May 2012 Vol. 43 No. 5 California Reads: Spend Your Summer Reading A Paradise Built in Hell: Get ready for San Francisco’s all ages The Extraordinary Communities Summer Reading program, launching June 1. Grab your that Arise in Disaster kids, your teens, your book club and your friends and register online Calling all San Franciscans: join us to read A Paradise Built in Hell: The Extraordinary at sfpl.org/summerreading. Communities That Arise in Disaster by Rebecca Solnit, our selection for California Track your hours, rate books, write reviews Reads, a statewide reading and discussion program created by Cal Humanities in and win prizes for reading. Starting June 15, partnership with the California Center for the Book and the California State Library. prizes can be collected by children who read California Reads encourages Californians from all walks for 10 hours, teens who read for 30 hours, and of life to participate in reading and discussion programs adults who read for 40 hours. Plus, attend fun and related activities around the theme of democracy in library events for all ages all summer long, and 2012. San Francisco Public Library has selected A Paradise enter raffles for more chances to win at your Built in Hell because of its strong connection to the city and branch library. its exploration of the aftermath of the 1906 SF earthquake. The Library also needs energetic volunteers Solnit’s book explores our need for community and to power the summer reading program. Kid Pow- common purpose, which Solnit argues are fundamental to democratic forms of er volunteers (middle school and high school social and political life. Blending reportage and analysis, the book surveys natural Rebecca Solnit students), will be needed for the Children’s pro- and man-made disasters, including the Halifax explosion of 1917, the 1985 Mexico gram, and older teens and adults can help out City earthquake, the Sept. 11 attacks, and Hurricane Katrina. Solnit takes a positive view of human behavior, with the teen and adult programs. Contact your showing that disasters can actually create a sense of community and purposefulness. A community’s typical local branch librarian for more information. response to catastrophe is self-organization and mutual aid—truly democracy in action—with neighbors and strangers rescuing, feeding and housing each other. This fall, the Library will be offering a number of discussion groups, films, preparedness workshops, and more events on the theme of the book, including a talk with the author on Oct. 11. Effie Lee Morris Lecture: Jerry Pinkney Golden Gate Bridge Jerry Pinkney, renowned illustrator and winner of the 2010 Caldecott Medal for The Lion & the Mouse, will deliver the 16th Annual Effie Lee Morris Lecture on 75th Anniversary the topic: A Sense of Place Real and Imagined. ant to know what books San Franciscans were reading almost The annual Effie Lee Morris Lecture highlights 80 years ago as the Golden Gate Bridge was being built? The the work of noted authors and illustrators of books WHistory Center at the Main Library can tell you. In conjunction for children. Each guest lecturer draws on the knowl- with the Golden Gate Bridge’s 75th Anniversary Celebration, the SF History edge gained from his or her life and career to offer Center is presenting the exhibit, Bridging Minds: San Francisco Reads, 1933- insights into the world of children’s literature to an 1937. On display are first editions, photographs and ephemera featuring audience of educators, librarians, artists and other bestsellers of the period and the works of California authors. Highlighted, creative professionals, and the book-loving public. too, are the printers, booksellers, and libraries that made books available. The Friends of the San Francisco Public Library and The exhibit is on view through July 14, 6th Floor, Main Library. the local chapter of the Women’s National Book As- Want to know what we are reading now? The Library’s On the Same sociation together sponsor the annual lecture series. Page selection for May and June is Kevin Starr’s Golden Gate: The Life and Photo: Frederic Larson Mr. Pinkney’s large body of work over his 50- Times of America’s Greatest Bridge. Read more about the book on Page 4, year career includes illustrations for numerous folk and join us for a talk with Kevin Starr, June 19, 6:30 p.m., at the Main Library. Read a bridge-related book just tales from around the world and collaborations with for children: local author Lewis Buzbee’s The Bridge of Time. Best friends on a school field trip to Fort Point find authors such as Julius Lester, themselves suddenly in 1864 with no sign of the Golden Gate Bridge, but with the future Mark Twain as their Robert D. San Souci and companion in this