Thursday, December 24, 2009

The Mission Branch, in the News!


You may remember that we posted about our Teaching Garden back in October (when we first unveiled it to the public). But now someone at the San Francisco Chronicle has taken notice. Check out the article...

Children's garden takes root at S.F. library

Friday, December 18, 2009

Staff recommended reading: A Land So Strange

I highly recommend the book A Land So Strange: The Epic Journey of Cabeza de Vaca, the Extraordinary Tale of a Shipwrecked Spaniard who Walked Across America in the Sixteenth Century by Andrés Reséndez (2007, Basic Books, New York). It is an easy-to-read and fascinating nonfiction book about the strangely-named Spaniard Álvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca who, along with three other men, was one of the only survivors of a party of 300 colonists that landed near Tampa Bay, Florida, on April 15, 1528, and ended up making a 1500-mile trek across North America eventually arriving in Mexico City. It is a tale not only of survival, but of exploration, and also of transformation, as Cabeza de Vaca went from being a slave of various Native American tribes to a trader, allowing him to travel freely among the tribes, to eventually being regarded as a faith healer with a large following of Native Americans who called Cabeza de Vaca and his compatriots "children of the sun." Cabeza de Vaca published a report of his experiences in 1542 and called it La Relacion (The Report), later known as Naufragios (Shipwrecks). It has been reprinted many times under different titles and in many different languages. The San Francisco Public Libary has a few of these in the original Spanish, and translated into English. The following are available at the Mission Branch...

The shipwrecked men (2007, Penguin Books, New York) by Alvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca ; translated by Fanny Badelier ; translation revised by Harold Augenbraum.

Naufragios (2000, Ediciones SM, Madrid) por Alvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca ; prólogo de Marcos Giralt Torrente.

Naufragios y comentarios (1985, Espasa-Calpe, Madrid) por Alvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca.

Cabeza de Vaca's Adventures in the unknown interior of America (1983, Albuquerque, University of New Mexico Press) by Alvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca ; translated and annotated by Cyclone Covey ; with a new epilogue by William T. Pilkington.

Brian

Thursday, December 3, 2009

Teen Winter Reading Contest!

What are you doing over winter break?
Why not sign up for the
Teen Winter Reading Contest?

Here's how it works:

* Beginning Saturday, December 12th, visit the Mission Branch and pick up a reading log.
* Fill out 1 reading log for every 5 hours that you read.
* Return the logs to Mission Branch by Friday, January 23rd, 2010.
* For every 5 hours you read, your name will be automatically entered into a raffle for cool prizes! The more you read, the more chances you have to win!

You must be between the ages of 12 and 18 and have a San Francisco Public Library card to enter. Participation is free and prizes are funded by the Friends of the San Francisco Public Library.

Questions? Contact Nicole at 355.5738 or ntermini@sfpl.org


Wednesday, December 2, 2009

Vampire Holiday Card Parties!

WritersCorps & SF Public Library Present:

Vamipre Holiday Card Parties!
Make your own vampire holiday cards using collage materials and text from your favorite vampire novels!
Ages 12-22
Bring your friends! Drug store cards are nice, but vampire holiday cards are FOREVER...
Monday 12/21 6pm * Wednesday 12/23 2pm
Monday 12/28 6pm * Wednesday 12/30 2pm