Seeking More of the Sky: Growing up in the 1930s

Monday, March 14th, 7:00 p.m.

It was a period when milkmen delivered milk in bottles to residential porches, icemen brought blocks of ice for the ice box, and the sound of steam locomotives echoed through the town. Come to Crowell Library on Monday, March 14th for a wonderful stroll down memory lane with author Charles “Norm” Stevens whose previous visits to Crowell delved into his life during World War II when he was a bombardier. His latest book, Seeking More of the Sky: Growing up in the 1930s, presents a plethora of stories covering his early years in Southern California during the Great Depression, when unemployment was affecting many, banks were closing, and the clouds of war were gathering in Europe. Older attendees may find a little of themselves in Stevens’ stories while the young may be amazed to learn how boys lived seventy-five years ago, creating toys out of old tires, bottle caps, and anything else they could find around the house.

Charles Stevens grew up in Inglewood, California. At 18 he joined the Army Air Corps, serving during World War II from 1943 until 1946. He is a recipient of the Distinguished Flying Cross and the Air Medal. He flew a B-l7 in the 8th Air Force at Polebrook, England during the summer and fall of l944. His tour of duty consisted of 34 bombing missions over Germany, occupied France, Belgium and Holland. Following the war he graduated from UCLA with a bachelor’s degree in psychology. He was a teacher in secondary schools for 32 years. He earned a master’s degree in English at California State University, Los Angeles, in English and American Literature. As an author he has published An Innocent at Polebrook: A Memoir of an 8th Air Force Bombardier, The Innocent Cadet: Becoming a WWII Bombardier, Back From Combat, as well as Seeking More of the Sky. Copies of Mr. Steven’s books will be available for purchase.

Come to Crowell Library and hear firsthand what the 1930s were like in Southern California.

Meet the Author: Brett Battles

Thursday March 10th 7:00 p.m.

The Friends of Crowell Public Library’s Meet the Authors series continues with Brett Battles, a Barry Award-winning author of over twenty novels, including the Rewinder series, the Jonathan Quinn series, the Logan Harper series, and the Project Eden series. He’s also the coauthor, with Robert Gregory Browne, of the Alexandra Poe series. In sci-fi thriller Rewinder, we meet Denny Younger who was born into one of the lowest rungs of society, but his fortunes change the day the mysterious Upjohn Institute recruit him as a “rewinder,” a verifier of personal histories. After accepting the offer, Denny discovers he’ll have to do his research in person by traveling through time. But as he journeys across the centuries, he begins to suspect that his missions to observe and report have a much darker purpose. Armed only with his wits and his time-travel device, Denny’s adventures take readers on a pulse-pounding journey of page-turning twists.

Brett Battles was born and raised in southern California. His debut novel, The Cleaner was nominated for the 2008 Barry Award for Best Thriller, and the 2008 Shamus Award for Best First Novel. His second novel, The Deceived, won the 2009 Barry Award for Best Thriller. He received an additional Barry Award nomination for the fourth in his Quinn series, The Silenced. Though he still makes California his home, he has traveled extensively to such destinations as Ho Chi Minh City, Berlin, Bangkok, Angkor Wat, Singapore, Jakarta, London, Paris, and Rome, all of which play parts in his current and upcoming novels.

Thanks to the Friends of the Library, the authors keep coming to Crowell Public Library!