Travel the World Through Books

Now that we are finally enjoying spring weather, we have been doing some day dreaming of places to visit during the summer months. People often check out the Fodor's, Frommer's, and Rick Steve guides, but did you know that there are many other wonderful non-traditional travel books that may interest you? Why not check one out today!! These are just a few to tickle your fancy.

• North American Wine Routes: A Travel Guide to Wines and Vines, from Napa to Nova Scotia
• A Road Trip Into America's Hidden Heart - Traveling the Back Roads, Backwoods and Back Yards
• U.S. Highway 89: The Scenic Route to Seven Western National Parks
• Fodor's The Old West: Relive America's Frontier Days---Explore Ghost Towns, Pioneer Trails, Spanish Missions, and More
• Hanz Holzer's Travel Guide to Haunted Houses: A Practical Guide to Places Haunted by Ghosts, Spirits and Poltergeists
• Hiking the Road to Ruins: Day Trips and Camping Adventures to Iron Mines, Old Military Sites, and Things Abandoned in the New York City Area ... and Beyond
• Arizona Ghost Towns and Mining Camps: A Travel Guide to History
• Creepy Crawls: A Horror Fiend's Travel Guide
• Traveling Literary America: A Complete Guide to Literary Landmarks
• The Complete Civil War Road Trip Guide: 10 Weekend Tours and More than 400 Sites, from Antietam to Zagonyi's Charge
• After Disney: The Other Orlando
• 101 Baseball Places to See Before You Strike Out
• Adventure Vacations for Animal Lovers
• Walks in Hemingway's Paris: A Guide to Paris for the Literary Traveler
• New York Originals: A Guide to the City's Classic Shops & Mom-and-Pops
• Queens: A Culinary Passport: Exploring Ethnic Cuisine in New York City's Most Diverse Borough
• Off the Beaten Page: The Best Trips for Lit Lovers, Book Clubs, and Girls on Getaways
• Native American & Pioneer Sites of Upstate New York: Westward Trails from Albany to Buffalo
• The 100 Best Worldwide Vacations to Enrich Your Life
   

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Yoga & Mindfulness at the Somers Library!

Recently, the Somers Library offered a Yoga & Mindfulness program geared to teens / tweens in 4th grade and up. This program was presented by Denise Nobile, an ELA teacher at the Somers Middle School.  Ms. Nobile has been trained in the Little Flower Yoga Program, which is a comprehensive certification in yoga and mindfulness practices for children and youth ages 3 to 18. The Little Flower Yoga training, certified by the Yoga Alliance, focuses on the complete physical, mental, emotional and social wellbeing of students.

This class taught participants to slow down and increase their awareness both externally and internally, to use their breath to find their calm during times of challenge, to feel energetic and balanced through grounding, strengthening and balancing yoga poses, to have better awareness of their focus and to relax and restore both their body and mind.

The participants had a great time and the library will be offering more classes soon.  The Somers Library is proud to offer a class such as this to our teen patrons!

Homeschooling Resources

Somers Library is committed to serve all families, including families schooling their children at home. Somers Library has a lot to offer homeschooling parents. The library provides a myriad of resources. To help students, the library offers study guides, online databases, and encyclopedias, as well as numerous print resources. Students can find leveled books to read, resources for specific subjects, standardized tests, and college entrance exams. Listed below are books for parents who are interested in learning more about homeschooling.

• The Homeschooling Handbook by Lorilee Lippincott
• Basic Skills for Homeschooling: Reading, Writing, and Math for the Middle School Years byJessika Sobanski
• Homeschooling: Take a Deep Breath, You Can Do This by Terri Lynn Bittner
• Homeschooling: The Early Years: Your Complete Guide to Successfully Homeschooling the 3- to 8- Year-Old Child
• Year of Living Dangerously: Adventures in Homeschooling by Quinn Cummings
• Homeschooling Option: How to Decide When It's Right for Your Family by Lisa Rivero
• Suddenly Homeschooling: A Quick-Start Guide to Legally Homeschool in 2 Weeks by Marie Moreau
• Homeschooling for Excellence by David Colfax
• Homeschooling More Than One Child: A Practical Guide for Families by Carren W. Joye
• Homeschooling Your Gifted Child: Language Arts for the Middle School Years by Lee Wherry Brainerd
• Highlighting Homeschooling: Empowering Parents and Inspiring Children by Bethany Gardiner
• College Prep Homeschooling: Your Complete Guide to Homeschooling Through High School by David Byers
• Homeschooling: A Family's Journey by Gregory and Martine Millman
• So You're Thinking About Homeschooling: Fifteen Families Show How You Can Do It by Lisa Whelchel

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Take A Look!

Library displays are usually done at the beginning of each month.  Sometimes there is a theme or seasonal tie-in and sometimes they are just for fun.  Often, displays we think are going to be very popular, don’t live-up to our expectations.  But sometimes, we hit on an unexpected success! 

One of our most popular displays was the Blind Date with a Book.  Books were wrapped up so that the book could not be seen and a small ‘hint’ was attached to each wrapped book.  Patrons were then challenged to take out a book sight unseen. 

