Four Seasons Book Group Finally Here

The first meeting of the Four Seasons Book Group will be held at the Diamond Bar Library Windmill Room at 11:30 a.m. on Saturday, June 18. We are excited to start this quarterly book group as we had planned it before COVID hit and it has been on hold all this time.

The book we will be discussing is A Gentleman in Moscow by Amor Towles. A flyer with details for the June 18 meeting is attached to this email.

Even if you have not read the book, come join us for the discussion. Copies of the book are available from the Diamond Bar Library. You do not have to be a member of the Friends of the Library to attend. All are welcome.

Our Fall Four Seasons Book Group meeting will be in October, and we will be discussing Wild Bird by Wendelin Van Draanen. Wild Bird is the annual selection for Read Together Diamond Bar.

Gently Used Purse Sale

Perhaps you could go through your closets and see if you have any “gently used” purses that you would like to see going to a new home. There are receptacles in the Diamond Bar Library waiting to receive them. They will be offered for sale at the Gently Used Purse Sale on Saturday, October 22 from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. in the Diamond Bar Library Windmill Room. Of course, all the proceeds from the sale go directly to the Diamond Bar Library for materials, programs, DVDs, etc. This is always a fun day checking out the purses, purchasing them and knowing that it all goes to help our community library.

Friends of the Library Bookstore News

June 2022

by Elaine Mickle, Bookstore Manager

Located in the Diamond Bar Library

Each book and item sold in the bookstore supports the Diamond Bar Library to enlarge their reading and media collections. Improving literacy in our community one book at a time.

The bookstore volunteers say thank you to all who have donated gently used books for others to enjoy. Donations assist us in keeping our inventory refreshed for the community to enjoy.

The winner of our Thank You to our Patrons’ May gift basket is Lakni Hettiaratchi.

Bookstore hours are:

Monday        11 am - 5 pm

Tuesday         11 am – 5 pm

Wednesday   11 am – 5 pm

Thursday       11 am to 5 pm

Friday            11 am - 5 pm

Saturday         11 am – 5 pm

“A true friend is like a good book; the inside is better than a cover”

Thank you for supporting the Friends of the Library Bookstore

HOW A BOOK CHANGED MY LIFE

This essay contest is offered annually in conjunction with Read Together Diamond and is offered for students ages 13 to 18. It should be approximately 1,000 words and there will be prizes for the top three essays. The deadline for submissions is November 1 and the students will be notified by November 10. Look for more information on the essay contest applications in the coming months.

READ TOGETHER DIAMOND BAR COMING SOON!

Read Together Diamond Bar is held each year in the Fall to celebrate reading and community. We are inviting everyone in the community to read the same book and then offer activities for every age. The Bad Seed by Jory John and Pete Oswald is suggested for children to read.

The adult and teen selection, Wild Bird, is from the award-winning author of The Running Dream and Flipped comes a remarkable portrait of a girl who has hit rock bottom but begins a climb back to herself at a wilderness survival camp.

3:47 a.m. That’s when they come for Wren Clemmens. She’s hustled out of her house and into a waiting car, then a plane, and then taken on a forced march into the desert. This is what happens to kids who’ve gone so far off the rails, their parents don’t know what to do with them anymore. This is wilderness therapy camp. Eight weeks of survivalist camping in the desert. Eight weeks to turn your life around. Yeah, right.

The Wren who arrives in the Utah desert is angry and bitter, and blaming everyone but herself. But angry can’t put up a tent. And bitter won’t start a fire. Wren’s going to have to admit she needs help if she’s going to survive.

"I read Wild Bird in one long mesmerized gulp. Wren will break your heart—and then mend it." —Nancy Werlin, National Book Award finalist for The Rules of Survival

"Van Draanen’s Wren is real and relatable, and readers will root for her." —VOYA, starred review

Source: Publisher

The author, Wendelin Van Draanen was born on January 6, 1965, in Chicago, Illinois. She is the daughter of chemists who emigrated from Holland. She worked as a math teacher and then as a computer science teacher before becoming an author. Wendelin Van Draanen began her writing career with a screenplay and soon switched to adult novels and then children's books. She is best known for her Sammy Keyes series of novels, which she started writing in 1997, featuring a teenage detective named Samantha Keyes. Her popular Sammy Keyes series had been nominated four times for the Edgar Allan Poe Award for Best Children's Mystery and won with "Sammy Keyes and the Hotel Thief". Her Shredderman series also yielded a Christopher Medal for Secret Identity. She has also authored several novels such as: How I Survived Being a Girl and Flipped.

