Albert Lea Public Library

Catch Me If You Can!

Catch Me If You Can by Frank Abagnale and Stan Redding is not a new book but, if you've already read it, it bears reading again and if you haven't read out you're missing out on the highly entertaining true story of a consumate con man. "Truth, in Frank Abagnale's autobiography, is more entertainingthan fiction. Abagnale, one of the world's most brilliant con men and impostors, re-creates the events that had police in the U.S. and twenty-six countries searching for him--all before his twenty-firstbirthday. From his impersonations of an airline pilot, pediatrician,professor, assistant attorney general, and federal agent, through hisseemingly limitless check swindles, this book tells it all in superbdetail." reviewed by AudioFile

Happy Birthday, Beatrix Potter!

Helen Beatrix Potter, better known by her middle name as Beatrix Potter, was born today in 1866.  Born in London, England, her family spent their summer holidays in the Lake District of northern England where Beatrix practiced her watercolors by trying to capture the scenery and animals she saw.  Look for her beautifully illustrated books in the children's library:

The Tale of Peter Rabbit (1902)
The Tale of Squirrel Nutkin (1903)
The Tailor of Gloucester (1903)
The Tale of Benjamin Bunny (1904)
The Tale of Two Bad Mice (1904)
The Tale of Mrs. Tiggy-Winkle (1905)
The Tale of the Pie and the Patty-Pan (1905)
The Tale of Mr. Jeremy Fisher (1906)
The Story of A Fierce Bad Rabbit (1906)
The Story of Miss Moppet (1906)
The Tale of Tom Kitten (1907)
The Tale of Jemima Puddle-Duck (1908)
The Tale of Samuel Whiskers or, The Roly-Poly Pudding (1908)
The Tale of the Flopsy Bunnies (1909)
The Tale of Ginger and Pickles (1909)
The Tale of Mrs. Tittlemouse (1910)
The Tale of Timmy Tiptoes (1911)
The Tale of Mr. Tod (1912)
The Tale of Pigling Bland (1913)
Appley Dapply's Nursery Rhymes (1917)
The Tale of Johnny Town-Mouse (1918)
Cecily Parsley's Nursery Rhymes (1922)
The Tale of Little Pig Robinson (1930)

Trivia Question #8 - Hint

Question: What is the title of the young adult novel by Gail Carson Levine that puts a fun twist on the Cinderella Story?

Hint: Two years ago, this book was made into a movie staring Anne Hathaway (and it's not The Princess Diaries).

Answers can be sent via e-mail or submitted in person at the Adult Circulation Desk.

World History

If you're looking for information on world history take a stop by HistoryWorld.  This website is searchable by person, event, region or time, including premade timelines as well as the chance to make your own.  Take a tour through time or test your knowledge by playing the Whizz Quiz.

Summer Reading - Week 8

This is the final week of the Children's Summer Reading Program "Dragons, Dreams and Daring Deeds." To celebrate the end of the program and thank all the children who participated, the library will have a Medieval Festival.  There will be games, crafts and snacks for everyone! Please join us for a good time!

                                                      Medieval Festival

                            Wednesday, July 26th

                                       2:00 p.m.

                  At the Gazebo (across from the library)

Freeborn County Historical Museum and Library

If you're looking for information on local history or want to research ancestors in the Freeborn County area, the best place to go is the Freeborn County Historical Museum Library.  Located next to the fairgrounds, the historical museum may be best known for the historical village located behind it.  Inside the main building, though, is an extensive library of local history information.  Wether you're a beginning researcher, or a pro, stop by and see what they have to offer.

Trivia Question #8

What is the title of the young adult novel by Gail Carson Levine that puts a fun twist on the Cinderella Story?

Answers can be sent via e-mail or submitted in person at the Adult Circulation Desk.

'Tis Herself by Maureen O'Hara

Biographies offer a look into the private and personal lives of famous and historical people.  Autobiographies, in my opinion, can be even better because they offer a personal picture of someones life and experiences.

