Winter 2018

Vol. 47, No. 3
Winter 2017/2018
- From the Administrator
- Who You Might Hear First on the Phone at Talking Books
- Award Winners
- Overdue Magazines Continue to Grow
- From The Studio -- "I Never Got a Ladmo Bag"
- Arizona Friends of Talking Books -- The Best Friends a Library Could Have
- Volunteer News
FROM THE ADMINISTRATOR

JANET FISHER
Near the beginning of the new year, there is one activity that can renew your spirit and bring more enjoyment to your day – you can update your reading interests with the Arizona Talking Book Library.
Think about your reading habits and interests:
-- Who’s your favorite author?
-- What is your favorite subject or genre to read (fiction, mysteries, westerns, etc.)?
-- Have any of your interests changed lately?
Please take a few minutes to update your reading preferences by contacting your Reader Advisor or updating your automatic check-outs though our online catalog.
If you are using BARD, you have greater flexibility each time you use it by browsing by your subject of interest, keyword or author. Browse all of the subjects offered and try something new! Browse the Recently Added Titles to see if any of them sound like you might like them.
There is also still time to join the Book Discussion Group by Telephone, if you want to read and talk about their selected books.
Reading can be a wonderful adventure. We hope you continue to enjoy the multitude of books in audio and braille available to you through the Arizona Talking Book Library and the National Library Service for the Blind and Physically Handicapped.
WHO YOU MIGHT HEAR FIRST
ON THE PHONE AT TALKING BOOKS

IRENE YBANEZ
Hello! I’m Irene Ybanez, the new Administrative Assistant at the Arizona Talking Book Library. I started here in September and have enjoyed talking with you and forwarding your calls to the Reader Advisors and others here. Customer Service has always made me the happiest, to know that we are giving you and your loved ones the best service possible.
AWARD WINNERS
The Talking Book Library is filled with titles by award-winning authors, many of them read by award-winning narrators. From groundbreaking fiction and compelling memoirs to heart-stopping mysteries and heartbreaking nonfiction, here are a few you may want to discover:
Hamilton: The Revolution
By Lin-Manuel Miranda
Narrated by Mariska Hargitay
DB084175 (Available on BARD, 2016)
An account of the creation of the hugely successful musical about an unlikely topic: founding father Alexander Hamilton. The show’s creator and cultural critic McCarter chronicle Hamilton from its start as a performance at the White House. Includes the full libretto with commentary from Miranda. Unrated. Commercial audiobook. Winner of the Audie Awards Audiobook of the Year.
The Underground Railroad
By Colson Whitehead
Narrated by Bahni Turpin
DB085212 (Available on BARD, 2016)
Cora, a third-generation slave, flees the plantation where she lives. She escapes with a man who claims to know how to get to the Underground Railroad. Once there, she discovers it is an actual railroad, and every stop shows her moments of horror and joy. Unrated. Commercial audiobook. Winner of the Pulitzer Prize, National Book Award, and ALA Andrew Carnegie Medal; Finalist for Audie Awards Audiobook of the Year.
Evicted: Poverty and Profit in the American City
By Matthew Desmond
Narrated by Dion Graham
DB083870 (Available on BARD, 2016)
Harvard sociologist examines the poorest neighborhoods of Milwaukee, Wisconsin, to relate the stories of eight families living on the edge, all of whose fates rest in the hands of two landlords. Desmond provides a close view of the issue of eviction, which so many American families face. Unrated. Commercial audiobook. Winner of the Pulitzer Prize, ALA Andrew Carnegie Medal and National Book Critics Circle Award; Finalist for the Audie Awards Best Non-Fiction Audiobook.
Small Great Things
By Jodi Picoult
Narrated by Audra McDonald, Cassandra Campbell, and Ari Fliakos
DB085761 (Available on BARD, 2016)
A white supremacist couple forbids Ruth Jefferson—an experienced labor and delivery nurse who happens to be an African American—from touching their newborn. The next day, the baby goes into cardiac distress while Ruth is alone in the nursery. Her hesitation leads to a court case. Unrated. Commercial audiobook. Winner of the Audie Award for Best Multi-Voiced Audio Performance.
The Crossing
By Michael Connelly
Narrated by Titus Welliver
DB082755 (Available on BARD, 2015)
Detective Harry Bosch has retired from the LAPD, but his half-brother, defense attorney Mickey Haller, needs his help. The murder rap against his client seems ironclad, but Mickey is sure it’s a setup. With the help of his former partner, Bosch secretly investigates the police department. Unrated. Commercial audiobook. Winner of the Audie Award for Best Mystery Audiobook.
A Life in Parts
By Bryan Cranston
Narrated by the author
DB086373 (Available on BARD, 2015)
The actor, already successful before he starred in the huge hit show Breaking Bad, walks readers through his life by way of the different roles -- acting and personal -- he has played. Some strong language. Bestseller. Commercial audiobook. Winner of the Audie Award for Best Narration by the Author or Authors.
The Girl Who Drank the Moon
By Kelly Barnhill
Read by Mare Trevathan
DB085739 (Available on BARD, 2016)
Every year a community leaves a baby as an offering to a powerful yet misunderstood witch named Xan. One infant -- now a young girl -- is being raised by the witch and must unlock the powerful magic buried deep inside her. For grades 4-7. Winner of the Newberry Medal for children’s literature.
OVERDUE MAGAZINES
CONTINUE TO GROW
We’ve had an upsurge in delinquent magazines, so please check around the house for any you’ve had more than two weeks, and take care that each cartridge gets returned in the proper container. If you find cartridges of any kind missing a container, please call and we can send you an empty container so it can be returned to the correct location and taken off your record. Remember, if you go on vacation, please call so we can put a hold on your magazines.
FROM THE STUDIO
"I Never Got a Ladmo bag!"

