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This fall Des Plaines resident Jill Morgenthaler's new book, The Courage to Take Command: Leadership Lessons from a Military Trailblazer was published by McGraw-Hill.

For several years Colonel Jill Morgenthaler (ret.) has been a familiar face in the library, using our study rooms and wireless Internet access to work on her book about leadership. Jill takes over thirty years of military experience and develops a practical leadership guide. With chapter headings like, 'Not everyone wants you to succeed', 'Charm is a verb' "Dealing with Bullies' and 'How to Survive Unreasonable People', I can’t wait to read it.

If leadership is not a skill you want to develop, maybe you need help with time management. Local resident Rita Emmett’s book, Manage your Time to Reduce your Stress: a Handbook for the Overworked, Overscheduled, and Overwhelmed, can help you.

What do Rita Emmett and Jill Morgenthaler have in common? They both are professional speakers. I have had the pleasure of listening to Rita and she is terrific. A fellow staffer told me she heard Jill speak at a Des Plaines VFW Post 2992 program honoring the women who served in World War II. She enthusiastically described Jill’s presentation as “off the charts”.

In Wheaton resident Joanne Zienty’s novel The Things We Save, the lead character sorts through her late grandmother’s possessions. The artifacts of a life trigger memories and the book explores the need to remember and the need to move on. What is the Des Plaines connection? Joanne is a media specialist at  Forest School Library in Des Plaines. Look for Joanne at the Des Plaines Public Library as a presenter for the Inside Writing and Publishing program this spring.

Here are couple more books with a Des Plaines connection. Can you add to this list? If you can, please comment.