The Rhodes Local History Room at Catawba County Library has added some new books covering American wars from the colonial period to Vietnam.

Researchers seeking their roots in pre-Revolutionary North Carolina will want to consult North Carolina Militia Returns 1754-1755 and 1758-1767. The volume, published last year by Mountain Press, lists soldiers who served the British colony by fighting against Indian and pirate attacks. The book is fully indexed for easy reference.

A Vast Sea of Misery by Gregory A. Coco is an illustrated compendium of field hospitals serving both Union and Confederate wounded after the bloody battle of Gettysburg in 1863.

If you had ancestors who were in this battle, are interested in Civil War medicine or plan a visit to Gettysburg, this book is a must. Included are narratives and photos of the people and buildings in 162 locations that served the thousands of wounded after the three-day battle. The appendix includes a list of surgeons and physicians, medical observations, how wounded soldiers found aid and extensive notes.

World War II Memories of James W. Patterson is a compilation of photos, documents and narrative of the Newton native’s experiences in a POW camp near Sagan, Germany. The young man’s touching letters and experiences are strong reminders of the cost of freedom.

Mobile Riverine Force Vol. II is the history of the American River Assault Squadron from 1967 to 1968. Not only does this history include photos and narrative of time served in Vietnam, but the compilers have gone the extra mile of contacting many of the soldiers to provide updates as of 2005 along with photos. The end notes include a roster of all who served in the FMRA.

For more information about these or other historical and genealogical holdings of the Catawba County Library, visit the Rhodes Room located on the ground floor of the Main Library in Newton or check the on-line card catalog at http://www.catawbacountync.gov/library/gen/  .

More than 400 children and teens have made room for books this summer, thanks to the Summer Reading program at Catawba County Library System.

Not only have young people read more books, but they’ve had the opportunity to attend a number of activities from book talks to craft sessions, creative journaling and more. Next week, librarians will award free books to participants who have read the targeted number of titles this summer.

Library staff asked young patrons to commit to reading when they signed up for the program. The baseline goal is 15 minutes per day, or 15 hours over two months though some have committed to as much as 100 hours or more.

Those who achieve their goal will be eligible for a free book, while supplies last. Approximately $2,360 worth of free books have been purchased through grants from the George Foundation, Friends of Catawba County Library and book fair money raised at Barnes & Noble earlier this year.

Closing events for Summer Reading are scheduled at all seven locations from Aug. 4-6. If your child or grandchild participated in the library’s literacy challenge this summer, be sure he or she visits the library with their reading record at the following times:

NEWTON:  Thursday, Aug. 6, 3-5 p.m.

CLAREMONT: Wednesday, Aug. 5, 4:30 p.m.

CONOVER:  Wednesday, Aug. 5, 3 p.m.

MAIDEN: Thursday, Aug. 6, 3-5 p.m.

SOUTHWEST:  Tuesday, Aug. 4, 5-7 p.m.

St. STEPHENS:  Tuesday, Aug. 4, 6:30 p.m.

SHERRILLS FORD:  Tuesday, Aug. 4, 6:30 p.m.

                       

                                    COMING TO THE LIBRARY

                              Please pre-register for computer classes.

Main Library, 465-8664

   · Preschool story time Thursdays at 10 a.m.

   · Family story time Mondays at 6:30 p.m.

   · Sonya’s Dance Academy, July 30, 4 p.m. kids, 5 p.m. youth

   · Balls Creek history talk, 5:30 p.m. Aug. 4

   · Intro to Computers, 10 a.m. Aug. 6

   · Summer Reading closing, 3-5 p.m. Aug. 6

   · Teen Book Talk, 11 a. m. Aug. 10

   · Soldiers Reunion history talk, 5:30 p.m. Aug. 11

   · Be a Hero teen program, 4 p.m. Aug. 18

   · Blackberry class, 4:30 p.m. Aug. 18

   · You & Me Baby parenting session, 10 a.m. Aug. 19

   · Game Day, 3:30 p.m. Aug. 21

   · Teen Advisory Board, 2 p.m. Aug. 22

 

Conover Branch, 466-5108

    · Tell a Tale, 3 p.m. July 29

    · Story Time, 10 a.m. Aug. 5

    · Summer Reading closing, 3 p.m. Aug. 5

 

