Library News

The Library's Summer Reading Program theme this year is "Book A Trip", it goes until August 1 so there's yet time to get started, and you can find out more about it from the Library's web site.

It's Disability Pride Month, and the Library has more information about that.

You could find out about these sorts of things in a slightly more timely manner by subscribing to the Library's mailing list. Like us, they send one or two messages per month, more usually one.

You can find out about other things they want you to know from the Palo Alto City Library Blogs page. Or you can subscribe to them with an RSS reader.

-Frank McConnell

 
Home & Crafts

This July in Fashion, don't miss Josh Sims' Icons of Women's Fashion. Or maybe you'd like The Little Black Book of Style and The New Girl Code. Try a biography, Obsession: The Life and Times of Calvin Klein. Home decorating includes At Home with Town and Country, Conran's Do It Yourself Design, Lynette Jennings Straight Talk on Decorating, and Martha Stewart's How to Decorate. You'll also find multiple titles for kitchen and bath. Home building features The Well-Built House; home maintenance includes Let Go of Clutter. Regional designs include: French Interiors, Paris Interiors, and The Paris Apartment. Don't miss The Spirit of African Design.

This month in Floral Arts we have The Knot Book of Wedding Flowers by Carley Roney. To get away from it all, try the national bestselling coloring book, Color Me Calm. This summer, take a craftbook on vacation with The Palo Alto City Library's Summer Reading Program. The fun theme for kids and adults is "Book a Trip". You will help this year's library cause, Pupcycled, a nonprofit that makes toys from recycled clothes. Why not learn a craft together with one of the many books in our July collection? New in Crafts is The Chinese Brush Painting Studio. Or perhaps try The Polymer Clay Cookbook: Tiny Food Jewelry to Whip Up and Wear. Other jewelry to make includes DIY Wrap Bracelets and The Beaded Edge. For the home potter there's The Beginner's Guide to Hand Building. In Fabric Arts we have an easy-level sewing guide, Simple Modern Sewing: 8 Basic Patterns to Create 25 Favorite Garments. Look for Birds and Beasts in Needlepoint. Quilting resources include Old Swedish Quilts and Bed and Breakfast Quilts, among others. You'll also find knitting and embroidery. Try a craft this summer and help a cause!

eShelf photos can be found at <https://fopalbooks.com/crafts.html>.

-Virginia Perry

 
Antiques & Collections

In the month of July it's all about antique rugs: Persian, Navajo, and Chinese, among others. There's also several references on Chinese furniture. We have a few volumes on clocks and watches, and interesting titles on jewelry. Then there's books like Beads of the World, The Button Lovers Book, and my favorite, Nutcrackers. Look for stamps, coins, antique guides, and other resources for your collecting reference.

eShelf photo can be found at <https://fopalbooks.com/crafts.html>.

-Virginia Perry

 
Poetry

July's for Independence Day
For flags and speeches and for play.
First, let's have a little fun
With limericks for everyone.
Undaunted by Dante, we give him a shelf
And Goethe as well, one all to himself.
So come and find what you can see
And wave a flag for poetry.

https://fopalbooks.com/poetry.html

-Mandy MacCalla

 
European Languages

European Languages received a lot of Spanish books, mostly fiction, and 2 Playaway preloaded audiobook players ($3 each). We also got a fair number of French books, including Contre-enquête sur la mort d'Emma Bovary (a novel proposing that she was actually murdered). Many are discards from other libraries. There are two shelves of Italian books, and one of Polish, which wouldn't fit on the shelves last time.

-Susan Strain

 
Judaica

Browse the Judaica section for books on the Jewish religion and culture including editions of the Torah and other basic texts, Kabbalah, Jewish history, the Holocaust, memoirs, Israel, Jewish Women, the Jewish American Experience and other related subjects.

Special interest this month:

• The Artists of Terezin
• The Hundred Years' War on Palestine
• Thou Shalt Innovate: How Israeli Ingenuity Repairs the World
• Christopher Columbus's Jewish Roots
• Come and Hear: What I Saw in My Seven-and-a-Half-Year Journey through the Talmud
• The Lonely Days Were Sundays: Reflections of a Jewish Southerner

Most fiction with Jewish themes will be found in Modern Literature/Classics or Current Fiction. Books entirely in Hebrew are shelved in the European Languages section.

Shelf photos at <https://fopalbooks.com/judaica.html>.

-Charlotte Epstein, Judaica Section Manager

 
Pop Up Music Sale

This month the Pop Up Music Sale will be expanded to four tents and feature a wide range of desirable CDs along with a newly curated trove of vinyl, including a special box of High Value Releases that have been carefully cleaned for high fidelity play.

-George Chaltas

 
Children's Room

Slow summer?? Not in the Children's Room! Our shelves are full of high-quality books, games, toys, and puzzles, at extremely low prices.

