Judging by the blockbuster success of the Harry Potter, Twilight, and now Hunger Games films, there is still a great appeal for movies based on books.  There’s something about re-experiencing the story you loved on the page played out on the screen – especially when it’s well done.  When a good book gets a good script, good actors, good cinematography, and good music, enthusiastic readers can become enthusiastic viewers.

And these movies aren’t just for preteens.  There are myriad examples of quality adapted screenplays for more mature audiences.  Our friends at the Mid-Continent Public Library have indexed an impressive number of them.  If you’re sick of the summer blockbuster already, check out some of these book-inspired movies at NPL:

1. All the King’s Men (book by Robert Penn Warren)

Set in the Depression, follows the life of a young farm boy who turns from an honest political hopeful to a powerful but corrupt governor.

2. Atonement (book by Ian McEwan)

In 1935, 13-year-old fledgling writer Briony Tallis and her family live a life of wealth and privilege in their enormous mansion. On the warmest day of the year, the country estate takes on an unsettling hothouse atmosphere, stoking Briony’s vivid imagination.

3. Girl With a Pearl Earring (book by Tracy Chevalier)

17-year-old Griet must work to support her family, so she becomes a maid in the house of Johannes Vermeer, where she attracts the master painter’s attention. He is commissioned to paint Griet, and the result is one of the greatest paintings ever created.

4. The Green Mile (book by Stephen King)

Death Row guards at a penitentiary, in the 1930′s, have a moral dilemma with their job when they discover one of their prisoners, a convicted murderer, has a special gift.

5. The Manchurian Candidate by Richard Condon

When his army unit is ambushed during the first Gulf War, Sergeant Raymond Shaw saves his fellow soldiers just as his commanding officer, Major Ben Marco, is knocked unconscious. Using the incident for political gain, Shaw eventually becomes a vice-presidential nominee, but Marco is haunted by dreams of what really happened in Iraq.

6. Remains of the Day (book by Kazuo Ishiguro)

The story of blind devotion and repressed love between a fanatically proper butler and a high-spirited, strong-minded young housekeeper employed by a British lord who is unwittingly a Nazi dupe.

7. October Sky (book by Homer Hickam)

The true story of Homer Hickam Jr., a high school student in rural West Virginia, who seemed destined to repeat his father’s harsh life in the coal mines, until he turned his attention to the skies.

8. True Grit (book by Charles Portis)

U.S. Marshal Rooster Cogburn helps a headstrong young girl find the man who murdered her father in Native American territory and fled with the family savings. When Rooster’s employer insists on accompanying the old gunfighter, sparks fly. The situation goes from troubled to disastrous when an inexperienced Texas Ranger joins the party.

9. Water for Elephants (book by Sara Gruen)

Against all odds, a veterinary student and a beautiful circus performer from a bygone era meet and fall in love through their shared compassion for a special elephant. But their secret romance incurs the wrath of her dangerously volatile husband.

10. The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (book by F. Scott Fitzgerald)

Daisy Fuller Williams is on her deathbed in a New Orleans hospital the day that Hurricane Katrina hits. At her side is her adult daughter, Caroline. Daisy asks Caroline to read to her aloud from the diary of Daisy’s lifelong friend, Benjamin Button. Benjamin’s diary recounts his entire extraordinary life. The unusual aspect of his life is that he is ages backwards, being born an old man.

So do something for her this Sunday.

You may have heard it a million times, but it’s true: your mother worked darn hard for you.  She gave you life, and then – no matter how annoying you were – she kept you around.  She tolerated your screams and your spit-up and your never-ending colds.  She rescued your binky and didn’t yell when you destroyed the VCR.  She went to your “talent” shows and never told you you wouldn’t actually become a ballerina.  She paid for your braces and didn’t disown you when you said you couldn’t stand her.

So – for decency’s sake – do something for her this Mother’s Day.  You owe her.

How can we help you at the Library (other than showering you with guilt)?  Well, we happen to have an excellent collection of cookbooks!  Tie on an apron this weekend and make something sweet for your dear ol’ mum.

