Courtesy of the Montana Talking Book Library, the Talking Book and Braille Service now offers Wild Outdoor World (W.O.W.). Intended for the young adventurer, conservationist, or anyone who loves nature or the outdoors, this magazine is geared for readers aged 8 to 12.

Published five times a year, this magazine focuses on enhancing younger readers' awareness and appreciation of the natural world. It emphasizes North American wildlife, habitat, and recycling.

Four other new titles, all produced by Associated Services for the Blind, are being added to our selection of free cassette magazines. Family Handyman Magazine, published ten times per year, offers easy-to-follow steps for home improvement and remodeling projects.

Gardening How-To Magazine, published six times a year by the National Home Gardening Club, is filled with gardening tips, techniques, and equipment reviews.

Featuring selected articles from each weekly issue of Time, Monthly Time Magazine covers international affairs, business, and personalities.

Intended as a personal growth guide for women, O-The Oprah Magazine, published monthly, attempts to provide tools women need to explore and reach their dreams.

Finally, AccessWorld, published six times a year by the American Foundation for the Blind, offers news, interviews, and product evaluation concerning assistive technology for individuals with visual impairments.

If you would like to receive any of these magazines, please use the order form below or contact your Readers Advisor.

The National Audio Theatre/Blue Ridge Radio Players was founded in 1991 to produce radio dramas for individuals with visual or physical impairment. Programs from this non-profit group, located in Tyron, North Carolina feature multiple actors, sound effects, and musical interludes. Half-hour programs include classic stories adapted from such authors as Mark Twain, Arthur Conan Doyle, and O. Henry, as well as original scripts.

The actors, directors, and staff are all volunteers, and the audio cassettes are distributed without charge to libraries and other agencies.

The Talking Book and Braille Service collection includes 47 radio dramas from this organization, with new titles added as they become available. Borrowers who like old-time radio should enjoy these as well. Contact your Readers Advisor to request programs from the Blue Ridge Radio Players. To find out more about this organization, check their Web site: main.nc.us/nataudio.

The actors, directors, and staff are all volunteers, and the audio cassettes are distributed without charge to libraries and other agencies.

Recent additions to our collection of old-time radio programs on cassette include "Sergeant Preston of the Yukon," "Superman," and "Miracle on 34^th Street." Legends of comedy include "Our Miss Brooks," "My Favorite Husband," "The Jack Benny Program," "The Life of Riley," "Fibber McGee and Molly," "The Great Gildersleeve," "The Burns and Allen Show," and "Abbott"The Adventures of Nero Wolfe," and Costello."

If you like old-time radio, please call your Readers Advisor. A full listing of our collection is available upon request.

If you enjoy reading about past events and how they impact on our lives today, the Talking Book and Braille Service offers a selection of free cassette magazines for you to enjoy.

American History covers personalities, as well as social, political, military, and artistic themes that played a role in the development of our country. This bimonthly publication is produced by Recorded Recreational Reading for the Blind.

Smithsonian, a monthly publication, offers a wide variety of articles about science, history, art, archaeology, history, and ecology. It also covers events at America's foremost museum, the Smithsonian Institution. It is produced by the Florida Regional Library.

If you would like to learn about your own state, you would enjoy Nebraska History, a quarterly publication of the Nebraska State Historical Society. This publication is recorded in the studios of the Nebraska Library Commission Talking Book and Braille Service.

You can also learn about history through programs on public television and radio. Networks, Nebraska's electronic viewing guide to NETV and NETV2, along with Nebraska Public Radio's listening schedule, are recorded monthly in the studios of the Nebraska Library Commission Talking Book and Braille Service.

To sign up for these free cassette magazines, please use the order form below or call your Readers Advisor.

Pat Schreurs, long-standing Talking Book and Braille Service volunteer, has been named an Admiral in the Great Navy of the State of Nebraska. This honorary title, in recognition of twenty years of volunteer service, was bestowed upon Pat at a recent library reception in her honor.

Through her efforts as a quality-check volunteer in Tape Duplication, thousands of Nebraskans who receive magazine cassettes from the library have benefited from Pat's years of dedicated service.

