It's time for the CD contest

Answer any four of these questions correctly, and you can have your choice of one CD from our stack.

Find out what Christine Cunningham and Chris Reel have in common, other than being married mothers of two children each.
Having answered #1, now figure out what soda was called in our childhoods.
Read one book from the current New York Times bestseller list. The list is posted in the library.
Tell us the name of the main character in the Cat Who books by Lilian Jackson Braun.
Who wrote From the Timber to the Prairie?
What is the fictional setting of Earlene Fowler’s books
Name one book written about last year’s Illinois basketball team.
What hours is the library open on Saturdays?
Name one magazine on our magazine rack.
What do we charge for hardback books on our sale table?
Find the name of my cat as mentioned on the blog.

Any questions, call 896-2121 or come into the library. You must bring your answers into the library to collect your prize.

CD Giveaway

We have a selection of CDs of artists from the past - the golden oldies that were popular decades ago - to give away. These are duplicate titles of ones we have added to our collection. We are holding a contest, so easy my cat Sammie could almost (that's a BIG "almost" for Sammie) win. Watch for specifics on this blog and in the Southern Champaign County Today newspaper. The contest is first come, first served. It will end when all CDs have been given away.

New DVDs

We've just added three more to the collection - Walk the Line with Joaquin Phoenix and Reese Witherspoon; Pride and Prejudice with Keira Knightley; and Yours, Mine and Ours with Dennis Quaid and Rene Russo.

Going to Springfield, Promoting the Library

On March 1, 563 people showed up at the Illinois State Library to meet with lawmakers about library concerns. They attended a rally in front of the State Capitol, with a number of speakers; the highlight of the rally was Richard Norton Smith. He is a historian and biographer, and is best known in Illinois as the first Executive Director of the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum, a four building complex in Springfield. Sara Essig, President of the Board of Trustees of the Homer Library, and Chris Reel, Homer Librarian, were among the more than three dozen from the Lincoln Trail Libraries System who attended.

More New Stuff

Here's our latest:

2 new DVDS:
The Gospel
Stuart Little 3

3 new Books
The 5th Horseman by James Patterson and Maxine Paetro
Long Time Coming by Sandra Brown
5 new romance novels

This and That

The Champaign Public Library has announced that they will no longer place out of system library loan requests for patrons of other libraries. In other words, if you want a book that is not available from the Lincoln Trail Libraries System, you must place the hold through your local library.

Today was RIF (Reading is Fundamental) day at the Heritage Grade School. Children in grades kindergarten through fourth chose a book to keep. Cindy Happ read to each of the classes after they made their selection.

A Moratorium on donations of books

Thank you so much to all of you who have donated books to us recently. And thanks to all who have purchased those donated items from us!

However, we're full up. Please hold off on donating any more until we can sell down what we have. We can still take donations of CDs, DVDs, and VHS movies.

We greatly appreciate your support.

Accelerated Reader Tests

The Homer Library has purchased ten more AR tests for use at the school. All the tests we purchase are for books that are available in this library, and may or may not be available in the school library. This serves to increase the number of titles that children may read in the AR program.

The new tests are for the following books:
Across Five Aprils by Irene Hunt
Great Redwall Feast by Brian Jacques
Journal of Joshua Loper: A Black Cowboy
Kira-Kira by Cynthia Kadohata
Lewis and Clark and Me: A Dog's Tale by Laurie Myers
Look to the Hills by Patricia McKissack
My Lone Star Summer by D. Love
River by Gary Paulsen
Seaman: The Dog Who Explored by Gail Karwoski (a Lewis and Clark story)
Standing in the Light by Mary Osborne

New Award Winning Book

Criss Cross by Lynn Rae Perkins www.harperchildrens.com/authorintro/index.asp?authorid=18005 won the Newberry Medal this year. Thanks to a local patron, we have a copy ready to be checked out. Fourteen year old Debbie wishes and waits for something good to happen to her, something special.

Several other award winning children's book will be arriving soon.

What's the latest??

What’s new in here? To start, there are two new, interesting junior books, Small Steps by Louis Sachar, and Zach’s Lie by Roland Smith www.rolandsmith.com. And there’s Pig on the Titanic by Gary Crew, based on a true story.

Adult fiction includes To Darkness and To Death by Julia Spencer-Fleming www.juliaspencerfleming.com, Sea Change by Robert B. Parker, The Witness by Illinois resident Dee Henderson http://www.deehenderson.com/, The Noble Fugitive by T. Davis Bunn and Isabella Bunn, and Last Light by Terri Blackstock www.terriblackstock.com.

