There are lots of library and school book fairs, but this weekend, the village of Millbrook hosts a two-day book fair, Spring into Books.

This village-wide event is free and totally family-oriented with panel discussions featuring award-winning authors, book signings, and events for children.

Kickoff festivities begin 6 p.m. Friday, May 16 when the Cary Institute of Ecosystem Studies, 2801 Sharon Turnpike (Route 44A), will host a reception open to the public featuring live music and refreshments. At 7 p.m. Andrew C. Revkin, environmental reporter for The New York Times, will give a presentation titled “The Uncertain Journey Toward Nine Billion: Communicating Ecology on a Crowding Planet.” Festival goers are invited to take tours of the Cary Institute and attend science demonstrations from 4 p.m to 6 p.m.

On Saturday, May 17, there will be author signings and panel discussions at locations throughout Millbrook. Topics include Literary Fiction, Romance, Mystery, Historical Fiction, Local History, Poetry, Picture Books, and Spirituality. Local eateries and community organizations will be selling meals throughout the day, and a family-friendly stand-up comedy show will end the weekend at 7 p.m.

Authors slated to appear at the festival include Valerie Martin, whose novel Property, won the Orange Prize; children’s writer Alan Katz, whose books include “Are You Quite Polite?”, and whose television writing has garnered several Emmy nominations; mystery writer Julia Spencer-Fleming, an Edgar Award finalist for her novel “Out of the Deep I Cry” ; and Jennifer Donnelly, recipient of the Carnegie Medal for her young adult novel “A Northern Light. ”

Some Putnam residents are particpating:

•Putnam County resident Andrew C. Revkin, environmental reporter for The New York Times, will talk about encouraging ecology at 7 p.m. Friday night.

•Eileen Charbonneau, resident of Cold Spring , will be participating in the Young Adult panel Saturday at the Millbrook Free Library from 3.30 to 5.00 .

One sponsor is Merritt Bookstore, with shops in Millbrook and Pawling, and until recently one on Main Street in Cold Spring.

For a complete schedule of events, please go to www.millbrookbookfestival.org or the link above.

Logo from the Millbrook Book Festival

My Mother’s Day netted me perfect gifts — a well-recommended book and a decadent box of chocolates.

Yummy on both counts and I’ve only just begun each one.

My youngest son, a college senior majoring in English, started off the gift-giving early by sending along a copy of “The Woman in White” by Wilkie Collins (Bantam Books, Penguin Classics) first published in 1859. He had read it for a class and really liked the storytelling technique, so he decided to share the fun. The tale is about a mysterious woman who intrigues a stranger and then offers some prolific advice (or so I’m told because I haven’t read it yet— Mother’s Day was just yesterday). My son was intrigued that the role of the narrator changes adding another dimension to the thriller because it is difficult to trust everything you are reading. Seems the story was the basis for an Andrew Lloyd Webber show a few years past.

I trust his recommendation — he got me to read “The Kite Runner” and to re-read John Irving books.

My older son, a musician, saw the book come in ahead of time, so smartly found something to go along with my reading. He selected a wonderful box of Godiva chocolates. Lovely bite-sized pieces in a gold box with a gorgeous spring ribbon. I already ate my old-time favorite, a dark chocolate nugget…but there are other good ones, I’m sure.

I am all set for reading and nibbling, thanks to my sons.

Now where are my reading glasses?

Not so much a comic book fan — just a personal preference or lack thereof — so I can’t say I would have ordinarily chosen this book for myself. But that said,  “The Ten Cent Plague: The Great Comic-Book Scare and How It Changed America” by David Hajdu (Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2008) is interesting beyond comic books.  I am a supporter of free speech, so this newly published book on censorship is the topic for me this week. It seems to transcends its comic book topic to provide an important message about protecting free speech.

The American Booksellers Foundation for Free Expression is recommending a new book that tells how fears about the impact of comic books on children had an affect on the publication of that genre in the 1950s.

“The Ten Cent Plague” is by David Hajdu (Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2008). At the ABFFE site you can click on a link and read an interview with the author. He has also written “Lush Life: A Biography of Billy Strayhorn” and “Positively Fourth Street: The Lives and Times of Joan Baez, Bob Dylan, Mimi Baez Farina and Richard Farina.”

“Hajdu’s book is a sobering reminder of what happens to artistic freedom when society turns to censorship to protect its children,” ABFFE President Chris Finan said. “His new book is an important contribution to the current debate over efforts to censor the Internet, video games and other media that appeal to the young.”

For an interesting review, check out a really neat bookblog, Bookslut.com

The Patterson Library celebrated National Library Week recently with a raffle drawing for adults and children, says Lillie Muscente, Adult Programs Coordinator at the library.

Elizabeth Frost (shown to the right holding her prize) was delighted to claim her kids’ basket filled with music & books, including a title by local author Michael Garland.

Joe DiPierro of Patterson was the winner of the adult gift basket of goodies including a copy of “Vignettes of Patterson’s Past” a new publication written by the Patterson Historical Society.

On another Patterson library note, the popular community facility is seeking town residents who want to be on its Board of Trustees, which usually meet on the third Tuesday of each month at 6:30 p.m. in the library on Route 311

“Men and women of all ages are encouraged to join the board as it expands the Patterson Library facility and services to meet the growing needs of our residents,” reads the announcement on the library’s Web site. Check out the opportunity.

(Photo courtesy of the Patterson Library)

The Friends of the Mount Vernon Public Library are holding its annual spring book and bake sale from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. May 16 and 17.
Just go to the library at 28 South First Ave, head to the  community room to seek out all sorts of books, new and gently-used.  Then plan to read the weekend away and know that you made a contribution to the friends group.

Dreaming of vacations just got a bit more fun.

Life Books has named some New York state locales as “hot spots” in “Dream Destinations: 100 of the World’s Best Vacations! ” which just came out this month. The editors suggest Cooperstown, which has baseball, culture and beautiful scenery — and also New York City and the Adirondacks.

“Working on Dream Destinations was a dream assignment,” says LIFE Books editor Robert Sullivan in an announcement of the new book. “We got to travel to the most wondrous places in the world, right in our offices. Now we hope to share that experience with LIFE’s readers.”

Here are some other destination ideas from the editors:

•Families — London, Orlando, and New York City.
•Culture Vultures —Giverny, France; Lenox, Massachusetts; and Nanjing, China
• Sightseers — The Bosporus Strait, Ireland’s Burren, and Le
Marche, Italy
•Sporty Types — Golfing in Oregon, Cooperstown and white-water
rafting in the Sun Kosi River in Tibet
•History Buffs — Captain Cook’s Polynesia, Mount Vernon and The
Kalaupapa Peninsula
•Romantics — Montreal, The Inn at Little Washington, and The
Point in the Adirondacks

Tony Haruch, author and children’s book illustrator, will be speaking later this month at the luncheon of the Putnam County Retired Teachers Association.

He is a retired Mahopac art teacher and the author and illustrator of an children’s book, “Kurtal Explores Australian Aboriginal Art” (Crystal Productions).

Winner of the National Art Educator Award, Haruch will talk about and display some his collection of Aboriginal art.

The group brings together retired teachers and administrators (and their spouses) to socialize and keep informed about the field.