Library News

Our Mitchell Park item mentions the Library's Summer Reading Program whose theme this year is "Book A Trip", which started on June 1 but 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 Pride month, and the Library is celebrating LGTBQIA+ stories and voices.

And Independence Day on Friday, July 4, on which day all Library branches will be closed. Plan accordingly!

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

 
Members' Early Sale This Month

This month is a Members' Early Sale in our Main Room which means some early openings on Saturday for FOPAL members.

At 8am, members can pick up tickets for early admission to the Main Room. Non-members can also join at this time. Expired memberships can also be renewed. Bringing your membership card can help us find you in our database but is not required.

At 9am, the Main Room opens to Life Members and Sponsors. At 10am, the Main Room opens to other Members.

At 11am, the Main Room opens to everyone (as usual, but the line is usually shorter).

The Bargain Room and Children's Room open at their usual times.

There's more info on our web site.

-Frank McConnell

 
Computers

Interesting new books on AI prompts, Rust, and Ruby. Plus comp.sci. classics from the 1970s.

-David Cortesi

 
Home & Crafts

This June in Fashion, it's all about the accessories, from Caroline Cox's Vintage Shoes to John Peacock's Fashion Accessories: The Complete 20th Century Sourcebook. So you want that Parisian look? Try How to be a Parisian Wherever You Are, or Parisian Chic: A Style Guide. Then there's HRH: So Many Thoughts on Royal Style by Elizabeth Holmes. Looking for unique gifts for Father's Day? Just for you: Life Hacks: Any Procedures or Actions that Solve a Problem, Simplify a Task, Reduce Frustration, Etc. in One's Everyday Life. Just a little more humor for Dad: Dave Barry's Homes and Other Black Holes. Home decorating ranges from Michael Taylor Interior Design to Zona Home Essential Designs for Living, and Sarah Nettleton's The Simple Home, plus many titles for kitchen and bath. For a complete catalog of textiles and sources check out Judith Miller's The Style Sourcebook. Designs by region feature San Francisco: A Certain Style, and John Finton's California Luxury Living: A Private Tour, plus the beautiful Italia: The Art of Living Italian Style.

This month in Floral Arts look for Flowers for Weddings by Pamela McNicol. You'll also find The Five Minute Flower Arranger by Jane Newdick, and Colleen Mullaney's Faux Fabulous Florals. There are two new floral resources: Flower Color Theory and Flower Color Guide. In Fabric Arts this June you'll find a new array of knitting styles: Strands of Joy: 20 Colourwork Knitting Patterns for Calm, Knitting Lingerie Style, and Sweaters from the Seaton Collections, to name a few. Look for sewing, crocheting, embroidery, and needlepoint guides. Quilting titles include The Weekend Quilter and Mini Quilts from Traditional Designs. In Crafts there are several books on Origami and many new mandala coloring books.

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

-Virginia Perry

 
Antiques & Collections

In the month of June we received multiple titles on Depression Glass: Elegant Glassware of the Depression Era, Very Rare Glassware from the Depression Years, and Bedroom & Bathroom Glassware, among others. There are two copies of The Au Hang Collection of Chinese Snuff Bottles. You'll find Classic Dolls by Marco Tosa, photographed by Graziella Pellicci. Another find: Frank Lloyd Wright: Interiors and Furniture. And don't miss Radio Flyer: 100 Years of America's Little Red Wagon. 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

Ring slender bells an elfin tune
To summon all the elves of June -
Say Poetry's found another space
And now presents a brand new face.
Where Drama once did reign supreme
Now Poetry forms a different theme.
You'll find us by the exit door,
Shelves filled from ceiling to the floor.

https://fopalbooks.com/poetry.html

-Mandy MacCalla

 
Children's Room

Five weeks since our May sale means that our shelves are unusually full for June. Don't miss the books for Father's Day, graduation, and the Fourth of July. And Non-fiction is having a 50% off sale on select Lego books this month--plenty of ideas to keep builders busy this summer.