This was the lament of a generation, and for a time the defining marker between native Arizonans and recent transplants. When it comes to Arizona royalty, few can top the cast of the Wallace and Ladmo show. Airing locally in Arizona from 1954 to 1989, it is the longest running daily program (with the same cast) in television history. Winning a Ladmo bag, (never mind the contents could be assembled for $3 at your local Bashas’) entitled the recipient to a lifetime of bragging rights.
For many Phoenicians, Bill Thompson (Wallace), Ladimir Kwiatkowski (Ladmo), and Pat McMahon (Gerald, Aunt Maud, Captain Super, Boffo the Clown, Hub Kapp and the Wheels, and Marshall Good, etc., among a cast of dozens others) were a mainstay of not only their childhood, but Arizona television in general for nearly half a century. Their antics enthralled generations of Arizonans. Even young Scottsdale filmmaker Steven Spielberg would go on to wax poetic about the show in nationally-televised interviews.
It seemed a perfect fit to call Pat McMahon, the last surviving member of the cast, to the Arizona Talking Book Library to immortalize his book “The Wallace and Ladmo Show Presents Aunt Maud’s Storybook” for future generations of Arizonans to enjoy. These subversive, fractured fairy tales, collected over the long history of the show’s broadcast, take unexpected twists and turns which will delight dyed-in-the-wool fans of the show, and new readers alike. Forty delightfully twisted tales are presented, as well as an introduction from legendary Arizona rock star, Alice Cooper.
You can read “The Wallace and Ladmo Show Presents Aunt Maud’s Storybook” by downloading DBC12842 from BARD or requesting it from your reader advisor.
-Brian Blackwell, Studio Manager
ARIZONA FRIENDS OF TALKING BOOKS
The Best Friends a Library Could Have

http://www.azfotb.org
The Arizona Friends of Talking Books is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization that assists with development, advocacy, and outreach in support of the Arizona Talking Book Library. (Tax ID: 86-1008453)
VOLUNTEER NEWS
CALLING ALL VOLUNTEERS
Please mark your calendars and save the date of March 10, 2018, 12 pm – 2 pm, for the annual Volunteer Recognition Luncheon. The luncheon will be held, once again, at the Orange Tree Golf Resort at 10601 North 56th Street, Phoenix. Please make sure that all your volunteer hours are in our Volgistics check-in system. If you have any questions or want to verify that your hours are being counted, please contact me.
The speakers for this year’s luncheon are Secretary of State Michele Reagan and Jordan Bublik, President of the Arizona Friends of Talking Books. The keynote speaker this year will be Mrs. Lennie Andrews who is one of our library patrons, as well as being an Outreach Volunteer and scheduler for activities of the Outreach Volunteers.
Again, please make note of the date – March 10. We hope to get on your schedules and include those who like to go away for the summer.
I hope to see all of you there on the one special day we honor all our volunteers. Look for your invitations in the mail in the coming weeks.
Thank you for all you do,
Kim French
INVITE THE TALKING BOOK LIBRARY
TO MEET WITH YOUR COMMUNITY
Did you know the Talking Book Library has an outreach team? The volunteers who participate in the outreach program have a vested interest in representing the library at health and community events throughout Arizona. Some of our patrons also participate as outreach volunteers. Many of our volunteers are family members and friends of our patrons. We also have spousal and sibling outreach teams who participate on behalf of the library. The outreach volunteers work and live in your community and would be available to showcase the events that occur in the area.
Outreach volunteers travel throughout the state and are able to meet and speak with social and professional organizations. There are no boundaries within Arizona which we attend; urban areas, rural communities, the Colorado River towns, tribal nation villages, and border towns – we provide outreach to all. The outreach team participates year-round.
Do you belong to an activity center? Do you organize the on-campus assisted living health fair? Lions club meeting? Volunteer for a medical auxiliary? Do you participate in your child’s parent-teacher resource night? A supervisor organizing an in-service day for staff? Are you on the committee for a professional’s health, aging, or education conference? Please invite the Talking Book Library to any of these examples and to the events that you think the outreach team would be a good fit to participate in. Volunteers attend these events as an information booth or by presenting to the community of interest. Presentation lengths are between 30 minutes and an hour. The library schedules events 2-3 months in advance. Please contact Christine Tuttle, Outreach Librarian, at [email protected] to arrange a time to present or to schedule a date to participate as an information table at a conference. Spring is a busy time for outreach, so please contact Christine soon.
Interested in volunteering? Outreach for the Talking Book Library is 3-4 commitments a year. Volunteers are provided training and are able to set your own geographic boundaries. Volunteers are matched up with a seasoned volunteer until they are comfortable with the delivery of materials to the public. Each volunteer is provided with all the materials and equipment for their own contained outreach kit. The library is also able to accommodate those potential volunteers who would only stay on their community’s campus or to volunteer from home. I encourage you to become an outreach volunteer. It starts with a call to the volunteer coordinator at 602-255-5578 or email.
Any mention of products and services in Talking Book News is for information only and does not imply endorsement.
Talking Book News is also available in other formats including our website at http://www.azlibrary.gov/talkingbooks If you would like to receive this newsletter on cartridge or in email, please call 602-255-5578 or 1-800-255-5578.
Talking Book News is published quarterly by the Arizona Talking Book Library, Archives and Public Records, a Division of the Secretary of State. Administrator: Janet Fisher and Editor: Ron Bryant.