@ your library (R) ......by Paige Turner December 9, 2004 Give a Book for the Holidays The Mammoth Lakes Library is grateful for all of the support we receive from the Friends of the Library, particularly the extra funds provided by their used book store, The Book Chalet. Make your money go further and help out the library by doing your holiday shopping at The Book Chalet and give those people on your list a good book! Find current best sellers, children's books, history, fiction, non-fiction, science fiction, cook books, and much more. The Book Chalet is staffed and run entirely by volunteers and stocked with donated books, many in like-new condition. All proceeds are used to buy much needed items for the library such as new books, CDs, DVDs, videos, magazine and newspaper subscriptions, as well as supplies for all the children's reading programs. The Book Chalet is open Wednesday through Saturday, from 11 AM to 5 PM. It's located at 645 Old Mammoth Road (across the street from the Stove Restaurant), 924-2593. Come on by and check out all the holiday selections. The Friends of the Library annual membership drive is currently underway and they are looking for new members. These volunteers work throughout the year to raise library awareness, raise literacy in our community, raise money to support the library, and help close the gap between the library's current funding and funding necessary to provide service to meet the growing and changing needs of Mammoth Lakes. If you have any time or money to spare, pick up a membership application @ your library (R), or call 934-4777 for more information. In addition to the satisfaction of volunteering, membership in the Mammoth Lakes Friends of the Library has other benefits as well. Just show your membership card and every 5th book you buy at the Book Chalet is FREE. Buy 6 books for ONLY $1 on the second day of our Memorial Day and Labor Day Weekend Used Book Sales. Use the library's copier for only 5 CENTS A COPY rather than 10 cents the general public pays. And if you tend to keep your books and other items checked out too long, the library will waive your overdue fines of up to $5 TWICE a year! Perhaps the biggest benefit is knowing that your tax deductible dues & donations have made a difference in the lives of so many people in our community. TRIVIA QUESTION OF THE WEEK: What item used by children @ your library (R) has a smell so familiar that it is one of the 20 most recognizable scents to American adults, ranking right up there with coffee and peanut butter? ANSWER TO LAST WEEK'S QUESTION: Why do we pull a turkey's wishbone apart? This silly practice is thought to date back to the 5th century BC when the Etruscans used sacred "chickens" to interpret omens, based on the bird's pecking of corn grains placed in a Ouija-boardlike circle of letters. When a bird died, its clavicle bone was dried and rubbed to make a wish. The Romans later picked up on this custom but added their own twist. They thought that if one "wishbone" was good, two had to be better, so they began breaking them in two hoping to get the larger piece with the "head" on it. It is now the larger turkey that we more commonly use for wishbones.