Books

Whittier Elementary School in Costa Mesa got a call about a month before Christmas with a surprise offer. The Fashion Island Barnes & Noble asked to include the school in the company's holiday drive where patrons can buy an extra book and donate it between Dec. 1 and Jan. 1. Principal Tracy Carter said yes and then promptly forgot about the unexpected offer, she said. A couple of weeks into January, she got another call. Whittier was about to get about 1,000 books from that drive plus $5,500 from City National Bank's literacy program.

As we approach Christmas, I wanted to recommend three books about our community that I think you will enjoy very much: The first is "Bawdy Balboa" by Judge Robert Gardner . Gardner, the father of Mayor Pro Tem Nancy Gardner, was beloved by many in Newport Beach and wrote a long-time column in the Daily Pilot. This book describes growing up on the Balboa Peninsula during the "Roaring Twenties. " These are great stories that make it clear that the Atlantic City in "Boardwalk Empire" had nothing on Newport.

On Tuesday afternoon, after an underwhelming and predictable Costa Mesa City Council study session about the proposed charter, I left the Council Chambers and decided to take a quick stroll to the greenbelt across the street from the Police Station. The 2.5-acre property, envisioned since 2005 as the potential home of the city's central library, hosts mature trees and an aging, unremarkable billboard. The architectural rendering is faded, and the sign is peeling away from its frame.

Deirdre Newman Students at Mariners Elementary School are listening while they read -- to books recorded on tape. The tapes are available to students courtesy of a $985 grant from California Federal Bank to Pat McLaughlin, a third-grade teacher at the school. Her grant, titled "Hear Ye! Hear Ye! Listen and Learn," promotes reading fluency as third-grade students listen to read-along books such as "Tacky the Penguin" and "A Picture Book of George Washington."

On the fifth floor of the Chicago Tribune Tower is a square windowless room accessed by a single door. This room is called, with a regrettable lack of imagination, the Book Room. It will not surprise you to learn that it is filled with books. Day after day they arrive in a sharp-cornered cavalcade, books of every shape and size and color, books covering subjects both obvious and startling, both trivial and profound. Fiction and nonfiction. Paperbacks and hardbacks. Good books and so-so books.

Harbor Day School in Newport Beach was built with a library at its center. Students filter through it all day, and librarian-taught classes rotate in. The lessons often include activities such as kids feeding their "bookworm" earth worms or using quill pens to write their names like the signers of the Constitution. "The library is really an integral part of the whole school," said Harbor Day's first librarian, Anne Polkingharn. "It's not just a room with books and computers now too. " FOR THE RECORD: An earlier version of this story misspelled Anne Polkingharn's last name.

Cindy Frazier, city editor of the Laguna Beach Coastline Pilot, the Daily Pilot's sister paper, will read a sample of her writing during the Saturday morning portion of the Los Angeles Times Festival of Books at USC. In an email to colleagues this week, Frazier announced that she has been invited to take part in "Dimestories," a three-minute prose reading event, scheduled for 11 a.m. at the festival's Etc. Stage. "The piece, 'Bleeding Hearts,' was voted number one of all the pieces presented during the run up to the festival, so I'm pretty stoked about it," she said in her email.

How do we come together to talk about things that matter to us all? On a foundation of thought-provoking books, California Reads provides a springboard for people in our community to think about and discuss ideas that are critical to life in our state. Searching for Democracy is a yearlong initiative leading up to the presidential elections of 2012 that provides Californians with many different ways to explore how the humanities provide insights and opportunities to converse about the nature, state, and needs of our democracy.

D o you need some ideas for a kids' party? The Newport Beach Public Library has a great selection of books on parties and celebrations, including many that are just for children. All kinds of fun ideas for party themes, games, and crafts are waiting to be discovered in these books. For the younger set, try "My Party Art Class" written by Nellie Shepherd . This book presents three party themes with invitations, decorations, games, and crafts for young children. Create an underwater party, a garden party, and a magic party.

What's the one accessory most women can't live without? Why, a handbag, of course! Designer purses are more popular than ever, but they can also be quite expensive. If you covet the look and quality of a high-end bag that won't break the bank, consider making one of your own. The Newport Beach Public Library is well-stocked with craft books on sewing and embellishing handbags. Indulge your passion for purses with this extraordinary collection of titles: "Bags — a Knitters' Dozen," edited by Elaine Rowley: Both knitting novices and seasoned experts will appreciate the eclectic mix of "Knitter's Magazine" patterns featured in this portable guide.

