I N T E R C H A N G E
Newsletter of the Nebraska Library Commission
Talking Book and Braille Service

March 2006Vol. 30 No. 2ISSN 0884-9684
Grit Magazine Now Available on Cassette

Grit, America's family magazine since 1882, is dedicated to bringing readers good news. Published monthly by Ogden Publications, Grit focuses on taking a positive approach to life by providing useful information and promoting encouragement, dedication, and determination. Articles profile people and interesting places, and include favorite gardens, hobbies, crafts, retirement pastimes, health and fitness, entertainment, and humor.

Now recorded in our studios, Grit magazine is available free on audio cassette.
Ogden Publications also publishes Cappers, which we also record in our studios.

Cappers, a monthly rural newspaper, features reader contributions, recipes, poetry, nationally-known columnists, and a continuing story. To request either Grit or Cappers, please use the order form below or contact your Readers Advisor.
Helpful Hint . . .

Question: When I telephone the library to talk with my Readers Advisor, does it matter which one takes my call?

Answer: All borrowers have been assigned to a Readers Advisor who takes primary responsibility for sending you the books and magazines you would like. The assignment is based alphabetically according to your last name. Facilities such as nursing homes or schools are also assigned a Readers Advisor, based on the first word in the facility's name.

If your Readers Advisor is not available when you call, then it is perfectly fine to talk with another Readers Advisor. That staff member will either pass information on your regular Readers Advisor, or will help you directly.

Free Magazines for Family Living
Here is an assortment of free cassette magazines for the family to help us celebrate the end of winter and the arrival of spring. Humpty Dumpty's, produced by the Florida Regional Library, is a magazine full of stories, poems, puzzles, activities and more to engage children age 4 to 6. The magazine's philosophy is to help kids have fun through creative ways to exercise, eat right, and play safely.

An interfaith magazine, Guideposts offers inspirational stories of human interest. This magazine is recorded by American Printing House for the Blind.

Your Dog, published monthly by Tufts University School of Veterinary Medicine, is a resource for those who care about their canine family members. Articles cover health, training, and behavior issues, plus reviews of dog-friendly products. Recorded by the Florida Regional Library.

Providing an overview of proposed federal and state legislation, regulations, and policies, the Mental Health Law Reporter, Including Report on Disability Law contains articles of interest to individuals with disabilities. It is produced by the Talking Book and Braille Service.

The Saturday Evening Post, produced six times a year, is a general-interest magazine containing humor, fiction, and non-fiction articles. It is recorded by the Braille and Talking Book Division of the Arizona State Library.

Martha Stewart Living, published ten times per year, offers creative solutions, delicious recipes, and helpful hints to make your life more comfortable, organized, and fun. It is produced by the Florida Regional Library.

Designed to give women the tools they need to explore and reach for their dreams, O-The Oprah Magazine is a monthly publication recorded by Associated Services for the Blind. It is intended to help women make smart choices for a happier and more fulfilling life.

A young woman's style and beauty magazine, Seventeen is tailored for women in their late teens and early twenties. Produced monthly by the Florida Regional Library, it highlights information on fitness, food, cars, college, careers, and crucial and global issues.

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

New Cassette Books

Fiction

Watchers on the Hill
RC 975

 by Stephanie Grace Whitson

read by Marjory Gloe

2 cassettes

Charlotte Valentine was once a flirtatious beauty in search of an army officer for a husband. But the events in her life have changed her into a person in desperate need of a safe haven, which she hoped to find upon her return to Fort Robinson. With the unexpected appearance of two former beaus, she can only trust God to heal her wounds and to move forward in faith. Pine Ridge Portraits Series #2.

Prairie Summer
RC 981

by Bonnie Geisert

read by Beth McNeil

1 cassette

It is summer 1954 on a family farm in South Dakota. Though ten-year-old Rachael dislikes farm chores, she tries as hard as she can to please her father. When she helps her mother through a medical emergency, she finally wins his approval. For younger readers grades 3 to 5.

Burn
RC 984

by Sean Doolittle

read by Anastasia Smith

2 cassettes

A seasonal wildfire in Southern California reveals the wreckage of an Alfo Romeo convertible at the bottom of Topanga Canyon. Inside, firefighters find the body of a celebrity fitness guru, whose death is determined to be a homicide and not an accident. Prime suspect, Andrew Kindler, has just moved to California to escape his past as an arsonist. Though he attempts to hide out in a Santa Monica beach house, he finds himself caught up in the tangled web of an investigation. Contains strong language.

Non-fiction

Words in My Hands: A Teacher, A Deaf-Blind Man, An Unforgettable Journey
RC 994

by Diane Chambers

read by Carol Yoakum

2 cassettes

A true story of a sign language teacher's encounter with Bert Riedel, an 86-year-old pianist who lost his hearing and sight at age 45. By learning hand-over-hand signing, Bert was able to experience a life renewal, and at the same time, Bert's teacher underwent a personal transformation.
Books That Help Us Understand Nebraska

The month of March is where winter and spring overlap. It is also a month that contains several important anniversaries. On March 3, 1931, 75 years ago, President Herbert Hoover signed into the law the Pratt-Smoot Act, which established the National Library Service and what later became the talking book library network. On March 1, 1867, 139 years ago, President Andrew Johnson signed a bill making Nebraska our nation's 37th state.

Here are some books, fiction and nonfiction, that might help us understand the important events and remarkable people that comprise our state's colorful history:

RC 190 Vigilante Days: Frontier Justice Along the Niobrara, by Harold Hutton

 An account of Kid Wade and vigilante activity in the lower and middle Niobrara region. The author's sources include newspaper files, court records, letters, and interviews with a former member of a vigilante group.

