Family Traditions--Presents that are kept and given away

Jackie's Nine: Jackie Robinson's Values to Live By

The daughter of baseball's great Jackie Robinson guides readers through the nine heart-felt, hard-won values that helped him achieve his goals: courage, determination, commitment, persistence, integrity, justice, teamwork, citizenship, and excellence.


Seventeen Traditions by Ralph Nader

One of America's most influential people reflects upon his upbringing in a small town in Connecticut, covering the seventeen "traditions" instilled in him and his siblings by loving but firm parents, which include listening, discipline, and civic duty.

Letters to Sam: a grandfather's lessons on love, loss, and the gifts of life by Daniel Gottlieb
When his grandson was born, Daniel Gottlieb began to write a series of heartfelt letters that he hoped Sam would read later in life. He planned to cover all the important topics—dealing with your parents, handling bullies, falling in love, coping with death—and what motivated him was the fear that he might not live long enough to see Sam reach adulthood. You see, Daniel Gottlieb is a quadriplegic—the result of a near-fatal automobile accident that occurred two decades ago—and he knows enough not to take anything for granted.
Then, when Sam was only 14 months old, he was diagnosed with Pervasive Develop-mental Disability, a form of autism, and suddenly everything changed. Now the grandfather and grandson were bound by something more: a disability—and Daniel Gottlieb’s special understanding of what that means became invaluable.
This lovingly written, emotionally gripping book offers unique—and universal—insights into what it means to be human.

10 Conversations You Need to Have with Your Children by Shmuley Boteach
In this compelling book, Shmuley Boteach, passionate social commentator and outspoken relationship guru, walks you through the critical conversations, including: cherishing childhood; developing intellectual curiosity; knowing who you are and what you want to become; learning to forgive; realizing the importance of family and tradition; being fearless and courageous. As a father of eight, Rabbi Shmuley speaks from a wealth of experience.

Wisdom of our fathers : lessons and letters from daughters and sons [collected by] Tim Russert
After the publication of journalist Russert's book about his father, he received thousands of letters from people who wanted to tell him about their own fathers, ordinary men who were remembered and cherished for some of their best moments-of advice, tenderness, strength, honor, discipline, and occasional eccentricity. Most of these daughters and sons were eager to express the gratitude they had carried with them through the years. Others wanted to share lessons and memories and, most important, pass them down to their own children. This book is for all fathers, young or old, who can learn from the men in these pages how to get it right, and to understand that sometimes it is the little gestures that can make the big difference for your child.

The treehouse : eccentric wisdom from my father on how to live, love, and see by Naomi Wolf

The book begins when Naomi asks Leonard to help build a treehouse for his granddaughter. Inspired by his dedication to her daughter's imaginative world, Naomi asks her father to walk her through the lessons of his popular poetry class and show her how he teaches people to liberate their creative selves. Drawn from Leonard's handwritten lecture notes, the chapters of The Treehouse remind us to "Be Still and Listen," "Use Your Imagination," "Do Nothing Without Passion," and that "Your Only Wage Will Be Joy," and "Mistakes Are Part of the Draft." More than an education in poetry writing, this is a journey of self-discovery in which the creative endeavor is paramount.

What Mama Taught Me by Tony Brown
Accrediting his mother's teaching through his own individual life lessons, the author introduces seven core values designed as a personal guide to achieving success, obtaining happiness, and enjoying prosperity.

Floods of the Past

Rising tide : the great Mississippi flood of 1927 and how it changed America by John M. Barry

An American epic of science, politics, race, honor, high society, and the Mississippi River, Rising Tide tells the riveting and nearly forgotten story of the greatest natural disaster this country has ever known -- the Mississippi flood of 1927. The river inundated the homes of nearly one million people, helped elect Huey Long governor and made Herbert Hoover president, drove hundreds of thousands of blacks north, and transformed American society and politics forever. A New York Times Notable Book of the Year, winner of the Southern Book Critics Circle Award and the Lillian Smith Award.


