Panepucci digs up old outhouses, discovering old bottles, silverware, dolls, etc. In addition to its obvious use, outhouses were a place to put garbage rather than trucking it to a city dump site. Come hear about his adventures, what else he as discovered in the many sites visited, and how he got interested in this hobby.

The gathering will also serve as the WNBA Detroit Chapter Annual Meeting where there will be the election of board officers.

A panel discussion with Sutta Crum, author and storyteller; Heather Hughes, publisher at Sleeping Bear Press; Colleen Kammer, owner of Book Beat in Oak Park; Marian Nelson, publisher at Nelson Publishing; Erin Stead, illustrator and 2011 Caldecott winner; and Philip Stead, author, illustrator, and 2011 Caldecott winner. Panel will be moderated by Dr. Harry Eiss, Professor of children’s literature at Eastern Michigan.

The Final Season is a baseball book, the winner of the 2001 Casey Award as the best baseball book of the year, but it is more than about baseball. It is about memories, it is about relationships. It is about relationships with one’s father, mother, uncle, aunts, children, baseball families and heroes. It is about our memories of what we see without a word being spoken. It is a book about humanity. Come hear Tom Stanton, university professor, faculty advisor and mentor, sports fan, and author.

A fireside chat and potluck feast, a book- and food-filled evening where members will discuss to books: The Help by Kathryn Stockett and The Blessing of the Animals by Katrina Kittle.

Author of The Blessing of the Animals, Katrina Kittle, and Kristina Riggle author ofThe Life You’ve Imagined: A Novel will share their experiences in researching and writing of their respective books. These national authors appearance is sponsored by HarperCollins in support of WNBA’s National Reading Group Month initiatives.

Curious about the work of a forensic artist? If you can stomach blood and guts, come hear Barbara Martin Bailey a certified Forensic Artist assigned to the Forensic Science Laboratory with the Oakland County Sheriff’s Office in Pontiac Michigan. Former art teacher, courtroom sketch artist, and graphic artist for community and state safety programs, Ms Bailey will share here experiences and artwork that has help identify “Jane Doe” bodies.

Includes a tour and remarks by the owner followed by optional dinner at nearby restaurant

Cost: Registration fee $3.00 members, $5.00 nonmembers. Mail registration fee to Barbara Walker, 39454 Village Run Dr., Northville, MI 48168. Deadline: Sept. 15, 2009. Make checks payable to WNBA Detroit Chapter. (dinner ordered off menu that evening, average $12.00 to $20.00)
Detroit Poet Laureate Naomi Long Madgett has been well recognized for her contributions as poet, publisher/editor, and educator. She is the author of nine books of poems and an autobiography, as well as editor of two poetry anthologies. Dr. Madgett founded Lotus Press, Inc. in 1972 and continues to serve as publisher and editor. Lotus has published more than 90 collections of poetry.

Cost: Free. Registration required. Call: 248-647-1700
Laura Kasischke has published six collections of poetry and four novels. Her novels include: In a Perfect World (2009) The Life Before Her Eyes (2002), White Bird in a Blizzard (1999), and Suspicious River (1996).

Cost: Registration fee $3.00 members, $5.00 nonmembers. Mail registration fee to Barbara Walker, 39454 Village Run Dr., Northville, MI 48168. Deadline: Nov. 4, 2009. Make checks payable to WNBA Detroit Chapter
Meet and Greet, 6:00 - 6:30 p.m. followed by book discussion of titles below. Bring an appetizer or dessert to share. Excellent opportunity to network and socialize.
1. Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows. Popular book group choice
2. Olive Kitteridge by Elizabeth Strout. This is an award winning collection of 12 short stories featuring residents of a small town in Maine. If you don’t have time to read a whole book, just read one story

Cost: Approx. $17.50

Get Healthy with Dark Chocolate! Author, nutritionist George Rapitis.
Light supper followed by chocolate dessert samplings by George – PowerPoint presentation, bringing books to purchase which he will sign.

Cost: $20 for tour and buffet luncheon on site

Group tour of Dearborn’s Arab American National Museum on Michigan Avenue, http://www.arabamericanmuseum.org/Home.id.2.htm Catered buffet lunch following tour & short meeting.
(AAN has a nice gift shop, is a beautiful, enlightening small museum)

West Road Exit 32 from I-75, go West to Telegraph, turn left (South). Restaurant is just south of Van Horn on the left with plenty of free parking in back.
Cost: dinner (under $30, 3 entrée choices that evening) Cash bar.

