Daniel Boone Regional Library

Three months of reading and preparation have led to this moment: the announcement of our teen book tournament finalists! Thank you to all the students who have shared their favorites with us. So far, we’ve collected over 180 ballots from dozens of area teens. With each round teens have voted, their name has been entered into a drawing for a free Barnes & Noble gift card, or an autographed copy of “Legend” by Marie Lu! Prize winners will be announced on  next Wednesday, April 3 when we announce our tournament champion. 

March Madness Teen Book Tournament Finalists

1. “Mockingjay” by Suzanne Collins
2. “Divergent” by Veronica Roth

Don’t forget to vote for your favorite title by Monday, April 1 at 5 p.m. You may vote online at teens.dbrl.org or pick up a paper ballot at one of our three branch locations. 

We recently added “Girl Model” to the DBRL collection. The film is playing this week on the PBS series POV and currently has a rating of 93% from critics at Rotten Tomatoes. Directors David Redmon and Ashley Sabin, who also directed “Mardi Gras: Made in China“ and “Kamp Katrina,” showed the film on the MU campus in February of 2012. Here’s a synopsis from our catalog:

Follows an American modeling scout as she seeks new talent in Siberia and attempts to find work for 13-year-old Nadya Vall in Tokyo’s modeling industry, which favors young girls.

Check out the film trailer or the official film site for more info.

80 years ago this March, the original 1933 film “King Kong” debuted at Radio City in New York. I’ve recently had the pleasure of checking out and listening to the audiobook “Merian C. Cooper’s King Kong” by Joe Devito and Brad Strickland, an expansion of Cooper’s original story. This audiobook is different from many others in that each character is voiced by a different actor. Instead of hearing a single reader throughout the adventure, you have a soft, gentle voice of a woman speaking Ann Darrow’s lines (and screaming them) and a rough, no-nonsense sailor as Jack Driscoll. There’s even music and sound added for effect! Listening to this audiobook is like experiencing an old-fashioned radio drama.

And man! Talk about a story! There have been not one, not two, but three movies based on this fantastic adventure tale, retold through the lens of the times. From the original by Merian C. Cooper himself in 1933 to Peter Jackson’s period piece in 2005, each retelling has everything from love and terror to, finally, destruction.

Here are a few things you might not know about King Kong. Kong is often depicted as a huge gorilla, but in the original story (as adapted by authors Joe Devito and Brad Strickland in this audiobook), Kong is really a primal giant! He is described as something beyond beast but before man and just as vulnerable to beauty as any creature. The descriptions in the book lend themselves to paint Kong as something of a missing link between man and ape, which is probably why the movie producers took the particular liberties that they did. Also, Kong can be read as a metaphor for slavery. White men come to a remote island, capture Kong and bring him to America chained at the bottom of the boat.

Celebrate Kong’s anniversary yourself by listening to the audiobook or learning more about Kong’s creator Merian C. Cooper in the biography “Living Dangerously,” by Mark Cotta Vaz.

80 years ago this March, the original 1933 film “King Kong” debuted at Radio City in New York. I’ve recently had the pleasure of checking out and listening to the audiobook “Merian C. Cooper’s King Kong” by Joe Devito and Brad Strickland, an expansion of Cooper’s original story. This audiobook is different from many others in that each character is voiced by a different actor. Instead of hearing a single reader throughout the adventure, you have a soft, gentle voice of a woman speaking Ann Darrow’s lines (and screaming them) and a rough, no-nonsense sailor as Jack Driscoll. There’s even music and sound added for effect! Listening to this audiobook is like experiencing an old-fashioned radio drama.

And man! Talk about a story! There have been not one, not two, but three movies based on this fantastic adventure tale, retold through the lens of the times. From the original by Merian C. Cooper himself in 1933 to Peter Jackson’s period piece in 2005, each retelling has everything from love and terror to, finally, destruction.

Here are a few things you might not know about King Kong. Kong is often depicted as a huge gorilla, but in the original story (as adapted by authors Joe Devito and Brad Strickland in this audiobook), Kong is really a primal giant! He is described as something beyond beast but before man and just as vulnerable to beauty as any creature. The descriptions in the book lend themselves to paint Kong as something of a missing link between man and ape, which is probably why the movie producers took the particular liberties that they did. Also, Kong can be read as a metaphor for slavery. White men come to a remote island, capture Kong and bring him to America chained at the bottom of the boat.

