If you cannot attend the book sale, please drop by the Friends Bookstore located inside the Mitchell Park Library, Downtown Library, and Rinconada Library, and open during library hours. They are restocked regularly with a unique selection of books for all ages and interests.

 
Suggestions?

April Sale Notes

Book Sets was one of our featured specials last month. Having sold the March sets last month, with an offer before the sale from a FOPAL customer in Downers Grove, Illinois, we've added several more sets for our April Sale. Most are featured in the case outside the sorting room, others you'll find in the appropriate sections. Right next to Book Sets you'll find a new subsection for our growing Science area "Popular Science". Also, look for books in the specials bays from the Political Science section as they received a large donation last month. Look for the Political Science special to last for several months as it feels fitting during this lively time in politics and we've got an assortment of titles to offer. Books from the Tom & Ellen Wyman Collection are highlighted again for April as we continue to process this generous donation. The Wyman Collection can be found in the special bay across from the check-out line and Art area. There is now a new selection of nicer postcards in the Post Card section. These cards have been carefully curated for the deltiologists out there! (Deltiology from the Greek, diminutive of deltos, "writing tablet, letter"; and logia, is the study and collection of postcards.)

 
FOPAL Gives Share Faire a Shout Out!

Share Faire is usually held on the 2nd Sunday afternoon. Share Faire brings all the benefits of sharing Stories, Skills, and Stuff together in one fun event. Come join Transitions Palo Alto to share garden produce, arts and crafts supplies, books, toys, and clothes. They'll have things like music, bike repair, video storytelling, and other demos as well, with different themes each time.

More information is at https://transitionpaloalto.org/sharing-expos/.

1-3 PM, April 10th: Garden, Food & Seeds, at Cubberley Community Center rooms A6 & A7. Meet your neighbors, help keep things out of the landfill, and learn something new. April Share Faire: will be showing the World Premiere of Herb Moore's new short film in support of Seed Libraries and the new proposed legislation.

 
Science for April

"The Science section has had a facelift this month. There are a lot of new books and the shelves are labeled to help buyers find their way through the hundreds of science books we have for sale. Also, the "Popular Science" section near the entrance next to Philosophy has reappeared. Here are many interesting books for the general reader (i.e. no equations--there are plenty of equations around the corner). Note the large collection of PSSC science titles in Popular Science which many of us had as supplement science reading in high school in the 60s." -Dick Grote

 
Tom & Ellen Wyman Collection

For April, we are featuring another selection of fine books from the collection of FOPAL Book Sale founders Tom and Ellen Wyman: subjects include California History, Science, and General Interest. A nice selection of books on art tiles, one of the Wymans' many passions, is included as well. Look for these located in the "Specials case" next to CDs. -Jerry Stone

 
Entertainment for April

"Entertainment continues to have a wide variety of books on movies, TV, media. There are several interesting books on the history of Hollywood and the film business. To learn more about the rich, famous, and, often, misadjusted check out the large offering of film bios. For those still in withdrawal from the end of Downton Abbey, we have several titles in the series. Remember the books that used to be sold in theater lobbies in connection with the blockbuster on the screen? We have several of these this month." -Dick Grote

 
Classics & Modern Literature

"Check the special section, to the right as you enter the main room, for beautiful Franklin editions of the classics. Only $5 each!" -Jenny Munro

 
Nature April 2016

"Looking for fresh-air ways to celebrate Earth Day (April 22) and Mother's Day (May 8th)? Come by the Nature section for ideas -- and pick up a book or two for Mom. Read about our featured author, Edwin Way Teale, an American naturalist, photographer and Pulitzer Prize-winning writer. Move on to the New Arrival section, for When All Hell Breaks Loose, Cody Lundin; Five Days at Memorial: Life and Death in a Storm-Ravaged Hospital, Sheri Fink; Sixth Extinction, Elizabeth Kolbart; Animal Madness, Laurel Brainmon. Also featured this month on the bottom shelf, below the dog and cat section a few large format reference books on birds/animals, selected for their unusually well-done illustrations. Pick up one or two (very low priced) for your family library. They will be treasured for years to come." -Karen D.

