Racine Public Library Program Canceled For This Evening.

The Racine Public Library is announcing the cancellation of this evening's workshop on "Healthy Holiday Eating" to be held at 6:30 pm. Eat Right Racine, the program facilitator, was forced to cancel the program due to a family emergency. A future workshop may be rescheduled. The library appreciates your assistance in spreading the word.

Friday, November 6: Library Hosts Poetry Performance Workshop and Showcase

The Racine Public Library, with assistance from a grant awarded by the Wisconsin Center for the Book, has invited one of contemporary poetry's most innovative and dynamic performance artists for a poetry workshop and performance on Friday, November 6. High school students are invited to participate in an exclusive master poetry workshop with contemporary poet/performance artist, Abraham Smith. Smith, known for his cutting edge experimental poetry and unforgettable performance style, will share his knowledge and expertise with creative writing students in grades 9-12 from 10am-2pm at the Racine Public Library, 75 Seventh St. Master workshop participants will have a unique opportunity to explore their own poetic voice and performance techniques with a professional and highly-acclaimed artist. The workshop is free and lunch will be served, but is limited to 20 participants. Those interested should contact Becky Spika at 262.619.2571 or becky.spika@racinelibrary.info to reserve a spot as soon as possible.

The Racine Public Library will then host an evening of exciting poetry performance by Abraham Smith and friends at 7 pm on Friday, Nov. 6. All workshop participants are invited to share their artistic voice in the evening's open mic performance.

Abraham Smith originally hails from Ladysmith, Wisconsin. His first book of poems, Whim Man Mammon, was recently published by Action Books and has met with critical acclaim. His journal credits include American Poetry Review, jubilat, Northwest Review, Denver Quarterly, Typo, and Ninth Letter, among others. He was a 2004-05 Writing Fellow at the Fine Arts Work Center, Provincetown, MA. Presently, he teaches literature and creative writing at the University of Alabama.

This project is sponsored by the Racine Public Library and the Wisconsin Center for the Book, an affiliate of the Woodland Pattern Book Center in Milwaukee, WI.

Woodland Pattern Book Center is dedicated to the discovery, cultivation and presentation of contemporary literature and the arts. Their goals are to promote a lifetime practice of reading and writing, to provide a forum and resource center for writers/artists in our region, and to increase and diversify the audience for contemporary literature through innovative approaches to multi-arts programming. Woodland Pattern is the only Milwaukee, Wisconsin arts organization presenting contemporary literature to the general public on a continuous basis.

Thursday, November 5: Racine Public Library Hosts "Healthy Holiday Eating"

The Racine Public Library, 75 Seventh St., will host an Eat Right Racine program about healthy eating for the holidays on Thursday, Nov. 5 from 6:30-7:30 pm. The program will feature ways to deconstruct your cravings, recipes for a healthy holiday meal, and samplings of some dishes from those menus. The program is free; registration is recommended. Call the library at 262.636.9217 to reserve a spot.

Eat Right Racine is a local group of community residents whose goal is to improve the quality of food and food choices in Racine. The organization partners with community, businesses, agriculture, and schools to develop integrated policy, education, and action for a food system that supports healthy children, communities, economies and environment. They seek to improve the quality of food that is fed to the students who attend schools within the Racine Unified School District, aim to help educate parents on nutritional issues, teach the residents of Racine how to find and prepare locally grown food, and encourage others to become informed about food so that they can teach healthy habits. For more information visit the group's website at www.eatrightracine.org.

Thursday, October 30: Family Night at the Library Features Pumpkin Decorating

Families of children 10 and younger are invited to attend a Family Night Halloween Celebration at the Racine Public Library, 75 Seventh St., on Thursday, October 29 at 6:30 pm. The one-hour event will feature stories, pumpkin decorating, and refreshments. Children are invited to come in costume. The program is free and open to the public; no registration is necessary. Questions may be directed to the Youth Services Dept at the Racine Public Library, 262.636.9245.

Saturday, November 14: Breakfast with the Authors

Great authors and their books, good food, and exceptional company might best describe the annual Breakfast with the Authors hosted by the Friends of the Racine Public Library. Literary enthusiasts will want to mark their calendars for the 23rd annual Breakfast being held on Saturday, Nov. 14 from 8:30 a.m. to noon at Roma Lodge, 7130 Spring St. in Racine. This wonderfully intimate event features a fabulous breakfast with fellow book lovers and some of the region's best authors. Each author will offer a short presentation and will be available for book signings. Admission to the breakfast is $12.50 for Friends of the Library members and $14.50 for the general public. Reservations may be made by calling 262.681.2381 on or before Friday, October 30.

These featured authors will be in attendance at this year's Breakfast:

Joan Bennett - Where Have All the Cheese Factories gone?
Joan Bennett is a retired Advanced Placement Biology teacher, who taught for 34 years in the Racine Unified Schools. She graduated with a BA in Biology and French from UW-Platteville and holds a Masters in Professional Development from UW-Whitewater. Her written work has appeared in American Girl magazine, Biology Teacher magazine, and the Muir View. She also wrote for the environmental newsletter the Root River Ripple and the newsletter for the Biology Association of Racine and Kenosha. In addition, she was awarded first place in the Wisconsin Humanities Council "Barn Again" essay contest in 2003. In 2004, she retired and began family genealogy research at the Iowa County Historical Society. Five years later, as a member the Historical Society's Cheese Factory Committee, she completed and published the 400+ page book, Where Have all the Cheese Factories Gone?, a history of the cheese factories and creameries of Iowa County.

