News from the Library, by E-mail and RSS

If you have ever given the Library your e-mail address, like this newsletter editor did when he signed up for a Palo Alto Library card, you have probably noticed that they are sending you one to a few e-mails per month.

The Library would like you to know that the Summer Reading for a Cause program is on and you can sign up and log your reading. They want help getting 20,000 books read so they can give $2,500 to Foundation for a College Education, and probably some other things because they post more often to their blog than we send out this newsletter. You can subscribe to their blog with an RSS reader.

The Library also has an Events Calendar that is full of stuff to do.

-Frank McConnell

 
July Sale Highlights

July is FOPAL's busy donation time, signaling that summer is here! FOPAL is offering plenty of summer-time reads, games, puzzles, music, movies, and more! From the Art section, look for a big special on a collection of art books donated from a retired fine art docent along with all the other Art books donated this month. The majority of these books can be found in two special bays on your right as you enter the Main Room. The Puzzles & Games sections have been completely restocked with a wide variety of items from a large recent donation from the Palo Alto Veterans Administration. Also from the Palo Alto Veterans Administration this month FOPAL received hundreds of nearly new DVDs! Look for FULL sections/shelves of Puzzles & Games and DVDs both the Main Room and the Bargain Room. The equally nice selection in the Bargain Room is a reflection of the overflow from the Main Room. The Biographies / Memoirs section has more than enough books to fill most of the shelves twice over. Look for good picks for summer-time reading in this superabundant section! And, stop by the Gardening section for a nice display of books that will help you grow a green thumb and then some.

For all FOPAL's bibliophile customers the unique special of High-Value books normally sold by our High-Value team on Amazon, eBay, or at auction continues! Enjoy this opportunity to shop the High-Value inventory at the July Sale at FOPAL's Summer Super Pop-up Sale Saturday 7/8, 10am- 4pm (Children's Room parking lot) This summer super high-value Pop-Up sale features 2000+ items, from books to ephemera and CDs. Worth $20-$59 online; we will be offering these items for only $10-$25 each during this special in-person sale.

-Janette Herceg

 
Art Special Sale

FOPAL recently received 40 bankers' boxes of art history books from a long-time docent at the DeYoung Museum. Many of these wonderful books will be found in a special display just inside the entrance as well as on a red cart near the monographs. There are numerous books on American art, Impressionism, Modern art, Dutch 17th-century painting, Chinese art, Women in Art, Paris and Venice, and medieval and Renaissance Europe. Included are many catalogues for special exhibitions in New York, Boston, Chicago, and San Francisco. The Art red cart holds guides to American and European museums and compilations of "Masterpieces" from these museums. Most of the books in this month's special are priced from $3 to $8. Many interesting things from this donation were sent to the Bargain Room because they have some highlighting. Those books are still very readable and useful as research tools or for their illustrations.

For photographs of the shelves, see www.fopalbooks.com.

-Melinda and Mandy, Art

 
Puzzles & Games

The puzzle shelves are stuffed with some recent big 500 and 1000 piece donations. This includes a donation of 3 sets of 3 identical 500 piece Ravensburger puzzles for hosting a puzzle tournament. If that is not your idea of entertainment, how about hosting a murder mystery night? We have a couple of those, too. And for the more traditional family games with a twist how about Monopoly--Star Wars or Disney style or a Simpsons Chess game? Want crazier? We have the popular and wacky Throw, Throw, Burrito too! Lots of new adult games, too. Check it all out in Puzzles and Games.

-Vicky Evans

 
FOPAL Summer Super Sale

At the same time as our July Monthly Book Sale FOPAL will have another of its very successful High Value Sales.

The sale will have around 2,000 items including books, ephemera, CDs, and LPs.

What:
FOPAL will be selling books from its High Value inventory that have an online value of $20 to $59. All books will be significantly reduced with a price range of $10 to $25. The books will cover subjects from art to travel to children's vintage, with both hard covers and soft covers.

All books have been specially selected by our High Value team and will be the cream of the crop of what we have within that price range.

FOPAL has just agreed to make a grant of $100,000 to help increase the Library's circulation, that is, more new books, more updated books, as well as helping to shorten the time it takes to get a book that is on hold.

Literally every time you buy a book from FOPAL to put on your shelf at home it puts a book on a shelf at one of our excellent Libraries!

When:
Saturday July 8th
10am to 4pm

Where:
The parking lot outside the Children's Room, the south west corner of the Cubberley Community Center.

We look forward to seeing you.

For more information on FOPAL please go to www.FOPAL.org.