On the counter under the front windows is our bountiful collection of board books, pop-ups, and flap books, full of eye-appeal and entertaining stories, some classic and others unusual and original. The Picture Books sections offer many series, including Froggy, Curious George, Peppa Pig, Pete the Cat, and Sesame Street, among others. We are also well stocked with giftable hardback and paperback picture books. There are four box sets of Ninja Life Hacks (8 books per set): Mover and Shaker, Growth Mindset, Emotions and Feelings, and Leadership.

The World Languages section offers books in numerous languages, including a large donation of books in French this month. Asian languages are also well represented.

Check out our School-age Fiction section for some great finds. Featured in the entry area to the section is a Special Edition of The Swiss Family Robinson by Johann Wyss ($25 on Amazon, $8 at FOPAL). On the Classics shelves there are a number of excellent book sets: The Naughtiest Girl by Enid Blyton, a Dick King Smith story collection, and two boxed collections of Narnia by C. S. Lewis. Also look for several gift-quality classic books; fans of Greek mythology will love the two beautifully illustrated books by Rick Riordan: Greek Gods and Greek Heroes. And don't miss The Odyssey: A Pop-Up Book. Help your children maintain their reading skills with some of our popular early chapter book series: Captain Underpants, Dragon Masters, I Survived, Ivy and Bean, Stink, and Magic Tree House. Finally, in the Award Winners section, look for Brian Selznick's stunningly illustrated books: Wonder Struck, The Marvels, and The Invention of Hugo Cabret.

We have a huge selection of Beginning Readers books, including lots of Henry and Mudge paperbacks and small sets of books, all for great prices. Love Elephant and Piggie? We have many of those, too. And for teachers, many early readers on science, history, and biography that are perfect for classroom library shelves.

It's Garfield galore! This month, our Graphic Novels section features dozens--yes, dozens--of Garfield comic books. And if you're a fan of Dog Man or other Dav Pilkey titles, we have those in English and several other languages. At the opposite end of the room, our Math/Science table is overflowing with mathematics books, perfect for summertime reviewing and previewing. Our offerings include K-12 textbooks and workbooks (including several from the Beast Academy series), as well as Math Olympiad problem books. Be sure to peruse our new "Logical Reasoning" bin, too. On the Activities island and Giftables shelves you'll find games for all ages, with several in brand-new packaging. And on our puzzle shelves we have a first for the Children's Room--a set of "Uncle Goose" wooden blocks decorated with pictures and rhymes.

-Carolyn Davidson

 
Sociology/Anthropology

For the upcoming sale, the Sociology/Anthropology section features 433 books. The largest sub-section--Theories and Methods--includes 112 titles, ranging from classics of sociological thought by Max Weber, Erving Goffman, Georg Simmel, and C. Wright Mills to several introductory books on sociology. This section also highlights Juvenescence (2015) by Robert Pogue Harrison, Professor Emeritus of French & Italian at Stanford University. In an interview with KQED, Harrison reflects on our youth-centric culture, observing that "the older generation aspires to be young, while the young live as if born into a vacuum of history."

Another notable title is The Belt and Road City (2024), co-authored by Simon Curtis, associate professor of international relations at the University of Surrey and senior fellow at the Chicago Council on Global Affairs, and Ian Klaus, founding director of Carnegie California. Their 2023 Foreign Affairs article, "China's Path to Power Runs Through the World's Cities," serves as a compelling prelude to the book. This book can be found in the Foreign Affairs and Immigration sub-section.

-Natalia Koulinka

 
Humor

We have a first appearance in Humor of the late, lamented Louise Rennison with eight volumes from her ten volume series Confessions of Georgia Nicolson all in perfect condition. It's a bumper month for cartoons with over 70 books, ten from the New Yorker. Another first are two volumes from the irrepressible Don and Phil also in perfect condition. However the most peculiar book of the month is Kafka Sud AB [translated into English as Kafka for Beginners] containing humorous essays about Kafka. It is illustrated by one of the greatest cartoonists of all time, Robert Crumb, and if that's not enough, it's in French.

Shelf photos may be found at <https://fopalbooks.com/humor.html>.

