Hard Time's Day

The Hartshorne Library is a very good place to visit on “Hard Times Day”. We have a lot material to check out and view about “The Great Depression”, in both adult and children’s books to videos and even music that was popular. Some books include the classic “Grapes of Wrath”, by John Steinbeck (also available on DVD) and ”Water for Elephants”, by Sara Gruin, a book about circuses in the 1930’s. In adult non-fiction available for check out are “Hard Times: an oral history of the Great Depression”, by Studs Terkel , “The Coming of the Third Reich”, by Richard Evans and “Rising in the West: the true story of an "Okie" family from the Great Depression through the Reagan years”, by Dan Morgan, to name just a few.
Children’s books include the award winning “Bud, not Buddy”, by Christopher Paul Curtis, “Potato: a tale of the Great Depression”, by Kate Leid, and Esperenza Rising, by Pam Munoz Ryan, a story about a young girl that immigrates with her Mother from Mexico during the Depression. There is also the American Girl Series about “Kit”, a girl growing up in the Depression. Oklahoma books include Hillback to Boggy”, by Jesse Willard Speer” A family struggles for survival, during the Great Depression, in a tent in the hills of Oklahoma and “Out of the Dust”, by Karen Hesse, a series of poems, fifteen-year-old Billie Jo relates the hardships of living on her family's wheat farm in Oklahoma during the dust bowl years of the Depression.
We also have the American “Cinderella Man” a great video selection.
In our reference materials there are many books on Hartshorne, dating back to before the depression, including the Hartshorne Sun on microfilm to a fine book “Dusky Diamond Fields” with pictures and stories. We have a DVD to view in the library, about a local artist, Linus Bailey, It is a homemade video with him showing paintings he drew from memory of his childhood in the 1930’s. This video is great, because not only do you get to see his paintings he tells stories about that time.
Our library also offers two on-line services to help anyone looking for their “roots”. These are free to use in the library, with a library card.
Come Check Us Out!!

Charlotte??

Never seen a spider like this one.
The spider species Argiope aurantia is commonly known as the Black and Yellow Garden Spider or Writing Spider. It is common to the lower 48 of the United States, southern Canada, Mexico, and Central America. They have distinctive yellow and black markings on their abdomens and a mostly white cephalothorax. Males range from 5 to 9 mm; females from 19 to 28 mm. Like other members of Argiope and almost all other spider species, they are considered harmless to humans.

Library Cats

We had some visitors the other morning. These cats live next door in a abandoned house. The decided to enjoy the cool weather. There are three kittens even though only two are visible. When they moved we saw a grey tabby. I have no idea where it is.

Leaky Roof

Water water everywhere!! Our roof finally started leaking seriously. It has some minor leaks, but this was a real gusher. I arrived and found a pool of water in the lobby. Several books, thankfully they were weeded books, were ruined. We also lost a few ceiling tiles. The city workers came and temporarily "fixed" the roof. Hopefully we will get a more long lasting "fix" soon. We decided to take advantage and watered a few plants. I guess some good comes out of everything.