Job Club Videos

Has your job world turned upside down? Try Wood Library's Job Club Videos.

Every Wednesday morning at 8:00 AM beginning April 1, we will be posting Job Club Videos right here on Wood Library Now! The clips are short, sometimes humorous, and always packed with practical information about a job topic. Subscribe to this site and receive new post alerts in your email or reader. Sorry, dial-up users, you're going to need a high speed internet connection.

Coming up on April 1: How To Deal With Being Laid Off.

Adult Services Librarian Barbara Henry has researched, selected and previewed these third-party videos to make sure they are A-OK. If you would like to suggest a video you found helpful, send the info by email to bhenry@pls-net.org

Writers for Literacy in the News

Thanks to Dave Wheeler, editor of Steppin' Out section in the Canandaigua Daily Messenger, for the article about the Writers for Literacy book, Story Pot Luck. It appeared in the March 26 issue. We invite you to read the article Pages of Plenty and to attend the book launch party on Tuesday, March 31 at 7pm in the Community Room at Wood Library, 134 North Main Street, Canandaigua. Writers for Literacy is a volunteer project at Wood Library. The group consists of eight writers who wanted to make a difference in their community by writing easy-to-read stories for adult learners.

Download of the Month

The March selection is F Scott Fitzgerald's The Curious Case of Benjamin Button and Other Jazz Age Tales read by Scott Brick.

Anti-bellum Baltimore is the setting for “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button,” a fantastical tale (recently made into an Oscar-nominated movie starring Brad Pitt and Kate Blanchette) with some Poe-like overtones about a baby born at age seventy who then lives life in reverse. Also included are “The Lost Decade,” “Three Hours between Planes,” “The Bridal Party,” and “Babylon Revisited.” Listen to an excerpt here.

This MP3 audio is from Blackstone Audio and can be used by Mac users with ipods and Windows users on a variety of MP3 players. Go to OWWL2Go for more details, to place a hold or to check it out and download it.

Free Weekend Movie - We Are Wizards

The Free Weekend Movie recommendation is We Are Wizards, a feature length "indie" documentary by Josh Koury exploring the world-wide phenomenon of Harry Potter mania and the creative aftermath that follows in its wake. The film features Wizard Rock bands Harry and the Potters, Draco and the Malfoys, The Hungarian Horntails, and The Whomping Willows. Film.com named We Are Wizards as number 3 on a list of 10 top films of 2008. Read a review at Film.com. By the way, Harry and the Potters got their start performing in public libraries in and around Boston, Massachusetts. Start watching the movie below or go to Hulu.com to watch it. Parent Alert: Excessive use of the "f-word" during intercut parts of the film. Other general, minor swearing. Tech Note: you need a high speed broadband DSL or cable interent connection.

Writers for Literacy Book Launch

On Tuesday March 31, 2009 at 7:00 PM until 8:30 PM Writers for Literacy, a volunteer project at Wood Library, will celebrate the publication of Story Pot Luck, an anthology of sixteen stories written by local authors for adult literacy learners. The group hopes that the high interest, low vocabulary stories will encourage new adult readers to read for pleasure. The book launch event is open to the public as well as by invitation. Refreshments will be served. Drop by and meet the authors.

Members of Writers for Literacy are: Carmella Battaglia, Mazy Carson, Carol Creswell, Steve Donner, Karen Mount, Annette Mrozak, Jean Trost and Jewel Wink. The audio CD version is read by Michelle Caward and Kathy Morris. Steve Donner illustrated the book with cartoon style full color drawings. The anthology was funded by contributions from Wood Library Café, Bloomfield Rotary, and several anonymous donations.

Complimentary copies of the book and audio CD will be placed at Literacy Volunteer sites in Ontario, Wayne, Wyoming and Livingston counties and in eight libraries in the Pioneer Library System that provide literacy services, materials, and tutoring rooms. Libraries receiving copies are: Bloomfield (compliments of Bloomfield Rotary), Geneva, Macedon, Pioneer Library System Headquarters, Wadsworth, Warsaw, Williamson, and Wood Library. Story Pot Luck will be available to readers and tutors at other libraries by interlibrary loan. Copies of the book will be presented at book launch party.

Writers for Literacy members were recently interviewed for Read Locally, a local writers series on Wood Library's YouTube channel. You can watch it here or go to the Wood Library YouTube site.

Canandaigua Reads!

This month Canandaigua Reads! Jim the Boy and The Blue Star by Tony Earley. Here's the scoop from Canandaigua Reads! on the Canandaigua School District website:

"Great things happen when all Canandaigua Reads!, the annual community reads project when our whole community is invited to read and discuss a single book. Well, usually it's a single book. But this year, it's two novels...and again we are excited to have the author coming to town! The 2009 Canandaigua Reads! selections are Jim the Boy and The Blue Star by Tony Earley. The two novels form a nearly continuous coming-of-age story of a boy named Jim. Spare, intimate, quietly moving, the two novels reveal a very normal boy from southern Appalachia, raised by his Mom and three uncles, who sees his world slowly unfold around him, and the currents of his family's past and the wider world slowly ensnare him. Please join us. Read Jim the Boy and The Blue Star! Canandaigua Reads! is a partnership of Wood Library, Canandaigua's Community Reading Partnership, Finger Lakes Community College, and the Canandaigua City School District."

Both books may be borrowed from Wood Library and may be purchased at Wegmans and other area bookstores. When you purchase your copies online at Wood Library's aStore at Amazon.com, Wood Library earns a 10% commission. Look in the "Book Discussions" section.