'Tis Herself by Maureen O'Hara is one of the most entertaining works of non-fiction I have read.  According to Booklist "O'Hara looks back on her lengthy and legendary career in a captivating chronicle of Hollywood's heyday. O'Hara was known for her shimmering red hair and smoldering green eyes, and by looks and talents coincided with the advent of Technicolor movies, yet from Rio Grande to The Quiet Man, the roles she played on screen often mirrored her off-stage persona: tough, courageous women trying to survive in, as she puts it, an "absurdly masculine" world. Highly principled and high-spirited, O'Hara would go toe-to-toe with the tabloids and knock heads with studio brass. Throughout it all, she remained a woman of both physical and moral strength and integrity. In an open and sincere look back at a tumultuous career that spanned more than six decades, from London's Abbey Theatre to the Great White Way, O'Hara tells her own story as only she can: honestly, frankly, and unapologetically." reviewed by Carol Haggas

For more biographies and autobiographies, look in the 921 section in the library.

A Walk on the Moon

On July 21, 1969 Neil A. Armstrong and Edwin "Buzz" Aldrin became the first men to walk on the Moon.

Trivia Question #7 - Hint

Question: Orson Scott Card's book Enchantment uses the russian version of what popular fairytale?

Hint: Look here for a synopsis of the plot, or check it out from the library, call number SF CAR.

Answers can be sent via e-mail or submitted in person at the Adult Circulation Desk.

American Heritage Magazine Online

American Heritage is a magazine dedicated to the history of the United States.  American Heritage's website provides access to archived issues from 1954 to the present.  Online, you can read articles from the current magazine, search through the archives or look at articles on preselected topics.  Registration is optional and not required to access any of the articles but does allow you to receive email updates when articles that you are interested in are posted, vote in daily polls and participate in discussion forums.

In addition, the library subscribes to this magazine so feel free to come in and read it or check out an issue or two. 

Summer Reading - Week 7

                                                          Medieval Magic

Chris Harveaux will be at the Children's Library on Wednesday, July 19th to demonstrate his talent of making medieveal armor.  He uses no modren tools, mostly hammers and rivets, and creates armor for humans, horses and even dogs!  It is not something you will get a chance to see everyday. 

Medieval Armor Maker, Christ Harveaux

               Wednesday, July 19th

                            2:00 p.m.

              in the Children's Library

History with David McCullough

David McCullogh is best selling author of several books chronicling significant events or people in history including the following titles:

The Johnstown Flood
The Great Bridge (About the building of the Brooklyn Bridge)
The Path Between the Seas: The Creation of the Panama Canal 1870—1914 
Mornings on Horseback  (About Theodore Roosevelt)
Brave Companions: Portraits in History (17 Mini-biographies)
Truman (921 Truman)
John Adams (921 Adams)
1776 (973.3 McC)

*Library call numbers are in parentheses

Jack the Ripper and Sequel: The Gruesome Side of History

Portrait of a Killer: Jack the Ripper Case Closed by Patricia Cornwell (364.1523 Cor)
"Cornwell, author of the popular Kay Scarpetta mystery series, turns her hand here to nonfiction to explore a subject that recently has thoroughly riveted her attention: none other than the ultimate in unsolved serial murder cases, that of Jack the Ripper. Readers will remember that the Ripper plunged London's East End into abject terror for a few months in 1888, during whichtime he brutally murdered several prostitutes. Cornwell applied modern investigative and forensic techniques to answer the question of the Ripper's identity, hardly leaving a single stone unturned in gathering evidence, which she presents in this absolutely absorbing book. Who was Jack the Ripper, then? Cornwell points her finger at Impressionist painter Walter Richard Sickert, and her indictment rests on, amongother things, DNA testing and matching watermarks on envelopes. She adeptly sets the whole horrifying story within the tenor of life inVictorian England, and the result is a well-constructed, endlessly fascinating account that is sure ... to arouse debate. reviewed by Brad Hooper for Booklist

The Devil in the White City: Murder, Magic and Madness at the Fair that Changed America by Erik Larson (364.1523 Lar)
"Not long after Jack the Ripper haunted the ill-lit streets of 1888 London, H.H. Holmes (born Herman Webster Mudgett) dispatched somewhere between 27 and 200 people, mostly single young women, in the churning new metropolis of Chicago; many of the murders occurred during (and exploited) the city's finest moment, the World's Fair of 1893. Larson's breathtaking new history is a novelistic yet wholly factual account of the fair and the mass murderer who lurked within it." reviewed by Publisher's Weekly

Trivia Question #7

Orson Scott Card's book Enchantment uses the russian version of what popular fairytale?

Answers can be sent via e-mail or submitted in person at the Adult Circulation Desk.