This recipe from Mom’s Best Desserts might just earn you forgiveness:

Chocolate Zucchini Cake

2 cups sifted unbleached all-purpose flour
1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 3/4 cups sugar
1/2 cup vegetable oil
2 teaspoons finely grated orange zest
1 whole large egg
3 large egg whites, slightly beaten
2 cups finely shredded raw zucchini (do not peel)
1/3 cup buttermilk or plain yogurt, at room temperature
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1/3 cup (3 ounces) semisweet chocolate chips
Sifted confectioners’ sugar

1. Preheat the oven to 350*F. Grease and flour a 10-inch springform pan.
2. Sift together the flour, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, and salt. Sift together two more times. Set aside.
3. In a large mixing bowl, combine the sugar, oil, and orange zest, mixing well. Add the whole egg and egg whites, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Stir in the zucchini.
4. Combine the buttermilk and vanilla.
5. Add the flour mixture to the egg mixture alternately with the buttermilk, and beat until the butter is smooth. Stir in the chocolate chips, mixing just until combined. Pour the batter into the prepared pan.
6. Bake for 30 to 40 minutes, until a cake tester inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean.
7. Cool on a wire rack for about 10 minutes.
8. Run a thin knife around the edge of the springform pan, between the pan and the cake. Set aside for about 30 minutes, or until cool. Then remove the sides of the pan.
9. When the cake is completely cool, sprinkle with confectioners’ sugar.

10 to 12 servings

Today is a fabulous day.  Sure, it’s gray and drizzly, but if you come into your library you can always find another reason to be glad to be alive.  (Laugh at my enthusiasm if you will, but we know you feel the same.  Read on).

We get to celebrate two May traditions on the same day – the 150th anniversary of Cinco de Mayo and the 138th Kentucky Derby.  Strap on a sombrero, grab a mint julep, and cheer for the ponies.  The world’s most thrilling 2-minute horse race is all the more rewarding while celebrating the Battle of Puebla.

For the fans of the less mainstream, it’s also Free Comic Book Day and Karl Marx’s birthday.  Chase’s Calendar of Events always offers us quirky reasons to smile.  It also brings news of global celebrations.  Today in England, fans of “football” are cheering on their favorite team in the FA cup finals.  Both Japan and South Korea are observing Children’s Day.

And in the Library, we’re celebrating Naperville Community Heritage Month.  Come in today, enjoy your library, and explore your community.  While we celebrate history and the rest of the world, it’s even more fun to celebrate being right here right now – in the library!  (Yes, I’m shameless).

If you’re an adult who liked The Hunger Games, here are a few other dystopian novels you might enjoy:

1. The Road by Cormac McArthy

In a novel set in an indefinite, futuristic, post-apocalyptic world, a father and his young son make their way through the ruins of a devastated American landscape, struggling to survive and preserve the last remnants of their own humanity.  

2. Ready Player One by Ernest Cline

Decades into the future, the world is a mess. We’re out of oil, other critical resources are running low, and millions of Americans are homeless. Teenager Wade Watts escapes this cruel world by daily logging into OASIS, a virtual world where players can create their own reality. There, he’s determined to solve a puzzle set forth by OASIS creator and game designer James Halliday, a contest that promises billions to the winner. Halliday was a child of the 1980’s, so knowledge of Reagan-era pop culture is vital to this electronic quest. A nostalgic book set in the future.

3. A Pleasure to Burn: Fahrenheit 451 Stories by Ray Bradbury

A collection of 16 stories set in Bradbury’s brutal world where firemen burn books. The tales add up to a prequel that explains how the world of Fahrenheit 451 came to be. 

4. The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood

America has been overtaken by radical Christians and turned into a republic named Gilead, a nation where women are not allowed to read, have jobs or own property.  Offred – she had to surrender her real name – is a Handmaid, meaning she has to bear a child for a commanding officer in this new republic. Her only hope is to escape Gilead.

There’s a lot we’re honoring in the month of April – not least of which is the cause of autism research.  The Autism Society has dedicated this month to awareness since the 1970s, and knowledge and concern for the autistic community has certainly risen since then.  If you know someone with autism, though, you know that there is always further to go – and what better resource for awareness is there than your library?

Gale’s Health and Wellness Resource Center helps answer the simple questions.  They define the condition as “a complex developmental disorder distinguished by difficulties with social interaction, verbal and nonverbal communication, and behavioral problems, including repetitive behaviors and narrow focus of interest.”  According to their research, 1 of every 110 children in the U.S. falls in the autism spectrum, and males are 4 times more likely to be diagnosed.

If you’re already aware of the basics, Medline Plus, a free resource from the National Library of Medicine, addresses further questions.  They offer profesional perspectives on whether certain vaccinations lead to autism and what kinds of alternative treatments are most realistic.  They even offer lengthy e-book guides for parents of autistic children.

