the computers and the wifi, for being part of the summer reading programs and story hours and book groups, for checking out DVDs and CDs and downloading books and READING books, for keeping our statistics as well as our spirits high!

Winter Story Hours start next week, Spot and Brad Parks will visit the following week, and Black History Month will be observed in an amazing fashion thanks to the New Jersey Council for the Humanities and their generosity. More to follow!

In the short term - don’t forget that Caldwell’s own, The Amazing Kreskin, will celebrate his 75th birthday next week with cake at 3:30 on Tuesday, January 12, 2010 here at CPL. He will also share a book that is special to him. It is the new year, let us be grateful for each other, and try to find reasons to celebrate!