Celebrate Kong’s anniversary yourself by listening to the audiobook or learning more about Kong’s creator Merian C. Cooper in the biography “Living Dangerously,” by Mark Cotta Vaz.

The Gateway Readers Award honors a young adult book as selected by high school students, while the Truman Readers Award is chosen by junior high students. Even though these awards are administered by the Missouri Association of School Librarians (MASL), it is the responsibility of Missouri teens to choose the actual winner.  Based on circulation figures throughout our library system, DBRLTeen predicts that the following books will be recognized as this year’s top titles:

Predicted Gateway Readers Award winners:

• First Place: “Ship Breaker” by Paolo Bacigalupi
• Second Place: “Rot and Ruin” by Jonathan Maberry
• Third Place: “Before I Fall” by Lauren Oliver

Predicted Truman Readers Award winners:

• First Place: “The Grimm Legacy” by Polly Shulman
• Second Place: “Virals” by Kathy Reichs
• Third Place: “Girl, Stolen” by April Henry

The actual award winners will be announced at the MASL Spring Conference in mid-April.  Subscribe to our email updates to have the results delivered directly to your inbox!

The Gateway Readers Award honors a young adult book as selected by high school students, while the Truman Readers Award is chosen by junior high students. Even though these awards are administered by the Missouri Association of School Librarians (MASL), it is the responsibility of Missouri teens to choose the actual winner.  Based on circulation figures throughout our library system, DBRLTeen predicts that the following books will be recognized as this year’s top titles:

Predicted Gateway Readers Award winners:

• First Place: “Ship Breaker” by Paolo Bacigalupi
• Second Place: “Rot and Ruin” by Jonathan Maberry
• Third Place: “Before I Fall” by Lauren Oliver

Predicted Truman Readers Award winners:

• First Place: “The Grimm Legacy” by Polly Shulman
• Second Place: “Virals” by Kathy Reichs
• Third Place: “Girl, Stolen” by April Henry

The actual award winners will be announced at the MASL Spring Conference in mid-April.  Subscribe to our email updates to have the results delivered directly to your inbox!

The first time I learned about Earth Hour, I was in Portland, Oregon. My husband and I had had a nice evening stroll along the Willamette River and were returning to our hotel, tired but relaxed. Yet when the hotel appeared in our view, we immediately recognized that something was wrong. Seriously wrong. The multi-floor building was dark, and only the hotel lobby was illuminated.

“What’s going on?” I said. “Is this a power outage or a disaster-preparedness drill?”

“Probably the first,” my husband said. “All nearby hotels are dark, too!”

Concerned, we hurried to our hotel, but as we went through its revolving door and looked around, we immediately calmed down. The brightly lit lobby was decorated with colorful balloons. Several trays with sandwiches, soft drinks and cookies were placed here and there, and quite a few people sat around the tables, eating, talking and smiling, while a dozen kids gathered around the cookie tray.

“We’re observing Earth Hour,” a receptionist told us. “Would you like to join us?”

We did. We got some punch and my favorite chocolate chip cookies, and we joined a group sitting in the middle of the lobby. Everybody seemed friendly and talkative, the way people often are when they don’t have to hurry. They were from all over the country – some came for conferences or meetings, some for a visit, and some to tour the city and surrounding area. Nobody made them stay in the lobby, but instead of going to their rooms and turning on their TVs, these people chose to stay. And even though they didn’t talk about climate changes or negative effects we humans have on our planet, they showed their solidarity to the cause all the same.

That was several years ago. These days, I don’t have to travel to Portland to learn about environmental initiatives. In 2010, The City of Columbia opened its own Office of Sustainability responsible for spearheading efforts in making our community environmentally friendly. There you can learn about the city’s initiatives and also about many things we all can do to make mid-Missouri greener. And if you’d like to educate yourself even further, come to your local library. We offer information on a wide variety of environmental issues: greenhouse effect, climatic changes, sustainable living, renewable energy and more.

Still, as much as we’d like you to read our books, on Sunday, March 23, please turn off your lights between 8:30 and 9:30 and go for a walk. Better yet, invite your friends to join you, too! And if you’d like to extend your efforts beyond one hour, you have many opportunities to do so, including recycling, participating in an Earth Day celebration on April 22, planting a tree (that you receive from one of the library’s Arbor Day programs) or talking to your kids about why that is important. In the end, whatever you decide to do, keep in mind a Native American Proverb:

“We do not inherit the earth from our ancestors, we borrow it from our children.”

