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Editor's Note: The Sept. 2 column by Mr. Giordano entitled, "A 'million word gap' for children who aren't read to at home," included erroneous references and quotes attributed to David J. Purpura, Ph.D., of Purdue University. The following statement was received from Mr. Purpura:
"The discovery of the 30-million word gap was erroneously credited to my work, but was actually originally published by Hart and Risley in the mid 1990s. My recent work published in Child Development actually highlighted that a 30-million word gap is mathematically impossible. Moreover, we need to focus less on the pure output of words and more on the quality of interactions."
David J. Purpura, Ph.D.
Professor, Human Development
and Family Science
Director, Center for Early Learning
Purdue University
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Join us at the Juniata County Library on Monday, Oct. 23 from 6:30 to 7:30 p.m. in the lower level community room for a presentation and Q and A by local author Joyce Kieffer. A book signing will follow her presentation.
Space is limited and registration is required. All who attend receive a special gift that night.
Joyce is the author of The Trees Remember--a trilogy of historical novels set in the turn-of-the-twentieth-century virgin forests of Juniata County, Pennsylvania. The series tells the story of the heroine's odyssey from her small family farm in the forest foothills, to the Johns Hopkins Training School for Nurses, and back to her forest homeland and its wild and dangerous lumber camps. Along the way, she uncovers her life purpose . . . and a few intriguing secrets that change her life forever.
Although the novels are set nearly a century ago, Joyce addresses issues relevant to today: ecology, racism, classism and gender inequality. Superimposed on these themes are the lush, beautiful forests and the flora and fauna that call them home, the rich cultural stories of life in rural Pennsylvania where farming is a way of life, and the Native American wisdom and respect for the plants, soil and water we all share.
Joyce is also the author of To Have . . . To Hold, a Parent's Guide to Childbirth and Early Parenting with nearly a million copies sold in seven editions between 1979 and 2001. A pioneering champion of women's health throughout her 55-year career, Joyce began as a nursing instructor. She then established one of the first organized childbirth classes offered in Pennsylvania in the 1960s, going on to empower thousands of parents to achieve positive birth experiences. She followed her passion for health education and prevention of disease by developing several health education and resource centers for women and their families, until retiring from her career in women's health in 2001.
After retiring from her "second career," she once again picked up her author's pen to take on her lifelong dream of writing an historic novel. Drawing on her career in women's health and inspired by the forests of Juniata County, Pennsylvania where she helped build a log cabin, Joyce envisioned a young woman's coming-of-age story... beginning her journey to become a healer set against the backdrop of the early days of the State's burgeoning lumber industry as thousands of acres of virgin timber fell to ever-wealthier lumber barons.
Joyce lives with her husband in central Pennsylvania, her daughters and their families nearby--a short hour's drive away from the mountain cabin in the Shade Mountains that birthed the idea for this story and its messages of courage, family and above all, truth.
News from the Friends of the Juniata County Library
The Friends will be selling tee shirts and sweatshirts with Friend of the Library logos during September. They will be delivered in October. An information sheet and order form can be found at https://www.juniatalibrary.org/donate/friends-of-the-library. Their next book sale will be held from Oct. 16-19.
Book of the week!
If you are going to read one book, give this one a try...
The Longmire Defense (Longmire Mystery book #19) by Craig Johnson
(New adult fiction: western, mystery and detective) ~ 368 pages
In a nutshell: Longmire lovers, rejoice! He's back with a deeply personal case that uncovers family secrets.
Walt Longmire, sheriff of Absaroka County, Wyoming, has a long record of solving crimes under unorthodox circumstances. This time, Walt's hunt for a lost tourist leads to an investigation that's both personally wrenching and dangerous. The search area recalls a story his father told him about an elk hunt he went on as a teen with his own father, Lloyd. During the hunt, the state accountant, Big Bill Sutherland, was shot and killed, and his murder is still unsolved. When Walt finds the tourist, he also finds a buried, custom-made .300 H&H Magnum that was probably the murder weapon in the Sutherland case. The owner of that rifle was Lloyd Longmire, a wealthy man and a tough taskmaster who used chess lessons to teach Walt about not only the game, but about life. This coldest of cold cases forces Walt to look into his grandfather, with whom he continued to have an adversarial relationship away from the chessboard. Although Walt and cemetery expert Jules Beldon find an empty coffin in Sutherland's grave, Lucian Connally, who'd been the sheriff when Sutherland was killed, is extremely reticent about the ancient mystery. But Beldon's shooting turns the cold case hot, and a long conversation with a childhood friend who's now an agent with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) stirs up long-lost memories for Walt. Powerful people pressure him to forget the old case, which is tied to vast amounts of money in a hidden fund. It doesn't matter. Walt has his own moral code, refuses to bend, and is ready to unmask his grandfather as a murderer if that's where the clues lead.
Bottom line: Learning the history of a beloved protagonist raises an exciting mystery to a higher level.
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Vince Giordano has been the librarian and director of the Juniata County Library since 2015.