Lisa Wheeler, Award winning children’s author of Sixteen Cows, Castaway Cats, Dino-Hockey, Boogie Knights, The Christmas Book, etc. (http://www.lisawheelerbooks.com/) will speak. Some books will be available for purchase and Ms. Wheeler has agreed to sign copies.

Read more about this event on the News Herald website.

Encouraging new members and networking with current members!

Cost: Free Cookie Reception

Tom Foster, author of How to read Novels like a Professor
Books to purchase, sign
Encourage book club leaders, public librarians and teachers to attend

Cost: Free to current members in good standing

Book recommendations for discussion groups and Book Club discussion. Light appetizers, refreshments, nibbles, Michigan wines, decaf coffee; small desserts provided by members who wish to bring them. Choose to read three Cups of Tea: One Man's Mission to Promote Peace ... One School at a Time by Greg Mortenson and David Oliver Relin OR any book featured on the NRGM site.

Cost: $16/members, $19/non-members

Bring some books and join WNBA-Detroit to talk about and swap books at our annual meeting. Laurie Beckelman, WNBA National President, will be our special guest. Bring along your favorite "beach read" and tell everyone what it's about and why you like it. Weed your shelves and bring along books for swapping with other members. Any "swapping" books that aren't claimed by the end of the evening will be donated to the Friends of the Redford Township library for their book sale. Carpooling can be arranged for members who need rides. Check and RSVP by Friday, May 2.

Cost: $26/members, $29/non-members

Mark Hoffman, author of the 2008 Michigan Notable Book "My Brave Mechanics": The First Michigan Engineers and Their Civil War will speak about his book. "My Brave Mechanics" features letters, diaries, regimental records, and local newspaper accounts to tell the story of this little-known regiment's work mainaining Union supply lines. Carpooling can be arranged for members who need rides. RSVP and check needed by Friday, February 29.

Cost: $4.00/ticket

Join WNBA-Detroit at 7:15 p.m. on Saturday, December 1 at the historic Redford Theatre in Detroit for the movie A Christmas Story. There's no coupon to send and you don't even have to let me know if you'll be there. Just show up, buy your ticket at the box office, and join your fellow WNBA members and their friends and families for this hilarious holiday movie. The show starts at 8:00, but you'll want to arrive early for the theatre organ overture that starts at 7:30. We'll be holding a block of seats. The movie is rated PG. Carpooling can be arranged for members who need rides.

Cost: $17/members, $20/non-members; RSVP and check due by Nov. 9, 2007

Anita Zelmon, Children's Librarian and Friends President at the Ecorse Public Library will tell us about the history of the Ecorse Public Library, current programs and plans for services, and the Gifts of Warmth program that the Friends do every year. Last year the WNBA Detroit Chapter supported the Gifts of Warmth program and the library had its highest turnout ever - 300 people. The Secretary of the Friends of the Ecorse Public Library, Julie Damron, will also attend the program.

A National Reading Group Month presentation by award-winning author and photographer Brenda Ervin will feature a discussion of her book Michigan Farms and Farm Families. Sponsored by Barn Door Publishing, in association with the Women's National Book Association Detroit Chapter, Brenda's program will interest those who want to learn more about family farm life. For reading groups with an interest in nonfiction, the program ties Reading Group Month in nicely with October as "Farm Market/Farm Family Month" in Michigan. Michigan Farms and Farm Families honors the estimated 52,000 Michigan working farms and several of their stories. Copies of the book cannot be sold at the Grand Blanc Library but can be purchased through www.BarnDoorPublishing.com. For more information contact Casey Waite, Barn Door Publishing @ 1-810-655-6643 or barndoorpub at intouchmi.com

In this all-ages program, Swartz Creek, Michigan, author and publisher Brenda Ervin will tell about Michigan's farms and barns and the rural way of life. Ms. Ervin is the author of Michigan Farms and Farm Families, Barns of Michigan and Memories of a Michigan Country Girl. Her company, Barn Door Publishing, is dedicated to preserving Michigan's barns and farm family stories. Ms. Ervin’s books will be available to buy after the program, including Thread Creek Farm: The Dawson-Everett Farm Family, 175 Years a Family Farm. The Milford Public Library is the release site for this limited-edition black-and-white pictorial coffee table book, which is the first in Barn Door's Michigan Pioneer Farm Heritage series. This program is presented by Barn Door Publishing and the Women's National Book Association-Detroit chapter in support of National Reading Group Month, October 2007. Registration required; call 248-684-0845 to register. Registration begins Saturday, September 29.

