Calcasieu Parish Public Library

A bold and vivid historical epic of feudal Japan based on the real-life exploits of the legendary samurai Musashi Miyamoto.

Japan in the late 16th century was a land in turmoil. Lords of the great clans schemed against each other, served by aristocratic samurai bound to them by a rigid code of honor. Bennosuke is a high-born but lonely teenager living in his ancestral village. His mother died when he was a young boy, and his powerful warrior father Munisai has abandoned him for a life of service to his Lord, Shinmei. Bennosuke has been raised by his uncle Dorinbo, a Buddhist monk who urges the boy to forgo the violence of the samurai and embrace the contemplative life. But Bennosuke worships his absent father, and when Munisai returns, gravely injured, Bennosuke is forced to confront truths about his family's history and his own place in it. These revelations soon guide him down the samurai's path—awash with blood, bravery, and vengeance. His journey will culminate in the epochal battle of Sekigahara—in which Bennosuke will first proclaim his name as Mushashi Miyamoto. This rich and absorbing epic explores the complexities of one young man's quest while capturing a crucial turning point in Japanese history with visceral mastery, sharp psychological insight and tremendous narrative momentum. --- AMAZON

 Praise for Child of Vengeance -

• "A brilliant piece of historical fiction --- loaded with treachery and betrayal --- that pulses with life. This one is going to find an honored place on many a keeper shelf. It's a must read debut from an exciting new voice." --Steve Berry, New York Times Bestselling author of The Columbus Affair

Praise for David Kirk -

• "Kirk proves himself a worthy samurai novelist with this brutal account of real-life 17th-century swordsman Musashi Miyamoto… Kirk, who lives in Japan, positively seethes with energy when depicting bloody violence—from great battlefields to intimate ritual suicide—showing feudal Japan as a complex culture in which cunning and poetry are indispensable, and death and vengeance unavoidable."--Publishers Weekly

Additional books & DVDs about Samurai:

• Samurai : the weapons and spirit of the Japanese warrior by Clive Sinclaire. (2001) (Adult); Copies
• Heart of a samurai : based on the true story of Nakahama Manjiro by Margi Preus, (2010) Book (Teen); Copies
• Samurai : warlords of Japan by Arlan Dean (2005) Book (Child); Copies
• Shogun: the epic novel of Japan by James Clavell (1975) eBook; Copies
• Japan: Memoirs of a secret empire (2004) Directed by Michael Chin. Narrated by Richard Chamberlain. DVD; Copies

It’s May and once again it’s time to prepare for Mother’s Day.  

Time for buying flowers, candy, and heart felt greeting cards. Time for family outings and romantic candle lit dinners. But do you know how Mother’s day came to be? An American woman, by the name of Anna Jarvis, felt that mother’s deserved recognition for all the things they do. So she campaigned to have a special day set aside to celebrate mothers and motherhood.  By 1914, Mother’s Day became a yearly fixture to our nation’s calendar – the second Sunday of each May.  But Mother’s Day goes beyond just one’s mother. Grandmothers, Aunts, sisters, cousins, sisters-in-law, or even friends, can be celebrated at this time, for the motherly contributions that they have made to your life.

Now Mother’s day is a worldwide celebration. Though each nation celebrates on differing dates and in different ways, the reason for the celebration is the same. There is no other person on Earth that is as uniquely important as a mother.  Bill Cosby once lamented that, after all of the contributions a father makes to the athletic development of his son, when the spot light finally falls on the boy, the boy’s only words are, “Hi, Mom!”  Even in times of war, there has been many a man who has cried out for his mother when things got too much to bear. But how one feels about their mother can be a very complex and sometimes confusing thing. Fore no one in this world can bring you as much joy or as much anger and sorrow as your mother. The library is full of books devoted to that complex relationship and here are just a few. Some are from the point of view of the child, but some are from the point of view of the mother. Enjoy these stories, and don’t forget to make Sunday a Happy Mother’s Day!

What My Mother Gave Me (2013) Edited by Elizabeth Benedict
Library Copies

In What My Mother Gave Me, women look at the relationships between mothers and daughters through a new lens: a daughter’s story of a gift from her mother that has touched her to the bone and served as a model, a metaphor, or a touchstone in her own life. The contributors of these thirty-one original pieces include Pulitzer Prize winners, perennial bestselling novelists, and celebrated broadcast journalists. 

Love You Forever (1995) By Robert Munsch and Illustrated by Sheila McGraw
Library Copies

If you were to try to pick a children’s book that most reflects the love a mother feels for her child, “Love You Forever” would have to be at the very top of the list. As the book opens a young mother is rocking her baby boy to sleep, while singing her love song.  She is full of hope and happiness, but as the boy grows, he becomes: a naughty, destructive two year old; a messy and disrespectful nine year old; and a noisy, mysterious teenager. Sometimes the mother thinks that her child is wild enough to be in a zoo, but despite her frustration, every night she sneaks into her son’s room, takes him into her arms, rocks him, and sings her love song. Her love song continues through her son’s adulthood, but must end when she becomes too old and sick to continue. It is then left to her son to continue this song of love, which he sings to both his dying mother and his baby girl. This is a wonder full little book – but beware—this story can cause your heart to melt and tears to well up.

