UP NEXT Tuesday: HISTORIC ELM GROVE

April 29th: Jack Maynard, Historic Elm Grove: An Outstanding American Community

Local historian and author Jack Maynard will be at the Ohio County Public Library’s Lunch With Books program on Tuesday, April 29th at noon. Mr. Maynard will discuss the new book he penned with his wife Barbara, entitled, Historic Elm Grove: An Outstanding American Community. The Maynards have taken their research to new levels with this, their second book about Elm Grove. Featuring approximately 500 photos and a lot more information, the book focuses on the human side of the town, with information about families, business owners and general familiar faces around Elm Grove over the years. It's a perfect companion to the Maynard’s first book, Elm Grove: A History in Pictures…On the Road to Wheeling. Both books are published by Creative Impressions Studios, http://www.cre8m.com/, and will be available for purchase and signing at the event. Lunch With Books programs are free and open to the public. Patrons are invited to bring a bag lunch, and free beverages are provided. For more information, please call the library at 304-232-0244.

NEXT WEEK...

April 22nd 2008, Classical Guitarist Kevin Hubbard

Massachusetts based Classical guitarist Kevin Hubbard will visit Lunch With Books on Tuesday, April 22nd, 2008 at noon. Hubbard will perform "Classical Guitar with a Taste of Jazz," featuring classical pieces from various eras by composers from Europe (Spain & Italy in particular), Asia, and the Americas, a jazz standard, and originals that combine classical with other styles such as jazz and folk. The program will include a brief spoken history of the guitar, composers' backgrounds, and anecdotes. Hubbard is also a successful artist, an author, and the 1996 World Table Hockey Champion. His debut CD, entitled Aspirations, will be available for purchase.

Then on Saturday April 26th 2008, Mothman: Behind the Red Eyes with Jeff Wamsley

Jeff Wamsley, curator of the Mothman Museum in Point Pleasant, WV, will be at the Ohio County Public Library for a special Saturday Lunch With Books program on April 26th at noon. Wamsley will discuss his book, Mothman: Behind the Red Eyes, which look deeper into the mystery of the Mothman legacy with the most extensive collection of data ever assembled. Research materials include firsthand eyewitness accounts, rare documents & press archives, UFO/Men in Black encounters, the Silver Bridge disaster, TNT Area archives, illustrations, maps, photos, and more. The book, along with other Mothman souvenirs, will be available for sale. Please call the library at 304-232-0244 for more information.

Two New Book Discussion Groups Forming

Two new book discussion groups will be forming soon at the Ohio County Public Library.

The groups will be reading and discussing Follow the River by James Alexander Thom and Warrior Woman: The Exceptional Life Story of Nonhelema, Shawnee Indian Woman Chief, also by Thom and co-authored by his wife Dark Rain.

The discussion groups are being formed to take advantage of the Lunch With Books appearance by J.A. Thom and Dark Rain Thom scheduled for Thursday evening, June 5th at 6:30 pm at the library. Group members will have the rare opportunity to read and discuss these bestselling works of historical fiction and then to meet and perhaps ask a question of the authors.

The organizational meeting for both groups will be held on Tuesday May 6th, beginning at 6:30 pm at the library. Please call the library at 304-232-0244. Ask for the adult programming coordinator to register to join one or both of the groups. The discussion dates and times will be chosen and the books will be distributed at the organizational meeting.

Book descriptions:

FOLLOW THE RIVER: Mary Ingles was twenty-three, married, and pregnant, when Shawnee Indians invaded her peaceful Virginia settlement, killed the men and women, then took her captive. For months, she lived with them, unbroken, until she escaped, and followed a thousand mile trail to freedom--an extraordinary story of a pioneer woman who risked her life to return to her people.

WARRIOR WOMAN: A bestselling master of historical fiction, James Alexander Thom has brought unforgettable Native American figures to life for millions of readers, powerfully dramatizing their fortitude, fearsomeness, and profound fates. Now he and his wife, Dark Rain, have created a magnificent portrait of an astonishing woman–one who led her people in war when she could not persuade them to make peace.Her name was Nonhelema. Literate, lovely, imposing at over six feet tall, she was the Women’s Peace Chief of the Shawnee Nation–and already a legend when the most decisive decade of her life began in 1774. That fall, with more than three thousand Virginians poised to march into the Shawnees’ home, Nonhelema’s plea for peace was denied. So she loyally became a fighter, riding into battle covered in war paint. When the Indians ran low on ammunition, Nonhelema’s role changed back to peacemaker, this time tragically.Negotiating an armistice with military leaders of the American Revolution like Daniel Boone and George Rogers Clark, she found herself estranged from her own people–and betrayed by her white adversaries, who would murder her loved ones and eventually maim Nonhelema herself.Throughout her inspiring life, she had many deep and complex relationships, including with her daughter, Fani, who was an adopted white captive . . . a pious and judgmental missionary, Zeisberger . . . a series of passionate lovers . . . and, in a stunning creation of the Thoms, Justin Case–a cowardly soldier transformed by the courage he saw in the female Indian leader. Filled with the uncanny period detail and richly rendered drama that are Thom trademarks, Warrior Woman is a memorable novel of a remarkable person–one willing to fight to avoid war, by turns tough and tender, whose heart was too big for the world she wished to tame.

April 15th: Dr. Scott Shalaway

Travelogue: Galapagos Islands, Mexico, & Panama

Naturalist Dr. Scott Shalaway will return to Lunch With Books at the Ohio County Public Library on Tuesday April 15th at noon. Dr. Shalaway will present a travelogue including wildlife slides from his travels to the Galapagos Islands, Mexico, and Panama. For more information, please call the library at 304-232-0244.

Tuesday, April 8th, 2008: EBAY DAY, v. 2.0

Would you like to learn how sell your Extra stuff on eBay? You are invited to a free class at the Ohio County Public Library. Ebay day at the library is back by popular demand on Tuesday, April 8th, 2008 beginning at noon and ending at 2:30 pm. Sponsored by the United States Postal Service and the OCPL’s Lunch With Books program, the class will be taught by Kim Horrell and Nancy Cheskey of the USPS. The class will include an introduction to buying and selling on eBay, the world’s largest and best known internet auction web site. Attendees will learn how to: register and get started; develop listings; use shipping labels through eBay/Paypal; pay for postage online; and use smart U.S. Postal Service shipping solutions, like free carrier pick-up at your home or office. Free educational materials designed to help you with your listings will also be available. For more information, please call the library at 304-232-0244.

Read about it on Ebay!