In adult non-fiction we have Marley and Me: life and love with the world’s worst dog by John Grogan www.marleyandme.com/blog, and Team of Rivals by Doris Kearns Goodwin www.doriskearnsgoodwin.com.

Our new DVDs are The Legend of Zorro and The Pink Panther.

The IRS has notified the Homer Post Office that tax forms will no longer be available there. We have both state and federal forms at the library. We are open 2-7 weekdays and 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Saturdays. Our phone number is 896-2121. We are located in the Homer Village Hall at 101 N. Main Street.

Two New DVDs

Our latest are The Legend of Zorro (read a review at http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0386140/) and The Pink Panther. Check them out!

Large Print Books

All the new large print books, all 47 of them, are on the shelf and ready to be checked out. In fact, they are waiting, begging, pleading to go out. Can you help them out by taking some home for a while??!

It's a nice problem to have....

However, we're running out of room. What I'm referring to is donated books, books for the book sale. We have received so many lately, for which we are grateful. All the money received from the book sale goes to our building program. So, please, come in and see what we are. They are not all, in fact very few are, old moldy paperbacks. There are a lot of newer titles and books in good condition in hardback.

Homer Library's New Materials

We have fifty new large print fiction books which we are in the process of putting on the shelves. If you need large print books, or know someone who does, we have a great new selection!

Our other new materials are Just Rewards by Barbara Taylor Bradford, The Cat Who Dropped a Bombshell by Lilian Jackson Braun, All Night Long by Jayne Ann Krentz, and Every Breath You Take by Judith McNaught. Donated audiobooks include Shattered by Dick Francis, How to Make an American Quilt by Whitney Otto, Irresistible Forces by Danielle Steel, and Cat’s Eyewitness by Rita Mae Brown. All are on cassette except the last one, which is on CDs.

Tax Forms

Federal tax forms are available now at the Homer Library. The Homer Postmaster has been notified that tax forms will no longer be available at the post office. The library is the only source for forms in Homer.

For your convenience, you may pick up the forms at the library between 2 and 7 p.m. weekdays, and between 10 a.m. and 2 p.m. on Saturdays. We are located in the village hall at 101 N. Main Street. Our phone number is 896-2121.

Martin Luther King Holiday

In honor of the day, the Homer Library will be open normal hours. Check out a book about Dr. King, or any other item that you desire. We're here to serve, and make available the materials you need for school, work or leisure reading, viewing or listening.

Used Magazine give-away

As we make room for the 2006 issues of our magazines, we are making available back issues of popular titles, such as Good Housekeeping, Redbook, Country Living, Country Magazine, Better Homes and Gardens, and Family Fun.

Stop in soon for the best selection.

Our latest acquisitions

NEW MATERIALS DECEMBER 2005

Adult Fiction
All She Ever Wanted by Lynn Austin
At First Sight by Nicholas Sparks
Even Now by Karen Kingsbury
The Life All Around Me by Ellen Foster, by Kaye Gibbons
The Lighthouse by P. D. James
On the Run by Iris Johansen
Red Lily by Nora Roberts
S is for Silence by Sue Grafton
The Sunflower by Richard Paul Evans

Adult Nonfiction
The City of Falling Angels by John Berendt
Teacher Man by Frank McCourt

CD
Song for My Father by Dave Hepler

DVD
Frequency
Where the Red Fern Grows

VHS
Casablanca
The Phantom Menace: Star Wars I

Happy New Year 2006!

We want to wish all our patrons, and all who might find this blog, a very Happy New Year. May 2006 be filled with good books for you and your loved ones. We are here to help you find those good reads.

Next week look for news about our newest acquisitions.

Holiday News

HOMER LIBRARY NEWS

The Homer Library will be closed on the following dates: December 24 and 31. Following each closure, we will reopen the following Monday at 2 p.m. Also, should the weather be particularly bad, it is advisable to call the library before coming in, to make sure we are open. Any items due on a day when we close because of bad weather will then be due on the next day that we are open. Our phone number is 896-2121.

On December 29 from 1 to 2 p.m., we will be holding an after Christmas party for children ages 5 through 10. We will provide games, crafts and snacks, and give your child a chance to show new toys (as appropriate) and see friends.

Our newest books are S is for Silence by Sue Grafton, At First Sight by Nicholas Sparks, Red Lily by Nora Roberts, The Sunflower by Richard Pal Evans, The Lighthouse by P. D. James, Teacher Man by Frank McCourt, and The City of Falling Angels by John Berendt.