Grants Available for NH Literacy Projects

The Center for the Book at the New Hampshire State Library is pleased to announce that the Granite State Reads grants program is currently accepting applications for 2010.

Granite State Reads offers financial support to New Hampshire organizations that provide literacy assistance to New Hampshire residents. An organization with a project that improves the literacy skills of New Hampshire children or adults is eligible to apply for a Granite State Reads grant of $500 or more. The deadline to apply is December 1, 2009. Grant recipients will be notified by February 5, 2010.

Since 2003, nearly $97,000 has been distributed to New Hampshire literacy programs through Granite State Reads. Previously funded projects include a program that provided books to babies and toddlers, several family reading initiatives, guided reading groups, and literacy programs for people with learning challenges. Granite State Reads is currently a program of the Center for the Book with funds collected by Verizon through its “Check Into Literacy” program.

Those interested in applying for a Granite State Reads grant should visit http://granitestatereads.org/ for details and to download the required application. You can contact Granite State Reads at gsr@dcr.nh.gov.

Book of the Week #34

Joseph Emerson Worcester: A Distinguished and Gracious New England Lexicographer by Matthew Higgins (Concord, NH: Duncross Books, 2007)

Born in Bedford, New Hampshire on August 24, 1784 Joseph Emerson Worcester had, by 1860, "produced the finest product of American lexicography up to that time -- a dictionary that established the particular pattern that would distinguish the American Dictionary of the English language." (from the back cover)

This brief biography was written by Matthew Higgins, former NH State Librarian.

Book of the Week #33

Fishing in New Hampshire: A History by Jack Noon (Warner, NH: Moose Country Press, 2003)

According to Eleanor O'Donnell, writing in a 2004 "New Hampshire Books" column:

"This history of freshwater fishing in New Hampshire extends from the Abenaki Indians fishing for food to the sport fishing of the present day. Chapters focus on the Piscataqua River, Amoskeag Falls, and the Merrimack River, Bellows Falls, and the Connecticut River, and Lake Sunapee, chronicling the abundance of fish when the European settlers arrived to the decline and extinction of many species due to pollution. Noon also writes about the various fish found in these waters through the years. The book is illustrated by color fish chromolithographs created by Sherman F. Denton over a century ago."

Jack Noon was a guest on NHPR's Front Porch just after this book was published.

NHABA Book Fair This Sunday

The NH Antiquarian Booksellers Association (NHABA) is holding their 35th annual book fair this Sunday, August 16, 2009 at the Everett Arena in Concord from 10am to 4pm.

The NHABA Book Fair gives you an opportunity to "visit in one morning the bookshops of dealers from across New England and the Eastern U. S.. " If you need more encouragement than that to stop by, check out 12 Reasons for Coming to the NHABA Book Fair. (There is also a coupon there for free admission.)

Book of the Week #32

The Devil of Great Island: Witchcraft and Conflict in Early New England by Emerson W. Baker (NY: Palgrave Macmillan, 2007)

Emerson Baker, a professor of history at Salem State College (in Massachusetts) tells the story of 17th century witchcraft that took place on the island now known as New Castle.

"For the entire summer of 1682, George and Alice Walton's tavern in Great Island, New Hampshire, was the target of what one eyewitness called 'lithobolia, or the stone-throwing devil.' Hundreds of flying stones plagued the tavern and its proprietors and guests for months on end, causing considerable damage. Amazingly, no one ever saw anyone throwing the rocks." (p. 1)

"When people speak of seventeenth-century New England, most really mean Massachusetts. The founding myths of Plymouth Colony and Massachusetts stand as part of our national epic, embedded deep in every schoolchild's memory. Indeed, as the first settlement established by the Massachusetts bay Colony, Salem had secured a place in American history long before the witch trials took place. While Salem and Massachusetts have been given a central place in the narrative of American history, New Hampshire and Great Island have been pushed to the margins. It is time to refocus our vision of early America, for as the events in this book show, northern New England has a rich and overlooked history that can teach us a great deal about the foundations of America, and in the process perhaps reveal something about our present situation as well." (p. 5)

Book of the Week #31

Cotton: The Cookbook by Jeffrey Paige; photographs by Brian Smestad; Foreword by John Clayton (Portsmouth: Blue Tree, 2009)

I have featured the beautiful work of Portsmouth photographer Brian Smestad before. Here he has teamed up with Manchester chef Jeffrey Paige to create a book that looks as delicious as a meal at Cotton actually is. Black and white images of the restaurant staff are mixed in with gorgeous full page color images of the food.

Jeffrey Paige is the author of several books of recipes from his time at the Canterbury Shaker Village, and here he has presented 25 favorites from the menu at Cotton. Pan-fried crab cakes, the wedge, buttermilk fried chicken, meatloaf, and the pomegranate martini are all included.

Saturday Morning at Bayswater

This past Saturday I visited Bayswater Book Company in Center Harbor for a booksigning event with Barbara Delinsky. Ms. Delinsky lives (part-time) in the lakes region and many of her fans, and neighbors, turned out on this beautiful Saturday morning to see her and get their books signed. In the picture at left she is signing The Secret Between Us for my Mom.