I had to miss the Westchester Library System’s annual Book & Author Luncheon earlier this month, so I’m really glad they sent along a photo. These writers and the efforts of the WLS to continually provide upgraded library services to our communities always deserve recognition.

The event honors National Library Week and this year was the 17th annual one. It was at Trump National Golf Club in Briarcliff Manor. Featured were four authors who each discussed their newly published books and reflected on the role libraries have played in their lives. The Luncheon was sponsored by Con Edison, Entergy, and The H.W. Wilson Foundation. State Assemblywoman Amy Paulin received the National Library Week Recognition Award for her outstanding contributions to literacy and support of the WLS.

Below are the featured authors:

Left to right: Josh Swiller, author of “The Unheard: A Memoir of Deafness and Africa”; Ernie Anastos, anchor of the Fox 5 News and author of the children’s book, “Ernie & The Big News”; Susan Choi, author of “A Person of Interest”; Dee Dee Myers, author of “Why Women Should Rule the World”; Andrew Gross, author of “The Dark Tide”; and Siobhan A. Reardon, Director, Westchester Library System. Photo: courtesy of WLS.

Next year, I’m there….

Greg Mitchell, editor of Editor & Publisher Magazine, which covers the newspaper industry, will be reading from his 2008 book “So Wrong for So Long: How the Press, the Pundits – and the President – Failed on Iraq” (Union Square Press) tomorrow at the Nyack Library, 59 South Broadway. He was one of the first journalists, and certainly one with a unique vantage point, to speak out about how the press was covering (and not critically enough) the political factors leading to the war and the players involved.

He has continued his critical look at media issues in his column, where he writes about a the upcoming Democratic convention, Gen. David Petraeus’ testimony and Bruce Springsteen’s endorsement of Barak Obama. Springsteen wrote a preface to Mitchell’s new book.

A Nyack resident, Mitchell is also known in the community as a former manager in the Nyack/Valley Cottage Little League from 1995-2002. He is the author of nine other books including “Tricky Dick and the Pink Lady” and “The Campaign of the Century,” and two books with Robert Jay Lifton.

The book was praised on Huffingtonpost.com earlier this month and talked about on National Public Radio and FireDogLake.com. Kirkus Reviews said it was among some of the best works about Iraq to date.

The reading is at 7 p.m. and all are welcome.

Edward Kanza, the naturalist, photographer, essayist and book author, will lead a hike to point out and discuss local spring wildlife at 2 p.m. May 3 at Cranberry Lake Preserve in North White Plains.

And Cranberry Lake, a Westchester County Park, is a familiar to place to Kanze, who grew up in lower Westchester and visited the place as a child. A former curator of the Trailside Nature Museum at Ward Pound Ridge Reservation, he is a writer and licensed Adirondack guide.

In addition to a syndicated column “All Things Natural,” he has written boks including “Kangaroo Dreaming: An Australian Wildlife Odyssey” (Random House/Sierra Club, 2000), “The World of John Burroughs: The Life and Work of One of America’s Greatest Naturalists”  (Random House/Sierra Club paperback, 1999, Harry Abrams hardcover, 1993), and most recently “Over the Mountain and Home Again: Journeys of an Adirondack Naturalist” (Nicholas K. Burns Publishing, 2006)

The preserve is at 1609 Old Orchard Street North in White Plains. For information, call 914-428-1005. or go to the Westchester County Parks’ Web site.

This week’s recommendation was inspired by the American Booksellers Foundation for Free Expression, an offshoot of the Tarrytown-based American Booksellers Association.
The book is “Kite Runner” by Khaled Hosseini (Penguin Books) was challenged, but eventually received approval from a committee at Freedom High School in Burke County, North Carolina.

Apparently, a community member in North Carolina had objected to sexual violence and graphic language in the book. A group mobilized a coalition of six free speech groups and sent a letter opposing the challenges, according to an announcement from the ABFFE.

The book is about a young boy from Afghanistan who learns about friendship, family, and love while making mistakes, cheating death and living in a war-torn region. There is so much to this book. The characters are real and face genuine issues. The backdrop is timely and it educated me about what it might be like to have lived in Afghanistan. It is true, certain parts are graphic, but part of the story.

So, if you haven’t read this book, check it out. There was a movie made from it which is good as well. I started the book, then saw the movie and returned to the book. While I liked both, the book was a much better telling of the complex tale of emotions and offered greater insights into human nature and nurture.

The Hendrick Hudson Free Library holds its annual meeting this Monday, April 28 at 8:15 p.m. where its Board of Directors will present the library’s proposed budget for 2008-09. The spending plan goes to voters on May 20 along with school budget referendums and library officials are hoping that anyone interested in the library’s operations come to learn more and ask questions at this session.

The library is, says director Jill Davis, one of the most used community resources with lots to offer people of all ages.

The total budget proposal is $1,267,075. Property owners will be asked for $770,355, which represents $48,000 more than the current fiscal year, 2007-08. The budget to budget increase is 5.85 percent and Davis said the biggest factors driving the numbers are increased utility costs and higher expenses for contracted services like snow plowing and landscaping maintenance. Under the proposed plan, the tax rate in Cortlandt would increase by $1.40 per $1,000 of assessed value and in Peekskill an increase of $2.82 per $1,000 of assessed value.

