I was holding an e-mail conversation with Ken Valenti, who is one of the people we’re hoping to entice to post on this blog since he’s a struggling author in addition to being a fine Journal News reporter, and I was bemoaning the youth of the reporter who sits next to me who had never heard of Dorothy Parker.

I picked up a copy of the 1944 Viking Press anthology (with the foreward by W. Somerset Maugham) last summer and began reading it last night as a change from the science fiction/fantasy I’d been buried in for the past few days.

Parker, for those who are as young as the reporter who sits beside me, wrote short stories and poetry for Vogue, Vanity Fair, the New Yorker, McCalls and the New Republic before moving on to screenwriting and whatnot. She had an acerbic wit and a jaundiced view of suburban-dweller arrogance, and is mostly known these days as having founded the Algonquin Round Table. The 1994 movie “Mrs. Parker and the Vicious Circle” was about her.

I was going to write about Parker, but got involved in a discussion with Ken about callow youth and the old masters like H.L. Mencken and I said I was worried that youth didn’t even know who Archy and Mehitabel were.

Neither did Ken.

Sigh.

Archy the cockroach and Mehitabel the cat were the creations of Don Marquis, who wrote for the New York Sun way back in the 1920s. Marquis’ line was that Archy would steal into the newspaper office late at night and type comments on the manual typewriter by hopping from key to key, ergo no capital letters. Mehitabel, who was always bemoaning her love life (ah, those toms! love you and leave you with kittens!), was his companion in dissecting the politics and world around them.

Here’s a piece from one of his columns in the New York Evening Sun, March 29, 1916, introducing Archy and with a local twist:

“Dobbs Ferry possesses a rat which slips out of his lair at night and runs a typewriting machine in a garage. Unfortunately, he has always been interrupted by the watchman before he could produce a complete story.

”… We do not pretend to know anything about the Dobbs Ferry rat at first hand. But since this matter has been reported in the public prints and seriously received we are no longer afraid of being ridiculed and we do not mind making a statement of something that happened to our own typewriter only a couple of weeks ago. We came into our room earlier than usual in the morning and discovered a gigantic cockroach jumping about upon the keys…. Congratulating ourself that we had left a sheet of paper in the machine the night before so that all this work had not been in vain, we made an examination, and this is what we found:

i was once a vers libre bard/but i died and my soul went into the body of a cockroach/it has given me a new outlook upon life/i see things from the under side now/thank you for the apple peelings in the watebasket/but your paste is getting so stale i cant eat it/there is a cat here at night i wish you would have/removed she nearly ate me the other night why dont she/catch rats that is what she is supposed to be for…

… you can call me archy

The Manhattanville College Library in Purchase is slated to get a $5,000 grant from the American Library Association’s Libraries, Literacy and Gaming initiative, the association announced this afternoon.  It is funded by the Verizon Foundation.

The library is one of ten winners and the only academic facility to be awarded the grant. Others are outside the lower Hudson Valley region.  There were 390 applicants for the award money.

The funds are slated to help the library develop and implement programs that provide innovative gaming experiences for youths 10-18 years of age — all in an effort to enhance students literacy and ability to navigate online resources.

Librarians in the last decade have latched onto online games to help younger students become information literate. Many believe the alluring digital gaming medium is the answer. Digital gaming includes online, computer, and video or console games. Online games are web-based games such as multi-player online role-playing games, such as World of Warcraft, Bookworm, Dungeons & Dragons, Guitar Hero or Everquest.

Bargain books from the Metropolitan Museum of Art?  Well say no more.  I think that is a sale worth traveling into NYC  — even in 90 degree heat.

My colleague Mary Shustack, who writes the Just Browsing blog about shopping wonders wrote yesterday about this first ever warehouse sale by the Museum book publisher. She said there are bargain books for $5 and prices go higher, but remember these are art books and real keepsakes.  The sale is at the museum shop (second floor) , Fifth Avenue and 82nd Street, and runs today through May 10.

Oh, and don’t forget that many local libraries offer musuem passes. You can borrow these passes like books and they will get you into the museum free of charge.  I am not sure which libraries offer which passes, but if you are planning a NYC visit and want to go museum hunting, check out your library resource.  Two of the most popular museum passes are to the Natural History Museum on 77th Street and the Guggenheim Museum.

The first celebration of National Children’s Book Week was in 1919. This year’s 90th annual event is being celebrated in schools, libraries, book stores, clubs and wherever books and kids meet.

“Our local libraries provide a wonderful environment and resource for facilitating and encouraging reading,” said Randall Enos, youth sales consultant for the Ramapo Catskill Library System, in a press release about the event.

Rockland’s libraries are part of the system.

“Book week brings us together to talk about books and r ading and, out of our knowledge and love of books, to ut the cause of children’s reading squarely before the whole community and, community by community, across the whole nation,” he said.

The benefits of reading can’t be downplayed, reading experts said.

“It just opens up the world to them. That says it for me in a nutshell,” said Jennifer Siegel, children’s book buyer for Anderson’s Book Shop in Larchmont.