You can also learn a great deal from our new collection of autism books.  Check one out from both our nonfiction and fiction sections to help raise your awareness and empathy this month:

1. The Autism Revolution by Martha R. Herbert;

After years of treating patients and analyzing scientific data, Harvard researcher and clinician Dr. Martha Herbert offers a revolutionary new view of autism and a transformative strategy for dealing with it.

2. The Golden Hat: Talking Back to Autism by Kate Winslet;

Traces the Oscar-winning actress’s joint efforts with the mother of a severely autistic son, Keli, to connect with the boy while founding Texas’ Helping Autism Learning Outreach (HALO) program, an effort during which the boy developed unique communication abilities and demonstrated considerable gifts as a poet.

3. Seven Keys to Unlock Autism by Elaine Hall;

Two women involved in The Miracle Project, a musical theatre program for kids with autism, provide a 7-step program to help autistic children communicate and relate to others and explain how to apply these strategies at school and at home.

4. Somebody Please Tell Me Who I Am by Harry Mazer;

Wounded in Iraq while his Army unit is on convoy and treated for many months for traumatic brain injury, the first person Ben remembers from his earlier life is his autistic brother.

5. The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night Time by Mark Haddon;

Despite his overwhelming fear of interacting with people, Christopher, a mathematically-gifted, autistic fifteen-year-old boy, decides to investigate the murder of a neighbor’s dog and uncovers secret information about his mother.

6. Marcelo in the Real World by Francisco X. Stork.

Marcelo Sandoval, a seventeen-year-old boy on the high-functioning end of the autistic spectrum, faces new challenges, including romance and injustice, when he goes to work for his father in the mailroom of a corporate law firm.

A lot has happened since we last wrote about the Huffington Post‘s special “Libraries in Crisis.”  Public libraries nationwide are facing the 21st century with threatened budgets, layoffs, and fewer hours, but also the resolve and creativity to stay open and stay relevant.

Read about how Detroit schoolchildren are opening outdoor libraries during the hours their public library branches are closed.

Read about how some libraries are working to persuade major publishers to sell them e-books at reasonable prices.

Read from the president of the American Library Association on why she believes libraries are more important than ever.

And, as always, come into your library!  We’re still here, and we’d like to see you!

Desperate for a good read?  No time to wait for bestsellers?  Well, believe it or not, there are actually hundreds of books out there you would love – and we have many on our shelves.  Put your name down for that James Patterson or J.D. Robb, and then take a look at NPL’s Readers’ Corner.  There’s a lot more there than you think.

Some highlights you may have missed:

1. Staff-compiled themed booklists: See what staff are currently reading or our picks for the best Indian authors;

2. Next Title By: Put your name down for the next Jodi Picoult or Stephen King – before it’s even published!  As soon as we’ve got a copy, you’re automatically on the hold list;

3. E-mail suggestions: Sign up for book suggestions in your e-mail through NextReads or Dear Reader Online Book Clubs.  Indicate your favorite genre(s), and even receive samples or full text of some books!

4. NoveList: There’s a whole database out there designed for picky readers like you.  Search for your next read by bestseller and author readalikes, by subject descriptors, or even by lexile level.

Finally, feel free to join the NPL Book Club!  Read books suggested by staff and then come to a discussion at Nichols Library.  No registration required!

They’re back, and they’re hard to miss.  The suave men and women of Sterling Cooper Draper Pryce are back on AMC – along with their slick suits, constant smirks, and Lucky Strikes (or are they Camels now?).  We’ve waited a long time to see how Don and Megan get along, and how Joanie will make her comeback.  We can’t – despite ourselves – wait for the next secret love affair or John Deere lawnmower accident.  But even now that season five has begun, we still have to wait a long time between episodes.

Or… you can come to your nearest NPL location.  (You knew that was coming).

Try some of these books to get your ‘Mad Men’ fix in the meantime (synopses from our catalog):

1. The Real Mad Men by Andrew Cracknell;

Written by a former copywriter working during the Creative Revolution of the 1960s, Cracknell’s account of the heyday of advertising currently being explored on AMC’s hit show ‘Mad Men’ is a terrific supplement to the show, as well as a primer on the evolution of the industry.

2. Mad Men Unbuttoned by Natasha Vargas-Cooper;

Inspired by the TV series, L.A. freelance writer Vargas-Cooper launched a nicely designed and engaging blog, the Footnotes of Mad Men, to survey not only the show but also the real-world historical and cultural artifacts of that period. Now her attractive blog has been adapted into an equally attractive book.

