Tomorrow: Stop by the Friends' Used Book Shop between 10 a.m. and 2 p.m. and take advantage of their Book Sale Blowout!

Monday: The Mini Art Club meets at 10:30 a.m. The Library Board of Trustees' meeting is at 7 p.m.

Tuesday: Book Buddies meet at 10:30 a.m. Gnome and Gardening Story Time is offered at 4 p.m. A Friends of the Library meeting will take place at 6:30 p.m. The community room at Town Hall is open between 10 a.m. and 5 p.m. for Textile Tuesdays.

Wednesday: Mommy and Me meets at 10 a.m., followed by Toddler Story Time at 11 a.m. The Art Club meets at 4 p.m. Computer Basics for Adults convenes at 7 p.m.

Thursday: The Knit and Crochet Club gets together at 6:30 p.m. Guitar Lessons take place downstairs at 6:30 p.m., as well.

Friday: Drop by the library at 4 p.m. for Fun on the Lawn - featuring games, fun, and fresh air!   

  

This season's last Story Time will be May 29, whereupon Mommy and Me, Toddler Story Time,and Book Buddies will go on hiatus until the Summer Reading Program, which kicks off June 25.

The majority of library lovers (84 percent) said the institutions were important because they instill a love of reading and books; another 81 percent said they're fans because libraries provide resources they don't have at home. Almost all parents agreed that programming and classes for children and teens are an important service offered by most libraries. What's more, these parents were likelier to be library users themselves than their childless counterparts.

If you're planting your own garden this year, you can help make a difference in your community with the Grow an Extra Row program. Bring your extra vegetables or flowers to the Farm Market each week at 9:30 a.m., and your surplus will be sold to benefit the Loaves and Fishes Food Pantry. Profits will also be used to feed local children on weekends and during school vacations, when meals may not otherwise be available to them. Keep a lookout in this newsletter for the Farm Market's opening dates!    

Help your kids beat the "summer slide" by keeping them interested in reading with the assistance of a few great books.

This year's SRP will feature lots of raffles, in addition to the usual programming and events, starting with a June 25 Pot Luck Picnic and performance by Sammie and Tudie, who are coming up from New York City to provide the evening's live entertainment!

Brenda Griffin's Girl Scout Troop 60226 is posting another story along the trail for exercisers to peruse as they're traveling. This time it's The Puddle, by David McPhail. We won't disclose the details, since you can read it while you walk! Pages of the book will be posted on stakes along the route.

  The StoryWalk� Project promotes the development of physical fitness and literacy skills by creating opportunities to walk and read outdoors.

The author's financial ledger is available online courtesy of the University of South Carolina.

Though it doesn't exactly make for scintillating reading, it is written in Fitzgerald's own (kind of sloppy) hand, and it does reveal what he made on his books, short stories, and adaptations, which for fans and history buffs alike should spark some interest. The ledger is also referred to numerous times during the course of Therese Anne Fowler's current bestseller, Z, a fictional account of Zelda Fitzgerald's misadventures as Scott's wife.

  

  

  

In Cooked, Michael Pollan explores the previously uncharted territory of his own kitchen. Here, he discovers the enduring power of the four classical elements - fire, water, air, and earth - to transform the stuff of nature into delicious things to eat and drink. Apprenticing himself to a succession of culinary masters, Pollan learns how to grill with fire, cook with liquid, bake bread, and ferment everything from cheese to beer. In the course of his journey, he discovers that the cook occupies a special place in the world, standing squarely between nature and culture. Both realms are transformed by cooking, and so, in the process, is the cook.

Each section of Cooked tracks Pollan's effort to master a single classic recipe using one of the four elements. A North Carolina barbecue pit master tutors him in the primal magic of fire; a Chez Panisse-trained cook schools him in the art of braising; a celebrated baker teaches him how air transforms grain and water into a fragrant loaf of bread; and finally, several mad-genius "fermentos" (a tribe that includes brewers, cheese makers, and all kinds of picklers) reveal how fungi and bacteria can perform the most amazing alchemies of all. The reader learns alongside Pollan, but the lessons move beyond the practical to become an investigation of how cooking involves us in a web of social and ecological relationships: with plants and animals, the soil, farmers, our history and culture, and, of course, the people our cooking nourishes and delights. Cooking, above all, connects us.

The effects of not cooking are similarly far reaching. Relying upon corporations to process our food means we consume large quantities of fat, sugar, and salt; disrupt an essential link to the natural world; and weaken our relationships with family and friends. In fact, Cooked argues, taking back control of cooking may be the single most important step anyone can take to help make the American food system healthier and more sustainable. Reclaiming cooking as an act of enjoyment and self-reliance, learning to perform the magic of these everyday transformations, opens the door to a more nourishing life.

Cooked is available at the Wallkill Public Library. You can put a hold on it through the online catalog.