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| U.S. Army launches K-9 Corps On March 13, 1942, the Quartermaster Corps (QMC) of the United States Army begins training dogs for the newly established War Dog Program, or "K-9 Corps." In the United States, the practice of training dogs for military purposes was largely abandoned after World War I. When the country entered World War II, the American Kennel Association and a group called Dogs for Defense began a movement to mobilize dog owners to donate healthy and capable animals to the Quartermaster Corps of the U.S. Army. Training began in March 1942, and that fall the QMC was given the task of training dogs for the U.S. Navy, Marines and Coast Guard. The K-9 Corps initially accepted over 30 breeds of dogs, but the list was soon narrowed to seven: German Shepherds, Belgian sheep dogs, Doberman Pinschers, collies, Siberian Huskies, Malumutes and Eskimo dogs. After basic obedience training, they were sent through one of four specialized programs to prepare them for work as sentry dogs, scout or patrol dogs, messenger dogs or mine-detection dogs. The top canine hero of World War II was Chips, a German Shepherd who served with the Army's 3rd Infantry Division. Trained as a sentry dog, Chips broke away from his handlers and attacked an enemy machine gun nest in Italy, forcing the entire crew to surrender. The wounded Chips was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross, Silver Star and the Purple Heart-all of which were later revoked due to an Army policy preventing official commendation of animals. Learn more and check out these titles |
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| Books on the Air An overview of talked-about books and authors. This weekly update, published every Friday, provides descriptions of recent TV and radio appearances by authors and their recently released books. See the hot titles from the media this week. |
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| Lily King Lily King grew up in Massachusetts and received her B.A. in English Literature from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and her M.A. in Creative Writing from Syracuse University. After grad school she took a job as a high school English teacher in Valencia, Spain and began writing her first novel. Eight years, ten more moves all over the US, and many bookstore, restaurant and teaching jobs later, that novel was published as The Pleasing Hour in 1999. Her 2014 novel Euphoria won the Kirkus Award, The New England Book Award, The Maine Fiction Award, and was a finalist for the National Book Critics Award. Her new novel Writers & Lovers is a New York Times Book Club pick of the Month, an Indie Next List March pick, the Amazon Spotlight of the Month, and the Today Show's Read with Jenna March pick. Lily lives in Portland, Maine with her husband, two daughters, and two dogs. Check out her books here. |
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| Library Reads March 2020 Library Reads harnesses the value of “library staff picks” into a single nation-wide discovery tool, a monthly list of ten newly released must reads. Check out the top ten books -with the addition of Hall of Fame authors-published this month that librarians across the country love. |
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| We are all in the gutter, but some of us are looking at the stars.-Oscar Wilde, Lady Windermere's Fan
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