Life Preserving Information

You have no doubt read about the big recall of pet food manufactured by Menu Foods. It's huge. And the culprit has turned out to be rat poison.

Rat poison!

You won't find a can of Menu Foods Kitty Giblets in your pantry, but you may see Menu-supplied Iams, Eukanuba, Science Diet, Ol' Roy, and others. Menu is quite a supplier to many familiar brands.

By now the recalled foods have been pulled from store shelves. But it's important for us all to check our pantries. Did we buy any of the trainted foods before word got out?

Alert library friend and volunteer Stefanie Bernstein provided us with specific information on the recall. We printed it out and have placed it at the Circulation Desk for your convenience. She also provided us with a link to web sites for manufacturers impacted by the recall.

Click on the linked headline above to go to the web site. You'll find specific information and additional links to Iams, Eukanuba, and Science Diet.

Here's to the health and safety of our pets!

Targeted for Censorship: This Year's 'Champs'

A storybook based on an incident in the Central Park Zoo has attracted the most challenges for 2006, according to the American Library Association's Office on Intellectual Freedom.

And Tango Makes Three has drawn fire in children's libraries and elementary schools for what critics call its "favorable portrayal of homosexuality." It's about a pair of male penguins who parent an egg from a mixed sex pair of penguins who have one egg too many.

The Top Ten challenged books include, along with their recorded complaints:

• And Tango Makes Three by Justin Richardson and Peter Parnell, for homosexuality, anti-family, and unsuited to age group;
  
  
• Gossip Girls series by Cecily Von Ziegesar for homosexuality, sexual content, drugs, unsuited to age group, and offensive language;
  
  
• Alice series by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor for sexual content and offensive language;
  
  
• The Earth, My Butt, and Other Big Round Things by Carolyn Mackler for sexual content, anti-family, offensive language, and unsuited to age group;
  
  
• The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison for sexual content, offensive language, and unsuited to age group;
  
  
• Scary Stories series by Alvin Schwartz for occult/Satanism, unsuited to age group, violence, and insensitivity;
  
  
• Athletic Shorts by Chris Crutcher for homosexuality and offensive language.
  
  
• The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky for homosexuality, sexually explicit, offensive language, and unsuited to age group
  
  
• Beloved by Toni Morrison for offensive language, sexual content, and unsuited to age group;
  
  
• The Chocolate War by Robert Cormier for sexual content, offensive language, and violence.

The ALA logged 546 challenges last year. The organization defines a challenges as a formal writen complaint, filed with a library or school, requesting that materials be removed because of content or appropriateness. Public libraries, schools, and school libraries report the majority of challenges. Not all challenges are reported, however.

Children's librarian Beth Reynolds reports that NPL owns a copy of Tango. "It goes out all the time, because it's a nice story," she says.

Unplugged Fun

As you might imagine, Norwich Public Library is happily involved in Norwich Unplugged, a celebration that's grown from a week to the entire month of March. Join us at the library for these fun family events:

Monday, March 12--Book Character Party. Conspire with your children to create book character costumes, then join us from 3:30-4:30 p.m. to enjoy the results. For elementary aged children.
Monday, March 26--Library Night! Come play board games from 6 to 8 p.m. Parents and kids welcome!
Thursday, March 29--Scrap Booking at NPL. Bring some photos and put them into the fun format of a scrap book. It's from 7 to 8 p.m. For parents and children.

Consider the library as a resource for other Unplugged activities as well. We have lots of jigsaw puzzles (March 20), and our Friends Book Sale is the perfect follow-up to Floribunda on March 17. You can even pick up cards at Floribunda that will entitle you to a 10% discount at the book sale. The No Homework, No Meetings Night of March 21 can be enhanced with some of our magazines. We have them for all ages.

It's your library. Let us work for you!