The Canton Public Library is celebrating Earth Day from April 14-27 with a series of entertaining and educational programs. Topics include bat conservancy, organic eating, buying local food, and rain gardens. The week will wrap up with a fantastic performance by authentic Native American Dancers. The Library's collection if full of excellent books, dvds, and cds to help you celebrate with us:

America's neighborhood bats by Merlin D. Tuttle

The bat house builder's handbook by Merlin D. Tuttle, Mark Kiser, Selena Kiser

Bats by M. Brock Fenton

Wildlife heroes: 40 leading conservationists and the animals they are committed to saving by Julie Scardina and Jeff Flocken ; with photo editor Sterling Zumbrunn

Celebrate National Poetry Month by getting to know more about the lives of some of our greatest poets:

Longfellow: a rediscovered life by Charles C. Calhoun

Yeats's ghosts: the secret life of W.B. Yeats by Brenda Maddox

Dylan Thomas: a new life by Andrew Lycett

From noon to starry night: a life of Walt Whitman by Philip Callow

Rough magic: a biography of Sylvia Plath by Paul Alexander

Margaret Thatcher, Britain's only female prime minister has passed away at the age of 87. Thatcher served as the leader of the Conservative Party from 1975 to 1990 and was known as the Iron Lady.

Reagan and Thatcher: the difficult relationship by Richard Aldous

Ronald Reagan and Margaret Thatcher: a political marriage by Nicholas Wapshott

The Iron Lady: a biography of Margaret Thatcher by Hugo Young

The Downing Street years by Margaret Thatcher

The rise and fall of Margaret Thatcher [videodisc]

The perfect book for a book discussion is one that's not too easy, not too hard, that will hold the interest of a diverse group of readers and will also inspire a lively discussion. For additional book club resources the Canton Public Library offers a wide variety of  Book Club in a Bag kits.

Mad Men  returns to the airwaves on Sunday, April 7 at 9:00 PM on AMC.  The two-hour premiere of the series' 6th season continues the story of Don Draper and his colleagues at the New York City advertising agency Sterling Cooper Draper Pryce. When we last saw Don and the gang it was the spring of 1967 and they were all at crossroads in both their personal and professional lives. Providing additional backdrop to the series is the political and social upheaval of the 1960s. If you're a new viewer - or just want to watch again - you can catch up now with Mad Men  seasons 1-5 from the Library's collection. Welcome back Don Draper!

A collection of fictional biographies, War of 1812, baseball and Jackie Robinson, the Stanley Cup, and satire...

Thomas the Tank Engine pulls into Greenfield Village at the end of the month. How have trains shaped America's history?

 

The great railroad revolution: the history of trains in America by Christian Wolmar

Railroads across North America: an illustrated history by Claude Wiatrowski

The robber barons: the great American capitalists, 1861- 1901 by Matthew Josephson

Aloha, lady blue by Charley Memminger

Dante's wood: a Mark Angelotti novel by Lynne Raimondo

Good man Friday by Barbara Hambly

The guilty one by Lisa Ballantyne

What darkness brings: a Sebastian St. Cyr mystery by C. S. Harris

Are you or a loved one considering retirement?  What is the best way to take your Social Security benefit?  Did you even know there were options?  Are you going to have a big tax burden?  Will it be enough to support a comfortable lifestyle?   Tom LaBeau will share insight and answers as we celebrate Older Americans Month on Tuesday, May 14 at 7:00 PM and again on Saturday, May 18 at 1:00 PM, both in our Purple Room.

Storyteller Alfreda Harris shares tender, heart-warming, humorous tales of mothers and motherhood. Please join us to share a laugh or a tear as we celebrate our mothers.  All ages are welcome on Thursday, May 9 at 7:00 PM.

 There is no meeting in May due to the Memorial Day holiday weekend.  See you June 23rd.

Join other handcrafters for an evening of sharing and learning.  All ages and stages are welcome at this informal gathering on Monday, May 13 at 7:00 PM in the library Purple Room.  Bring your own project, yarn and needles.

Thinking about starting a small business but you're not 

Last flag down [Large print]: the epic journey of the last Confederate warship by John Baldwin and Ron Powers

Fraternity [Large print]: a journey in search of five presidents by Bob Greene

At the center of the storm [Large print]: my years at the CIA by George Tenet

What a way to spend a war [Large print]: Navy nurse POWs in the Philippines by Dorothy Still Danner

Operation mincemeat: how a dead man and a bizarre plan fooled the Nazis and assured an Allied victory [Large print] by Ben Macintyre

Richard Griffiths (July 31, 1947-March 29, 2013) the versatile British actor who played Harry Potter's unsympathetic Uncle Vernon in the "Harry Potter" movies, has died. He was 65.  Griffiths was well-known to theater-goers as well as movie-goers. He played Uncle Monty in the popular British series, Withnail and I won a Tony Award for his portrayal of Douglas Hector, an English teacher in Alan Bennet's The History Boys
and DI Henry Crabbe in Pie in the Sky.

Who knew?  The Library Business Office discovered it's National Food on a Stick Day!  Fortunately, CPL is full of inspiration for this unusual and fun celebration, we thought of Cake Pops  or The Ultimate Candy Book or fun for the kids  Indoor S'mores and Other Tasty Treats for Special Occasions.  You see where our thoughts are.   What food can you think of that comes on a stick?

On Thursday, April 11 at noon we will be discussing:

Behind the beautiful forevers by Katherine Boo — In this brilliantly written, fast-paced book, based on three years of uncompromising reporting, a bewildering age of global change and inequality is made human. Annawadi is a makeshift settlement in the shadow of luxury hotels near the Mumbai airport, and as India starts to prosper, Annawadians are electric with hope. With intelligence, humor, and deep insight into what connects human beings to one another in an era of tumultuous change, Behind the Beautiful Forevers carries the reader headlong into one of the twenty-first century's hidden worlds, and into the lives of people impossible to forget.

 

The Canton Public Library will soon provide unlimited, simultaneous, digital access to almost 200 of your favorite magazines through a new database called Zinio for Libraries. After setting up a free account, CPL card holders will be able to read current issues cover-to-cover of any these selected titles, as well as be informed via email of future issues. Patrons can read online at any time via a web browser, either inside the library, or remotely on your PC, Mac, iPad, Kindle Fire, iPhone, or Android device. Offline access is also available after downloading an app. The issues are then permanently stored in your "viewer collection." No checkout periods or late fees! A wide variety of popular titles will be available including Consumer Reports, Forbes, Good Housekeeping, Martha Stewart Living, Rolling Stone, Motor Trend, Popular Science, and Newsweek.

Wednesday, March 27th at 6:30PM meet Canadian author Owen Laukkanen for a discussion and signing of his new thriller Criminal Enterprise, featuring FBI agent Carla Windermere and Minnesota state investigator Kirk Stevens at Nicola's Books in Ann Arbor.