March is blowing in like a lion and bringing with it American Red Cross Month, Bible Women Awareness Month, Ethics Awareness Month, Humorists Are Artists Month (HAAM), Music In Our Schools Month, National Craft Month, National Eye Donor Month, National Frozen Food Month, National Nutrition Month, National On-Hold Month, National Sauce Month, National Umbrella Month, National Women's History Month, and Youth Art Month.
    This week alone, you can celebrate National Design Drafting Week, National Professional Pet Sitters Week, National Write A Letter of Appreciation Week, Return The Borrowed Books Week, National School Breakfast Week, and Newspaper in Education Week. We probably should put off telling you this until next week, but this is also National Procrastination Week.    
    Today is I Want You To Be Happy Day, dedicated to reminding us to be thoughtful of others, even when things aren't going well for us. Today is also the anniversary of the day in 1931 when The bill designating "The Star Spangled Banner" as our national anthem was adopted by the US Senate and signed by President Herbert Hoover.
    Wednesday is the only calendrical date which is a command: March Fourth. Therefore, Wednesday is Hug A GI Day, a day to honor the men and women who serve in all branches of the military. Wednesday is also Stop Bad Service Day, which encourages consumers to thank their favorite companies for offering a superior level of services.
    Finally, Sunday is the 85th anniversary of the First US Income Tax (March 8, 2026). That in itself is enough reason to celebrate Panic Day on Monday!

WHAT'S HAPPENING?
    Tomorrow's 10:00 a.m. and 3:30 p.m. storytimes celebrate pigs with stories, glove puppets, and a piggy puddle craft. Saturday morning's 10:00 storytime celebrates Youth Art Month with tell-and-draw stories. Participants will also collaborate on a mural for display during March.

BOOK TALK
    After indulging in holiday feasts (Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Year's) and nibbling on sweets (Valentine's Day), many people are feeling the need to try to re-set their eating habits with a more balanced and healthy diet. The library's database lists 181 items dealing with nutrition. Some of the newest are "Powerfoods," "Mastering the Zone," "The Healing Foods Cookbook," "Healing Foods," and "The 10 Best Foods to Boost Your Immune System."
    If you're happy with your diet but are overwhelmed about what to read next, librarian Rosie Klopfer offers the following helpful ideas. The "1997 What Do I Read Next" is a readers guide containing 1,270 entries of titles published last year. Each entry contains the author's name and pseudonyms, title, publication information, series name, story type, major characters, brief plot, and other handy information. The last two entries may be the most helpful: other books by the author and other books you might like.
    For additional help, you might want to visit one of the many Internet sites, such as Bookwire at http://www.bookwire.com and Bookbrowser at http://www.browser.com, to name a few.

THOUGHT FOR THE WEEK:   
    Here's a quote in honor of the income tax anniversary: "Real charity doesn't care if it's deductible or not." (unknown)

JUDY ARMSTRONG, 624-7276