A Happy Birthday Month!

Since there are no federal holidays in August, you might think there's nothing much to celebrate. Wrong! There are hundreds of famous people who were born in August, giving us any number of excuses for a party--or for at least a trip to the library!

Here's a birthday boy or girl for each day of the month, and something from our collection that is related to each:

1 (1819) Herman Melville, author of one of the "classic" American novels, Moby Dick; Or, The Whale [F MEL].

2 (1905) Myrna Loy, actress, co-star of The Thin Man series of movies from the 1930s [DVD THI].

3 (1926) Tony Bennett, singer, Duets: An American Classic [CD MALE VOCALIST BEN].

4 (1961) Barack Obama, our 44th President, Barack Obama: The Story by David Maraniss [B OBA].

5 (1930) Neil Armstrong, first person to walk on the moon, Into the Unknown: How Great Explorers Found Their Way by Land, Sea, and Air by Stewart Ross [J 910.9 ROS].

6 (1928) Andy Warhol, artist, Andy Warhol by Eric Shanes [700.92 SHA].

7 (1876) Mata Hari, spy, Femme Fatale: Love, Lies, and the Unknown Life of Mata Hari by Pat Shipman [B MAT]

8 (1866) Matthew Henson, Arctic explorer, Onward : A Photobiography of African-American Polar Explorer Matthew Henson by Dolores Johnson [J B HEN].

9 (1944) Sam Elliott, actor, Louis L'Amour's The Quick and the Dead [DVD QUI].

10 (1947) Ian Anderson flute player and member of Jethro Tull, Benefit [CD ROCK TUL].

11 (1921) Alex Haley, author of Roots [B HAL], which was made into a major mini-series [DVD ROO].

12 (1881) Cecil B. DeMille, director and producer, The Greatest Show on Earth [DVD GRE].

13 (1860) Annie Oakley, Wild West entertainer, Annie Oakley by Charles Wills [J B OAK].

14 (1947) Danielle Steel, romance writer of too many novels to count, including Betrayal [F STE].

15 (1912) Julia Child, television chef, The French Chef With Julia Child [DVD 641.5944 FRE].

16 (1958) Madonna, singer and actress, True Blue [CD FEMALE VOCALIST MAD].

17 (1960) Sean Penn, actor, Milk [DVD MIL].

18 (1934) Roberto Clemente, baseball player and humanitarian, 21: The Story of Roberto Clemente: A Grephic Novel by Wilfred Santiago [J CX SAN].

19 (1883) Coco Chanel, fashion designer, The Gospel According to Coco Chanel: Life Lessons from the World's Most Elegant Woman by Karen Karbo [AB/CD B CHA].

20 (1954) Al Roker, TV meteorologist and writer, The Morning Show Murders [AB/CD MYS ROK].

21 (1904) Count Basie, jazz musician and bandleader, April in Paris [CD JAZZ BAS].

22 (1893) Dorothy Parker, author, The Collected Poetry of Dorothy Parker [811.54 PAR ].

23 (1949) Shelley Long, actress, The Money Pit [DVD MON].

24 (1960) Cal Ripken Jr., baseball player and author, Parenting Young Athletes the Ripken Way : Ensuring the Best Experience For Your Kids in Any Sport [796.083 RIP].

25 (1918) Leonard Bernstein, music composer, West Side Story [DVD WES].

26 (1906) Albert Sabin, developed oral polio vaccine, Polio [J 616.835 HEC].

27 (1910) Mother Teresa, humanitarian, A Simple Path [B TER].

28 (1925) Donald O'Connor, actor, dancer Singin' in the Rain [DVD SIN].

29 (1915) Ingrid Bergman, actress, Casablanca [DVD CAS].

30 (1797) Mary Wollenstone Shelley, author, Frankenstein: Or, the Modern Prometheus [F SHE].

31 (1870) Maria Montessori, educator, Modern Montessori at Home by Heidi Anne Spietz [371.392 SPI].

Look for a lot of press coverage around mid-month due to the 15th being the 100th anniversary of Julia Child's birth!