Detroit WNBA will present the 2007 Bookwoman Award to Terry Blackhawk, award-winning poet and author of 3 volumes of poetry, who founded InsideOut Literary Arts Project www.insideoutdetroit.org. InsideOut places professional creative writers as teachers and mentors in Detroit Public Schools to encourage young people's imaginative writing. The program promotes self-confidence by publishing and celebrating the students’ creative work, while it empowers students by teaching basic literacy skills and self-expression through writing. InsideOut also provides students with opportunities to perform their work through poetry readings and competitions.

Sue Stauffacher, author of Donuthead, Harry Sue, Bessie Smith and the Northriders, and The Angel and Other Stories will be the guest speaker for the kick-off of the 2006/2007 WNBA Detroit Chapter program year. Ms. Stauffacher is the winner of the WNBA Los Angeles Chapter’s Judy Lopez Memorial Award for Children’s Literature which “recognizes works of literary excellence for nine-to-twelve-year-olds.” Following the WNBA meeting, Ms. Stauffacher will speak at the Southfield Public Library’s Books & Beyond Festival. You can find more about Ms. Stauffacher at her website.

Our annual meeting will emphasize books, books, books, and wishes. Each member is asked to bring a favorite "beach read" and tell what the book is about and why she likes it. Members can also bring books for swapping with each other as well as books and/or other items for donating to the Ecorse Public Library. Finally, WNBA-Detroit is establishing a "chapter wishlist" for members to list wishes for work and/or home and suggestions for fulfillment.

Livonia author Gene Scott, author of the 2006 Michigan Notable Book, Michigan Shadow Towns, will speak about his book. Michigan Shadow Towns looks at 128 small towns that have survived local economic failures and significant declines in population. Some of the towns are still declining and likely to vanish, while others have come back from near-ghost town status to become more prosperous than ever.

From the Benson Ford Research Center web site (http://www.hfmgv.org/research/about/default.asp) “Henry Ford’s book collecting began in 1913 with McGuffey Readers that he remembered from his childhood. Later in the 1920s he focused on other early textbooks, trade catalogs and books associated with the buildings he acquired for Greenfield Village. In addition, the museum staff maintained files that documented many of the museum’s industrial and household acquisitions. These and other holdings became the museum’s library.”

Just for fun, there will be an outing to a Detroit Tigers and Boston Red Sox baseball game, continuing the theme of the ruby red anniversary.

Since 2006 is the chapter's ruby red anniversary, the annual meeting will include a tour of Redford Public Library and dinner.

U of D Mercy houses the Dudley Randall Broadside Press Collection. The meeting will include the election of officers of 2006-2007. After the meeting and dinner, will be a presentation about Broadside Press which shares a 40th anniversary with Detroit WNBA in 2006. The guest speaker will be Dr. Rosemary Weatherston, Mr. Albert Ward, & Dr. Gloria House.

The chapter had an "outing" to the bookstore Halfway Down the Stairs, the local Pannell winner.

January 19th was the chapter's 40th anniversary date and we celebrated at the Main Detroit Public Library, where the chapter was founded in 1966. The evening included a tour of the Ernie Harwell Room (Detroit Tigers memorabilia) and fine-binding books in the Burton Collection, launch of the chapter website, and dinner. The chapter presented an honorary membership to Nancy Skowronski, DPL Library Director in memory of our first president, Marion Young, the late DPL Head of Children's Services.

Author Denise Jenkins bought Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis's bathing suit at an auction. She will bring the famous bathing suit to illustrate her talk about auctions and Jackie. She'll also talk about her recently-published children's book, Where Do Baby Teeth Go? Copies of Denise's book will be available for purchase and signing by the author.