 
History

"The History shelves are bulging with many excellent books this month. Our new or unusually interesting books are placed on the top shelves as always. Due to the large number of books we received this month, you will also find many of these books on all of our shelves--even the very bottom ones! We'd love to have more books "on display" to make your browsing easier but since we have so many good books we are unable to do this.

This month we have received a number of books on the Japanese-American experience in the United States with an emphasis on the internment of the Japanese-Americans during World War II. The relocation and internment is a particularly timely subject in this era of Muslim phobia especially given the current presidential campaign. You will find this special in the "Sets" section of History. Also, in the "Sets" section we have two complete Will and Ariel Durant's eleven-volume The Story of Civilization. Each set comes with a free bonus book The Lessons of History. This is a first for us to get two complete sets in as nice a condition as these are. Each set is priced very reasonably particularly in comparison to on-line prices." -Suzanne Little & Irina Cross

 
Health

"Lots of brand new books are in the Health section this month, pretty much through all of our shelves. It's World Autism Month (really!) and we've received a bunch of books we haven't seen before. They're in a special Autism Spectrum/Asperger spot on the shelf under the window. One fascinating title: Eating an Artichoke: A Mother's Perspective on Asperger Syndrome. Likewise, some great new food/diet/nutrition titles The Self-Compassion Diet, Setting Boundaries with Food, and several more unusual treatments of the subject of eating. We're also seeing some interesting books on genetics: for example, Blue Genes: A Memoir of Loss and Survival (about the genetic basis of bipolar disorder and suicidality.)" -Verne Rice

 
Humor in April

"Humor in April has something for everyone, a really diverse set of topics and authors from all over the comedy spectrum. New titles include The English Gentlemen series (3 books for the price of one), How About Never?, Let's Explore Diabetes, Lush Life, The Encyclopedia of Bad Taste, The Pick of Punch, Parables of Peanuts, and the classic cartoon book The New Yorker 75th Anniversary Collection. We also have new arrivals from Ellen DeGeneres, Tina Fey, Denis Leary, John Cleese, Flann O'Brien, and four novels by P. G. Wodehouse.

Make sure to check out the Bargain Room and look through the large collection of cartoons and magazines." -Nigel Jones

 
Music for April

"Visit the Music section for books on a wide variety of musical topics in the genres of classical, rock, jazz, world music, and dance. New this month - Madonna Special Collector's Edition; Blondie by Lester Bangs; Duran Duran World Tour 1987; The Jefferson Airplane and the San Francisco Sound; What's That Sound; Reds, Whites, and Blues: Social Movements, Folk Music, and Race in the United States; Sex Pistols File; Women in Rock; Rockin' in Time; The Jazz Tradition; Depeche Mode A Black Celebration 1986; The Greatest Album Covers of all Time. Also, browse our wide selection of sheet music neatly sorted by instruments including violin, piano, trumpet and guitar." -Charlotte Epstein

 
Teen Recommendations by Tristan Wang

The Outsiders by S. E. Hinton

"Fourteen-year-old Ponyboy Curtis has good grades, a love for books and films, and a mellow nature. And yet his circumstances mark him as an outsider; a hooligan born into a broken home and caught on the wrong side of the classes divide. When a quarrel ignites between Ponyboy's Greaser gang and the rival Socials, he catches the thrills and horrors of an outlaw as he breaks the law, challenges restrictions, and questions the divisions of society."

Tuck Everlasting by Natalie Babbitt

"Pacing through her family woods, Winnie Foster encounters a boy drinking from a local spring, and so stumbles upon the most well-guarded secret of a quaint family that never ages. But as pursuers encroach and explanations are revealed, Winnie soon discovers that eternal life is less a blessing than it might seem. In time, she too will face the choice of accepting immortality. But is it worth it?"

The Haven by Carol Lynch Williams

"Haven Hospital and Halls, a mysterious walled institution established in 2020, incarcerates teenagers known as Terminals. All faculty efforts are aimed to control the Disease the Terminals have: one that displays no symptoms yet claims the victims' limbs, organs, and memories. But as four Terminals: Shiloh, Gideon, Daniel, and Abigail, become obsessed over the possibility of living among the healthy, they secretly delve into the inner workings of the Haven."