Teen Advisory Group Meeting

Teens, ages 14-18, meet monthly to plan activities and help decide which books, music, movies and teen spaces they want at the library.



Snacks provided.



For information or to register, contact Marla Bergman at (415) 355-2832 or mbergman@sfpl.org.

Email Class

Email Computer Class

Tuesday, April 29 at 2 p.m. - 3 p.m.

Learn how to set up an an e-mail account, how to send, receive and organize messages. Basic mouse and keyboard skills required.

Sign up with the librarian or call 355-2858

Author Talk : Jane Rice

Saturday April 26, 2008

2:00 pm

Glen Park Program Room


Local poet, Jane Rice, will read from her book Portrait Sitters and present images of the photographs and paintings that inspired her work. Her poetic portraits of artists living and working in Paris in the 1930's illuminate the subjects, while evoking this very special time and place.

For other Poetry Month events in April click here.

Earth Day

In honor of Earth Day today, we thought we would highlight some materials and events.

The Main library is hosting various lectures and movies this month. Click here to see when they are. That page also includes a longer booklist.

These books are located in the children's collection:
Hoot by Carl Hiaasen

Roy, who is new to his small Florida community, becomes involved in another boy's attempt to save a colony of burrowing owls from a proposed construction site.





also

Explains what the Greenhouse Effect is and what can be done to combat it.



Located in Teen


In the year 2368, humans exist under dire environmental conditions and one young woman, rescued from a workcamp and chosen for a special duty, uses her love of learning to discover the truth about the planet's future and her own dark past.





In the adult collection:

This book collects the latest in environmentally conscious--yet incredibly stylish--products. Each product is accompanied by a brief description explaining its environmental significance.






For anyone who cares about the health of our planet, this invaluable guide offers hundreds of simple, actionable steps readers can take to help save the Earth.






Planet Earth: As You've Never Seen It Before by David Attenborough

This beautiful coffee-table book is a offshoot of the Discovery Channel/ BBC series of the same name. The author takes readers on a visual tour of the many diverse parts of our planets.




Greenopia : the urban dweller's guide to green living, San Francisco Bay Area by Nancy Arbuckle.

This consumer guide is filled with more than 1,400 listings of green retailers, service providers, and organizations throughout the San Francisco Bay Area.

Among the listings are everything from organic restaurants and grocery stores to dry cleaners, organic pest control services, and sustainable building suppliers, landscapers, and interior designers.


Book Discussion Group: When the Emperor Was Divine

Please Join us for a Book Discussion about When the Emperor Was Divine by Julie Otsuka



Wednesday, April 23
6:30 pm
Glen Park Program Room



Julie Otsuka's "When the Emperor Was Divine" tells the story of a middle class, Japanese American family living through World War II. When the father is arrested, the mother and her two children are forced to leave their Berkeley home and resettled in an internment camp. The point of view shifts to different members of the family throughout the story, allowing the reader to experience this extraordinary time in history from multiple perspectives.

New Teen Reads

We got a new shipment of Teen books the other day, here are some standouts.


In the name of God by Paula Jolin

"I slid out of my 'manteau' and attached the heavy case around my waist, aligned the thin wire up my side, ran it down the length of my arm. Secured it into place around my wriist. Heavy, it jingled when I moved.
"Don't worry," he said. "It can't go off by accident. You have to press this lever."
I nodded. I pushed my awkward, frightened arms back inside my sleeves and secured my 'manteau' over my shoulders. I buttoned it all the way to the top.
"Are you ready?"
"I'm ready."

Let sleeping dogs lie by Mirjam Pressler


After a school trip to Israel, Johanna discover's that her German grandfather acquired a clothing store during the Nazi regime according to the anti-Semitic laws of the Third Reich rather than starting it himself as her family has always stated. She struggles with whether to keep silent or to question her family's history.




Harry Houdini sunk into a huge tank of water. Hands and feet handcuffed together. A curtain surrounded the tank. A minute or two later, Houdini finally floats to the top...without his shackles! How did he do it? This graphic novel reveals his secret.






A modern retelling of "Beauty and the Beast" from the point of view of the Beast, a vain Manhattan private school student who is turned into a monster and must find true love before he can return to his human form.





My swordhand is singing by Marcus Sedgwick.

When Tomas and his son, Peter, settle in Chust as woodcutters, Tomas digs a channel around their hut so they have their own little island kingdom. Peter doesn't understand why his father has done this, nor why his father carries a long, battered box. When the dead of Chust rise from their graves, both father and son must face a soulless enemy and a terrifying destiny.

Open House Fun!

Thanks to everyone who showed up at our Family Open House this past Saturday. The crafts with Simla were a big success, the music by the Familia Pena-Govea had a lot of people dancing and the all the refreshments served that day disappeared quickly.

California Academy of Sciences

Please join us on:

Wednesday, April 9

6:30 pm - 7:30pm

Cat Aboudara from the Academy of Sciences will discuss the innovative features of the new building and the new exhibits. The California Academy of Sciences will re-open to the public on September, 27, 2008.