A lot of you have been asking, "When is the next book sale?" Well, it is this weekend, Saturday and Sunday at the Costa Mesa/Donald Dungan Library. On Saturday, when you will obviously have the best choice of books, the sale runs from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. On Sunday, the sale is from noon to 3 p.m., and bargain hunters always love it because it is "Buck a Bag. " The address is 1855 Park Ave., and the sale will be held in the Community Room. The entrance is around the side of the building, to the left of the front door.

Leigh Steinberg smiled as he looked at the people who showed up for his book signing event at the Fashion Island Barnes & Noble Thursday night. "I'm happy to be back home, finally," Steinberg said. He explained that he has been promoting his new book, "The Agent: My 40-year career making deals and changing the game," and working to relaunch his work as an agent for athletes. Last week, he was in New York for the Super Bowl, where he held a party that also provided awareness and support for various charities.

Show me the autograph. Leigh Steinberg, the famous superagent known for his work with the movie "Jerry Maguire," will sign copies of his new book, "The Agent: My 40-year career making deals and changing the game," at the Barnes & Noble at Fashion Island Thursday at 7 p.m. Steinberg, also a Daily Pilot columnist, will share his personal stories on the rise, fall and redemption of his game-changing career in the competitive world of pro sports....

It was the first football game with the words "Super Bowl" emblazoned on the cover of its printed program. That game today is known as Super Bowl III. The game took place Jan. 12, 1969, in Miami's Orange Bowl. The previous two years the game's official nomenclature was AFL-NFL World Championship Game. Founded in 1960, the upstart American Football League became a serious competitor to the time-honored National Football League, and proved so by signing 75% of the older league's first-round draft choices in its first year.

When I landed at Orange County airport Thursday night I wanted to kiss the ground. Six grueling days in New York on a book tour to promote my new book, "The Agent," (St. Martin's Press) was more than enough. We live in a summer bubble here in Newport Beach and forget how much of the rest of the country lives. New York was in the midst of a "Polar Vortex," the Wednesday temperature was eight degrees with fierce winds and snow. I had left a few weeks of 80-degree temps and was not prepared.

Three recently published young adult novels tell stories of teenagers in crisis and their struggle with mental illness: "Forgive Me, Leonard Peacock" by Matthew Quick, "Reality Boy" by A.S. King and "Dr. Bird's Advice for Sad Poets" by Evan Roskos. These books tell powerful stories. The protagonists grapple with depression, anger and anxiety. They tell their stories in first person, in vivid language and with sometimes raw emotion. Despite their potentially bleak situations, these engaging stories of emotional and mental turmoil are really stories of hope.

The Orange County coroner has identified the man who jumped 500 feet to his death from a helicopter as it flew over the Newport Beach shoreline Tuesday afternoon. Gregory McFadden, 61, of West Covina, was pronounced dead at a local hospital after opening the helicopter door and leaping out, falling about 500 feet to the ocean. Newport Beach police are investigating McFadden's death as a possible suicide. The Orange County coroner's office reported that McFadden “jumped from a helicopter in-flight” and the  Federal Aviation Administration  is reviewing the incident.  McFadden had apparently booked a 30-minute coastal tour for two people but showed up alone, said Chuck Street, a longtime helicopter pilot whose son was flying the chopper.

The Friends of the Costa Mesa Libraries will hold its sale from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Nov. 9, when most prices will range from 50 cents to $1, and from noon to 3 p.m. Nov. 10, when you can get a whole bag of books for $1. The sale will be held at the Costa Mesa/Donald Dungan Library, 1855 Park Ave., Costa Mesa. * Guest speaker The next program of the Friends of the Costa Mesa Libraries Speaker Series will occur at 6 p.m. Nov. 16, when Laer Pearce will discuss his book "Crazifornia: Tales From the Tarnished State — How California Is Destroying Itself and Why It Matters to America.

Henry Segerstrom rarely makes public appearances. But he made an exception Thursday at South Coast Plaza, clad in a dapper blue pinstriped suit and a matching polka dot tie and seeming a tad bashful at all the attention. The entrepreneur and philanthropist, who at 90 is also the managing partner of C.J. Segerstrom & Sons, was the guest of honor at a book launch by luxury book publisher Assouline. He was joined at the 6 p.m. event by family, including his wife, Elizabeth, son Anton and daughter-in-law Jennifer, as well as well-wishers like Debra Gunn Downing, the plaza's executive director of marketing, members of the An family of AnQi by Crustacean, and others.