Non-Fiction

RC 917 Chosen to Live: The Inspiring Story of Flight 232 Survivor Jerry Schemmel
by Jerry Schemmel, with Kevin Simpson
2 cassettes

On July 19, 1989, Jerry Schemmel, Deputy Commissioner of the Continental Basketball Association, boarded United Airlines Flight 232 in Denver for Chicago. An hour into the flight, the number two engine on their DC-10 exploded, causing a complete hydraulic failure. The plane slammed into the runway in Sioux City, Iowa as the crew tried a desperate emergency landing. While nearly everyone around him died, Schemmel was able to escape the burning cabin. He then reentered the wreckage to rescue an eleven-month-old baby girl. Narrated by Dick Shasteen.

Fiction

A novel filled with dark humor about an unscrupulous funeral director and two entrepreneurial ex-cons. Quince Bishop is a slacker who lives passively off the family's trust fund. His life suddenly changes when a band of angry environmentalists disrupts his best friend's funeral to deliver a lecture on the high cost of dying. Some violence and strong language. Narrated by Tami Works.

Teenage brothers Dillon and Chad stumble onto a dangerous poaching ring in their beloved mountains. With the help of their friend, Robin, they risk their lives to find out who is killing off wild animals for money. For grades 6 to 9. Narrated by Frances Buell.

Here is a fun question posed to Talking Book and Braille Service staff: What is your favorite wintertime snack, and how often do you eat it?

I enjoy a cup of hot chocolate.-Annette

My favorite snack-in winter, summer, fall or spring-is chocolate, in most any form. At this time of year it gives me the energy (and the caffeine) to stay warm and active and awake. A close second would be a tall steaming cup of cappuccino.-Cherie

Doritos, probably once a week.-Bill

Popcorn, popped in oil, then seasoned. I enjoy it once or twice a week-Dave

As soon as the after-Christmas sales are over, the stores are full of hearts and flowers to prepare us for the romance of Valentine's Day. Here are some romance novels to put your heart in the proper mood:

RC 40016 The Glimpses of the Moon
by Edith Whaton

When Susy Branch and Nick Lansing decide to marry, it is not for the usual reasons. Well-connected but without money, the couple plan a honeymoon as guests of wealthy friends. As part of the agreement, Nick and Susy have accorded each other the freedom to divorce and marry a more desirable partner, and neither is prepared when they find themselves genuinely in love.

RC 40284 The Maltese Angel
by Catherine Cookson

Young farmer Ward Gibson's life would have been quite different if he had not stopped at the Empire Music Hall in Newcastle and if the troupe appearing there had not been held over for another week. But he fell in love with dancer Fanny McQueen, known as the Maltese Angel, the moment he saw her. His troubles arise when Daisy Mason, who had expected to marry Ward, vows revenge. Some strong language.

RC 40329 In the Shadow of the Nile
by Sara Hylton 

1920s. Laura Levin-Gore has finished her schooling and now, with her mother and sister, is headed to Cairo. There her mother hopes to see her become engaged to Edward Burlington. Then, on the voyage, Laura falls in love with Prince Ahmed Hassan Farag, who is returning from Oxford to marry the woman chosen for him. Laura and her prince decide to elope, but the prince dies, and Laura, now pregnant, is alone in a strange world. Some strong language.

RC 40344 Dierdre and Don Juan
by Jo Beverly

Mark Juan Carlos Renfrew, Earl of Everdon, first married when he was twenty. But it was a mismatch, and his wife left him within six months. Now, ten years later, he has received word of her death and must, therefore, take a new wife and provide an heir for his estate. This time he wants someone who is quiet, plain, and a stay-at-home. Deirdre Stowe seems to be the perfect solution. But she has promised to marry someone else.

RC 40387 Dangerous Diversions
by Margaret Evans

Rosalie de Barante occasionally danced in the corps of the Paris Opera when her mother was a principal dancer with the ballet. Now her parents are dead, and for the past five years Rosalie has been supporting herself by dancing at Sadler's Wells in London. She is cautious about handsome men who show an interest in her, but there is something special about Gervase Marchant-especially when he invites her to his estate while her injured ankle heals.

