Grandmaster Kaidanov Visit Rescheduled For Feb. 24

Mark your calendar. Chess Grandmaster Kaidanov's canceled Dec. 9 presentation has been rescheduled for Feb. 24, 2-4 PM. This will be a rare treat for anyone who loves chess.

The Jackson W. Showalter Chess Club will next meet Jan. 13 and 27, 2-4 PM.

Archive of Discussed Pig Skull Books

Here are the books we discussed during 2007: Artemis Fowl (Feb.), Arctic Incident, Eternity Code, Opal Deception, Lost Colony (June), Harry Potter & Deathly Hallows (Sept.), Hatchet, Wild Man Island, and The Call of the Wild (Dec.).

Here are the books we discussed during 2008: Ranger's Apprentice (Jan.), The Wanderings of Odysseus, The City of Ember, The Giver, The Pig Scrolls, Black Potatoes (June), The Amulet of Samarkand (Nov.), and The Boy in the Striped Pajamas (Dec.).

Ranger's Apprentice: The Ruins of Gorlan--Jan. 20 Meeting

Choosing Day is the big day for 15 year-old Will and the rest of his fellow castle orphans. Will wants to be a knight and hopes to be chosen for the Kingdom's Battleschool but is deemed too small and is instead selected by a mysterious Ranger for training in an elite and secretive military organization. Will resists being pulled into the Rangers but soon finds his unusual natural talents transforming him into a Ranger Wunderkind. Just in time too because the evil, exiled Baron of Gorlan, Lord Morgarath, is amassing an army of hideous Warguls and Kalkara to again invade the Kingdom of Araluen.

This adventure story bristles with battles featuring savage wild boars and monsters showcasing characters' courage, friendship, loyalty, forgiveness and perseverance but also their struggles with weaknesses.