3. The Unofficial Mad Men Cookbook by Judy Gelman;

Part cookbook, part annotated episode guide, this entertaining read has everything the die-hard Mad Men fan needs to host a fantastic cocktail party. In chapters covering cocktails, appetizers, salads, main dishes, and desserts, retro recipes are introduced by a scene from the show and put in historical context.

4. Mad Women by Jane Maas;

Mad Women is a tell-all account of life in the New York advertising world of the 1960s and 70s from Jane Maas, a female copywriter who succeeded in the primarily male environment portrayed by the hit TV show Mad Men.

5. Mad Men on the Couch by Stephanie Newman.

A modern psychological analysis of the characters from the popular television show featuring the advertising world of 1960s Madison Avenue.

And these fiction books evoke that same moody world of 1960s suburban and business life:

6. Revolutionary Road by Richard Yates;

The devastating effects of work, adultery, rebellion, and self-deception slowly destroy the once successful marriage of Frank and April Wheeler, a suburban American couple.

7. The Man in the Gray Flannel Suit by Sloan Wilson;

A novel about the American search for purpose in a world dominated by business. Tom and Betsy Rath share a struggle to find contentment in their hectic and material culture while several other characters fight essentially the same battle, but struggle in it for different reasons.

8. Rabbit, Run by John Updike;

Twenty-two-year-old Rabbit Angstrom is a salesman in a local department store, father of a preschool-age son, and husband to an alcoholic wife who was his second-best high school sweetheart. The squalor and tragedy of their lives reminds us that salvation is a personal undertaking.

9. The Stepford Wives by Ira Levin;

Moving to the “ideal” suburban community of Stepford, Connecticut, with her husband and children, Joanna Eberhart is stunned by the subservient and complacent nature of the women of the town and soon discovers the terrifying secret behind the women’s behavior.

10. The Hours by Michael Cunningham.

Cunningham neatly cuts back and forth in time among three women: Woolf, whom he portrays in the throes of writing Mrs. Dalloway and contemplating suicide; Laura, a young wife and mother suffocating in the confines of her tidy little life in L.A. in 1949; and Clarissa, who is giving a party in the present in New York City for her closest friend, Richard, a writer dying of AIDS.

You might want to inspect your morning cereal or re-read your e-mail with a skeptical eye this Sunday, because the fools are back.  April 1st is April Fools Day, and the most impish of us are already making their plans.  Whether this holiday is one of your favorites or just a forgettable nuisance, it’s still on the calendar and there’s nothing you can do about it.  Unfortunately, we can’t really save your breakfast or your dignity either, but we can help you understand all the tomfoolery.  Read on and learn to forgive – or exact your revenge.

The Encyclopedia of American Folklore informs us that, in the beginning, we were all fools.  Hilaria, the ancient Roman festival of the vernal equinox, acknowledged that most of us are left a little confused (read crazy) by the seasonal fluctuations, and the Feast of Fools (dating from the Middle Ages) encouraged us to filter that frustration into “rule breaking and irreverence.”  The first observance occurred in late March, but the modern holiday falls on April 1, and anybody who has missed that memo may end up with a “kick me” sign taped to their back.  (Yes, it’s true!  Read your encyclopedia.  And watch your back).

So, what do our local fools have up their sleeves?

A search in the Naperville Sun won’t reassure you.  Apparently, you may be subject to fake lottery tickets, piping hot showers, and tongue-dyeing gum.  If you’re heading into the city, the Chicago Sun-Times warns that some top chefs won’t serve you exactly what’s on the menu (beware the “woolly pig”).  The worst pranks, though, are always aimed at your good-natured gullibility.  Don’t believe Google when they promise you a new miracle app.  Last year in China it was teleportation.

So, what is there to do?  Heck, we’re just your librarians.  Blame the weather for your salty cereal and your failed phonebooth trip to China – or come hide at the library.  Maybe you’ll find your perfect comeback.

It’s that time of year again: the sun is shining, the birds are serenading, the cherry blossoms are in bloom… and your taxes are due!  Lest this annual chore spoil your springtime mood, we at the Naperville Public Library are here to ease the process.

Come visit any NPL location for hard copies of basic tax forms, and consult our tax information page for helpful links – including the nearest locations of personal tax assistance.  On Saturdays March 24 and 31, the Nichols Library will have volunteers to assist taxpayers from low-income households, or workers who earn less than $49,000 per year.  For the rest of you, the IRS has compiled a list of other tax volunteers in the community.

If you still have further questions, feel free to stop at any Adult Services desk, or call (630) 637-6311.  We’re not H&R Block, but we can get you started and then back out into the sunshine!