time-travel tale. Check it out at your neighborhood library and then stop by the Sunset Patricia McKissack. His illustra- Branch Library on June 13, 3 p.m., to hear author Lewis Buzbee. tions for The Patchwork Quilt Did you know the Golden Gate Bridge has starred in more On Location: the Golden Gate by Valerie Flournoy, a book movies than any other American architectural icon? Hear a movie Bridge on the Silver Screen: that celebrates the strength clip-filled talk by former SFPL librarian and author Jim Van Buskirk May 16: Main, 6 p.m. of African-American families, (Celluloid San Francisco) about the movies that have featured San May 26: Potrero Branch, 3 p.m. won the Coretta Scott King Francisco’s spectacular span on the silver screen, from The Rise of the June 9: Noe Valley Branch, 3 p.m. Award for Illustration in 1986. Planet of the Apes to The Love Bug. June 13: Merced Branch, 7 p.m. In addition to the lecture, The bridge has also starred in countless photographs, taken by June 23: Ortega Branch, 2 p.m. an exhibition of facsimiles of Jerry Pinkney tourists and professionals alike. San Francisco Chronicle photographer June 27: Excelsior Branch, 7 p.m. original manuscript illustra- Frederic Larson has captured the Golden Gate Bridge glowing tions by Mr. Pinkney will be on view through May 31 in the moonlight, embraced by the fog, and reflected in raindrops. Larson will offer a slideshow and talk in the Main’s Fisher Children’s Center. about his unique relationship with the bridge in the event, Golden Gate Bridge Through the Lens, May 23, at the Richmond Branch Library, 6 p.m. All month long, Anza, Mission, Noe Valley and Richmond libraries Jerry Pinkney: A Sense of Place Real and Imagined – will be displaying paintings and small sculptures created by students, sponsored by SFArtsEd for an exhibit, May 15, 6 p.m., Main, Koret Auditorium. International Orange: The Bridge Re-Imagined. Coming Up: JUNE 3 JUNE 10 JUNE 13 JUNE 27 Summer Reading Kick Off Northern California Hope Along the Wind Making Sauerkraut in SF with the Green Bookmobile Book Awards documentary with Daniela Freda California Academy of Sciences, Main, 1 p.m. Sponsored by SF Pride Main, 6:30 p.m. Golden Gate Park Main, 6 p.m. SFPL.ORG AT THE LIBRARY MAY 2012 1 Collections and Services Get Your Daily News Fix Bookmobile with PressDisplay Schedules magine browsing hundreds of newspapers from around the world, from the comfort of your home. With Bayview Bookmobile your library card, you can do just that by easily accessing one of the Library’s most exciting databases, 195 Kiska Road, in front of PressDisplay, to see digitized editions of a selection of international newspapers. Willie Mays Boys & Girls Club Accessible through the Articles & Databases section of sfpl.org, under eLibrary, PressDisplay provides Second and Fourth Wednesdays Idaily news instantly. Click on top new stories, pull up newspapers from various countries, scroll through the of the month, 3–5 p.m. past week’s headlines, or even explore interactive radio channels to listen to the latest news stories. Next comes the fun part: View newspapers in full color in their original formats as you would from the Early Literacy Mobile newsstands! After selecting a newspaper, you can browse it by clicking on specific sections from the table of contents and jumping directly to that page. Unlike other periodical databases, you can browse through Schedule of child care center visits classified ads, TV and movie listings, comics and crossword puzzles, obituaries, job listings and more. Tired of at sfpl.org reading from the screen? Activate an audio version of most articles. Want to share news stories? Clip out and Swing into Stories email them, post them onto a blog, or simply crop and print out what you need. Can’t read a specific foreign Golden Gate Park Children’s language? Get a rough translation of some articles. Playground PressDisplay covers more than 650 newspapers in 42 languages from 76 countries, with a 60-day rolling 295 Bowling Green Drive (off Martin archive. Whether you want to check out the headline stories from the San Francisco Chronicle or the Los Luther King Drive) Angeles Times, or are interested in news coverage from the Guardian or the International Herald Tribune, give First Tuesday of the month PressDisplay a spin for your daily news fix. 9:30 a.m.–12 noon Parque Niños Unidos 23rd & Treat streets Second Tuesday of the month Asian Pacific Heritage Collections 9:30 a.m.–12 noon In the spirit of Asian Pacific Heritage Month, check out the Library’s vast and varied resources. Helen Wills Playground l Books in 14 Asian languages (Chinese, Farsi, Filipino, Gujarati, Hindi, Hmong, Japanese, Khmer, Korean, Broadway & Larkin streets Punjabi, Tamil, Thai, Urdu and Vietnamese).