The Johnstown Flood by David McCullough
At the end of the last century, Johnstown, Pennsylvania, was a booming coal-and-steel town filled with hard-working families striving for a piece of the nation's burgeoning industrial prosperity. In the mountains above Johnstown, an old earth dam had been hastily rebuilt to create a lake for an exclusive summer resort patronized by the tycoons of that same industrial prosperity: among them Andrew Carnegie, Henry Clay Frick, and Andrew Mellon. Despite repeated warnings of possible danger, nothing was done about the dam. Then came May 31, 1889, when the dam burst, sending a wall of water thundering down the mountain, smashing through Johnstown, and killing more than 2,000 townspeople. It was a tragedy that became a national scandal. From research in the voluminous records, diaries, letters, interviews with numbers of survivors, and a rare, previously unknown transcript of a private investigation conducted by the Pennsylvania Railroad, David McCullough vividly re-creates the chain of events that led to the catastrophe, and then unfolds the incredible story of the flood itself and its aftermath. Graced by David McCullough's remarkable gift for writing richly textured, sympathetic social history, The Johnstown Flood is an absorbing, classic portrait of life in 19th-century America, of overweening confidence, energy, and tragedy. It also offers a powerful historical lesson for our century and all times: the danger of assuming that because people are in positions of responsibility they are necessarily behaving responsibly.

In sunlight, in a beautiful garden by Kathleen Cambor
A love story set in Johnstown, Pennsylvania, before and after the 1889 dam disaster that took more than two thousand lives chronicles the greed and abuse of power in post-Civil War America.

Julie by Catherine Marshall
Her last novel was inspired by research on the Johnstown flood,and is partly based on autobiographical experiences of the author. A struggling, small-town newspaper, and steel-mill strikes also play important roles in the drama.


Isaac's storm : a man, a time, and the deadliest hurricane in history by Erik Larsen
Meticulously researched and vividly written, Isaac's Storm is based on Isaac Cline's own letters, telegrams, and reports, the testimony of scores of survivors, and our latest understanding of the hows and whys of great storms. Ultimately, however, it is the story of what can happen when human arrogance meets nature's last great uncontrollable force. As such, Isaac's Storm carries a warning for our time.

At the dawn of the twentieth century, a great confidence suffused America. Isaac Cline was one of the era's new men, a scientist who believed he knew all there was to know about the motion of clouds and the behavior of storms. The idea that a hurricane could damage the city of Galveston, Texas, where he was based, was to him preposterous, "an absurd delusion." It was 1900, a year when America felt bigger and stronger than ever before. Nothing in nature could hobble the gleaming city of Galveston, then a magical place that seemed destined to become the New York of the Gulf.

That August, a strange, prolonged heat wave gripped the nation and killed scores of people in New York and Chicago. Odd things seemed to happen everywhere: A plague of crickets engulfed Waco. The Bering Glacier began to shrink. Rain fell on Galveston with greater intensity than anyone could remember. Far away, in Africa, immense thunderstorms blossomed over the city of Dakar, and great currents of wind converged. A wave of atmospheric turbulence slipped from the coast of western Africa. Most such waves faded quickly. This one did not.

In Galveston, reassured by Cline's belief that no hurricane could seriously damage the city, there was celebration. Children played in the rising water. Hundreds of people gathered at the beach to marvel at the fantastically tall waves and gorgeous pink sky, until the surf began ripping the city's beloved beachfront apart. Within the next few hours Galveston would endure a hurricane that to this day remains the nation's deadliest natural disaster. In Galveston alone at least 6,000 people, possibly as many as 10,000, would lose their lives, a number far greater than the combined death toll of the Johnstown Flood and 1906 San Francisco Earthquake.

And Isaac Cline would experience his own unbearable loss.

Living on flood plains and wetlands : a homeowner's high water handbook by Maureen Gilmer
Offers some practical advice for homeowners.

Railroading Resources

If you are a train buff, for real or model railroading,
a recently added collection of over 60 books may be right up your track.

The Bernard S. Logan Collection, housed at the Bealeton Branch Library focuses on the history of steam, diesel and electric locomotives, with a special interest in the B&O, C&O, N&W and the Southern Railway lines. Most of these are older books from the 60's and 70's.

Wonderful photographs including interiors of passenger cars, dining cars, night trains, the whole gamut of train travel is covered.

Additionally, the Bealeton Branch also receives these magazine titles:
Model Railroader
Piedmont Local (also available at Warrenton)

These resources are part of a growing collection of train materials at the branch in relation to the restoration of the Bealeton Depot.
Depot renovations are being funded in large part by corporate donations and a Transportation Enhancement Act of the Twenty-First Century (TEA-21) grant.
The 820-square-foot depot will eventually serve as a program room for the library and as a community meeting space.

