Maine Humanities Council

Thin Blue Lines is a project of Portland’s Arts & Equity Initiative. The project brings local poets and photographers together with Portland police officers and detectives to create poems and photographs that increase the public’s knowledge and appreciation of police work. The first product of this collaboration was a calendar that was sold as a fundraiser for the family of Sgt. Rob Johnsey, who died of an accidental gun discharge in May of 2008.

This recording is from a reading that the participants—poets and police officer-poets—gave at the Portland Public Library. To learn more about this project, or to obtain a copy of the 2009 calendar, please visit Arts & Equity online.

Thin Blue Lines [ 48:38 ] Play Now | Play in Popup | Download (4244)

Chris Bohjalian is the author of eleven novels, including the New York Times bestsellers The Double Bind, Before You Know Kindness, The Law of Similars, and Midwives. Bohjalian won the New England Book Award in 2002. His work has been translated into 25 languages and has sold over three and a half million copies. He lives in Vermont, where he has been a Sunday columnist for the Burlington Free Press since 1992. In this excerpt from his reading in Portland, Bohjalian comments on the state of reading in the U.S., shares an anecdote from a previous book tour, and explains the inspiration for his World War II love story, Skeletons at the Feast.

This reading was part of the Portland Public Library’s Brown Bag Lecture Series, sponsored by Martin’s Point Health Care. Please feel free to add your comments below.

Chris Bohjalian [ 16:33 ] Play Now | Play in Popup | Download (2723)

Here is another story by Martin Waddell about Little Bear and Big Bear. It is read aloud by Rachel Davis, children’s librarian at the Thomas Memorial Library in Cape Elizabeth. Then Rachel shares two fingerplays.

Text copyright 2005 by Martin Waddell. Illustrations copyright 2005 by Anita Jeram. Reproduced by permission of Candlewick Press, Inc., Somerville, MA, on behalf of Walker Books Ltd., London. We welcome your feedback on any of Rachel Davis’s readings.

Sleep Tight, Little Bear [ 5:06 ] Play Now | Play in Popup | Download (2741)

Amy Hest’s third book about the bear named Sam is read aloud by Rachel Davis, children’s librarian at the Thomas Memorial Library in Cape Elizabeth. Rachel then teaches two fingerplays that you can do after you read the book.

Text copyright 2003 by Amy Hest. Illustrations copyright 2003 by Anita Jeram. Reproduced by permission of Candlewick Press, Inc., Somerville, MA. We welcome your feedback on any of Rachel Davis’s readings.

You Can Do It, Sam [ 5:11 ] Play Now | Play in Popup | Download (2724)

Here’s a funny book by British author Simon James, read aloud by Rachel Davis, children’s librarian at the Thomas Memorial Library in Cape Elizabeth. After she reads the book, Rachel teaches a fingerplay called “The Baby Grows” and a poem called “Bend and Stretch.”

Text and illustrations copyright 2004 by Simon James. Reproduced by permission of Candlewick Press, Inc., Somerville, MA. We welcome your feedback on any of Rachel Davis’s readings.

Baby Brains [ 4:55 ] Play Now | Play in Popup | Download (2717)

This is the first book that author Amy Hest wrote about the bear named Sam, a character inspired by her own son, Sam. Here, the book is read aloud by Rachel Davis, children’s librarian at the Thomas Memorial Library in Cape Elizabeth. Rachel then teaches two fingerplays about kisses.

Text and illustrations copyright 2004 by Simon James. Reproduced by permission of Candlewick Press, Inc., Somerville, MA. We welcome your feedback on any of Rachel Davis’s readings.

Kiss Goodnight [ 3:56 ] Play Now | Play in Popup | Download (3169)