From the Stacks
By Carol Ann Robb, PPL Reference Librarian

The Madness has begun! That would, of course, be PPL’s “March Madness: Book Edition.” It’s like Basketball March Madness, except with books titles rather than teams. We have a bracket, featuring titles from the four regional sections—East, South, Midwest, and West—that can be picked up at the library or downloaded from the Library’s website and filled out.

Don’t worry—it’s fine if you’ve not read any/all of the books, just choose the ones you think will—or who you want to—win each round. Once you’ve filled it out, return it to the library by Saturday, March 11. Be sure to vote for your picks with either a paper ballot or click here to vote online.

In fact, you can vote both ways—the more the merrier in this case! The brackets will be updated on Monday the 13, 20, and 26 of March. You can see how your choices fared by checking online or looking at the bracket posted across from the Reference Desk and then proceed to vote to see who moves on to the next round.

The championship book will be announced on Monday, April 3 and, depending on how many brackets are turned in, so will the holder of the winning bracket. That person will earn bragging rights as well as a Mall Deli gift certificate so don’t delay—fill out your bracket today!

Then there will be two opportunities for you to turn in your bracket at the library, the first being this Sunday, March 5. At 2:00 p.m. in the Second Floor Reading Room, Al Ortolani will read from his latest work of poetry, “Taco Boat” (the first poem in the collection explains the title). Al grew up in Pittsburg, taught at PHS, and enjoys returning to his old stomping grounds. At least I think he does—I enjoy having him show up and share his talent with us. I believe he’ll have copies of the book if you want to purchase one, and if you ask nicely, he’ll no doubt sign it for you at no extra cost.

The following Sunday, March 12 (I’ll still take your bracket if you didn’t make it in earlier), Maeve Cummings (not Binchy, as I started to write) will entertain us with a variety of Irish tales and legends that will feature Celtic Saints, Queens, Banshees, and other Forces of Nature. Maeve could read entries in a telephone book and make it enjoyable—that lovely Irish lilt is magical—but I have no doubt that her presentation will be far more entertaining than names and phone numbers. That program is also at 2:00 p.m. (and it’s also the first day of Daylight Savings Time so be sure to change your clocks the night before).

Check out our Calendar of Events to discover many other activities we’re offering this month—there are an abundance of reasons to march yourself into the library this month. You can even check out some books.