March 25:  “Chasing Ice” 5:00 p.m. & 7:00 p.m. Forum 8. (via)
March 25 & 28: “Time Zero: The Last Year of Polaroid” 7:00 p.m. on the 25th and 5:00 p.m. on the 28th at Forum 8. (via)

Spring Break is only days away and DBRLTeen has some suggestions for a fun-filled vacation. Whether you are flying to a sunny beach somewhere, road tripping with the family, or just chillin’ at home, there is plenty of time to reconnect with your favorite books and authors. Personally, I’m looking forward to spending my Spring Break lounging on the couch and reading “The Clockwork Princess” by Cassandra Clare. While away from school, you might consider…

• checking out some of the contending titles in our March Madness Teen Book Tournament. Submit your vote for a chance to win a Barnes & Noble gift card, or a free autographed copy of “Legend” by Marie Lu!
• gathering your art supplies and designing an entry for the library’s Summer Reading Bookmark Contest.
• submitting a book review for publishing at teens.dbrl.org.
•  perusing some of our most popular booklists like “Books for Dudes” and “Teens’ Top Ten Winners.”
• downloading some of our most most popular teen titles as an eBook or audiobook for your iPod Touch, iPhone, iPad, Android, Nook, Kindle, or other mobile device.

We recently added “Photographic Memory” to the DBRL collection. The film currently has a rating of 94% from critics at Rotten Tomatoes and is the latest from director Ross McElwee who also directed the films “Sherman’s March“ and “Bright Leaves“. Here’s a synopsis from our catalog:

Filmmaker Ross McElwee finds himself in frequent conflict with his son, a young adult who seems addicted to and distracted by the virtual worlds of the internet. To understand his fractured love for his son, McElwee travels back to St. Quay-Portrieux for the first time in decades to retrace his own journey into adulthood. A meditation on the passing of time, the praxis of photography and film, and the digital versus analog divide.

Check out the film trailer or the official film site for more info.

Several years ago, after a long flight to the West Coast, I arrived safely in Los Angeles while my luggage ended up in Canada. After that hot mess, I vowed to streamline the way I travel.

As you might expect, I no longer check my bags. This has forced me to prioritize and carefully plan before I ever start packing. The forethought spent while still at home usually saves me a great deal time and hassle in the long run. I’ve learned that you can save a lot of space simply by rolling your clothes instead of folding them. I also stockpile beauty samples; purchase clothes made from low-maintenance, wrinkle-free fabrics; and appreciate a comfortable, versatile pair of shoes.

Like most modern-day travelers, I also depend quite heavily on my mobile devices when flying the friendly skies. I use my iPhone to keep track of my travel itinerary and check-in for my flight. I use my iPad to store music, games and eBooks to avoid added weight in my carry-on. Below is my list of essential apps for all tech-savvy travelers.

TripIt – After creating a free account, you simply forward your airline itinerary and hotel confirmation to plans@tripit.com. Your reservations are then organized into an easy-to-read online document that can be emailed or accessed from your mobile device. Available for Apple, Android, Blackberry and Windows devices.

GateGuru – Locate the best food, shopping and service options within any airport. This app is wonderful if you have a long layover or delayed flight. Available for Apple, Android and Windows devices.

Yelp – Need to find the nearest pharmacy? Need a recommendation for a good local restaurant? Yelp uses your smartphone’s GPS feature to help you locate local businesses and other nearby resources. Available for Apple and Android devices.

DayOne – Quickly and easily enter your thoughts and photos in this elegant journal app. Best of all, any scandalous exploits can be kept secret with an optional passcode. Available for Apple devices only.

Do you have a favorite travel app or other travel-related resource to recommend? Let us know in the comments field below!

VOTE NOW through March 25 for the final two contending titles!

The competition is getting fierce in the March Madness Teen Book Tournament!  We’ve had some epic upsets and some crushing defeats. Even though “The Grimm Legacy” was knocked out in the second round, author Polly Shulman asked us to thank all her readers for their support. In an email she sent, Cassandra Clare seemed nervous about her book facing off against “Breaking Dawn“; however, “Clockwork Prince” defeated Stephenie Meyer’s book easily.  Literary goddess, Lois Lowry, even emailed to thank DBRLTeen for the good news of how well “The Giver” has been doing.   How will it all end up?  Stay tuned to teens.dbrl.org; and, as James Dashner encouraged on his Twitter feed, “Vote!”