RC 207 Son of a Gamblin' Man: the Youth of an Artist: a Novel, by Mari Sandoz

 A work of historical fiction, the story tells of a gambler who founded Cozad, Nebraska, and of his family, especially his younger son who became the world-famous artist and teacher known as "Robert Henri."

RC 734 Fourteen Plus: Homesteading in Nebraska's Sandhills, 1911-1949, by Donald Lineback

 Author tells of growing up on a homestead in the Nebraska Sandhills. A story of harsh winters and boiling summers. Of one-room schoolhouses and ponies. In addition to thirteen of their own, the author's parents also provided a home to seven of the father's brothers and sisters, and later to four grandchildren. For high school and adult readers.

RC 775 Notable Nebraskans, by Jean Sanders

 A noted author, researcher, and lecturer highlights the lives of 25 Nebraskans. Includes Red Cloud, Crazy Horse, Standing Bear, Joseph La Flesche, Susette La Flesche Tibbles, Thomas Picotte, Daniel Freeman, William "Buffalo Bill" Cody, Charles Bessey, Roscoe Pound, Louise Pound, Haley Burr Alexander, Willa Cather, Bess Streeter Aldrich, John Neihardt, Mari Sandoz, Edith Abbott, Grace Abbott, Father Edward Flanagan, J. Sterling Morton, William Jennings Bryan, George Norris, and Samuel McKelvie. For high school and older readers.

RC 978 Bertie and Me: Kids on a Ranch, by Billie Lee Snyder Thornburg

 Memoirs filled with humor of a 90-year-old woman who grew up in the early 1900s on an isolated ranch in the Nebraska Sandhills.

RC 45583 Mark Twain Made Me Do It & Other Plains Adventures, by Bryan Jones

 A teacher reminisces about growing up in 1950s Nebraska as the son of a preacher. Jones writes of the boyhood pranks and adventures he and his friends enjoyed in this fond remembrance of the way it was. Essays that evoke typical concerns of the times include "Baseball," "Pot Roast Every Sunday," and "Polio."

RC 47646 O Pioneers!, by Willa Cather

 Hanover, Nebraska. Since her Swedish father's early death, Alexandra Bergson has been in charge of the homestead as well as her younger brothers. Their fortunes rise and fall with the weather and the crops. Under Alexandra's guidance, the family eventually prospers. In middle age, when her old flame Carl Linstrum returns to Hanover, Alexandra has a chance for personal happiness. For senior high and older readers.

RC 49039 Gratefully Yours, by Jane Buchanan

 In 1923, Hattie, nine, rides the Orphan Train to Nebraska and is taken in by Henry and Elizabeth Jansen, who recently lost their young son and unborn daughter. Henry needs Hattie's help with the farm work and in caring for Elizabeth, who is often ill. Hattie hopes she will be treated kindly. For grades 4-7.

RC 50071 In Care of Cassie Tucker, by Ivy Ruckman

 The excitement of the approaching twentieth century is compounded by the news that orphaned cousin Evan is moving in with the Tuckers on their Nebraska farm. But Cassie, eleven, has mixed feelings when the boy gets her bedroom and refuses to join Preacher Tucker's family in prayer.

RC 53697 Susan La Flesche Picotte, M.D.: Omaha Indian Leader and Reformer, by Benson Tong

 Biography of an Omaha Indian woman, who was born in a tepee in 1865 and graduated from medical college in 1889. As a promoter of social causes and a physician for the Office of Indian Affairs, she practiced Western medicine but remained sensitive to her heritage, effectively bridging the two cultures.

RC 53698 Buffalo Bill: the Noblest Whiteskin, by John Burke

 A candid exploration into the legend of the flamboyant Indian-fighter/showman, William F. Cody. Author debunks some of the extravagant claims made for Buffalo Bill, attributing them to dime novelists, but readily grants the hero the physical skills that made him famous.

RC 58374 I Seat Myself to Write You a Few Lines: Civil War and Homestead Letters from Thomas Lucas and Family, by Thomas Emery Lucas

 Chronicles the life and times of the Lucas family in hundreds of letters. Reveals pivotal events such as Thomas Lucas joining the First Pennsylvania Cavalry to fight in the Civil War and decades later, the family migration to Nebraska to homestead.

A Request List Without a Name

It is a sad day at the library when we receive a request list that includes RC numbers or favorite titles or authors, but no name or address. Please be sure to indicate who you are and where you live, so we can send you the books you want.  If you use the order form that is part of this newsletter, your name and address are already printed.

 

"Golden Oldies' from Our Studios

Here are more great books recorded in our own studios in past years. To order, please check the box next to the RC number and mail this page to the Talking Book and Braille Service. Or you can contact your Readers Advisor.

Interchange is published bimonthly by the Nebraska Library Commission Talking Book and Braille Service, 1200 N St., Suite 120, Lincoln, NE 68508-2023. Phone 402-471-4038 or 800-742-7691 (in Nebraska only). E-mail Talking Book and Braille Service. Preparation of this newsletter was supported in part by funds allocated through the Library Services and Technology Act administered by the United States Institute of Museum and Library Services.
 Editor: David Oertli

Layout: Jacqueline Crocker

 Design: Valerie Dayton
        ISSN: 0884-9644 Home page:  /tbbs

Order Form and Ordering Instructions

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.

For e-mailing, send your order information to the Talking Book and Braille Service. Please include your name, address, city, state, zip code, and telephone number.

You may reach a Readers Advisor at 402-471-4038 or toll free by calling 1-800-742-7691. Be prepared to give your name, address, city, state, zip code, and telephone number.

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