FROM THE BOOK NOOK

“” I find television very educating. Every time somebody turns on the set, I go into the other room and read a book.”  …...Groucho Marx

¯ Taraneh Saba, one of our Friends of the Diamond Bar Library, recently authored an exciting true-life story of Soraya. Covenant Books have published it so look for this new book.

Soraya was a thirteen-year-old runaway from her foster home when she met KC, a human trafficker who took her under his wings and pretended to love her, only to force her into prostitution. Soraya endured much abuse in the banks of her clients and KC, who would severely beat her every time she tried to leave that life. After five years of torturous life, when Soraya turned eighteen, she finally left KC. That is when he tracked her down and shot her five times in the chest at close range. Soraya, however, survived and testified at KC’s trial. The book also describes Soraya’s life after the trial and her tenuous relationship with her mother, who had been in prison while Soraya was growing up.

¯ From Nancy Lyons Currently reading "House of Gucci, a True Story of Murder, Madness, Glamour and Greed."  This is an interesting but very long book dense with information and I've been reading it over 2 weeks!

Next up is Deaf Utopia" by Nyle Dimarco and "Wild Bird" by Wendelin Van Draanen

¯ President Susan Pantages along with Friends’ board members Camile Jones, Helen Lin, Kathleen Newe and MaryKay Nichols attended the ninth annual “Serving with a Purpose” at the Ontario Conference Center on Thursday, May 19. It is always an interesting full day with stimulating ideas on how our libraries are doing. With over two hundred attendees representing over sixty-five libraries, the day was full of great speakers such as California Library Association President Jené Brown and California State Librarian Greg Lucas. The keynote speaker was author Ben Raines presenting his book, The Last Slave Ship.  Special thanks to Robin Hoklotubbe and her committee.

¯ From Pui-Ching Ho, Community Library Manager
Hole in the middle
by Coco Simon
Starting middle school two years after the loss of her mother, young Lindsay works at her family’s donut shop to save money for college while taking comfort in the support of her cousins and best friend. By the author of the Cupcake Diaries. Ages: 8-12

¯ From Janet Ramirez-Manchan, Teen Librarian
Family of Liars by E. Lockhart

This thriller is a highly anticipated prequel to the New York Times bestseller We Were Liars that became a TikTok sensation. The same idyllic summer island setting serves as a backdrop for the enthralling story of the previous generation, the teenage Sinclair sisters, as they deal with first love, greed, tragic secrets, and more lies. A perfect beach read.

¯ From Kathleen Newe:  In Pursuit of Jefferson by Derek Baxter was a delightful book to read this month. This book is a memoir of the author who has had a lifelong interest in Jefferson. He realized that Jefferson only wrote one book in his life (that was a surprise to me). He wrote Hints to Americans Traveling in Europe for his young friends and Derek Baxter decided to follow this book to learn more about this most perplexing Founding Father. It is a travel book, a history book and a book about families supporting each other. Although is full of fun adventures involving food, travel, wine and gardens, it is also a book taking a hard look at Jefferson’s views on slavery. I really enjoyed this book.

¯ From Dana Cox:  I enjoyed a new mystery author and series on my way home from The Netherlands, Cara Black’s Murder at the Porte de Versailles. If you cannot visit Paris, this is a terrific way to soak up the ambience of Paris without leaving home.

¯ From Helen Lin:  I am enjoying The Last Slave Ship by Ben Raines. This a riveting book made more interesting to read since I heard the author, Ben Raines, recount the history of the slave ship Clotilda and the modern story of the ship’s rediscovery. I recommend it!

¯ Do not forget to check out all the great programs available through the Los Angeles County Library and at the Diamond Bar Library. Summer Reading Programs for children, teens and adults will soon be starting.