Sister Dolores Enderle - A Time To Grow
A Time To Grow, the third volume of the history of the Dominicans of Racine from 1901-1964, narrates the steady growth and endured hardships of the community after its foundation in 1862. This well-written and engaging study highlights the lives of the ordinary sisters who risked all trying to teach the influx of German immigrants flocking to America in the early nineteenth century and who struggled to observe the many regulations and customs handed down from a lingering period of monasticism. The work is a remarkable collection of letters, oral histories, diocesan documents, and personal information.

Dolores Enderle, a Racine Dominican, received her doctorate in English from Ball State University. As teacher and administrator, she served her religious community in Michigan, Wisconsin, Kentucky, and Mississippi. She taught at Dominican College in Racine, UW-Parkside, and Siena Heights University before becoming president of St. Catharine College in Springfield, Kentucky. She has served as vice-president of her community and has worked for Sacred Heart Southern Missions in northern Mississippi. Since 2002, she has been researching community history and working on community projects.

Delores Gapanowicz - The Finchley House Mystery
In the early 1980's, Delores Gapanowicz began writing a mystery for her elementary students in the hopes of providing them with a story that wouldn't bore them to sleep. Her experiences with the short mysteries she read to her classes were that most of the kids had them solved by the middle of the book and lost interest in the rest of the tale. Little did she imagine that the story she told would become a published book appearing at international book fairs. The Finchley House Mystery tells the story of the attempts of two young boys and their sisters to solve the mystery behind peculiar happenings at an abandoned home in the small town of Green Hills.

Gapanowicz graduated from UW-Madison with a BA in Art History, from Dominican College with a BFA, and from Carthage College with a major in Elementary Education. She lived for two years in Uganda, East Africa, teaching literature and art to young girls as a lay teacher for the Verona Fathers, a Catholic Mission organization. Upon her return she taught elementary education in Kenosha, WI, until her retirement. Gapanowicz also published The Mayor's Daughter in 2007, the story of her parents' lives in Eastern Europe and their emigration to Canada and the USA.

Jerry Rannow - This One'll Killya
Jerry Rannow began his show business career as a professional actor, making the transition to writer-producer on many network television series, including Welcome Back, Kotter; Happy Days; Love, American Style; Room 222; Love Boat; All in the Family; Eight is Enough; and Head of the Class - a total of over 200 produced TV comedy scripts. He has won exclusive contracts to develop television series with the ABC Network, Columbia Pictures, Twentieth Century-Fox and the CTV Network in Toronto where he received a Canadian Emmy nomination. Jerry has taught comedy writing at the University of Wisconsin, Carthage College, DePaul University and the USC Film School. A lifetime member of the Writers Guild of America, Jerry wrote the ABC Movie of the Week, Guide for the Married Woman, as well as nine TV pilots and eight screenplays. After a thirty-year career in Hollywood, Jerry has returned to his hometown of Racine, WI, to write books. His first two, Writing Television Comedy and Surviving Hollywood, are available in bookstores and at Amazon.com. He has recently published his first comedy-detective novel, This One'll Killya, available at Amazon, Borders, Barnes & Noble and Jerryrannow.com.

Friday, October 30: Anime Night at the Library

The Racine Public Library and the Racine Arts Council are hosting an Anime/Manga/Cosplay Night at the Library on Friday, October 30 from 6-9 pm. The totally free event will feature music by American Restless; a screening of an Operation Anime film; martial arts demonstrations by Chay's Tae Kwon Do; an anime art workshop; video gaming; and a cosplay contest. The event is appropriate for teens and young adults; no registration is necessary. For more information, contact Becky Spika at the Racine Public Library, 262-619-2571 or becky.spika@racinelibrary.info.

Battle of the Books Registration Underway

Get ready, get set... READ! It's Battle Time… time for local youth to form their teams for the 10th annual Battle of the Books competition at the Racine Public Library, 75 Seventh St.

Battle of the Books is a literature contest for 4th and 5th grade students in Racine County where teams comprised of 4 students are asked to read and become knowledgeable about the content of 40 books selected by Racine Public Library librarians. Teams may be formed with students from the same or different schools. Teams with both 4th and 5th graders are accepted.

Meets are held in a public forum where team members are asked random questions about the books they read. Points are accumulated based on the number of correct answers. The team with the highest score among all participating teams is declared the champion.

A link to the 2009/2010 reading list, general information, and team registration form may be found at http://www.racinelibrary.info/YouthServicesBOB.htm. Registration for this year's Battle of the Books will only be accepted on-line. Registration closes December 21, 2009.

Questions about Battle of the Books may be directed to Anne Callaghan: anne.callaghan@racinelibrary.info, or Becky Spika: becky.spika@racinelibrary.info.