Claremont Branch, 459-9311

    · Tell a Tale, 4:30 p.m. July 29

    · Summer Reading closing, 4:30 p.m. Aug. 5

    · Intro to Computers, 10 a.m. Aug. 19

    · Friends of Library, 6 p.m. Aug. 25

 

Maiden Branch, 428-2712

   · Toddler stories 9:30 a.m. & preschool 10 Wednesdays

   · Knitwits needlecraft/book talk group, 6-8 p.m. Tuesdays

   · Kids games, 3 p.m. July 30

   · Summer Reading closing, 3-5 p.m. Aug. 6

 

St. Stephens Branch, 256-3030

   · Preschool/toddler story time 10 a.m. Thursdays

   · Music Makers 10 a.m. & 4:30 p.m. Aug. 20

   · Hooks & Books crochet book talk, 6:30 p.m. July 28 & Aug. 25

   · Junk art, 10 a.m. July 30

   · Summer Reading closing, 6:30 p.m. Aug. 4

   · Computer Forum, 10 a.m. Aug. 5

   · Buster Bus, 10 a.m. Aug. 13

   · Tall Tales Story Time, 6:30 p.m. Aug. 17

   · Intro to Computers, 10 a.m. Aug. 19

 

Sherrills Ford Branch, 478-2729

   · Toddler/preschool stories Wednesdays, 10 a.m. 

   · Toddler/preschool music time, 10 a.m. Thursdays

   · Art to Wear ages 12 & up, 6:30 p.m. July 28

   · Summer Reading closing, 6:30 p.m. Aug. 4

   · Friends of the Library, 7 p.m. Aug. 18

 

Southwest Branch, 294-2343

   · Toddler/preschool stories, 10 a.m. Wednesdays

   · Free GED classes, 6-8 p.m. Thursdays. Sign up at CVCC.

   · Teen Journaling, 3 p.m. Aug. 5

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Displays will be set up for patrons next month at Catawba County Library System. The displays are intended for information and education as well as entertainment.

Offerings will include:

Newton-Travel, Veterans

            Genealogy-By the sea

Claremont–Cookbooks

Maiden-Joyce Bobo’s Disney items   

Sherrills Ford-Area camp meetings

St. Stephens-”We the People” books on tall tales

Southwest-Back to School

           

The library system operates seven locations throughout the county and has more than 70,000 registered users.                                                                                                                              ¼/p>

If you’re wondering when your favorite author is releasing another book, a new brochure at Catawba County Library System may have the answer.

“Upcoming Titles by Your Favorite Authors” has been compiled by local librarians, listing new and soon-to-be released books by America’s most popular writers.

Among the titles be released this month alone are Smash Cut by Sandra Brown, South of Broad by Pat Conroy, Intervention by Robin Cook, Blindman’s Bluff by Faye Kellerman, Sand Sharks by Margaret Maron, Rhino Ranch by Larry McMurtry, Alex Cross’s Trial by James Patterson and Siege by Stephen White.

The September list includes works by Dan Brown, Garrison Keillor, Stuart Woods and more.

To place a “hold” on a new book, ask any branch library or place the hold yourself on-line using a “PIN” code. For more details contact Main Library 465-8665, Claremont 459-9311, Conover 466-5108, Maiden, 428-2712, St. Stephens 256-3030, Sherrills Ford 478-2729 or Southwest, 294-2343.

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Want to learn how to use a computer?

Catawba County Library System can help with free introductory classes.

St. Stephens Branch will offer a freestyle computer forum for patrons beginning at 10 a.m. Wednesday, Aug. 5. Adults will learn basic Windows tasks such as managing a file system, using flash drivers, saving files and customizing a computer desk top. Subjects will include such basic functions as how to use a mouse, how to attach an email file.

Job seekers are welcome to attend for instruction on typing resumes, filling out on-line job applications.

The instructor will be available only until 11:30, and individualized help will be available as time permits. The sessions are not designed to troubleshoot or fix computers, however.

Another class, Intro to Computers, will allow customers to take the first steps toward computing with the Windows operating system. Sessions will be offered at 10 a.m. Thursday, Aug. 6, at Main Library and concurrently at 10 a.m. Wednesday, Aug. 19, at St. Stephens and Claremont branches.