-Nigel Jones

 
Children's Vintage

This is a special month for children's vintage! We have some especially good stuff for older readers in the usual places in the children's room: more Landmark history books, approximately 50 Ladybird series books (fairy tales, history, non-fiction), several Avalon romance books with dust jackets in mylar covers, and 4 Illustrated Junior Library classics from the early 50s in slipcases. In addition - and this is the exciting part! - there are 26 boxes of high value children's vintage books as part of the special July high value sale taking place in front of the Children's Room from 10-4 on Saturday! The books range in price from $10-$25 (half the online retail price) and are separated between older and younger readers. Two of the boxes contain books in languages other than English, two contain complete sets of the My Bookshelf series, and one box contains bound volumes of early 20thC St Nicholas magazines. That leaves 20 boxes of general fiction/non-fiction hand-curated picks to choose from. Happy reading!

-Lisa Heitman

 
High Value Ephemera Sale

Browse through our amazing collection of vintage ephemera at our July parking lot sale! Expect discounts of 50%-75% or more from comparable prices on the internet. For sale are both book and non-book items - vintage children's games, old brochures, pamphlets, chap books, spiral-bound special publications, self-published oddities, magazines and military maps - you name it!

Examples:

• Vintage children's board games and other curios
• Bags of 1,000 off-paper stamps, $2 per bag.
• Vintage magazines: Fortune, Life, Look - Rolling Stones, Beatles, Moon Landing, etc.
• Brochures, pamphlets and small books from the late 1800s on - poetry, political screeds, short stories
• Radio and Railway magazine and manuals from the 1930s on.
• U.S. Military Publications from WW1, WW2 to Viet Nam
• Rare political pamphlets from the 1930s by Lenin, Molotov and others.
• I.W.W. Union pamphlets, song books, etc.
• Workers Party of America, Communism in America-1930s
• Maps-WWII military, China, Viet Nam in 1966
• Vintage books with beautiful illustrations, including engravings of animals, travels in Africa etc., from the late 1800s

-Ms K

 
Education & Language

New books available in July in Education & Language: The First Book of Etymology, Treasures of the Library of Congress, and Joy of Reading. In addition you'll find Talk Like Ted: The 9 Public Speaking Secrets of the World's Top Minds. Books range from: theories of education, language and linguistics; reading and libraries; writing, grammar and syntax; ESL and sign language; K-12, and post-secondary education; plus teaching and education administration. For college, try 50 Successful Stanford Application Essays. Now that school's out, check out The Unofficial Minecraft Lab for Kids.

See photos at www.fopalbooks.com.

-Virginia Perry

 
Home & Crafts

For July, the Home section showcases designer earrings, beauty, and wedding guides, plus manners and etiquette. You'll also find fashion, including Oscar de la Renta, and costume design theory. Other shelves include Flea Market Decorating and interior design concepts for kitchen, bath, the entire house, and outdoors as well. Building and remodeling titles feature Alternative Housebuilding and The Tool Catalog, along with multiple titles for woodworking. Home organizing titles include Martha Stewart's Homekeeping Handbook. In need of home repairs? Try How to Fix Damn Near Everything and How Things Work in Your Home.

The Crafts shelves include floral arts and arranging, featuring Paula Pryke's Living Color. Peruse craft guides from jewelry-making to scrapbooking, with a special title, Crafting Your Own Heritage Album. You'll also find coloring books and origami. This month these shelves include: an array of sewing books, a multitude of quilting titles, plus knitting and needlepoint how-tos for all your fabric projects.

Photos can be found at www.fopalbooks.com.

-Virginia Perry

 
Antiques & Collections

Among the July offerings in Antiques & Collections: Great Books and Book Collectors; Topps Baseball Cards 1951-1985; Penny Toys from Heaven and Tin Toys; Lead Soldiers and Figurines, and Model Soldiers. New in this section: American Quilts: The Democratic Art, 1780-2007 and The Art of Embroidery history. Other titles include: rugs and furniture; jewelry; guns and pocket knives; antiques encyclopedias, plus many more titles for your collecting reference.

Photo can be found at www.fopalbooks.com.

-Virginia Perry

 
Poetry

July's for Independence Day
For flags and speeches and for play,
And poetry at FOPAL's sale.
Each volume holds a unique tale
Of poets who have paid their dues,
From the Ukraine to Langston Hughes.
And throw some virtual confetti
Upon the Beats, like Ferlinghetti.

-Mandy MacCalla

 
Religion

Expand your understanding of the Bible. There are many volumes from different sets of the Anchor Bible series. And if you wish to study the New Testament in Greek there are aids for that. R. C. Sproul's commentary on Acts gives another dimension.

-Nancy Mahoney Cohen

 
Reference

This month the Reference Section features preparation guides for a large variety of Advanced Placement ("AP") subject tests.