Mom & Me & Mom (2013) by Maya Angelou
Library Copies

The story of Maya Angelou’s extraordinary life has been chronicled in her multiple bestselling autobiographies. But now, at last, the legendary author shares the deepest personal story of her life: her relationship with her mother. Delving into one of her life’s most rich, rewarding, and fraught relationships, Mom & Me & Mom explores the healing and love that evolved between the two women over the course of their lives, the love that fostered Maya Angelou’s rise from immeasurable depths to reach impossible heights.

Carrie and Me: A Mother-Daughter Love Story (2013) by Carol Burnett
Library Copies

“More than anything, we are remembered for our smiles: the ones we share with our closest and dearest, and the one we bestow on a total stranger who needs it right then, and God has put us there to deliver.” — Carrie Hamilton
You are about to meet an extraordinary young woman, Carrie Hamilton. The daughter of one of television’s most recognizable and beloved stars, Carol Burnett, Carrie won the hearts of everyone she met with her kindness, quirky sense of humor, and wonderfully unconventional approach to life. Living in the spotlight of celebrity, but in an era when personal troubles were kept private, Carrie and Carol made a brave display of honesty and love by going public with teenager Carrie’s drug addiction and recovery. Carrie lived her adult life of sobriety to the fullest, enjoying happy and determined independence and achieving a successful artistic career as an actress, writer, musician, and director. Carrie’s passion for life and her humorist’s view of the world never wavered as she aggressively battled cancer. Carrie died at the age of 38. 

The Key is Love: My Mother’s Wisdom, A Daughter’s Gratitude (2013) by Marie Osmond, with Marcia Wilkie
Library Copies

For beloved superstar Marie Osmond, one gift that her mother gave her stands above the rest: the gift to trust and follow her heart. Even when the path seemed bleak, it was this unwavering faith that allowed her to follow her dreams, both professional and personal, and survive the hardest times in her life. She, like so many women out there, has struggled through years of being a single parent and a working parent, while juggling the need to be there for her children and still be there for her other “family,” the multitude of fans and followers who look up to her. Drawing on the wisdom that Olive Osmond imparted over the years, Marie weaves a rich, touching, and honest memoir about her life offstage and off-camera, where she took on her most important role: motherhood. Through personal delights, dreams, downturns, and devastating tragedy, Marie offers insights on creating a strong family, raising happy and independent children, and, especially, moving forward when it seems impossible to do so.

What a Difference a Mom Makes (2012) by Dr. Kevin Leman
Library Copies

Every mom wants the best for her son. She wants him to succeed in life, to be a man of character, to find a good woman, to be a great dad. But sometimes boys are hard for moms to understand. Sometimes they're strange, annoying, and downright disgusting! Yet always they need a mother who is engaged and interested in them, because a mom is the most important person in a boy's life. In What a Difference a Mom Makes, New York Times bestselling author Dr. Kevin Leman uses his wit and wisdom to show Mom how to lay the groundwork that will allow her son to grow into a good man. Dr. Leman shows how to discipline a boy, how to command respect, how to let him fight his own battles, how to understand his sexuality, and how to weather the changes in the mother-son relationship as he grows up. Most of all, Leman shows Mom how to lighten up and have some fun along the way with that boy who will always have her heart.

  Hit Me (A John Keller Mystery) by Lawrence Block 

  Available formats: Book: Regular print and Large print

  Library Copies

 "Nicholas Edwards lives in New Orleans renovating houses, doing honest work and making decent money at it. Between his family and his stamp collection, all his spare time is happily accounted for. Sometimes it's hard to remember that he used to kill people for a living.

But when the nation's economy tanks, taking the construction business with it, all it takes is one phone call to drag him back into the game.

Keller's work takes him to New York, the former home he hasn't dared revisit, where his target is the abbot of a midtown monastery. Another call puts him on a West Indies cruise, with several interesting fellow passengers-the government witness, the incandescent young woman keeping the witness company, and, sharing Keller's cabin, his wife, Julia. But the high drama comes in Cheyenne, where a recent widow is looking to sell her husband's stamp collection..." -- Amazon

Reviews

• At times casually ruthless in snuffing out targets, Keller is also honest and ethical in his business dealings. A final assignment involving a child suggests that Keller may even play an unfamiliar white knight role, hopefully in the near future." (Publishers Weekly (starred review)

Other John Keller novels that are sure to be a “hit”:

• Hit Man (1998); Book or eBook
• Hit List (2000); Book or eBook
• Hit Parade (2006) Book, eBook or Audio
• Hit and Run (2008) Regular print book or Large Print book or eBook

The Business and Career Solutions Center invites youth between the ages of 16 to 21 to attend this year's "Get Over YOURself" summit and job fair on April 17th at the Lake Charles Civic Center from 9a-1p. Register online or on site. Get more info!!!!