March Madness Teen Book Tournament: Final 4

1. “Mockingjay” by Suzanne Collins
2. “Maze Runner” by James Dashner
3. “Divergent” by Veronica Roth
4. “Clockwork Prince” by Cassandra Clare

How the March Madness Teen Book Tournament Works:

Through a series of votes, we are narrowing the library’s list of the 32 most popular teen books to one grand champion. By supporting your favorite book, you’ll also be entered to win prizes like a gift card to Barnes & Noble, or a free autographed copy of “Legend” by Marie Lu! Prize winners will be announced on April 3 when we announce our book tournament champion.

• Round 1: Voting complete for the Sweet 16.
• Round 2: Voting complete for the Elite 8.
• Round 3: Voting complete for the Final 4.
• Round 4: VOTE NOW through March 25 for the final two contending titles.
• Round 5: Vote March 26-April 1 for the book tournament champion.
• April 3: The champion is announced!

Don’t forget to vote for your favorite two contending titles by Monday, March 25 at 5 p.m. You may vote online at teens.dbrl.org or pick up a paper ballot at one of our three branch locations. Limit one ballot per person, per round.  Winners from this round of competition will be announced next Tuesday, March 26.

We recently added “The Rolling Stones: Charlie Is My Darling - Ireland 1965” to the DBRL collection. The film played at Ragtag Cinema last November and currently has a rating of 100% from critics at Rotten Tomatoes. Here’s a synopsis from our catalog:

Filmed in 1965 but never released, this is a behind-the-scenes look at the Rolling Stones’ tour in Ireland just after “(I can’t get no) Satisfaction” became a number one hit. Witness the band’s first professionally filmed performances, the riots their appearances created, travel through the Irish countryside by train, time spent in motel rooms during impromptu songwriting sessions, and more.

Check out the film trailer or the official film site for more info.

Not all mystery-lovers want blood and gore, thank you very much. Some of us prefer to follow amateur detectives relying more on wits than weapons and look for books written in the style of Agatha Christie. An organization called Malice Domestic bestows Agatha Awards each year to the best mysteries published in the United States that contain no explicit sex or gratuitous violence. If you are looking for a good traditional mystery, each year’s list of nominations is a great place to start. Below are this year’s nominees for best novel. The 2012 winners will be announced at an awards banquet on May 4, 2013.

• “The Diva Digs up the Dirt” by Krista Davis
• “A Fatal Winter” by G.M. Malliet
• “The Buzzard Table” by Margaret Maron
• “The Beautiful Mystery” by Louise Penny
• “The Other Woman” by Hank Phillippi Ryan

See more nominations for Agatha Awards in a number of categories, as well as past winners, at Malice Domestic’s site.

Not all mystery-lovers want blood and gore, thank you very much. Some of us prefer to follow amateur detectives relying more on wits than weapons and look for books written in the style of Agatha Christie. An organization called Malice Domestic bestows Agatha Awards each year to the best mysteries published in the United States that contain no explicit sex or gratuitous violence. If you are looking for a good traditional mystery, each year’s list of nominations is a great place to start. Below are this year’s nominees for best novel. The 2012 winners will be announced at an awards banquet on May 4, 2013.

• “The Diva Digs up the Dirt” by Krista Davis
• “A Fatal Winter” by G.M. Malliet
• “The Buzzard Table” by Margaret Maron
• “The Beautiful Mystery” by Louise Penny
• “The Other Woman” by Hank Phillippi Ryan

See more nominations for Agatha Awards in a number of categories, as well as past winners, at Malice Domestic’s site.

For Valentines Day, two of our libraries put together blind date with a book displays, allowing readers to check out and take home a “mystery” book. We asked those readers to let us know how the date went. Disaster? Love at first sight? Here are the comments from a couple of our readers, dishing the juicy details of their dates. (Did you go on a blind date with a book? It’s not too late to rate your date!)

Your blind date book: “Dragonswood” by Janet Lee Care
So, how was it? Incredible
What was your first impression? This could be interesting.
Rating: five hearts
Comments: I found my blind date at the Ashland library. An incredible book, it was a fun piece of fantasy fiction with a nod to historical fiction. With excellent writing, great characters and fun adventure, this book is a warm cup of cocoa on a wintry night (with extra marshmallows)!

