Rod Flauhaus is a nature and concert photographer living in the Akron, Ohio area. Rod began experimenting with cameras in high school and has continued with photography throughout his life. He began his professional career in photography photographing celebrities in the music business such as Jim Brickman, Amy Grant, Michael W. Smith, Lee Roy Parnell, Richie McDonald and many others. Rod's love for nature photography got a rebirth one summer when riding his bike through the Cuyahoga Valley National Park. Riding every morning gave him a perspective and allowed him to see the beauty of the park…

May The Hunger Games DVD be ever in your collection! Watch The Hunger Games with library friends on the weekend of its DVD release. The movie will be showing on our big screen at 2 p.m. on Sunday, August 19. Come 15 minutes early for popcorn, lemonade, iced tea and trivia games. The movie is 142 minutes long, so bringing a cushion for your seat is absolutely okay! The film is rated PG-13 so youth under 13 must be accompanied by a parent or guardian. Family discussion guides will be available. Seating is limited, so please register online or call. ********** Back by popular demand, blues …

Y'All Twins?  Join authors and identical twins Margaret and Katherine King on Friday, Aug. 3 at 4 p.m. when they share their stories of growing up in Mississippi in the 1950's. Their experiences include hitching a ride with writer William Faulkner and pranks that only identicals can play. Copies of their memoir, Y'All Twins? will be available for purchase and signing. Don't forget to watch the Bookcart Brigade and the library's Super Hero Reader float at the Twins Days Parade on August 4 at 9:00 a.m. The library will be closed on August 4 for Twins Days. ********* Back by popular demand, …

World War II started over 70 years ago with the bombing of Pearl Harbor; ancient history to many who live in this 21st Century digital age. In 1941 life was not virtual, it was real. What was it really like to live in a world in which war visited every corner? Come to the Twinsburg Public Library to hear once-in-a-lifetime stories of real people who lived through the nightmare of WWII and then came home and built a nation.   Our third and final program of the summer will be held on Saturday, Aug. 18 from 10:30 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. The program will continue for the fall beginning in September. …

I drove on the edge of my seat listening to this audiobook. Larry Ott went mostly unnoticed by his fellow classmates, enjoying instead to read his Stephen King novels and keep to himself. But when one of the hottest girls in town asks him out on a date, he picks her up, and all anyone knows is that she is never seen again. Nothing is able to be proven, but in Mississippi, not guilty might just mean you didn't get caught. Even though he is ostracized from the town, he still tries to maintain the two friendships he has. But are these two men really his friends? I thoroughly enjoyed this book …

Members of the Cleveland Chinese Music Ensemble will perform as part of the Music in the Garden Series at Twinsburg Public Library on Sunday, July 15, at 2 pm.  Join the Cleveland Chinese Music Ensemble for an enjoyable and informative afternoon of Chinese music, conjuring images of China's rich, colorful, and ancient heritage.  The varied program, comprising melodious "silk and bamboo" music as well as more festive pieces for winds and percussion, will be performed on an array of traditional wind, string, and percussion instruments, including bamboo flutes, mouth organs, fiddles, lutes, …

The Twinsburg Public Library is celebrating the 100th episode of the ABC Book Review Podcast. There’s a new episode available on iTunes, also available to listen at http://bethandcari.blogspot.com. On the 100th episode, Beth Hatch and Cari Dubiel reminisce about the past five years, chat about Fifty Shades of Grey, consider the transformation of the library and technology, and the recent author visits/Skype sessions at the library. There’s also an awesome giveaway! Tell us your favorite book of the past five years or your favorite Beth and Cari podcast and enter for a chance to win an …

Celebrate with Dickens! The 50 Book Challengers and all TPL readers are invited to celebrate a half year of reading and Charles Dickens' birthday on Sunday, July 8 at 2 p.m. Enjoy a variety of sweet and savory treats, beverages, prizes, maybe a Dickens party game, and of course, books! In addition there will be a presentation on Dickens' most memorable and entertaining characters, "From Pips to Heeps," given by Tom Hayes, English professor at John Carroll University. There will be favors for everyone and special prizes for the Challengers who have completed 25 books in 2012. Please register …

Come to a party with "The Artist" in black & white on Thursday, June 27. See the Oscar-winning Best Picture "The Artist" on the day after its DVD release at our Party in Black and White. We suggest that everyone wear black and white, or dress in the fashion of the 1920's and '30's. Enjoy treats prepared by the Friends of the Twinsburg Library and listen to music of the era beginning at 6:30 p.m. The movie will start promptly at 7:00 p.m. *********** Skype with the author of The Age of Miracles on Monday, June 18 with the Ladies' Night Book Group. We will host a pre-publication discussion of …

Adult Summer Reading Club begins June 4 with treats and favors at the Twinsburg Public Library. "Be a Hero" is the theme of this year's reading club for adults, and it couldn't be easier to win. Sign up at the reference desk and receive a packet including a free book and TPL pen. Enter the drawing each time you read or listen to a book, attend a library program (including any of our eight book groups,) or complete one of the club puzzles. Weekly winners will receive a gift card from Learned Owl Bookstore or Cinemark. The grand prizes, awarded August 6, are three of our terrific gift baskets, …

