JoCoLibrary Uncovered

How to Track a Killer...and Write About It!

Creative Nonfiction

In his writing blog, Find Your Creative Muse, Dave Hood provides a great summary definition of Creative Nonfiction:

“A historical text presents the facts and causes and effects, and significance. Creative nonfiction does the same, but also adds narrative, including storytelling, dialogue, setting, character development. Writing Nonfiction History relies on an authoritative tone and is written in the third person." 

In this episode, we interview Jim Cosgrove, author of the creative nonfiction title Ripple: A Long, Strange Search for A Killer. You may be familiar with Cosgrove as a nationally recognized, award-winning children’s entertainer known by young fans as Mr. Stinky Feet. He is also the author of three children’s books and Everybody Gets Stinky Feet, a collection of inspirational essays from his time as a parenting columnist for The Kansas City Star. Cosgrove spent his time during the COVID pandemic and subsequent lockdown to finish his incomplete investigative work focused on finding the killer of a family friend, Frank McGonigle. His resulting book, Ripple, is Cosgrove's story about Frank's cold case. He uncovers connections to a ruthless local crime boss and the blunders by the threadbare sheriff's department.

“Our story is no different from what a lot of families have dealt with. A child, a brother, whoever. They got murdered in a violent way that didn’t make any sense.

~Ripple, A Long Strange Search for a Killer - Jim Cosgrove

We use Jim's book as an exemplar of creative nonfiction because he walks us through his experience researching and writing. We truly get the story behind the story! We also bring in Local History Librarian Amanda Wahlmeier who walks us through regional reference resources available so you too can research the next great creative nonfiction true crime novel!

Our Recommendations:     
Charles’ Choices: Dodge City: Wyatt Earp, Bat Masterson, and The Wickedest Town in the American West by Tom Clavin & The Devil in the White City by Erik Larson.   
Dave’s Double-feature: visit the streaming video section of our eLibrary: On Kanopy you'll find Capote—a biographical drama about the author Truman Capote and his writing of the non-fiction novel In Cold Blood. It details the 1959 murders of four members of the Clutter family in the small farming community of Holcomb, Kansas. And, All the President’s Men—both the movie on DVD and the book by Carl Bernstein. Dustin Hoffman and Robert Redford star in this true story of Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein uncovering the White House involvement in the Watergate break-in.  

From our guests: search for Jim Cosgrove in our catalog and you’ll find the title we discussed today: Ripple in print, eBook and downloadable audiobook formats. You’ll also see 12 other titles by Jim—music and books for kids—which just goes to show what a diversely talented individual Mr. Cosgrove is!  
From our catalog: Creative Nonfiction  
A Helpful Writing Resource: Find Your Creative Muse. Learn How to Write Poetry, Fiction, Personal Essays, and More, a blog by Dave Hood.

Post-Apocalyptic Fiction

It’s National Preparedness Month which is an observance each September to raise awareness about the importance of preparing for disasters and emergencies that could happen at any time. So, get prepared:

1. Get informed (we suggest registering at NotifyJoCo for emergency alerts.)
2. Make a plan
3. Assemble a Kit
4. Maintain your kit

And, make sure there's a good book in that kit! Can we suggest a Post-apocalyptic fiction title?

We welcome back Gregg Winsor and friends to take a deep-dive into Post-apocalyptic fiction—a subgenre of science fiction where some disaster has occurred, and we discover IF the characters were … prepared.

