Film celebrating reading wins Oscar

As it was printed in the American Libraries magazine, the film, "The Fantastic Flying Books of Dr. Morris Lessmore" is "A film allegory that celebrates the curative power of story in general -- and reading in particular.

A wordless film whose most inspiring scenes take place in a fanciful library full of living books, was produced by start-up Moonbot Studios in Shreveport, La., and depicts how the title character heals emotionally, over time, from the cataclysmic devastation of his personal world by Hurricane Katrina through the transformative properties of the written word."

These are soothing words to librarians who face all the challenges of providing services while being threatened by the current economy and those who predict or advocate for abandoning libraries altogether.

In an ironic twist, the decision has been made to release a book based on the short film.

I look forward to reading it when it arrives at the library in a few months.

New materials
Fiction
--"Taken" by Robert Crais (thriller)
--"Seven Princes" by John Fultz (fantasy)
--"Bright Young Things" by Anna Godbersen (historical)
--"Dead Low Tide" by Bret Lott (thriller)
--"What Happened to Hannah" by Mary Kay McComas
--"All I Did Was Shoot My Man" by Walter Mosley (mystery)
--"The Chalk Girl" by Carol O'Connell (mystery)
--"Private #1 Suspect" by James Patterson (thriller)
--"Gideon's Corpse" by Preston & Child (thriller).

Non-Fiction
--"The Essential Phone Interview Handbook" by Paul Bailo
--"1861: The Civil War Awakening" by Adam Goodheart.
**Have a question? Want to make a suggestion? Amy can be reached at crumpa@marshallpublib.org