-Nigel Jones

 
Philosophy

Usually Philosophy gets 4 or 5 boxes of donation but this month we received around 20! This means that the shelves are mostly full of new arrivals and many will be in next month's sale. Also many have gone to our Bargain Room - you should definitely check out what is on sale there!

This month's sale includes Aristotle (10), Kierkegaard (6), Plato (6 including the Collected Dialogues), Thoreau (5), and Wittgenstein (11, the most we have ever had). The Kant collection (12) has been moved to the left case, bottom shelf, and all repriced for the Members' Early Sale.

Next month's specials will be Dewey and Ontology.

Shelf photos may be found at <https://fopalbooks.com/philosophy.html>.

-Nigel Jones

 
Nature

As we start the summer months and the days get longer, it's a perfect time to pick up guide books so you can keep your cell phone in your pocket and enjoy analogue beauties of books and nature. This month we have many, many guide books for local wildflowers and trees in California and nearby states. Don't sleep on the laminated pamphlets for as little as $1, or books about learning to use the bounties of the land, from coastal foraging to wilderness survival to living off grid.

-Serena Bramble

 
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:

• My Israel Trail: Finding Peace in the Promised Land
• Stolen Words: The Nazi Plunder of Jewish Books
• The Beast That Crouches at the Door: Adam & Eve, Cain & Abel and Beyond
• The Iranian Talmud: Reading the Bavli in Its Sasanian Context
• The Gazelle: Medieval Hebrew poems on God, Israel, and the Soul
• Aharon Appelfeld: From Individual Lament to Tribal Eternity
• Sacred Trash: the Lost and Found World of the Cairo Geniza

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

 
Music Pop Up Sale

This month the Music Pop Up Sale will be featuring a wide selection of Pop and Jazz vinyl from a large estate donation. In addition, a carefully curated group of CDs will be offered as well as some classical laser discs. Stop by our tents outside the Main Room entrance for a closer look!

-George Chaltas

 
European Languages

In European Languages, we received a large donation of Italian books, including lots of Sciascia, Moravia, and Calvino, and other serious fiction. Some are from the collection of a professor of Italian who wrote the literary prize(s) the book won on the flyleaf.

We also received a lot of books in Polish, generally fiction or history.

-Susan Strain

 
Children's Vintage

It might be the June sale, but we are already thinking ahead to July 4th, Independence Day! We have many, many books celebrating our country's birthday and founding ideals. What better time than today to check them out and remind ourselves of how much we owe our forebears and how much we have to lose! Paul Revere, George Washington and the Star-Spangled Banner all figure prominently! On a lighter note, the vintage toy sale was such a big hit last month that we have restocked the shelves with vintage toys again. Quite an eclectic collection ranging from a vintage Mille Bornes card game to a record caddy for 45s to remote control fighting drones.

In addition, for younger readers, we have created a new section specifically for fairy tales and myths written especially for those not quite ready for some of the more gruesome stories of Grimm and Andersen. And we have an entire section this month of behavioral guides written for the younger set: books with names like Handling Your Ups and Downs, Making Up Your Own Mind and the like. Never too young for self-help!

Older readers are in for a treat with a nice Oz book (Lucky Bucky in Oz) carrying on the Oz tradition but written by his illustrator, John R. Neill, and/or an entire selection of Freddy the Pig hardbacks, one in dust jacket.

Finally, FOLLOW FOPAL ON FACEBOOK AND INSTAGRAM! We're trying to increase our online visibility on Facebook, eBay and Instagram so we can highlight some of our wonderful offerings and generate more sales to support our public library. One of our children's vintage books is the star of Instagram this month (@friendsofthepaloaltolibrary). John Brown, Rose and the Midnight Cat by Jenny Wagner tells the gentle story of love, acceptance and adapting to new circumstances as John Brown (the dog) struggles to let the Midnight Cat into the life of his Rose. You can find this title prominently displayed in the vintage section next to the collectibles.

Shelf pictures are available for all of these items at fopalbooks.com. And you can find even more children's vintage books at our eBay store.