Our Recommendations:  
Charles’ Choices: The Passage by Justin Cronin & Hollow Kingdom by Kira Jane Buxton
Dave’s Double-feature: visit the streaming video section of our eLibrary—: On IndieFlix you’ll find a 14 minute Drama/Science Fiction film from 2022 called Riley. On Kanopy under one of our favorite categories—The Great Courses—learn about Great Utopian and Dystopian Works of Literature. 
From our catalog: Post-Apocalyptic Stories 
Important Preparedness links:

• Official National Preparedness Month website: ready.gov
• Notify JoCo
• FEMA and the American Red Cross: Preparing for Disaster
• American Public Health Association: Natural Disaster Preparedness Quiz

 

 

Apples, Oranges and Bananas

In honor of Labor Day, we invited five staff members with very different behind-the-scenes jobs to answer three simple questions. You’ve heard the saying, “That’s like comparing Apples and Oranges” right? Well, Dave and Charles take it one step further with Apples, Oranges and Bananas. We picked staff with jobs that touch every part of the Library system—Josh: the Warehouse Manager, Patti: the Executive Assistant, Bryan: a Courier, Julie: a Training Specialist and Brian: a MakerSpace Facilitator. Hear what these individuals do and learn about the Library from unique perspectives. We even let them play Librarian and suggest great titles.   

   

Our Recommendations:  
Charles’ Choices: Creativity, Inc. by Ed Catmull
Dave’s Double-feature: Apollo 13 and Seven Samurai in Kanopy 
From our catalog: every title mentioned in the episode

KC True Crime

"Like most cities during Prohibition, Kansas City had illegal alcohol, bootleggers, speakeasies, cops on the take, corrupt politicians and moralizing reformers. But by the time the Eighteenth Amendment was repealed, Kansas City had been singled out by one observer as one of the wettest cities, as well as the wickedest.“     
~ Prohibition in Kansas City, Missouri: Highballs, Spooners & Crooked Dice by John Simonson 

Your history-loving hosts, Charles "T-Bone" Hower and the "Jackalope"—AKA Dave "Curtains" Carson—spill the beans and sing like canaries to reveal the darkside of Kansas City history. It's Kansas City True Crime on the JoCoLibrary Uncovered Podcast. 

Join us as we explain how a lawless culture that began before the Civil War evolved into political and criminal empires that ultimately drew the FBI's focus as they fought to put an end to decades of crime and violence. We bring in special guest Erik Stafford who is a historian, storyteller and a Kansas City History Tour Guide to shed some light on stories that have lived in the dark for too long.

Show notes and booklist for recommended reading and research.

Thrillers and Mysteries

What is the difference between thrillers and mysteries? What are good recommendations in each of these genres? Readers Advisory Librarian Gregg is back with colleagues Piepie and Bet to do a deep dive into thrillers and mysteries and titles that are a good mixup of the two genres.

Our Thriller and Mystery Recommendations:  
Charles’ Choice: Hell is Empty, Craig Johnson
Dave’s Double-feature: No Country for Old Men and Memento in Kanopy in our eLibrary
From our catalog: Thrillers and Mysteries

Oppenheimer Revisited

Bonus Episode!

In June of 2020, we produced a podcast episode about J. Robert Oppenheimer. It was part of a series we called "Author Research in Action" where we invited two guests—one an award-winning author, and the other a subject matter expert. We stepped back let them interview each other and we recorded their conversation. Considering the movie Oppenheimer—The story of the American scientist and his role in the development of the atomic bomb—is currently in theaters, we thought it appropriate to revisit this episode.

 

Reference Librarian Helen Hokanson hosts a discussion on the Manhattan Project and so much more. Los Alamos National Laboratory Program Manager and Senior Historian, Alan Carr is paired with author Robert J. Sawyer, who’s written a new SciFi/historical fiction/thriller called THE Oppenheimer Alternative. 

Our recommendations:   
There are more than 240 Booklists on Oppenheimer in our catalog
One of our Librarians produced a list titled: Thanks Oppenheimer!
Another of our Librarians created a list that acknowledges the cultural impact of both the Oppenheimer and Barbie movies: Barbenheimer 2023

Hobbies

What is a hobby? Some say it's any activity you might engage in during your leisure time for pleasure. We disagree. Vehemently! We say it has to have some personal enrichment component. Why? Well mostly because we have so many great leisure time resources that we couldn't fit them into one episode! 