“Oh, you have the parents who come in and say ‘my kids doesn’t read’ and they need a book. I tell them ‘it’s not that they don’t like to read, they just haven’t found a book they like,’” she said.

Having a week set aside each year to focus on children and children’s books is fine, she said, because anything that brings children and books together is a good thing. April happens to be National Poetry Month, and in honor of the genre, schools around the area are introducing their students to poetry.

But she would prefer that people celebrate children’s book week and things like poetry month all the time, not just one week during the year.

The Slapering Hol Press of the Hudson Valley Writers’ Center in Sleepy Hollow is hosting a special poetry reading tomorrow evening.

The writers’ group at the Philipse Manor train station on Riverside Drive along the Hudson River will be featuring The Poets of Toadlily Press  at 7:30 pm. Toadlily Press is a local press and deserves attention for the writers it highlights and well-crafted chapbooks it produces.

Poets from An Uncommon Accord, the latest book in Toadlily Press’ quartet series —Marcia Arrieta, Michael Carman and George Kraus— will be joined by previously published Toadlily Press poets Pamela Hart and Maxine Silverman.

“The four splendid and drastically individuated poets included in An Uncommon Accord manage, paradoxically enough, to create a harmony and a conversation among one another worthy of the great string quartets. The tensions between them are not violent but musical. They energize and transform the unique experience of each poem and poet; they give a permanent glow to the beautiful local civilization that is this book..”  said Vijay Seshadri in the press’s promotional material.

Here is a bit on each featured poet:

•Marcia Arrieta is a high school English teacher and editor/publisher of the poetry journal, Indefinite Space. Her chapbook, the curve against the linear, was published in 2008 in An Uncommon Accord. She has an MFA from Vermont College, lives on the canyon in Pasadena, Calif. and often escapes into philosophy, nature, music and art.

Michael Carman lives in Yonkers. Her chapbook, You in Translation, appears in An Uncommon Accord. She has taught poetry for Poets & Writers, in men’s and women’s jails in Westchester County, and at Sing Sing Prison. She currently teaches writing at F.I.T./SUNY in Manhattan.

George Kraus holds a PhD in Hispanic and Luso-Brazilian Literatures and Languages from the Graduate Center, City University of New York. Rendition was published in An Uncommon Accord. He has worked as translator and scholar and divides his time between Rio de Janeiro and Tarrytown where he writes poetry and prose.

Pamela Hart is a former journalist and new partner at Toadlily Press. Her chapbook, The End of the Body, was published in 2006 in The Fifth Voice. She’s writer in residence at the Katonah Museum of Art and directs the Art of Writing Institute at Long Island University, Purchase College campus, and teaches writing at LIU’s graduate school of education.

Maxine Silverman’s poems and essays have been published in anthologies and journals including Pushcart Prize III, and in two chapbooks, Survival Song (Sunbury Press) and Red Delicious in Desire Path, the inaugural Toadlily Press volume, as a founding editor. She is also a visual artist, and curates the series Readings at Riverspace in Nyack.

Admission $5 ($3 for Writers’ Center members). For information on the writers’ center go to the Web site.

Our very own star editorial cartoonist Matt Davies will be featured at an event tomorrow at Barnes & Noble bookstore. Davies, a Pulitizer Prize winner will be on tap from 6:30 to 7:30 p.m., but other events begin at 4 p.m.

During Family Fun Night, the bookseller will play host to Davies as well as five children’s authors. It is a fund-raiser for  Newspaper In Education which provides free newspapers and educational supplements to area schools. Part of all store purchases will go to NIE.

Activities include story times, scavenger hunts and games, and making hats with newspapers.

Authors featured are:

Alyssa Capucilli, Biscuit’s First Sleepover, Meet Biscuit!, Biscuit Is Thankful (6 to 7 p.m.)

Phyllis Shalant, The Great Cape Rescue, Bartleby of the Mighty Mississippi, Bartleby of the Big Bad Bayou (5 to 6 p.m.)

Katie Davis, The Curse of Addy McMahon, Kindergarten Rocks!, Mabel the Tooth Fairy and How She Got Her Job (4:30 to 5:30p.m.)

Nick Bruel, Bad Kitty, Poor Puppy, Bad Kitty Gets a Bath, Who Is Melvin Bubble?, Boing!, Little Red Bird (7 to 8 p.m.)

Pat Schories, Jack and the Missing Piece, Breakfast for Jack, Jack Wants a Snack, Jack And the Night Visitors and illustrator of the “Biscuit” I Can Read books (4 to 5 p.m.)

Barnes and Noble is at 230 Main Street, White Plains in the City Center complex.

Quick on the heels of last week’s program about libraries  and the cyberspace, the Ossining Public Library is hosting a panel discussion  about writing and publishing this Monday, April 27 featuring some of the brightest literary stars in Ossining and Briarcliff communities.

The second annual Festival of Writers and Readers, part two, is at 7:30 p.m. Everyone is welcome.

The forum will focus on the art, craft and business of getting published, says Bob Minzesheimer, a library trustee who writes about books for USA Today and is involved with putting these mind-stretching programs together at the library.

