Story Hour will begin the New Year on Jan. 4 with the calendar as the theme. Also, since 2011 has been designated "The Year of the Turtle" by PARC (Partners in Amphibian and Reptile Conservation) that will become the overall theme for the year.

The Adult Book Club will meet on Jan. 5 to discuss the book "The Hour I First Believed" by Wally Lamb.

New Materials

Adult

Distant Hours by Kate Morgan 

From Publishers Weekly

Starred Review. A letter posted in 1941 finally reaches its destination in 1992 with powerful repercussions for Edie Burchill, a London book editor, in this enthralling romantic thriller from Australian author Morton (The Forgotten Garden). At crumbling Milderhurst Castle live elderly twins Persephone and Seraphina and their younger half-sister, Juniper, the three eccentric spinster daughters of the late Raymond Blythe, author of The True History of the Mud Man, a children's classic Edie adores. Juniper addressed the letter to Meredith, Edie's mother, then a young teen evacuated to Milderhurst during the Blitz. Edie, who's later invited to write an introduction to a reprint of Raymond's masterpiece, visits the seedily alluring castle in search of answers. Why was her mother so shattered by the contents of a letter sent 51 years earlier? And what happened to soldier Thomas Cavill, Juniper's long-missing fiancé and Meredith's former teacher? Despite the many competing narratives, the answers will stun readers.

Indulgence in Death by J.D. Robb 

From Publishers Weekly

Lt. Eve Dallas of the New York Police and Security Department returns home from a long overdue Irish vacation to a string of bizarre murders in Robb's thrilling 32nd future cop novel (after Fantasy in Death). The crossbow killing of chauffeur Jamal Houston in his limo in a La Guardia parking lot is followed by the death of high-rent prostitute Ava Crampton, found at Coney Island's House of Horrors stabbed with a bayonet. Other victims include Luc Delaflote, a celebrity chef who's harpooned, and Adrianne Jonas, "a facilitator for the rich" strangled with a handmade bullwhip. Eve, assisted by her trustworthy sidekicks, Det. Delia Peabody and husband Roarke, uncovers a wicked game that grows increasingly macabre.

Object of Beauty by Steve Martin 

From Publishers Weekly

Martin compresses the wild and crazy end of the millennium and finds in this piercing novel a sardonic morality tale. Lacey Yeager is an ambitious young art dealer who uses everything at her disposal to advance in the world of the high-end art trade in New York City. After cutting her teeth at Sotheby's, she manipulates her way up through Barton Talley's gallery of "Very Expensive Paintings," sleeping with patrons, and dodging and indulging in questionable deals, possible felonies, and general skeeviness until she opens her own gallery in Chelsea. Narrated by Lacey's journalist friend, Daniel Franks, whose droll voice is a remarkable stand-in for Martin's own, the world is ordered and knowable, blindly barreling onward until 9/11. And while Lacey and the art she peddles survive, the wealth and prestige garnered by greed do not. Martin (an art collector himself) is an astute miniaturist as he exposes the sound and fury of the rarified Manhattan art world.

Easy Readers

Louise, the Adventures of a Chicken by Kate DiCamillo and Harry Bliss 

From School Library Journal

Starred Review. PreSchool-Grade 2—A picture book in four chapters in which a thrill-seeking chicken repeatedly leaves the warm security of her henhouse seeking excitement. She is captured by hungry pirates, survives a sinking ship, joins the circus, narrowly escapes a lion, is caged with other chickens, picks the lock with her beak, and liberates her fellow captives. Back home in her barnyard, Louise enthralls her sister chickens with the story of her grand exploits, until all fall asleep tucked safely in their henhouse, having felt the vicarious frisson of adventure. In the nicely patterned telling, DiCamillo ends each of Louise's escapades with an old hen asking her where she has been. "Oh, here and there," is Louise's casual answer. Each new chapter begins with the bold brooder still eager to embark anew. Bliss's illustrations depict the settings of Louise's capers in vague antique worlds with various backdrops and in various eras. On every spread, Louise's bright white feathers and brilliant red cockscomb will stand out and draw the eyes of young readers.

Ginger and Petunia by Patricia Polacco 

From School Library Journal Grade 2–4

Ginger is an eccentric pianist with plenty of money, fame, and accomplished young students to whom she listens raptly each day. She also has a closet full of flashy clothes ("'You are what you wear,' she always says") and plenty of makeup that she applies liberally. As if that's not enough to make her a bit unusual, Ginger has a pig named Petunia. She adores her pet so much that the porker's rather elaborate house is under the staircase and her every whim is catered to, including a fabulous outdoor mud hole with a gazebo over it. ("'My Petunia does so love her mud soaks,' Ginger always says.") But when the pampered pet is accidentally left to fend for herself for a few days, the fun really begins. She fills in for Ginger, attending openings and parties, wearing Ginger's clothes and makeup; the fact that no one notices is hilarious. Polacco's illustrations are filled with movement and humor. The dance sequence with the governor ("Petunia grabbed his ankles and swung him round and round and up into the huge vat of chocolate mousse") is worth the price of the book.

Chin Yu Min and the Ginger Cat by Jennifer Armstrong 

From School Library Journal

Grade 3-4-- Chin Yu Min, a haughty and frivolous rich woman in a fictitious Old China, must mend her ways when her husband dies and her money runs out. She meets a ginger cat who fishes so well with his tail that she recoups some of her fortunes from selling his catches. When he disappears, Chin Yu Min is so distraught that she humbles herself enough to ask her neighbors for help; when the cat is found, she invites them to dinner. Despite a rather abrupt volte-face, this is an amusing story that is told with gusto in mellifluous prose. The exaggerated melodramatics of Chin Yu Min offset her vicissitudes with comic effect and successfully soften the implied moral. The illustrations, in watercolor and pastels, accentuate the entertaining theatricality of the text. Colors are rich, yet applied with subtlety. Composition is dramatic, and perspective is employed strikingly. The eponymous cat is properly anthropomorphized without losing his felinity.

The Forest by Claire A. Nivola  

From School Library Journal

K Up-A little mouse lives safely and comfortably in his cozy house in his familiar village, but he is haunted by his fear of the forest-"that dark and unknown place at the farthest edge of my little world." One day, realizing that this fear has become so intense that he has no choice but to confront it, he leaves hearth and home and enters the forest. Frightened by a shadow, he runs, trips and falls, and lies still on the ground hoping to avoid discovery. As he lies there, he slowly becomes aware of the beauty and sweetness surrounding him-moss as soft as feathers, sunlight raining down, a butterfly hovering nearby "like a guardian angel." When he turns over and looks up, he realizes that "The sky was bigger than the forest, bigger even than my fear had been, bigger than everything." He is finally able to begin his journey home with "the sweet murmuring world of the forest filling me."