Along with our usual plethora of Activity section games and graphic novels, we are excited to feature a variety of beautiful and unusual Folkmanis hand puppets! And once again, we have an abundance of Mathematics materials for families and classrooms. In addition to textbooks and workbooks, we offer manipulatives such as Cuisenaire rods, negative integer tiles, and tangrams. Look for the return of the "Logic" bin, as well as a selection of books by renowned mathematics educator Mary Laycock.

On the Non-fiction table you'll find an assortment of enjoyable and educational books for parents, teachers, and students too--to boost reading skills--plus some overstock bargain sale items.

Check out the Picture Book series bucket for tons of Berenstain Bears, Tonka truck stories, Golden Books, and Sesame Street books. On the Board Books counter there is a wonderful selection of good-quality Eric Carle stories. We also offer several Madeline deluxe paperbacks, and some good-quality hardback Disney story collections.

For Beginning Readers we have a good selection of Mo Willems' Elephant and Piggie books, as well as lots of paperback Henry and Mudge books. There are also many sets of books for early readers, and fun books on science, history, and biography.

Look on the DVDs shelves for kids and families DVDs, all at great prices, including a selection from Studio Ghibli and many Disney favorites.

And we have Parenting books for parents of teens and younger kids, including travel guides for families. There's plenty of summer left to travel!

-Carolyn Davidson

 
Children's Vintage

We've got the usual full shelves in Children's Vintage, but we've also got some special features for the July sale. This month's featured Instagram book is Walt Disney's Cinderella illustrated by Retta Scott, the first woman animator at Disney Studios. Creative Director of Disney Publishing Worldwide, Ken Shue, described Retta's work: "Her Cinderella storybook illustrations are very stylized," he observed. "I keep the Cinderella cover framed on an easel outside my office. It's a very detailed, complex composition that informs and inspires our art staff daily. It’s show-stopping." See it for yourself at FOPAL's Instagram page @friendsofthepaloaltolibrary and buy it at this weekend's sale! Continuing with our mission to highlight illustrators, this month we are featuring Ingri and Edgar d'Aulaire (known for their beautiful color stone lithography and American biographies); Maurice Sendak (probably best known for Where the Wild Things Are, but also the illustrator of several books for older children); Leslie Brooke (leading children's book illustrator of pen-and-ink line drawings and watercolors in late 1800s England); and of course, the inimitable Dr. Seuss (no parenthetical explanation necessary!) In addition, our series collection this month contains those early 20th century war stories aimed directly at boys, stressing war/bravery/loyalty/camaraderie (Boy Allies, Boy Volunteers, Yankee Flier, Army Boys and Two American Boys). And finally, if that's all a little too heavy for summer reading, try some Beverly Cleary! We have half a shelf full! Shelf pictures are available at www.fopalbooks.com.

-Lisa Heitman

 
Sociology/Anthropology

Out of 466 books featured in the Sociology/Anthropology section in July, I want to highlight one. It is the 1999 book The Big Test: The Secret History of the American Meritocracy by Nicholas Lemann, an American writer and academic who once served as dean of the Graduate School of Journalism at Columbia University. The book is a "critical account of the 'untold' history of the SAT as the key measure for determining people's fates in America’s meritocratic society of post-World War Two," according to one reviewer. However, it offers much more, as the following quote from the book shows: "Decent schooling, the absolute prerequisite to a decent life in America today, should be thought of as something that Government guarantees to every citizen as a matter of right. It shouldn't be left to local authorities to screw up, any more than flight safety should." At the time of its publication, as it is now, the topic of the book is at the center of a highly contested and crucial debate in society about the country's system of school education--its quality as well as how it should be organized.

-Natalia Koulinka

 
Bargain Room Science

450 volumes popular science. Some in the Bargain Room's Science section, more in wooden shelves under the front window in the big (same) room, more in other overflow areas in the big room. Look for signs.

-Frank McConnell

 
History

Thinking about a cruise? This month History got a large donation of books on Captain Cook and his voyages. If you're thinking of staying closer to home, there's a nice 11 volume set of Durant's History of Civilization that will keep you occupied!

History has been getting more older volumes of interest: one is John Gunther's 1938 overview of Europe, updated to include the Munich Conference. There is also a set of the 1885 edition of Grant's memoirs (a set of two volumes, in poor-fair condition, but a steal, and a copy of volume 1 only in good condition). And there's the usual eclectic collection of books on US and world history, with a focus this month on Black History.

-Lin McAllister

 
Donations

We accept donations on Monday through Saturday from 3-5 pm in the Main Room. But we close to donations in the week before the sale so that we can prepare the Main Room for the sale, which means that we are closed for donations from Sunday July 6 through Sunday July 13. Please hold your donations until Monday July 14.

Please read our donation guidelines before you bring materials to us.

 
Suggestions?

We're always eager to hear your suggestions for ways to improve our book sale. Please email us at suggestions@friendspaloaltolib.org.