January 5, 1944 is the birth date of Betsy Maestro in Brooklyn, NY.

She grew up in a home filled with books and loved to read.

Betsy taught kindergarten and first grade for 11 years before becoming a writer of picture books for children.

After meeting her illustrator husband, Giulio Maestro, she decided to write and he illustrated more than 100 books. They are famous for their American Story series.

The couple have two children, two cats and a goldfish. They live in a converted cow barn overlooking a salt marsh with many water birds in Old Lyme, Conn.

We have two of her books available at the library: (B-2) Ferryboat and (JNF) The Story of the Statue of Liberty.

American poet, journalist and biographer, Carl Sandburg was born January 6, 1878 in Galesburg, Ill.

His family was poor, he left school at the age of 13 to help support them and then went off to the Spanish-American War.

After the war he enrolled in Lombard where he studied and a professor encouraged him and paid for the publication of Carl’s first poetry flyer called Reckless Ecstasy.

Carl married, moved to Chicago, became an editorial writer for the Chicago Daily News and began having his poetry published.

He admired President Abraham Lincoln and spent years studying him. Carl then wrote his six-volume biography of the past president.

Sandburg’s collection and archives are in the University of Illinois Rare Book and Manuscript Library.

Carl Sandburg College is in Galesburg, Ill.

His home of 22 years, located in Flat Rock, North Carolina, is currently taken care of as a National Historic site.

Sandburg died July 22, 1967.

We have several of his books including: (B) Abraham Lincoln: the Prairie Years; Abraham Lincoln: the War Years; Always the Young Strangers; (F) Remembrance Rock; (NF) The American Songbag; Breathing Tokens; Complete Poems and Honey and Salt.

We wish all of our friends and patrons a Happy New Year and invite you to come visit your Henryetta Public Library in 2020!