-Lisa Heitman

 
Self-Help/Personal Growth

June is BIG BARGAIN month in Self Help/Personal Growth! Look for a top shelf with a row of books priced more than 50% OFF of the cheapest on-line price, including multiple copies of Every Man a Hero, Every Woman a Coach. There are 4+ shelves of 'Popular on Amazon' books including multiple copies of The Prism (2025). Featured books, Popular on Amazon, include: Searches: Selfhood in the Digital Age; The Next Day (both 2025); The Right Kind of Wrong; and The 5 Types of Wealth. All these Awesome Books are up for grabs! Browse the 4 shelves of New Arrivals and the 2 bays of Sub-Sections, including some recent ones like: 'Books with Workbooks', 'Narcissism', 'Melody Beatty books' and 'NLP (Neurolinquistic Programming)'. May you have a Joyful June and beyond.

-Marnie

 
Mitchell Park Library Store

If you are unable to make it to our monthly sale the FOPAL store in the Mitchell Park library is a very good shopping alternative. The store is open seven days a week during library hours. It is located on your left as you enter the library. Our shelves are restocked every day except Sunday. Our entire stock is rotated regularly so that customers always have new items to peruse. Prices are comparable to the Main Room with most books priced at $2 and $3 unless marked otherwise on the front cover of the book. We love to find unique books that surprise our customers.

We stock most of the major sections of the Main Room including Art, Business, History, Politics, Cooking, Mystery and Fiction of all genres i.e. Classic, Historical, Sci Fi, Romance. You will also find the smaller sections represented such as Health, Entertainment, Psychology etc. We also sell DVDs, CDs, Puzzles, Children's books and the FOPAL Book Bags to carry your purchases home.

Every month we feature a special on our kiosk. This month we have two specials. Our main special on the front side of the kiosk is Travel. We are featuring Travel narratives about countries world wide as well as books on travel activities closer to home such as hiking, visiting national parks, etc. Since the library Summer Reading program theme this year is "Book a Trip" you will be able to find many "trip" related books at the MP store.

The second special is Knitting. FOPAL recently received an extremely large donation of knitting books. We have both hardback and paperback books on every knitting item that you can think of. Beginning on Saturday, June 14 all knitting books will be sold on a two for the price of one. If the books are priced differently the sale price is based on the higher priced book. Knitting is on the back side of the kiosk and also on a black cart located at the entry of the store. Both of these specials will probably continue until the end of June.

A FOPAL volunteer staffs the store every day except Sunday for two hours in the mid to late afternoon. Payments are on the Honor System. You can pay with cash in the cashbox (preferred) or using a QR code for Zelle or PayPal. If you use either of these please add MP for Mitchell Park in the description line.

If the Mitchell Park Store is not convenient for you the Downtown and Rinconada Libraries each has a kiosk store where you will also find great books at comparable prices to the Main Sale. Of course, they are also available for sales whenever the library is open.

See more information about our in-library stores on our web site.

Happy shopping,

-Suzanne Little

 
Sheet Music

Donations have been very brisk in this subject. Thus, we have refreshed most of the stock with new quality material. That means also that there will be plenty material in the bargain room to choose from.

-Edwin El-Kareh

 
STEM

We have been given nothing short of a flood of materials this month. All subjects have older books priced down and all the new books added at half the lowest Bookfinder price. Biology has been especially strong this month with overflow wrapping around to the specials area. The bargain room will also have plenty of STEM so come early to shop there too. We now send regular packages of Popular Science books to all three FOPAL Library Stores, so there will be plenty books to acquire all across the city.

Special on Darwin -- A noted bio-historian has given us a broad and deep collection of books on Darwin. Prominent in the selection is books of letters of Darwin. This collection also includes material from his contemporary Victorians Wallace, Cuvier and others. There is a whole bay of shelves bulging full of Darwiniana on the right as you enter the main room. All books have been looked up and are at half the lowest Bookfinder price. Most of the books are uncommon and not likely to be available again at our sale.

-Edwin El-Kareh

 
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 June 8 through Sunday June 15. Please hold your donations until Monday June 16.

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.