Toy Train Layout ideas

In conjunction with the Piedmont Model Railroaders exhibit coming up
here are some resources to inspire your own efforts:

Tracks ahead. Great model train layouts Visit some of the most amazing model train layouts across America on this DVD from the producers of the award-winning public television series Tracks Ahead. Filmed in high-definition, this program visits famous model train sites around the country: New Jersey's Northlandz, Florida's Cypress Gardens model railroad, the Decoster Garden layout of Connecticut, the Lash layout, Washington DC, The Baldwin layout, Georgia, the Robinson layout, Pennsylvania, the Watson layout, Wisconsin, the Zane layout and the Strong layout, Maryland.

Great toy train layouts of America Over five-hours full of great train action. See sleek Lionel diesels, powerful steamers puffing smoke, switchers with backup lights, passenger trains with their lights shining brightly, log and coal loaders, illuminated stations, powerful magnetic cranes, hills and rivers, cities and towns filled with little folk--all the enchantment and thrills that toy train layouts have provided five generations of kids, dads, and granddads. 14 layouts from around the country--from Ward Kimball's multi-gauge layout, to Chuck Brasher's Standard Gauge, Stan Roy's 32-train O gauge, Paul Nelson's outstanding S-gauge, and many more--all capturing the history romance, and fun of toy trains. Includes interviews with the layout builders, tips on building, and more toy trains in action than you'll find anywhere. This series, originally released in 1987, was the first to show classic toy trains in action, and contributed significantly to the dramatic growth of this hobby in the nineties.

A Century of Lionel Trains This DVD, narrated by Tom Snyder, covers the history of the famous train line.

How to build realistic model railroad scenery Covers backdrops, foregrounds, water, rocks, and changing seasons.

Playing with trains : the unexpected world of model railroading A former Grand Prize racer and Emmy Award-winning sportswriter examines the human love affair with model railroading, detailing his own panoramic layout, a model based on the historic Colorado Midland, and describing how his hobby has led to unexpected friendships, its impact on personal and family relationships, and the lost world of the steam engine.

Model Railroader Magazine Available at Bealeton Branch library, along with many other specialized model railroading titles.

A Posse of turkeys, a scourge of mosquitos...

A mob of kangaroos and other intriguing, sometimes humorous names, for groups of animals (and some bugs) can be found at
Ask the Experts from Oxford University

Among frequently asked questions,
you'll find the answers to improve your scrabble and crossword puzzle skills
with
-words that end in -gry
-the longest word in the English Language
-the always handy list of words with a "q" that are not followed by a "u".

For more on word origins and meanings, you can access the
Oxford English Dictionary online by entering your Fauquier County Public Library Card barcode number.

If phrases pique your curiosity,

check out these books available in the library:

Word spy : the word lover's guide to modern culture

Where Queen Elizabeth slept & what the butler saw : historical terms from the sixteenth century to the present

Loose cannons & red herrings : a book of lost metaphors

Heavens to Betsy! and other curious sayings

A Dictionary of Cliches

Cheesemaking and Bread baking

Artisanal cheeses are coming into their own as the next big local resource.

The Atlas of American Artisan Cheese includes a listing by state of specialty cheese producers,
plus indexes by types of cheese: cow, goat, sheep, water buffalo, raw milk and organic.

For learning about how cheeses are made, the The Cheese Nun on DVD provides a fascinating and delightful personal journey as Sister Noella Marcilleno becomes a champion for artisanal cheesemakers on both sides of the Atlantic.

If you're ready to try it on your own, Home Cheese Making: recipes for 75 homemade cheeses will get you started.

For general information about all types of cheese, check out
The Cheese Primer by Steve Jenkins which discusses the principles of cheesemaking and describes the cheeses of Europe and North America.

To accompany your cheese, some resources on bread baking include:
Video Bread Series.
This is a very non-threatening set of 8 DVDs, good for a complete novice, on all aspects of bread baking: kneading, rising, punching down, etc., plus tips on pizza making, muffins, sweet rolls, pie crusts, and how to really get some use out of your dusty bread machine.

If you're more comfortable with the bread baking process, check out Bernard Clayton's New Complete Book of Breads which offers over 600 pages of bread baking recipes. It covers more than just bread, and is very thorough in approach.
America's best-loved bread-baking authority returns with the 30th anniversary edition of the New Complete Book of Breads, the definitive version of this baking classic.