***April***

Hal Borland: "April is a promise that May is bound to keep."

April brings us tulips, baseball, a greener Earth, Passover and Easter. It's a month that is also chock full of literary celebrations. Find a park bench and read a favorite book, try out a new word or two, and toast the Bard of Avon. 

On the shelves soon are new books by Lisa Scottoline, Jo Nesbo, Mary Higgins Clark, Greg Iles, David Balducci, Mona Simpson, Ann Brashares, Stuart Woods and Maeve Binchy.

Special April dates:

1 - Reading is Funny Day.

2 - Birth of Hans Christian Andersen: "Life is the most wonderful fairy tale." Consider reading again, or for the first time, "The Ugly Duckling."

3 -  Birth of Washington Irving: "I'm always at a loss at how much to believe of my own stories." Enjoy Irving's entertaining tales "Rip Van Winkle" and "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow."

4 - Birth of Maya Angelou: "Easy reading is damn hard writing." Check out "I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings" or "Great Food, All Day Long."

12 - Birth of Beverly Cleary: "One rainy Sunday when I was in the third grade, I picked up a book to look at the pictures and discovered that even though I did not want to, I was reading. I have been a reader ever since." Rediscover childhood through "Ramona Quimby, Age 8" or "Dear Mr. Henshaw."  Beverly Cleary was named a Living Legend by Library of Congress in 2000.

13-19 - National Library Week. Explore your library's shelves and find a new author or enjoy a favorite classic. Does your library offer computer classes? Concerts? Game nights? 

14 - Dictionary Day. Discover an unusual word. Play Scrabble or complete a crossword puzzle.

15 - National Library Day; National Library Staff Day. Thank a librarian!!

16 - National Bookmobile Day. According to the American Library Association, there were 879 bookmobiles in 2001. The largest number of bookmobiles peaked in 1991 with 1,125. 

17 - Haiku Poetry Day. This form of poetry is traditionally about nature and is made up of 17 syllables broken into three segments of 5,7,5. Novelist Richard Wright (1908-1960) wrote scores of poems in the Haiku style:
"Spring begins shyly
With one hairpin of green grass
In a flower pot."

22 - Earth Day. Take a walk in a park or plant a tree.

23 - Birth of William Shakespeare: "The empty vessel makes the loudest sound." Settle back in a chair and read "Love's Labour's Lost" or "Antony and Cleopatra."

23 - World Book Night. For more information: http://www.us.worldbooknight.org/. The website includes an excellent list of suggested reading.  

26 - Birth of Patricia Reilly Giff: "Outside of family, writing is essential. To me, it's like breathing."  Giff is a Newbury Medal-winning children's author of  "Lily's Crossing" and "Storyteller." 

28 - Birth of Lois Duncan: "Life continues, and we all of us keep changing and building, toward what we cannot know." Duncan's writing ranges from picture books to young adult fiction. I suggest "Songs From Dreamland" and "I Know What You Did Last Summer."