We are happy to work with City Impact to provide free parenting sessions to our community! We have a variety of options, based on your needs and your schedule. All events will take place in the Topping Room at Foster library.

One-stop session: 3/13 6:00 p.m. to 7:30 p.m.The Power of Positive Parenting

8 week session in English: 3/19-5/7 every Tuesday from 10:00 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. Positive Parenting Group meets weekly to learn parenting techniques. From giving praise to creating rules and following up with effective discipline, this group will cover it all!

8 week session in Spanish: 3/16 - 5/13 every Tuesday from 12:00 p.m. - 1:30 p.m. Para apuntarse a esta clase o recibir mas informacion sobre el programa de Triple P, favor de llamar a City Impact: (805) 983-3636 ex. 103

Registration is required for these events, call (805) 983-3636 ext #103 for more info. Hope to see you there!

Approximately 300 varieties of fish and shellfish are native to California. In Ventura, rock crab, spider crab, mackerel, herring, halibut, sanddabs, bass, perch and a variety of sharks and rays can be caught off the Ventura Pier.

Ventura has been a prime spot for seafood since the Chumash first established their villages in the area,.  If you would like to pursue this ancient art, there are many books available at E. P. Foster Library to guide you.

Six Baby Read Aloud Stages:
1. The Lisener (0-2 months) Read anything for the purpose of the the baby hearing your voice and books you read to them before they were born.
2. The Observer (2-4 months) read books with rhymes and songs and books with black & white pictures or bold colors.
3. The Cooer (4-8 months) Read touch & feel books to stimulate the senses and use teething books.
4. The Babbler (8-12 months) Read books with noise and buttons or books that label objects or body parts.
5. The Word Maker (12-18 months) Use books that ask questions and ones that have rhymes/song and handmovements.
6. Phrase Maker (18-24 months)Read books that contain colors, numbers and basic concepts as well as books about the child current interest, fairies, trucks, animals, etc.

Baby Read Aloud Basics by Caroline Blakemore (372.4)-Star

For the month of February, Saticoy Library is proud to be showing the Loma Vista 4-H Photography Project.

The photographs are on display in our children's area - come check them out!

What if we could be immortal, never die? Would we have a soul? Would we have purpose, a reason for being? These are questions you might consider asking after reading not one, but two, recently released graphic novels inspired by the works of Anne Rice.

The first book is Interview with the Vampire: Claudia’s Story and tells the familiar tale from the viewpoint of Claudia, the little-girl-turned-vampire and the companion to Louis and Lestat. Her immortality is given not by choice, but a ploy used by Lestat to keep Louis near him. That immortality comes at a price, not just by her need for blood, but by the very fact that she will never age. Although she will always remain the figure of a five year old child, her mind will continue to mature and change, a fact not welcomed by Lestat. She will increasingly question and challenge him at every opportunity, just as she will grow in her love and affection for Louis, a love that will never be fulfilled.  It is the truth of her existence that leads her to betray her maker and search out others of her kind in order to find the purpose and meaning in her life. It is a search that will play out to its unfortunate end.

While the story is well-known to Anne Rice fans, it is worth reading for Claudia’s perspective on things and is a good companion piece to the original novel. Beautifully drawn in sepia tones, the only contrasting color is the color of blood.

The second graphic novel to follow this trend of the soul and immortality is The Servant of the Bones. It is the story of Azriel, a Jewish man living in Babylon, who agrees to become the servant of the title in order to serve the ruling king and protect his people. But he is tricked, and his body is melted in a vat of gold, leaving nothing but his gold-encased bones behind. He becomes a genie (somewhere between an angel and a demon), his bones trapped in a box, his spirit to be released by its possessor when the need arises.

His immortality is one of darkness, and the centuries quickly pass. He comes when he is called, but he soon learns that not all his masters are righteous or good. In time, he becomes less willing to obey and even attacks those who would command him. He gains something of himself and soon no longer requires the box (or its owner) to appear. In time, he finds himself compelled to solve the murder of a young woman in modern times. This brings him into conflict with a cult determined to bring about an apocalypse, with themselves as the only survivors.

The Servant of the Bones is colorfully drawn, and Azriel is not too hard on the eyes, if I do say so myself. Despite not having read the book on which it is based, I found the graphic novel easy to follow and an interesting read.

While both novels are very different in story and scope, I did find they had some common ground. Both dealt with the choices of immortality (given or not) and the consequences that followed. Both dealt with individuals trying to find themselves in their new lives, and despite the very different outcomes, both sought to retain something of their souls.

Heather, the Graphic Novel Goddess

Join us at Ray D. Prueter Library on Saturday, February 16, 2013 at 2pm for Sixty Days to Honor; One Hundred Thirty-Five Years of Sacrifice, a program presented in celebration of Black History Month.

Authors Mary Main and Cathy Thomason will give the audience an overview of their book for elementary school children, African Americans in Law and Politics, that Booklist has said “shines a spotlight on those who made a difference.”

The authors will also provide a glimpse into the process of writing the book in sixty days. 

This event is sponsored by the Friends of Port Hueneme Library.