The library is at 185 Kings Ferry Road in Montrose. Check out the library in person (see a photo from its home page above to entice your) or online at its Website.

It’s Earth Day and a perfect time to read and find out more about ecology, nature and our planet.

Here are some suggestions for everyone:

• At the federal Environmental Protection Agency you can check out a list of books including “The ABCs of Environmental Education” and also download a coloring and activity book for children called “The Happy Earth Day.”

•Amazon.com is featuring “Lets Celebrate Earth Day” by Connie and Peter Roop with illustrations by Gwen Connelly (Millbook Press, 2001), a question-and-answer book about our wonderful planet. There are plenty of other related titles for children and adults.

• Riverkeeper, the environmental organization, has its own Reading Room on its Web site with a selection of titles to check out from “Silent Spring” by Rachel Carson to “The Hudson: An Illustrated Guide to the Living River” by Stephen P. Stanne, Roger G. Panetta and Brian E. Forist to “Fidelity” by Grace Paley, a poet and activist to “Heat: How to Stop the Planet from Burning” by George Monbiot.

• Check out an online map of nature sites in the United States at the Nature Conservatory.

• The Sierra Club, which has a chapter devoted to Westchester, Rockland and Putnam counties, now has a online bookshop from its national Web site. Here you can also download audio portions of some titles. The group has just published “Galen Rowell: A Retrospective” about the life and work of the nature photographer. Plenty of other publications are noted on the site in categories including Just for Kids and Publisher’s Pick.

• At the Yonkers Public Library at 4:00pm today at 1 Larkin Center  is a program called “Treasures from Trash.” Celebrate Earth Day at the public library by making a craft from recycled materials from house and garden. Riverfront Library, Community Room.

Happy Earth Day — and feel free to share your book idea.

BAMM, which stands for books, art, music in Mahopac, is a new program begun this winter at the Mahopac Public Library. Programs highlight local musicians and artists, and of course, books.

Many of musicians included in the BAMM concert series are local residents who perform nationally or internationally but are less familiar to Putnam audiences. This series highlights the talents of these professional local artists and will feature contemporary, traditional and original music. Literary and art workshops will complement several of the scheduled concerts.

The second event in this series is at 2 p.m. this Sunday, April 27th, with a concert of reggae, Hawaiian bluegrass, gospel and contemporary pop music. It features Amici Duo ~ Music of Latin America with Stuart Levin on flute and Yuri Ludevig on classical guitar. This duo will be performing pieces by John Duarte, Astor Pizolla, Laurindo Lameida and Antonio Carlos Jobim. It is geared for ages 14 & up.

Support for BAMM at the Mahopac Public Library has been provided by the Mahopac National Bank and the Friends of Mahopac Public Library. Additional funding has been provided with public funds from the New York State Council on the Arts Decentralization Program. In Putnam County, the Decentralization Program is managed by the Putnam Arts Council.

Sometimes you do feel that someone might be looking over your shoulder as you browse through the shelves of your community library. But usually it is another library patron trying to get past you or a library clerk edging in to re-shelve a book.

Not so in New Paltz where a library security camera shows a suspicious shadowy figure on tape. Many are calling this figure that many are calling a ghost.

You can read the story from The New York Times and catch a video of a sighting on YouTube.com, which when I looked this morning had been viewed 15,739 times.

This week I have some book recommendations, not from local newsmakers, but from the Southern Independent Booksellers Alliance, which has just released its finalists for the 2008 SIBA Awards.

I think it is worth seeing what specific books are read in other parts of the country and also to note some special categories that garner recognition. For example, there are awards for the top cookbook and poetry book. Sometimes these categories are overlooked thought quite popular at bookstores and libraries.

SIBA selects books that it considers to be examples of the best of Southern literature. To be eligible the book must be set in the south. Books are nominated by SIBA booksellers based on their “hand-sell” (love that phrase) favorites. Winners will be chosen by a jury of SIBA booksellers and announced during the Decatur Book Festival during Labor Day weekend in Decatur, Ga.

Enough chatter, here is the list of finalists from the Southern Independent Booksellers Alliance:

Vanilla Heart Publishing of Seattle, Wash. has announced it has signed Rockland resident Chelle Cordero and will publish her newest novel, “Forgotten.” The announcement was made during an online book launch for Cordero’s just released novel “Bartlett’s Rule” on the Vanilla Heart Web-site — and we got a quick e-mail message to pass along to lower Hudson Valley readers.

Cordero, who has lived in Rockland County since 1975 and in Stony Point since 1980, is also the author of “Courage of the Heart” published in 2001.

To learn more about Vanilla Heart Books go to this site.

Cordero is a freelance writer and has had several articles published in local and national newspapers and magazines. She is also an active volunteer with the Stony Point Ambulance Corps and a member of their Board of Directors.

(Book jacket from Vanilla Heart Books)