There are so many talented book people in the lower Hudson Valley — and here is just another example of a local resident who has contributed to the wealth of reading materials produced.

Rick DeMonico, a longtime Carmel resident and freelance art director, was the graphic designer of a very popular and much touted book of photographs of Martin Luther King Jr. , “Mine Eyes Have Seen: Bearing Witness to the Civil Rights Struggle” by Bob Adelman (photographer) and Charles Johnson (essays). This book includes many wrenching photographs of the Civil Rights movement taken by Adelman when he was a photographer for Life magazine. The publisher of the book is Time, Incorporated Home Entertainment. It came out in November 2007 and particularly this month has gotten lots of press attention from NBC-TV, CNN and PBS to name a few.

We understand DeMonico is working with Adelman on another photobook about King that will be out in February.

Congressman John Hall, D-Dover Plains, of the 19th District spends lots of time no doubt reviewing official documents and papers related to the issues under governmental discussion. But his staff tells me that he also finds time to read for pleasure when he can and they shared some recommendations. This week he stopped at the Mahopac Public Library to meet with constituents, so maybe he browsed the stacked or even checked out a few books.

Of late he has been reading nonfiction, “Charlie Wilson’s War” by George Crile, which recounts an important chapter of American foreign policy and “Nemesis: The Last Days of the American Republic” by Chalmers Johnson, the CIA analyst.

Ben Cheever, author of “Strides: Running Through History With an Unlikely Athlete” will be at the Westchester Road Runner in White Plains at 7 p.m. this Friday in an event promoted by the Hudson Valley Writers’ Center in Sleepy Hollow and sure to please those with literary or running interests.

The acclaimed writer will read from his Rodale Press book and talk about his passion for running and how the sport has contributed to civilization. Cheever has traveled the world writing features for Runner’s World magazine. In Strides, he explores the role of running in human history and intersperses this account with revelations of his own decades-long devotion to the sport, says HVWC.

“Cheever…melds reportorial skills, literary talent and a wicked sense of humor to capture the irony and indefatigable spirit of running in the 21st century. With more than a passing nod to his father and their own complicated past, and with pointed barbs at an even more personal antagonist, mortality, Cheever weaves real and imagined history with his own anecdotes collected over decades of running around the world.â€? —Jim Hage, The Washington Post, September 9, 2007

Other Cheever titles: “Selling Ben Cheever” (Bloomsbury USA 2001), was excerpted in The New Yorker, Gourmet and The New York Times Book Review. His last novel, “The Good Nanny” (Bloomsbury USA 2004) was selected as a new and notable book by The New York Times Book Review, and he is also the author of “The Plagiarist,” “The Partisan,” and “Famous After Death.”

He has been a newspaper reporter, an editor at Reader’s Digest and has taught at Bennington College and The New School for Social Research.

The event is Jan 25 at Westchester Road Runner, 179 East Post Road, White Plains.Admission is free.

Chase Lapine of Irvington, who wrote “The Sneaky Chef Missy Chase Lapine” and is charging comic Jerry Seinfield and his cookbook-author wife Jessica with plagarism and defamation, is reportedly working on her third book in the Sneaky Chef series, according to the book industry bible, Publishers Weekly.  The magazine says Lapine has signed on with Running Press to write number three — but no title or theme have been announced.

Lapine’s second book, “The Sneaky Chef: How to Cheat on your Man in the Kitchen” is expected in April. For those that don’t know, the “sneaky” refers to how Lapine can add healthy ingredients into recipes to make them tasty and also deceptively good for you.

Lapine  has said the comments from the Seinfelds have been very “hurtful.”

Jerry Seinfeld said her accusations have no merit.

A case in federal court is pending  and it seems there is no slowdown of new sequels to her New York Times bestseller.

(Photograph by Rory Glaeseman / The Journal News )

The Mt. Vernon Public Library is promoting a book and author reading next month planned in observance of Black History Month. But the featured book, “First Black Autos,” about American’s first (and possibly only) African-American automobile manufacturer Charles Richard C.R. Patterson, sounds like a fascinating historical tale by a local author and worth reading any month of the year.

C.R. Patterson & Sons produced carriages and horse-drawn vehicles before taking some tries with motor cars, buses and trucks. The book traces Patterson’s rise from slavery (from West Virginia to Ohio) and how “C.R.” and his family made the transitions from blacksmithing to building and repairing horse drawn vehicles then to manufacturing motor vehicles.

Author Henry A. May is a resident of Mt. Vernon and is worked in New York City schools for 30 years before retiring. He is the Vice President of the Mount Vernon Parents & Community Forum On Education .