Intro to Word, a basic word processing class, will be held from 10 to 11:30 a.m. on Tuesday, Aug. 11, at Newton.

Those who wish to learn how to operate a Blackberry device should plan to attend a free session on Aug. 18 in Newton. Jeremy Smith, a communications specialist, will lead the 90-minute class at 4:30 p.m. that Tuesday in the auditorium. No registration is needed.

To pre-register for any one of the computer classes, call the Main Library at 465-8663, St. Stephens, 256-3030 or Claremont at 459-9311. All are part of the Catawba County Library System.

Hearing your favorite book is easier than ever, thanks to new miniaturized technology, and Catawba County Library recently acquired a number of “Playaway” books.

Playaways are smaller than a CD, bigger than a matchbox, and users simply plug headphones into the stand-alone audiobooks. Because you don’t need a specific listening device, they can be used take anywhere-jogging, on trips, the gym, bike rides.  There’s nothing to download and no special equipment to buy. If you don’t have your own earphones, you can pick up a set at the library. The idea is to get more books into your life as easily as possible.

Catawba County Library System received grant from Friends of Catawba County Library to purchase 45 titles for children and adults. In addition, 15 more titles were awarded the library system recently, thanks to Playaway company’s $100,000 Giveaway sweepstakes.

Among Playaway juvenile titles provided by Friends are six books on the current Battle of the Books list along with such classics as Anne of Green Gables by L. M. Montgomery, Charlotte’s Web by E. B. White and Lord of the Flies by William Golding. Also thanks to the generosity of Friends, adults will enjoy such popular titles as Three Cups of Tea by Greg Mortenson and The Traveler’s Wife by Audrey Niffenegger plus such literature as New Testament read by James Earl Jones.

            For more specifics, check with any branch or log on to http://catawbacountygovernment.library 

And enter “Playaways” when searching the catalog.

Summer is a good time to take a book to the beach, a mountain retreat or your backyard hammock. When life winds down a bit, it’s a perfect opportunity to become reacquainted with some old literary friends you’ve neglected-you know, the books you read years ago or ones you’ve meant to read but never got around to it.

A good story need not be hot off the press or an Oprah pick to be worthwhile. In fact, the books considered classics may be a perfect companion for a lazy summer weekend.

Haywood County Library in Waynesville has developed a list of reads that their librarians say comprises some of the best literature written. The list includes American authors that are household names among diehard readers with a few foreign authors sprinkled in. 

Some of the writers were active in the early part of the last century. A few, like Mark Twain go back further. Also on the list are several contemporary writers.  Here are books for every taste, mostly fiction, but a couple of nonfiction that had significant impact on our world. 

If there are books on this list that you’ve somehow missed, the author is here waiting for you to make the first move. All are available in print or audio formats at the Catawba County Library. Here are 40 titles to get you started:

1.  Silent Spring, Rachel Carson (non-fiction)
2. Cyrano de Bergerac, Edmond Rostand
3. Cannery Row, John Steinbeck
4. Adventures of Tom Sawyer, Mark Twain
5. Of Human Bondage, Somerset Maugham
6. Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Mark Twain
7. This Side of Paradise, F. Scott Fitzgerald
8. Pride and Prejudice, Jane Austen
9. Sense and Sensibility, Jane Austen
10. Adam Bede, George Eliot
11. Jane Eyre, Charlotte Bronte
12. Wise Blood, Flannery O’Connor
13. The Good Earth, Pearl S. Buck
14. A Room of One’s Own, Virginia Woolf
15. Go Tell it on the Mountain, James Baldwin
16. The Big Sleep, Raymond Chandler
17. The Wapshot Scandal, John Cheever
18. The Old Man and the Sea, Ernest Hemingway
19. A Farewell to Arms, Ernest Hemingway
20. To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee
21. The Chronicles of Narnia, C. S. Lewis
22. The Glass Menagerie, Tennessee Williams
23. A Distant Mirror, Barbara Tuckman
24. Animal Farm, George Orwell
25. 1984, George Orwell
26. The Name of the Rose, Umberto Eco
27. Mason & Dixon, Thomas Pynchon
28. The Color Purple, Alice Walker
29. Elmer Gantry, Sinclair Lewis
30. Lamb in his Bosom, Caroline Miller
31. Gone With the Wind, Margaret Mitchell
32. The Grapes of Wrath, John Steinbeck
33. The Martian Chronicles, Ray Bradbury
34. All the Kings Men, Robert Penn Warren
35. Arrowsmith, Sinclair Lewis
36. From Here to Eternity, James Jones
37. Ghost Story, Peter Straub
38. The Maltese Falcon, Dashiell Hammett
39. The Naked and the Dead, Normal Mailer
40. The Right Stuff, Tom Wolfe (non-fiction)