The Summer Reading Club Kick-Off Party is being held on Monday, June 4. We are calling Super Heroes of all ages to join forces on imaginary fun-filled reading and listening adventures. Have your picture taken in the superhero photo booth complete with costume accessories, pick up your Summer Reading Club packet, and attend the 2:00 p.m. program Outback Ray’s Amazing Animals and the movie at 6:30 p.m. -- The Incredibles (PG). Raised Garden Bedding By Home Depot On Thursday, May 31, 6:30-8 p.m., identify the basic steps involved in eco-gardening. Build a raised gardening bed. Learn how to plant…

The Twinsburg Public Library’s Summer Reading Club Kick Off is on Monday, June 4. This year we are calling super heroes of all ages to join forces on imaginary, fun-filled reading and listening adventures. Come to the library and pick up your SRC packet, get your picture taken in the photo booth, and attend Outback Ray’s Amazing Animals at 2 p.m. and the indoor showing of The Incredibles movie, PG, at 6:30 p.m. Don’t miss out on a dynamite summer of super hero undertakings! Children from birth to grade five are eligible to participate in the Children’s Summer Reading and Listening Club in …

Healthy U: Live Well with Chronic Disease If you or someone you know is dealing with a chronic condition, this six week program will help. Bring your loved ones to the Twinsburg Public Library to learn more about symptoms, self-management, medicines, nutrition and exercise. Attend all six Thursday sessions from May 3 through June 7. Each session begins at 5:30 and lasts 2-1/2 hours. The Healthy U program is co-sponsored by the Administration on Aging, the Area Agency on Aging, and Mature Services. The classes and materials are provided at no charge. Please call to register: (330) 425-4268 x2…

Is your child sick or do you have some questions about a recent illness? The Twinsburg Public Library invites parents and their children to meet with Dr. Richard Lavi, MD of the Allergy, Asthma, and Sinus Relief Clinic for a round table Q&A.  The event is FREE. Bring your questions and Dr. Lavi will share his expertise with you.  The sessions are during our break from story time the first week in May. Register for Monday, May 7 at 9:45 a.m. or Wednesday, May 9 at 6:30 p.m. Please register by calling Children’s Place at 330-425-4268 ext. 3.

I listened to the audio version of this book because I love hearing the foreign dialect in the story telling. As a mother, I appreciate this story for it’s amazing depth in telling the tale of this Indian mother and her relationship with her son. The story is written from the mother, Meera’s, perspective to her son, Ashvin. Nothing is told outright from the beginning but you have a feeling that she is telling the story of her life to try to explain something away, something that you feel will happen later on the story. She tells her son how she met his father, about their life together, about…

The Twinsburg Public Library will host a free program, Ancient Greeks/Modern Lives: A National Conversation a major national humanities program traveling to 100 public libraries and art centers across America with a mission to inspire people to come together to read, see, and think about classical literature and how it continues to influence and invigorate American cultural life. This extensive new program unites the assets of the Aquila Theater Company, the Urban Libraries Council, the American Philological Association, the Center for Ancient Studies at New York University and the Harvard …

Each year, publishers, librarians, readers and in one bizarre case, a mother, are nominating books to the Pulitzer Committee.  In fact anyone with $50 and four copies of a book can nominate a novel for the Pulitzer Prize in fiction.  Each year I try to guess which book will eventually win that coveted literary prize. Given the fact that perhaps 2,000 books are "nominated" it is literally impossible to guess, with any degree of confidence, which novel will be selected as the "most distinguished" novel of the year.  But the very first year I tried I was successful.  Marilynne Robinson’s Gilead …

Video game enthusiasts and children of the 80's will love this book! The story is set in the future when the Earth is ravaged with waste and it's resources mostly depleted. The status of the world goes largely unnoticed, however, because everyone is logged into the Oasis -- a free virtual world open to everyone. When the founder of the Oasis, James Halliday, dies he leaves his entire fortune up for grabs to the first person to find his hidden Easter Egg within the Oasis. Halliday was a child of the 80's and his creation of the Oasis stemmed from growing up with arcade games, and movies like …

Dr. Peter Rutkoff, Professor and Chair of American Studies at Kenyon College will discuss American Blues and the music of Muddy Waters on Monday, Feb. 27 at 6:30 p.m. Waters took the musical form from the Mississippi Delta to the clubs of Chicago and redefined the genre.  This program is sponsored from a grant from the Ohio Humanities Council.  On March 20 at 7 p.m., Dan Holt, singer, songwriter and blues guitarist, will play his music and talk a little about the blues and it's role in American music.  On April 3 at 6:30 p.m., Nancy Bernstein and Drene Ivy, the duo that forms Muszikat-Shalom…

Editor's Note: This review was provided by Karen Woods from the Twinsburg Public Library. The recent death of North Korea's Kim Jong Il (kept secret for 24 hours) makes all the more compelling Johnson's story of life in a land where the only sure thing is the Dear Leader's will. Pak Jun Do's father runs an orphan work camp, and Jun Do becomes the namer and director of the inmates, deciding who eats and who works at jobs, including those likely to be deadly.   He becomes what he is caused to be: an orphan in every way except in fact, a kidnapper for the State, a surveilance radio operator, a …