Your blind date book: “Freedom” by Jonathan Franzen
So, how was it? Incredible
What was your first impression? This could be interesting.
Rating: four hearts
Comments: I loved the book display and appreciate you going to so much trouble. It was really fun to get a book I would never have known to pick up. I wanted to comment further about my “date.” At one point, I thought “This guy is really long winded. Does he have to go on and on and on like he does to get the character study made effectively?” If I was really on a date, I’d be running for cover! However, by the end, I was very impressed with the psychological study interwoven with the current tough times we live in. Thanks!!

Your blind date book: “Black Water Rising” by Attica Locke
So, how was it? Better than I expected.
What was your first impression? This could be interesting.
Rating: three hearts
Comments: I was pleasantly surprised by the book. It’s something I probably wouldn’t have found on my own. I would like to see a display like this remain as a permanent fixture at the library.

March 14: “Deep Green” 7:00 p.m. at Tate Hall Auditorium. (via)
March 15: “Tchoupitoulas”starts at Ragtag. (via)
March 21: “God in the Box” 7:00 p.m. at Ragtag. (via)

Wii U Launch Party
Wednesday, April 3 › 6-8 p.m.
Columbia Public Library

Test drive the library’s new Wii U game console. Become a ghost hunter in “Luigi’s Ghost Mansion,” defeat evil aliens in your own “Metroid” spaceship, or team up with your friends to conquer Bowser in the new “Super Mario Bros.” We’ll also have snacks and a selection of the library’s newest teen fiction, music and DVDs for you to check out. Don’t have a library card? We’ll have library card applications on hand for your parent or guardian to sign. Ages 12 and older. Registration begins Tuesday, March 19. Call (573) 443-3161 to sign up!

Grey Gardens is a 1975 documentary film by Albert and David Maysles that was a successful hit. The documentary, filmed in the Maysles brothers “direct cinema” style, introduced the public to a quirky mother and daughter pair both named Edith Beale. The peek into the world of “Little Edie” and “Big Eadie” has fascinated a generation, inspiring several different works based in the world of Grey Gardens.

“The Beales of Grey Gardens”

Released in 2006, this film is composed entirely of left over footage not used in the original documentary. It’s a sequel of sorts, giving more insight into the way the Beale’s lived their life. It was released by the Criterion Collection, who also re-released the original documentary in 2001.

“Grey Gardens — The Musical”

The film was adapted into a musical that premiered in New York in 2006. The musical follows the mother-daughter pair from being high society aristocrats to their isolated home life depicted in the original documentary. DBRL has the original Broadway cast recording on CD.

“HBO’s Grey Gardens”

This is a fictional film based off of the documentary that premiered on HBO in 2009. The film fills in the back stories of both women as played by Drew Barrymore (“Little Edie”) and Jessica Lange (“Big Edie”). The film won several Primetime Emmy and Golden Globe awards.

We use the word kin pretty loosely. Personally, I come from a large, blended family and have a network of very close friends, all of whom I consider family or kin. But what is kinship? In today’s world of reproductive technology, shifting ideas about marriage and evolving gender roles, kinship is a slippery term with a fascinating cultural history explored by a number of fields, from anthropology and evolutionary biology to women’s studies and law. March 15-17, the 2013 MU Life Sciences & Society Symposium “Claiming Kin“ will examine the evolution of kin groups and these changing notions of kinship. Visit the symposium’s website to see the full schedule, affiliated events, and to register for all or portions of this free event. Here are just a few of the highlights.

It’s me or the in-laws!: The Rocky Relationship between Couples and Kin
Friday, March 15, 7 pm, Jesse Auditorium
Enjoy this keynote address from Stephanie Coontz (Evergreen State College), author of the award-winning  book “Marriage, a History: How Love Conquered Marriage.” Coontz will trace changes in marriage from an institution that supported loyalty to parents to one that competes with it.

Kinship Mitigates Violent Conflict
Saturday, March 16, 9 am, Jesse Auditorium
Martin Daly (University of Missouri) discusses how theories of social evolution are relevant to modern human behavior, particularly violence within families.

It’s All Relative
March 2-31, Perlow-Stevens Art Gallery, Columbia, MO
This art exhibit, held in conjunction with this year’s MU Life Sciences & Society Symposium, explores the evolution of kin groups and evolving notions of kinship.

For memoirs, cultural histories and other works about families and social relationships, see our “Exploring Kinship” catalog list.