The library is currently open Monday through Friday from 10:00am-5:30pm and Saturday 9:30am-12:30pm. The Children's Room and Archives are open by appointment. Please call for details: 207-582-3312.

Children’s Room

Marcel Marceau

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It is always enlightening to learn something about a person which changes ones entire perspective about who that individual truly was.
My perception of the legendary mime, Marcel Marceau, was that of a talented performer who’d enjoyed a long career of entertaining audiences around the world.  And although this was correct, he was so much more.  Born Marcel Mangel, a Jew, in Strasbourg, France, he joined the French underground during WW II and was instrumental in rescuing hundreds of Jewish children by leading them out of France over the high Alps to the safety of Switzerland. He also altered the identity cards of children so they would appear too young to be sent to the labor camps and certain death.
Learn more about this actor “without words” in the book Monsieur Marceau by Leda Schubert, illustrated by Gerard Dubois or Marcel Marceau: Master of Mime by Gloria Spielman, illustrated by Manon Gauthier.  Both books are located in the children’s room.
 Charlene Wagner, Children’s Librarian

Children’s Room isn’t for children any more!

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This is for those adults who do not adventure up into the children’s room, thinking there is nothing there for them. Do I have an author for you!

Phillip Hoose is an amazing children’s writer who lives in Portland, Maine. He has a list of books that he have been published and one that stands out in the library world is The Race to Save the Lord God Bird (2004). This book received the Lupine Award, an award given to an outstanding children’s book with a Maine connection.

Phillip Hoose has a new book coming out in July 2012 that explores another story about a bird referred to as the Moonbird. B95 is a shorebird that was banded in 1995. This bird has flown the distance to the moon and halfway back during its astoundingly long lifetime of nearly 20 years – hence its name. “Meticulously researched and told with inspiring prose and stirring images, this is a gripping, triumphant story of science and survival,” says the Kirkus Review. The book includes photographs, source notes, bibliography and an index.

We anxiously await the arrival of Phillip Hoose’s book. Check his books online and reserve a copy or come into the library. We’d love to see you.

Book jacket illustrations found at Google Images.
 

From the Children’s Room

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Several months ago the Children’s Room started a
1stSaturday of each month story hour.
Time 10 AM to 10:30AM
New books are introduced with an old favorite added in now & then.
Come join us June 2nd for our next Saturday story hour.
The American Library Conference has been held in New Orleans several times in the past so when I read a review for a book about Jean Lafitte, the hero of New Orleans I was curious.
Jean was raised by his Jewish grandmother after his mother died and from her he learned how their family suffered for practicing their faith at the hands of the Spanish government.
He vowed to become a pirate and capture all vessels flying the flag of Spain.  Although a biography for younger children,  Jean Lafitte: the Pirate Who Saved America by Susan G. Rubin, packs a great deal of history in its 47 pages.  I learned fascinating facts about the War of 1812 and the pirates who saved New Orleans.  Hopefully ALA will be held there again!
Book jacket illustration was found a Google images.