Last month we talked about fun activities that bring you pleasure. This month, we're exploring how the library can help with your enriching leisure activities. The Librarians are back to provide a deep-dive into hobbies. Readers Advisory Librarian Helen Hokanson leads a discussion with librarian Jess Gilson, MakerSpace facilitator Lydia Perez and clerk Joyce Mitchell. They share their hobbies and introduce you to all kinds of Library resources. 

 

Our Hobby recommendations:   
Charles’ Choice: Model Railroading in our eMagazine section
Dave’s video recommendation: go to jocolibrary.org/elearning, scroll down to the “Great Courses” section and click: “Go to Great Courses.” You will land on the Kanopy page with all of the Great Courses categories. Loh and behold, the second row is the category “Hobbies!” Learn how to draw, cooking techniques, dog training and more!
From our catalog—Hobbies  

Fun Drive

July is National Anti-boredom Month. We combat boredom with fun!

If you listen to public or community radio, or you watch PBS, you are very familiar with “The Fund Drive"—that's "fund" with a "D." We’re not going to do that! Instead, we’d like to introduce a NEW concept—an annual FUN drive—that's ‘fun’ without a ‘D’. That's right: “Fun Drive” 

See, while a “Fund Drive” garners funds, a “Fun Drive” gathers what our Librarians and Patrons consider “fun"—we’re talking guilty pleasures, passions, interests, whatever you engage in just for the fun of it. We then take a deep-dive into Library programs, services and even the collection to show how the Library can help you have fun and win your battle against boredom! 

It's a fun episode. Literally.

Our Fun recommendations:   
Charles’ Choice: Kirby and the Forgotten Land for Nintendo Switch  
Dave’s Double feature: streaming video from Kanopy. Waiting for Guffman & Pee-Wee's Big Adventure  
Fun Drive Recommendations from our catalog  
And, what's more fun than Dad jokes?

 

Hopepunk

“Hope is the thing with feathers that perches in the soul and sings the tune without the words and never stops at all.” – Emily Dickinson

If you look up the term "hopepunk" online, the first definition offered up describes it as "A branch of speculative fiction featuring characters fighting for positive change, radical kindness, and communal responses to challenges." But, we can't just leave it at that. We need examples! Readers Advisory Librarian Gregg Winsor drops by with Josh Neff and Jo Field who share Hopepunk titles that they hope you will enjoy.

Our Hopepunk recommendations:   
Charles’ Choice: Sourdough by Robin Sloan  
Dave’s Double feature: streaming video from Kanopy. Anthony Bourdain's A Cook's Tour and Alone  
Hopepunk Recommendations from our catalog  

Incarcerated

Individuals faced with temporary detention at the Adult Residential Center (ARC) in New Century, KS, rely on access to Johnson County Library materials on their road to recovery. Incarcerated Services Librarian Melody Kinammon introduces us to members of the ARC therapeutic community, Phil and Dia. They share how exploring books and using the on-site library has helped them.

Also, Youth Services Librarian Jayma Zook shares her experience with Read to Me—incarcerated parents are recorded reading aloud and the Library provides a copy of the recording and the book to their child.

It’s all part of what we call: “Outreach Services.” We uncover programs, stories and services you might not have known about. 

Our recommendations:    
Charles’ Choice: Night of the Ninth Dragon by Mary Pope Osborn (from the Magic Treehouse Series)     
Dave’s Double feature: streaming video from Kanopy. Language and Literacy Development and Father and Daughter.    
Melody: Literature for Justice reading list with a variety of titles—nonfiction and fiction—that address the United States criminal justice system.   This is a list she’s always updating!    
Jayma: The Daddy Book and The Mommy Book. She says both are very popular with the Read to Me crowd, but one that comes to mind that talks specifically about incarceration is Missing Daddy by Mariame Kaba.  It has a discussion guide at the end to help facilitate a discussion with kids about this hard topic.    
Books mentioned in the episode: JoCoLibrary Uncovered - Incarcerated Booklist