Preview Shelf -- Spring Break Activities

Next week, during "spring break", the Youth Services Department at the Crawfordsville Library will offer story times on Monday at 4 o'clock for elementary school children, on Tuesday at 10 a.m. for babies and 6:45 p.m. for families, on Wednesday at 10 a.m. for toddlers, and Thursday at 10 a.m. and 2 p.m. for preschoolers. Craft projects will be available during library hours from Monday through Thursday. The new book "Fra Angelico" by Diane Cole Ahl contains plates of his wondrous Christian art made in the late Middle Ages in Florence, Italy. You can also travel happily by armchair by spending an evening with "Paris Memories of Times Past" by Solange Hando with 75 paintings by Mortimer Menpes. "The Line Upon a Wind" by Noel Mostert takes the reader back to 1793 when France declared war on Britain and covers the next 22 years of Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars; the narrative describes the unforgiving life that seamen endured fighting at sea. "Boom!" is Tom Brokaw's book about The Sixties and what happened, how it shaped today, how it gave lessons for tomorrow. Recipe books are now being issued as new ideas and as history. "America Eats" by Pat Willard is a journey into the regional nooks and crannies of American cuisine when WPA writers in 1935 documented chuck wagon parties, church socials, food festivals, political feasts, and a sheepherders' ball. "The World is a Kitchen" edited by Jordan and Brady relates first person experiences with international foods so the reader is cooking his/her way through culture stories like "A Taste of Ghana", "A Cooking School in Bangkok", and "Drowning the Snail". Mary Gunderson's "The Food Journal of Lewis & Clark" offers recipes from the expedition, enhanced by the explorers' almost-every-day words about food. Liz Edmunds just issued "The Food Nanny Rescues Dinner" with easy meals for every day of the week. These books are colorful, well explained, and tempting reasons to get right to work. Here are delicious ideas about nature, both animal and human. "Growing Trees from Seed" by Henry Kock gives the whole truth, some of it quite simple. "Welcome to the Aquarium" by Julie Diamond is an expert teacher's system for routines and rituals children need to thrive, showing how that knowledge can be put to work in any children's classroom. "Dogology" by Vicki Croke and Sarah Wilson tells what your relationship with your dog reveals about you. Under sea life species are described by Bill Harrigan in "Diving & Snorkeling - Florida Keys". The identification photo book "Hawaiian Reef Fish" comes from Casey Mahaney. Perhaps the largest book of the year so far, "Equus" by photographer Tim Flach, is the seven-year project on several continents studying breeds both familiar and surprising, with fresh approaches to photography to obtain special spectacular shots. "The Last Polar Bear" by Steven Kazlowski is also a photographic journey, this time to the Arctic to show this amazing animal and the dangers to its habitat during global climate change. "Let's Talk Turkey" by Rosemarie Ostler has recorded the stories behind America's favorite expressions, like "Let the chips fall where they may", "Say uncle", and "Keep the ball rolling". Dana Jennings' "Sing Me Back Home" chronicles the years 1950 to 1970, the golden age of twang, highlighting the iconic voices and images of country music to explain what the music means to us today. "Factory Girls" by Leslie Chang looks into the everyday lives of today's migrant worker population in China, following two young women over three years as they try to rise from their assembly line.