Well, I just agreed to pay $30 (plus shipping) for a book to round out one of my series.

I’m sitting here wondering if I’m as nuts as that sounds. In this day and age, with money tight, is it worth it to pay twice the price of a new book for something that, if one is exceptionally lucky, can be found for 50 cents at some tag sale? Or for free, if one has the proper hangdog look and the book is old and probably smelly and may have some green (or whatever) splotches on the spine?

I guess that depends on what kind of collector you are. And I’m the kind who likes to own all the books in a series, and read them in order.

I’m not in the class that will casually drop $1,000 for a first-edition whatever. I buy old books to read them, so the condition and printing order isn’t all that important to me, provided the tome will stay together long enough for me to enjoy the story. And I’ve noticed that once I’ve bought a book, my chances of seeing another copy (in better condition) increase astronomically, so I can always replace a really ratty copy of, say “The Harvester” by Gene Stratton Porter with one in better condition eventually.

But pickings these days are getting slim for old novels, and I debated about a minute before deciding I’d rather have the $30 copy of “Dorothy Dale’s Strange Discovery” (1914) while I had access than wait for another to pop up at a cheaper price. I really shouldn’t complain. I bought most of the other books in the series for about $3 each, not counting the first three I got for $1 at a tag sale last summer.

I figured the satisfaction of completing the series was worth the cash. And I’m thankful the sellers didn’t ask $50 for the book. That price might have been a deal-breaker. I think.

Warmer weather, daffodils and library books sales — ahh, the signs of spring.  There are many book sales held in the lower Hudson Valley and the first ones are just around the corner.

As many of you know these events are where you can find real treasures — the special book you’ve been searching for or a bargain book that becomes your favorite. Oh, and there are often CDs, DVDs and other media, too.

Here are first book sales I’m hearing about:

• April 25-26, Warner Library, 121 North  Broadway, Tarrytown.  Hours: 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. both days. The Friends of Warner Library sponsor this semi-annual sale. Held rain or shine under a tent on the library’s front lawn.

• May 1-3, Mt Pleasant Public Library, 350 Bedford Road., Pleasantville. Hours:  9 a. m.  to 8 p.m.  May 1;  9 a.m  to 4:30 p.m. May 2; and  1 to 4:30 p.m. May 3. There will be hundreds of book bargains for children and adults including mysteries, poetry, biographies, history, fiction and how-to books. The sale will also include CDs and DVDs.

• May 2-3, West Nyack Free Library, 65 Strawtown Road. Sponsored by library friends group.  Hours: 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. May 2 and 1 to 5 p.m. May 3. No text books, magazines, newspapers or condensed books.

•May 8-10, Ruth Keeler Memorial Library, 276 Titicus Road., North Salem. Hours: 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. May 8 for a preview event party with tickets at $45; 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. May 9; and 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. May 10. Saturday is family day with entertainment and food; Sunday is billed as a Blow Out Sale with plants, shrubs and herbs from local gardeners on sale, too.

• May 15-17, Patterson Library book sale at the Putnam Lake VFW on Fairfield Drive, Patterson. Hours: 1 to 6 p.m. May 15; 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. May 16; and 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. May 17. Donations can be dropped from April 6 to May 9 at the Patterson Library, 1167 Route 311 (no textbooks, magazines or videos). For information or to volunteer call the library at 845-878-6121×10.

• May 23-24 at Kent Public Library, 17 Sybil’s Crossing, Kent Lakes, at Kent Town Hall complex. Hours:  9 a.m.  to  5 p.m. May 23 and  11 a.m. to 4 p.m. May 24. In an effort to curtail the use of plastic shopping bags, the Friends will reward shoppers who bring their own cloth bags or boxes with a little something ‘green’ at the checkout counter. “Go Green and Get Green” is the logo of the sale. The Friends tell us they could use a number of strong book carriers to help cart books out of the basement of the library if interested, call library director Frank Rees at 845-225-8585).

For those who like to keep track of book sales — special events and ongoing sales — go to Booksalefinder’s  Web site.

Happy hunting and let me know what treasures you find.

(Tempting book sale image above is a file photo from The Journal News by Frank Becerra Jr. of a Mt Kisco Public Library event,  August 2004.)

Today is National Library Workers Day, which falls on the Tuesday during National Library Week. This year the week is  April 12-18.

It is a good day to say thank-you to a librarian and let him or her know that you appreciate having a well-run library in your community or school.

What I’ve learned from writing about libraries is that each has its own personality and amazingly reflect the community where they exist.  It is really interesting to visit a library and see how they are same, yet different.

Recent statistics show that in our tumultous economy, libraries are getting heavier use. Staffers have noticed at least a 10 percent increase in traffic. More materials are being checked out and computers are getting lots of use by job-seekers, students and reference searchers.  The Chappaqua Library, for example, increased the capacity on its wireless internet service to handle the greater number of people coming to the library with their laptops, said its director Pamela Thornton yesterday.

So thank a librarian today — either in person or on this forum.