The Readers’ Forum

            The Readers’ Forum, the library’s lively book discussion group, begins its 16th year with a discussion of Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen on Monday, September 22.  Subsequent titles and dates are: The Reader by Bernhard Schlink, October 27; The Abstinence Teacher by Tom Perrotta, November 24; Uncommon Arrangements by Katie Roiphe, December 29; Nineteen Minutes by Jodi Picoult, January 26; Alexander Hamilton by Alex Chernow, February 23; Bridge of Sighs by Richard Russo, March 30; The Gathering by Anne Enright, April 27; and Unaccustomed Earth by Jhumpa Lahiri, May 18.  All dates are Mondays.  New members are always welcome.  Sessions start at 7:00 p.m.

LearningExpress Library

            LearningExpress Library is an interactive platform of practice tests and tutorial course series.  You get immediate scoring, complete answer explanations and an individualized analysis of your results.  Online test and course resources include advanced placement, civil service, college entrance exams, elementary school skills improvement, ems, firefighter, ged, graduate school entrance exams, health careers, high school skills improvement, law enforcement, math skills improvement, middle school skills improvement, military, nursing, reading skills improvement, real estate, sat preparation, skills improvement courses for adult learners, skills improvement with Spanish instructions, teaching, technical and career college skills, toefl, U.S. citizenship, and writing skills improvement.  LearningExpress also includes computer skills tutorials for Access, Adobe Acrobat, Excel, Internet Explorer, Outlook, PowerPoint, Windows Vista and Word.  To get started go to the library home page at Cranford.com/ library; click on Online Resources; click on LearningExpress Library in the alphabetical list of online resources; click on New User;  and when prompted for a user name, type in your library card number.

Union County Teen Arts Tour Visits the Library

            The Union County Teen Arts Tour, including works by Cranford teens, will be on display in the library from September 3 to October 17.  The Tour features 60 works selected from the more than 600 works that were shown at the 2008 County Teen Arts Festival at Union County College.  The program is ad-ministered by the county’s Office of Cultural & Heritage Affairs, Department of Economic Development.

All About the Digital Television (DTV) Transition

              An educational seminar will be presented by RadioShack to help community members prepare for the digital television transition on February 17, 2009.  The program will take place on Thursday, September 18, at 7:30 p.m. in the Community Center.  Admission is free and all are welcome.

New Online Source for Book Lovers

            The library recently added BookNews to its list of online resources.  BookNews is an newsletter that provides monthly updates on the latest book releases in a variety of catgories.  Sign up for one or as many as 21 different newsletters.  Categories include New Nonfiction, New Fiction, Best Selling Fiction, Mystery, Audio Books, Romance, Science Fiction, Business, Horror, Home & Garden, Children’s Books, Children’s Picture Books, Christian Fiction, Large Print, Book Club Picks, Teen Books, Hot Picks, Science & Nature, Classics, and Then & Now (history and current events).  Book News also offers Online Book Clubs.  Each Online Book Club emails a five-minute selection from a chapter of a book.  By the end of the week, you’ll have read two to three chapters.  Every Monday, a new book is started.  Categories include Fiction, Business, Science Fiction, Audio, Nonfiction, Romance, Mystery, Pre-publication, Teen, Good News and Horror.  To sign up for BookNews, go to the library page at cranford.com/library and click on the BookNews logo.  To sign up for an Online Book Club, scroll down to the bottom of the page and click on the Online Book Clubs logo.

From the Teen Zone

Fall Happenings @ the Library

            Tae Kwon Do Workshop: Saturday, September 13 at noon in the Community Center.  Learn about Tae Kwon Do, a modern martial art featuring fast, high and spinning kicks. . . . Teen Movie: Thursday, September 25, at 3:30 p.m. in the Raddin Room.  Come enjoy The Outsiders, based on the ever popular teen book, and talk about ongoing attempts to ban books and movies considered questionable by different groups. . . . Twilight Series Book Discussion: Thursday, October 16, at 3:30 p.m. in the Raddin Room.  Celebrate Teen Read Week with a lively discussion of the best selling Twilight series by Stephenie Meyer, including giveaways and a chance to win a raffle prize! . . . Halloween Event: Friday, October 31, Fri, 7 to 10 p.m.  Who would want the star of the high school soccer team dead?  Join us and try to solve "Death Gets a Red Card," an interactive mystery program.

From the Children's Room

Story Hours Begin in September

            Registration for 2 year olds and accompanying adults starts Tuesday, September 2, in person in the Children’s Room.  Two year olds will meet from 10:15 to 10:35 a.m. on Wednesday or Thursday mornings.  Siblings are welcome to attend.  Drop-in sessions for 3, 4 and preschool 5 year olds will be on Tuesday mornings at 10:15 or Wednesday afternoons at 1:30.  The sessions run for 8 weeks, from September 9 through October 30.

News from the Friends of the Cranford Public Library

Classic Film Series

            The Friends’ Classic Film Series continues with: Harlan County, USA, a documentary (1976, 103 minutes) on September 2; The Shootist (1976, 99 minutes) on September 9; The Hustler (1961, 134 minutes) on September 16; Being There (1979, 130 minutes) on September 23; Fahrenheit 451 (1966, 112 minutes) on September 30; A Farewell to Arms (1932, 89 minutes) on October 7; Kiss Me Deadly (1955, 105 minutes) on October 14; The Life and Times of Judge Roy Bean (1972, 120 minutes) on October 21; Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956, 80 minutes) on October 28; and Manhattan (1979, 96 minutes) on November 4.  Shows are at 7:00 p.m. in the Community Center.  Admission is free and all are welcome.

International Film Series

              Tour the globe via the Friends’ International Film Series.  Shows are at 2 & 7 p.m. in the Community Center.  Coming up: White Nights  (Italy, 1957, 107 minutes) on September 15; Hula Girls (Japan, 2006, 110 minutes) on October 20; The Band’s Visit (Israeil, 2007, 86 minutes) on November 17; and Raise the Red Lantern (China/Hong Kong, 1991, 125 minutes) on December 15.  Show dates are Mondays.

Documentary Film Series 
            The Friends of the Library’s documentary film series continues with The Hobart Shakespeareans (2004, 60 minutes) on September 22.  The film shows how one talented teacher can change the lives of at-risk students by exposing them to great literature and mathematics; doxita (100 minutes), a collection of six short films from around the world, on October 6; Daughter of Danang (2003, 80 minutes), the story of an American woman born in Viet Nam of an American G.I. and a Vietnamese woman, on November 3; and The Sweetest Sound (The Ultimate Name Game) (2001, 60 minutes), a film all about people’s names and what they may or may not mean, on December 8.  All dates are Mondays.  Show times are 2:00 p.m. and 7:00 p.m. in the Community Center.  Admission is free and all are welcome.

Fall Used Book Sale

            Choose from thousands of children's and adult books, cds, videos and recorded books at the Friends’ fall used book sale.  Dates and times are Thursday, October 23, from 5:00 p.m. to 8:30 p.m., Friday, October 24, from 9:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., and Saturday, October 25, from 9:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.  The sale will be held in the Friendly Book Cellar, which is located in the library basement. Proceeds benefit the library.