-Bruce Heflinger

 
Children's Room

Hard to believe, but the first day of school is only 5 weeks away! Teachers and home-schoolers, check the Non-Fiction section for an abundance of teaching materials for all grades, covering math, reading, spelling, writing, and other subjects. To fill some of the time between now and when school starts, the Activities section has games for all ages; puzzles of every size, shape, and material; and crafts including origami, quilling, and a Melissa & Doug loom! To help prepare for classes, we offer workbooks and flashcards for math, science, language arts, and social studies. Just for fun, browse the graphic novels shelves, where this month we feature Big Nate. The World Languages section is particularly flush with books in French and German. Find a foreign-language storybook your child is familiar with in English--it will be fun for them to read it in a language they are studying. The School-Age Fiction shelves are packed. Highlights this month include Rick Riordan's latest books as well as a boxed set of Percy Jackson and the Olympians; all the books in the Harry Potter series; a boxed set of the New York Times best-selling series Gregor the Underland Chronicles, by Suzanne Collins; a boxed set of Anne of Green Gables; a beautiful edition of Homer Price, by Robert McCloskey; a 12-volume boxed set of the Malory Towers series, by Enid Blyton; a boxed set of classic horse stories, by Marguerite Henry; and a collector's edition of Stuart Little, by E. B. White.

-Carolyn Davidson

 
Curious Books

In addition to the usual miscellany, this month’s collection at Curious Books features books on habits and character, dubious and otherwise. Various volumes in our selection can instruct you in praiseworthy behaviors and self-improvement. Or, if you prefer, other volumes can give you ideas for mischief and the gleeful annoyance of many. Step right up, plenty to choose from. Buy yourself some books, and enjoy your summer!

-Donya W.

 
Judaica

Browse the Judaica section for books on the Jewish religion and culture including editions of the Torah and other basic texts, Kabbalah, Jewish history, the Holocaust, memoirs, Israel, Jewish Women, the Jewish American Experience and other related subjects.

New this month - Jewish Life in the American West; Gangsters vs. Nazis: How Jewish Mobsters Battled Nazis in WW2 Era America; Jewish Images in the Comics; Wounds into Wisdom: Healing Intergenerational Jewish Trauma; King David: The Real Life of the Man Who Ruled Israel; By Bread Alone: The Story of A-4685; The Gates of November by Chaim Potok

Most fiction with Jewish themes will be found in Modern Literature/Classics or Current Fiction. Books entirely in Hebrew are shelved in the European Languages section.

-Charlotte Epstein, Section manager for Judaica

 
Self-Help

This month there are 4 FULL SHELVES of new arrivals PLUS 3 shelves of 'Popular on Amazon' books. Some of the featured books are: The Laws of Human Nature; The Art of Noticing; Mastery; Stillness is the Key (3 copies) - all popular on Amazon. There is a 'Marked Down' section (some of these books are popular on Amazon). Due to a recent large donation, there are now 1 and 1/4 shelves of books on Addiction with multiple copies of some of the commonly used AA books - great if you lead a group or want to share with your friends. Most books are $2-3 dollars each so you can load up with as many as 'tickle your fancy'. Enjoy Browsing,

-Marnie

 
Fantasy & Science Fiction

In Fantasy and Science Fiction, notable are handsome slip-cased sets of Amish's Shiva Trilogy and The Maps of Tolkien's Middle-Earth by Sibley and Howe, small-press first editions of books by Robert McCammon and Dean Koontz, several Warhammer 40,000 books on the Game Worlds shelf, several "Best of the Year" anthologies, and a batch of "Best of" single-author collections.

-Rich McAllister

 
Graphic Novels and Comics

In Graphic Novels and Comics, manga are back! Mostly English-language, with some Japanese.

-Rich McAllister

 
History

After a slow start, History donations started rolling in this month and we have a large selection of new volumes!

This month we're featuring Theodore Roosevelt, including a biography by his colleague Jacob Riis, and a biography of his youngest son, Quentin, by Kermit Roosevelt. Afro-American history has a large selection of new arrivals, including a book analyzing Martin Luther King's "I have a dream" speech.

If you're interested in British royal gossip, we have the first volume of Henry Channon's memoirs about his time with the British royal family. We also have several biographies of Che Guevara, along with then-contemporary books on conflict in Nicaragua. If ancient European history is more to your liking, we have a nice set of the Heritage edition of Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire. We also have a collection of older books on Indonesian history.

On the Exploration shelf, in addition to a facsimile copy of Lewis and Clark's journal, there is a nice reprint paperback of George R. Stewart's Names on the Land

And if you think that books do furnish a room, we have several older books (1920 or older) in the section, including an omnibus of South African history - from a British perspective.

-Lin McAllister

 
Donations

We have made it past Drop-off Donations 3.0 and have returned to accepting donations without the need to make an appointment.

HOWEVER....

We are closed for donations from Sunday July 2 through Sunday July 9 to prepare the Main Room for this weekend's sale. Please hold your donations until Monday July 10.

Please read our donation guidelines before you bring materials to us.

All that said, our normal hours for drop-off donations are Monday through Saturday, 3pm-5pm. (But not the week before the sale.)

 
Suggestions?

We're always eager to hear your suggestions for ways to improve our book sale. Please email us at suggestions@friendspaloaltolib.org.