Now on the display shelves in the library is an assortment of books with movie tie-ins. The Academy Awards were held not long ago, and it brought home once again how many movies come directly from books. Nominees in the category of adapted screenplay, as opposed to original screenplay, started out as some form other than a movie script - basically, a book. "Away from Her" was based on a short story by Alice Munro entitled "The Bear Came Over the Mountain." This can be found in the short-story collection Hateship, Friendship, Courtship, Loveship, Marriage which the BHML has in its collection. Several of this year's Oscars went to the movie "There Will be Blood," which is based on Upton Sinclair's 1929 novel "Oil." I don't know if the library owned the book when it was first published; we did not have this title when the movie came out. But we have since added a copy to our collection because of the recent interest. We also have "The Diving Bell and the Butterfly."

The author, Jean-Dominique Bauby, suffered a stroke that left him paralyzed except for his left eye. He communicated by blinking to select each letter of the alphabet, and was eventually able to accomplish the amazing feat of composing this memoir.

Other movies that were produced just this year alone from previously published books were "Atonement" by Ian McEwan; "I am Legend"

by Richard Matheson ; "The Bourne Ultimatum," from Robert Ludlum's series; "Gone Baby Gone , "

based on a book by Denis Lehane; "The Golden Compass"

by Philip Pullman ; and "The Kite Runner" by Khaled Hosseini. There's also "Beowolf,"

and we have the new translation by Seamus Heaney in both book and cassette." Prince Caspian," one of C.S. Lewis's "Chronicles of Narnia," will be coming out this summer, as will "Horton Hears a Who," one of Dr. Seuss's classics. So read the book before you see the movie, or if you've already seen the movie, check out the book!

Speaking of Dr. Seuss, in celebration of his March 2nd birthday, Mary Pinkham and I joined many other members of the community in reading to kids in the schools and child care centers on Monday, March 3. It's a lot of fun for the kids, and a real joy for those doing the reading. Kids love to be read to. Don't stop reading to your kids just because they are old enough to read by themselves.

I don't want to neglect mentioning that two people who were very precious to our local library community passed away this winter. Georgette McNamee gave many devoted years to the Friends of the Library and the Used Bookstore. Her area of responsibility and expertise was the children's books, as suits a former teacher. More recently, we lost Virginia Kleinstiver, whose cheerful manner and sharp attire always brightened up Saturdays at the library. Every volunteer is precious to us, but these two ladies were the cream of the crop. Their dedication and generosity will be greatly missed and they will not be forgotten.