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Marianna Hoff, branch librarian

It’s said that poetry comes from and speaks deeply to the human soul.

This certainly seems to be true in our literate, creative Laguna village.

Each April for the past five years, your library has enjoyed

celebrating National Poetry Month by sponsoring a communitywide original

poetry writing contest. This year’s competition, “Land of the Free . . .

Verse,” was entered by more than 400 aspiring poets, and we’d like to

congratulate the following Robert Frosts and Emily Dickinsons as our 2002

winners.

Adult category

1st: Jan Troutner for “Salvation”

2nd: Paige Rhine for “Sunday Sanctuary”

3rd: Lauri Mendenhall for “July’s Baptism”

High School

1st: Ryan Allcorn for “Finish Line” and “Sept. 11, 2001”

2nd: Alex Herskovitz for “Minimum Dosage”

3rd: Nan Newell for “Transient”

Sixth, seventh and eighth grades

1st: David Clausen for “Shell”

2nd: Thomas Stevens for “Liquid Amber”

3rd: Jane Sasso for “Gnarled trees with orange leaves . . .”

Fourth and fifth grades

1st: James Luby for “Homework Eulogy”

2nd: Lauren Mendoza for “Ladybugs”

3rd: Hannah Glass for “Lily Lerts”

Second and third grades

1st: Daniel Anvari for “A Book and a Prayer”

2nd: Taylor Pitz for “The Skies are Filled . . .”

3rd: Jack Pillsbury for “Lighthouse”

First grade

1st: Eliott Glass for “Birds” and “Little Letters/BIG NUMBERS

2nd: Eliana Alcouloumre for “My Sister”

3rd Carly Willner for “Dolls Pretty Dresses”

Pre-K and Kindergarten

1st: Jack Odanaka for “Panthers Pouncing,” “Upon the Sunny Summer Day”

and “I Love You When”

2nd: Aaron Acouloumre for “The Bone”

3rd: Hannah Martin for “Now I Know You are Wondering . . .” and “Here

I Am”

The 21 winning poems will be published in a free booklet to be printed

by the library. The community is welcome to pick up a copy after June 20

and, of course, is always welcome and encouraged to visit their library

for business or pleasure.

“How I Read It”

By Doug Bowler

“A Darkness More than Night”

By Michael Connelly

Reintroduced from previous Connelly stories, Terry McCaleb, recently

retired from the FBI’s Behavioral Sciences due to a heart transplant, is

living with his new wife, daughter and son-in-law and managing a sport

fishing charter business on Catalina Island.

A former colleague from the L.A. Sheriff’s Department Det. Joyce

Winston visits with a plea to help profile a suspect from a nasty murder

scene she believes may become a serial event. An offer McCaleb can’t

resist.

After conducting a very creative and thorough investigation, McCaleb

identifies a prime suspect: LAPD. Det. Harry Bosch, another Connelly hero

from previous work.

Bosch is the lead detective in a high-profile trial involving the

murder of young, aspiring actress by a powerful Hollywood film producer.

During this trial a newspaper reporter is tipped off that Harry may

be a murder suspect. The reporter tries to confirm this information

through the FBI and lets the cat out of the bag, causing McCaleb’s

immediate dismissal from the case.

The second-half of this story is what makes this a unique mystery

novel. Bosch confronts McCaleb, accusing him of missing something in his

analysis of the clues. He challenges him to solve the real mystery.

McCaleb does and ties the first and second halves of this creative novel

into a very exciting and surprising conclusion.