He is a board member of the Bronx River & Sound Shore branch of the National Audubon Society, according to Trafford Publishing.

The book signing, discussion and reception are free and will take place from 3 to 4 :30 p.m.  Feb. 3, in the Grace Green Baker Community Room, Mt. Vernon Public Library, 28 South First Ave.

Author Daniel Wolfe, “Seabury Place: A Bronx Memoir” published in August by by iUniverse, Inc. is expected to talk about growing up in the Bronx and his moonlight boat rides up the Hudson River this week in Rockland County. He will be at the  Nyack  Library, 59 South Broadway, at 7 p.m. Thursday (snowdate  1/24).

He and his family now live in Bronxville, but used to live in Chestnut Ridge in Rockland. He will also be be speaking at 1:30 p.m. Feb. 4 at the Suffern Free Library, 210 Lafayette St.

This year’s Newbery and Caldecott winners are out and here is a list of the winners just hot off my e-mail. The awards this year bring additional attention to books about an English village, a Paris train station and so much more. They were announced along with recognition of a slew of other top books, videos and audiobooks for children and young adults. This is done annually by the American Library Association during its Midwinter Meeting, which this year was held in Philadelphia.

Locally, Poughkeepsie author Charles R. Smith Jr. had his book “Twelve Rounds to Glory: The Story of Muhammad Ali” recognized as a Coretta Scott King Honor Book. It is illustrated by Bryan Collier and published by Candlewick Press.

“Good Masters! Sweet Ladies! Voices from a Medieval Village” by Laura Amy Schlitz, published by Candlewick Press won the John Newbery Medal for outstanding contribution to children’s literature. Illustrations are by Robert Byrd. Schlitz is a librarian in Baltimore and her publisher says she wrote some of the chapters specifically for her students at Park School where she works. The book is set in an English village in 1255, and the story is told in “dramatic vignettes illuminating twenty-two unforgettable characters,” explains the publisher.

“The Invention of Hugo Cabret” illustrated by Brian Selznick and published by Scholastic won the Randolph Caldecott Medal for the most distinguished Ameircan picture book for children. Not the first award for this book, it was named a New York Times Best Illustrated Book, a Publishers Weekly Best book and a New York Pubblic Library Best Book for Reading and Sharing. The story is about Hugo, a clock keeper and thief who lives in the walls of a Paris train station. His life is turned around when he meets a “bookish” girl and an old man.

Here is the rest of the winners:

Today’s business section features a fascinating book-friendly story about DailyLit, a Web service that allows you to send books to your e-mail inbox in 1,000-word installments once a day. The story is by my colleague, business writer Julie Moran Alterio.

Susan Danziger and her husband, Albert Wenger, are the founders of DailyLit, based in Mamaroneck. Subscribers can pick from about 750 titles . Find out about this new service by reading all about it in The Journal News or online at LoHud.com.

Reading is fun and informative, says New York state Sen. Vincent Leibell, III, R-Patterson,  who I spoke with this morning as we both toured a new wing of the Putnam Hospital Center in Carmel. He helped get the big money for the hospital, which you can read about this weekend in The Journal News/LoHud.com. We stopped amid construction debris and light rain, though, to chat about some books he is currently reading. Two of them I really didn’t know much about, but now I’m curious about both.
Leibell, who has represented the 40th senate district since 1994, was the 2007 recipient of the Outstanding Advocate of Libraries Award from the New York State Library Association. Read more in this previous posting.

He said he reads alot for work, but generally has a couple of books he is reading just for himself, too. Right now, he says he is really enjoying “The Dog Whisper: A Compassionate Approach to Dog Training.” It  shows how to train a dog through kindness and rewards. Sounds like good advice.

“I love dogs,” said the senator and dog owner. “This was a present I got for myself and it is really good.” It is written by Paul Owen and Norma Eckroate.

To satiate his interest in history, he said he is also reading, “Decision in Philadelphia: The Constitutional Convention of 1787” by Christopher Collier and James Lincoln Collier. It is a popular history about the writing of the Constitution and how the 55 men met in Philadelphia to accomplish the task. “It is amazing to read of their political discussions,” he added.

Good point! Publishers have latched onto political voices from many directions and there probably is some good reading out there. I have to say probably because I haven’t read these books by candidates. Might be interesting to check if books sales follow along with votes.

There are indeed books by John McCain, “Faith of My Fathers” and Mike Huckabee, “From Hope to Higher Ground” and one about Mitt Romney, “A Mormon in the White House?” by Hugh Hewitt. I’m sure all of these titles are enlightening and will keep any political reader busy well past Feb. 5 and at least until the two major conventions.