RC 40917 Mornings of Gold
by Carol Marsh

Pursuing her dream as a photographer in New York, Caddy Wilcox stays with her aunt, sending her earnings home to her younger brother, who has multiple sclerosis. Shortly after Caddy's fiancé breaks it off because she won't quit her job, Caddy accepts an assignment photographing birds on a private island. The short stay leads to a relationship with the island residents, especially attorney Fiske Spencer. Strong language.

RC 40938 Miss Jacobson's Journey
by Carola Dunn

In 1802 Miriam Jacobson's parents plan a marriage between her and Isaac Cohen, a Talmudic scholar. One glance at the young, thin, stooped man causes Miriam to announce she will, instead, leave London to travel in Russia helping her uncle with his research. Nine years later, in wartime France, Miriam promises to help deliver some gold in exchange for safe transport back to England. In dismay she realizes the man she has agreed to help is a much-changed Isaac!

RC 40947 The Wedding
by Dorothy West

Harlem Renaissance author Dorothy West writes of the Oval, an elite black community on Martha's Vineyard during the 1950s. The Coles, a prominent family, are dismayed that daughter Shelby is marrying a white jazz musician, a union that raises issues of race and class. At the same time, womanizer Lute McNeil desperately wants to gain acceptance by the Oval and is determined to do so by marrying Shelby himself. Some strong language.

RC 41314 Three Weddings and a Kiss
by Dorothy West

Four short stories. In "Fancy Free" by Catherine Anderson, a young couple becomes involved in frontier revenge. "The Mad Earl's Bride" by Loretta Chase recounts the tale of a woman who offers to marry a "mad" earl. In "Promises" by Lisa Kleypas, a stubborn woman finally gives in to a persistent suitor. And in "The Kiss" by Woodiwiss, a young man proposes after an impetuous kiss. Some descriptions of sex. Bestseller.

A descriptive video is a regular home video cassette that has been formatted to include an additional audio track. On this track, a narrator describes the visual elements of the program-the action, characters, locations, costumes, and sets-without interfering with the program's dialogue or sound effects. No special feature or device is needed to hear this audio description. All you need is a standard VHS video cassette recorder (VCR) and a television.

Many of the 287 videos currently in the Nebraska Descriptive Video Collection are great blockbuster movies, popular Public Broadcasting Service television programs, and select Turner Classic Movies purchased from the Descriptive Video Service®, a nonprofit organization begun in 1990 by the WGBH Educational Foundation. Others were purchased from AudioVision Canada. Still others are network and cable television programs produced and donated by the Narrative Television Network.

Recent additions to the collection include:

Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone (PG)
A Beautiful Mind (PG-13)
Jurassic Park III (PG-13)
Spy Kids (PG)
Shrek (PG)
The Outlaw (No rating available)

You may place your order by mailing or e-mailing it to the Talking Book and Braille Service, or by calling your Readers Advisor.

For mailing, please mark the magazines and books you wish to order and enclose this page in an envelope. Instead of using a stamp, you may put "Free Matter for the Blind or Handicapped" on the corner of your envelope. Send your request to the Nebraska Library Commission Talking Book and Braille Service, 1200 N Street, Suite 120, Lincoln, NE 68508-2023. Be sure to include your name, address, city, state, zip code, and telephone number.

• Accessworld
• American History
• Family Handyman Magazine
• Gardening How-To Magazine
• Monthly Time Magazine
• Nebraska History
• Networks
• O-The Oprah Magazine
• Smithsonian
• Wild Outdoor World (W.O.W.)
• RC 908
• RC 911
• RC 917
• RC 40016
• RC 40284
• RC 40329
• RC 40344
• RC 40387
• RC 40917
• RC 40938
• RC 40947
• RC 41314

You may reach a Readers Advisor toll free by calling 1-800-742-7691. Be prepared to give your name, address, city, state, zip code, and telephone number.

Back to Interchange Archives