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Catawba County Library in will host amateur astronomer Jeff Whisenant July 28 to talk about the Moon and Mars Up Close.

The talk begins at 6:30 p.m. that Tuesday. The public is cordially invited to the free program.

Whisenant, communications director for the Astronomy Club, will offer insights about astronomy related to the moon and the 40^th anniversary of the first lunar walk on July 21, 1969. As part of the PowerPoint presentation, he will also address the Mars internet hoax as well. A telescope viewing of the moon and Mars will be available if weather permits.

Whisenant has been associated with the Astronomy Club for 20 years and is a past president. He and other members offer outreach educational programs about amateur astronomy and offer monthly programs as well at the Lucile Miller Observatory in Maiden.

Balls Creek Campground and Soldiers Reunion will be topics of two local history talks next month at Catawba County Library in Newton.

Sidney Halma, history consultant, author and former executive director of the Catawba County Historical Association, will join Sylvia Ray, local journalist and historian, for two evenings of anecdotes and historical facts concerning the local traditions.

The Balls Creek talk will be begin at 5:30 p.m. Tuesday, Aug. 4. Soldiers Reunion will be the topic at 5:30 p.m. on Aug. 11. Both programs are free and open to the public.

Balls Creek Campground, founded by Methodists in 1853, will be open from Aug. 9-23 this year. The complex is located on Buffalo Shoals Road southeast of Newton. The grounds, religious services and family fellowship time revolve around an open-air arbor and wooden “tents.” The place is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.   

Soldiers Reunion is one of the longest running events of its kind in the United States. Initiated in 1889 for Confederate veterans, the celebration has expanded over time to salute  veterans of later wars with patriotic speeches, a parade, food, music, dancing, contests, classic cars and a long parade which will held this year at 5 p.m. Thursday, Aug. 20.

Catawba County Library System has a variety of local history sources for further reading including histories co-authored by Halma as well as monographs, photos and other resources within the Rhodes Local History Room. For more information, call the Main Library at 464-8664.

Remember where you were on the evening of July 21, 1969?

If you’re 45 or older you, like millions around the world, were likely in front of a TV set as astronauts broadcast man’s first steps on the moon.

We all know Neil Armstrong’s line: “That’s one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind.” If you heard the broadcast in real time, you can still hear the static between the two phrases as the world held its breath for the astronaut to lower his boot onto the powdery surface.

The Catawba County Library System will help commemorate the 40^th anniversary of that event with “Moon and Mars Up Close.” Jeff Whisenant of the Catawba Valley Astronomy Club will be on hand with other astronomy enthusiasts to discuss the flight of Apollo 11 and offer closer views of the lunar surface via telescope, weather permitting. The talk begins at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday, July 28, at the Main Library in Newton.

While the American flag presumably in the same position it was left by Armstrong 40 years ago, viewers won’t be able to see it, of course. But they do hope to get view the Sea of Tranquility, where the lunar module landed with Armstrong aboard.

Included in Whisenant’s discussion will be the infamous Mars hoax that’s circulating around the internet…the story that Mars is to appear as large as the moon come August. That one has been circulating by email since at least 2003.

In a lunar mode, the Main Library is currently exhibiting the original Charlotte Observer edition commemorating Apollo 11 along with other space-themed items including poster-sized color photos taken by NASA of recent space shuttle flights.

In the lunar mode, you may want to check out a video or a book on the subject.  Kids may enjoy the 2008 DVD, Fly Me to the Moon, which features Apollo 11 in the plotline. Multiple copies are available in the library system.

Youth and adults will be more interested in James R. Hansen’s First Man, the biography of Armstrong available in both audio and print formats.

Check the library website at http://www.catawbacountync.gov/library for availability of these and other Apollo 11 materials.