Chapter members celebrated WNBA Boston member Claire Cook's best-selling first novel, now a motion picture, Must Love Dogs, starring Diane Lane and John Cusack.

Guests joined guest speaker, Cindy LaFerle of Royal Oak, whose award-winning domestic life column and essays have appeared in such publications as Reader's Digest, Mary Engelbreit's Home Companion, The Christian Science Monitor, and The Detroit Free Press. Ms. LaFerle shared some thoughts about the growing popularity of literary memoirs by mothers and their impact, and followed with the reading of a new essay to be published in June.

This program is a slideshow presentation by Irene Sobel, Detroit Institute of Arts Speakers Bureau. Join your Women's National Book Association friends as we celebrate Women's History Month. This program will feature women who have defied convention and overcome prejudice to create enduring artistic statements.

Seedlings is a nonprofit organization whose mission is to increase the opportunity for literacy by providing high quality, low-cost children's literature in Braille. Please join us at the Seedlings Headquarters for a presentation by founder Debra Bonde and Community Outreach Director Susan Bresler.

An informal pot luck and tea was held to get together with other members and to collect donated goods for a local women's domestic violence shelter.

Please join us as we present the 2004 Bookwoman of the Year Award to Marta Salij, Book Critic of the Detroit Free Press. Ms. Salij is being honored for her efforts to promote reading through the Free Press/Magic 105.1 Book Club which has sparked discussion groups at local libraries, online, and on the radio.

With guest speaker Kathy Marcaccio. Join us as GWTW expert Kathy Marcaccio shares her knowledge and love of Margaret Mitchell's classic novel and the famous film featuring Vivien Leigh, Clark Gable, Olivia deHaviland, Leslie Howard, and Hattie McDaniel. Set during the Civil War and Reconstruction eras, GWTW has enchanted readers and moviegoers for over sixty years. Kathy will bring items from her personal collection as well, such as figurines, books, and other memorabilia.

Featuring guest speaker Dedria Bryfonski, Executive Vice President, Global Market & Customer/Market Services, Thomson Gale. Most of us are familiar with the Thomson Gale family of publishing imprints, such as Macmillan Reference USA, Charles Scribner's Sons, Primary Source Microfilm, UXL, and Greenhaven Press, along with the numerous products published by the group. Join us at the Thomson Gale World Headquarters for product demonstrations and a program featuring Dedria Bryfonski, who will discuss reference publishing in today's environment.

Join author Marcy Heller Fisher and illustrator Marge Hecht Simon as they share their new book, Fired Magic: Detroit Pewabic Pottery Treasures, recently published by Wayne State University Press. This is a rare joint appearance by both the author and the illustrator as they provide an engaging tour of Pewabic Pottery, which is celebrating its 100th anniversary.

Featuring Bookwoman of the Year Honoree Cathryn Weiss, Director, Oakland Literacy Council. Ms. Weiss has been instrumental in recruiting and training volunteers who are organized to meet weekly with adult learners to assist them in learning to read, write, spell, and speak conversational English.

Author David Collins of Berkley has written a hauntingly beautiful memoir about his wife's struggle with breast cancer while she was pregnant with her first child. Booklist calls the book "moving and true," and Amazon customers unanimously give it five-star reviews.

This program features Jane Stroud of the Detroit Institute of Arts. Detroiters have a rare opportunity to experience the power and passion of dance as depicted by one of the great masters of impressionism, Edgar Degas. The "Degas and the Dance" exhibit, at the DIA from October 20, 2002, through January 12, 2003, includes works from 97 collections in all media spanning Degas' entire career. Join Jane Stroud as she presents a slide presentation with an inside look at this wonderful exhibit.

Featuring speaker Elizabeth Plourde, author and clinical laboratory scientist, the presentation will focus on the risks and benefits of hormone replacement therapy, alternatives to standard medications, and insights into today's pharmaceutical industry. She is author of Hysterectomy and Ovary Removal: What All Women Need to Know.

Whether you are single, married, divorced, or widowed, you have to deal with that other gender. Do you sometimes feel as though you're not getting through? Has he just landed from another planet? Are there any solutions to this dilemma? Motivational speaker Sylvia Rubach offers her humorous insights in this lively program.