Once, a simple display of biographies had us scrambling to keep it shelved with famous and notable people.

Another very popular book display was the “I Don’t Know the Title, but the Cover was Blue.”  Each book on the display cart had a blue cover.  Patrons really enjoyed the humor of this display and we often had to run through the stacks looking at book covers for the color blue!

For our latest book display, we began to notice that eyes are often used on book covers.  So, come in to the Somers Library and see our “Take a Look” display here for the month of April!

Somers Seed Lending Library

After the winter we have had here in Somers, planning our gardens is a welcome endeavor.  Now is the time to gather your seeds and get growing.  In the middle of February as we shivered in the cold and , we started ordering our heirloom seeds from Johnny’s Selected Seeds and the Hudson Valley Seed Library.  Now that they are here and organized in our seed library cabinet, we are all experiencing that renewed and hopeful feeling that herald’s spring!  So, please come and visit the Somers Seed Lending Library to get heirloom quality seeds to grow quality plants—and to get into the spirit of the season of Spring!

Local History Collection

Items found in a local history collection at a community library can stir fond emotions of our town and county. In the Somers Library, our local history collection offers books, journals, maps, brochures, pamphlets, and audio visual media items all waiting for the curious patron to peruse.  Since this important collection is housed in a beautiful antique cabinet, space at a premium.  

Recently, Reference Librarian Valerie Herman went through the entire local history collection to reorganize and reevaluate the materials. She removed duplicates and items in such poor condition that they were no longer legible. More importantly, she re-cataloged the items so they are easier to find and explore.

Here are a few of the interesting items available for review:       

Between the Lines: Stories of Westchester County, New York, During the American Revolution by Susan Cochran Swanson (1976); Junior League of Pelham, Inc., Pelham, New York. This small paperback book retells the history of Westchester County, New York, during the American Revolution. Most of the material found in this booklet is drawn from interviews conducted and compiled after the war by a John M. McDonald and his friend and old Westchester guide, Andrew Corsa between the years 1844-1850. These interviews, 407 in all, were from 241 people aged 70-96 who had lived through the incidents during the Revolutionary War.  Perhaps the story Delancey Raids American Post at Pines Bridge, May 13, 1781 (p. 62-69) would be of particular interest to some who live in the south Somers area. 

The Somers Library Association Program; Fund-raiser program from the event held December 4, 1976 for benefit of the Somers Library Association. Back in the earlier days of the Somers Library, the library was not a public library, but an association library formed in 1875. It was located at the intersection of Routes 202 & 116. At one time, its funding came largely from a thrift shop called Elephant’s Trunk Thrift Shop for the Somers Library. This is a program from a fund-raising event held at the Lakeover Country Club in Bedford Hills. This program holds a snapshot of the town during the mid-1970’s with ads placed by the Somers Chamber of Commerce with a listing of its members, the Somers Junior Women’s Club, the Mexican Shack, Billingsley Real Estate, Lakeland Lumber, Somers Cleaners & Tailors, and the Somers Shell Service Station, Armand Fourgeot, Proprietor. There are also ads from many generous families. Additionally, there is a President’s Message written by the then president of the Somers Library Association, Jean Reidy. Jean is now one of our current library board members.

Somers is Our Home Town (1976). This booklet is a result of a bicentennial project by a group of children in Mrs. Fowler’s 1975-1976 third grade reading class at Primrose School, Somers, New York. This pamphlet is illustrated by the children of this class and also includes old historic photos as well as photos of the class as they explore their town. There is a picture of the class as a group and a page with all their signatures.

Managing Stress

There are many books out there that can help you manage stress, from books on organizing your life to books on personal growth.  This collection of stress management books can help you to tackle stress from many different angles and create a plan that works best for you! 

 

►10% Happier: How I Tamed the Voice in My Head, Reduced Stress Without Losing My Edge and Found Self Help That Actually Works by Dan Harris  

►The Ecstasy of Surrender: 12 Surprising Ways Letting Go Can Empower Your Life by Judith Orloff  

►Enough Already! : Clearing Mental Clutter to Become the Best You by Peter Walsh 

►Spent: End Exhaustion and Feel Great Again by Frank Lipman  

►The Highly Sensitive Person: How to Thrive When the World Overwhelms You by Elaine Aron 

►When Your Body Gets the Blues by Marie Brown    

►Stress Relief for Disasters Great and Small by Georgia Witkin 

►The Relaxation and Stress Reduction Workbook by Martha Davis   

►The Art of Doing Nothing by Veronique Vienne 

►Relax - You May Only Have a Few Minutes Left: Using the Power of Humor to Overcome Stress in Your Life and Work by Loretta LaRoche  

►Don't Sweat the Small Stuff by Richard Carlson   

►From Panic to Power: Proven Techniques to Calm Your Anxieties, Calm Your Fears, Conquer Your Fears, and Put You in Control of Your Life by Lucinda Bassett  

►The End of Stress: Four Steps to Rewire Your Brain by Don Goewey   

►Unwind: Seven Principles for a Stress Free Life by Michael Olpin  

  

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