Yes! We now have a collection of over 100 digital magazine subscriptions available to you online! Issues may be read on a variety of computer platforms and mobile devices (iOS and Android apps are available).

The link to Zinio - Digital Magazines from Recorded Books is found on our eLibrary page under the "Magazine & Journal Articles" subject heading. You will need to create 2 accounts to get started: one to gain access to the collection (along with your library card number) and another, separate Zinio account to manage your subscriptions. Enjoy!

THE PICKWICK PAPERS : Continued from 19^th Century British Authors.

Charles Dickens

       This is primarily a serious novel, presented in the guise of comedy. Not that Dickens makes the reader swallow a bitter pill with sugar coating. All of the elements of comedy are presented against the backdrop of an unsettled early 19^th century. Pickwick Papers exhalts the joys of travel, the pleasures of eating and drinking well, the fellowship of men, innocence, benevolence, youthfulness and romance. However, Dickens achieves these values against rather unpleasant realities. Comforable travel is contrasted with the stagnent squalor of prison life. Good food and drink are played off against the grubby victuals and cheap wine of prison. Male friendships are set off against predatory wives, widows and spinsters as well as mean and unscrupulous men.

     Behind the episodic work lies the influence of Cervantes, Voltaire and Dante with the sarcastic criticism of the legal and political corruptions of their day. And in the case of the Pickwick Papers, it is the idea of debtor’s prison that has Dickens all afire.

     In May, 1827, the Pickwick Club of London, headed by Samual Pickwick, decides to establish a traveling society in which four members travel about England and make reports on their travels. The four members are Mr. Pickwick, a kindly businessman and philosopher whose thoughts never rise above the commonplace, Tracy Tupman, a ladies man who never makes a conquest, Augustus Snodgrass ,a poet who never writes a poem and Nathaniel Winkle, a sportsman of incredible ineptitude.

     The four are met with all kinds of civil unrest , unwanted marriage proposals and hilarious treachery as they travel about. They cause a lot of damage, through no adventure of their own, and when Pickwick refuses to pay damages for things not his fault, he is thrown into Fleet Prison, an incarceration facility for debtors. Eventually, he pays his debts in order to be freed to pay off the debts of his associates (the result of several political corruption scandels). His associates are forever grateful, though the Pickwick Society is later dissolved because of the class hatred from “lesser” society. In the end, he becomes Godfather to many of his associates children garnished through the ruthlessness of their predatory wives, widows and spinstered mistresses. It is a grand portal through which English Society is seen in the squaler that greed has created through industry and politics.

The Resident Scholar - Doug Taylor

We are happy to work with City Impact to provide free parenting sessions to our community! We have a variety of options, based on your needs and your schedule. All events will take place in the Topping Room at Foster library.

One-stop session: 3/13 6:00 p.m. to 7:30 p.m.The Power of Positive Parenting

8 week session in English: 3/19-5/7 every Tuesday from 10:00 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. Positive Parenting Group meets weekly to learn parenting techniques. From giving praise to creating rules and following up with effective discipline, this group will cover it all!

8 week session in Spanish: 3/16 - 5/13 every Tuesday from 12:00 p.m. - 1:30 p.m. Para apuntarse a esta clase o recibir mas informacion sobre el programa de Triple P, favor de llamar a City Impact: (805) 983-3636 ex. 103

Registration is required for these events, call (805) 983-3636 ext #103 for more info. Hope to see you there!

Approximately 300 varieties of fish and shellfish are native to California. In Ventura, rock crab, spider crab, mackerel, herring, halibut, sanddabs, bass, perch and a variety of sharks and rays can be caught off the Ventura Pier.

Ventura has been a prime spot for seafood since the Chumash first established their villages in the area,.  If you would like to pursue this ancient art, there are many books available at E. P. Foster Library to guide you.

Six Baby Read Aloud Stages:
1. The Lisener (0-2 months) Read anything for the purpose of the the baby hearing your voice and books you read to them before they were born.
2. The Observer (2-4 months) read books with rhymes and songs and books with black & white pictures or bold colors.
3. The Cooer (4-8 months) Read touch & feel books to stimulate the senses and use teething books.
4. The Babbler (8-12 months) Read books with noise and buttons or books that label objects or body parts.
5. The Word Maker (12-18 months) Use books that ask questions and ones that have rhymes/song and handmovements.
6. Phrase Maker (18-24 months)Read books that contain colors, numbers and basic concepts as well as books about the child current interest, fairies, trucks, animals, etc.

Baby Read Aloud Basics by Caroline Blakemore (372.4)-Star

For the month of February, Saticoy Library is proud to be showing the Loma Vista 4-H Photography Project.

The photographs are on display in our children's area - come check them out!