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Presidents and their libraries

"To bring together the records of the past and to house them in buildings where they will be preserved for the use of men and women in the future, a Nation must believe in three things. It must believe in the past. It must believe in the future. It must, above all, believe in the capacity of its own people so to learn from the past that they can gain in judgement in creating their own future." - Franklin Roosevelt At the dedication of his library on June 30, 1941 Earlier this month it was announced the President Barack Obama's Presidential...

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Books Build Children

Created earlier this year by Dentsu Tokyo for the Yokohama City Board of Education, the "Books to build children" ad campaign hopes to recruit librarians to work in elementary school libraries. Funny how we have to fight tooth and nail to keep our elementary school libraries open while other countries are actually in need of, and desire, real-life school librarians to help spread the joy of reading. Previously on Book Patrol: Latest study confirms that school libraries positively impact student test scores After helping the Ferguson Public Library we need to go to Philadelphia

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Remembering Mary Ellen Mark, the photographer who immortalized Seattle’s street youth

“I’m interested in people who aren’t the lucky ones, who maybe have a tougher time surviving, and telling their story” – Mary Ellen Mark When we think of Seattle and the movies we usually start with the box office hits like You've Got Mail or Singles that were shot in Seattle and prominently feature our fair city but it is the documentary Streetwise, that grew out of a LIFE magazine piece by the noted photographer Mary Ellen Mark, that provides us with one of the most powerful film depictions of the Emerald City. From the preface: In April 1983 reporter...

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Billy Collins’ book stolen, shot up, then returned

Somebody in Asheville, North Carolina doesn't think too kindly of two-time U.S. Poet Laureate Billy Collins. According to the proprietors of The Captain's Bookshelf someone took a copy of Nine Horses by Collins from the shelf, brought it home, then proceeded to shoot more than 20 shotgun pellets from close range through the book. And if that wasn't enough the book crook also "meticulously defaced in ink" the author's portrait by adding a devil's beard and mustache and blacking out the eyes before returning it to the shelf. The bookshop owners believe "the culprit is not just an irate reader,...

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There’s a reader on the loose in Prague

Books Calling is series of self-portraits from Prague-based photographer Jakub Pavlovsky. His tagline is "Make Time For Reading. Anywhere, Anytime. No matter how much stress you have, it all just slips away when you lose yourself in a great book." And to prove his point Pavlovsky has snapped a plethora of smart photos showing himself lost in a book at various locals throughout Prague and beyond.   Book's Calling on Instagram Source: BOOK'S CALLING

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