A tribute to Librarians

A lovely tribute to librarians by author Connie McGovern at the October Librarians Sneak Peek Book Preview 2011. Read her speech at EarlyWord : the Publisher/Librarian Connection.

Five for Halloween - Highlights, 10/27/10

“By the pricking of my thumbs,
something wicked this way comes.” (Macbeth, Act IV, scene i)

Something wicked this way comes / Ray Bradbury
Sometime after midnight, a week before Halloween, the carnival rolls Green Town, IL. “Cooger & Dark’s Pandemonium Shadow Show has come. . . to destroy every life touched by its strange and sinister mystery. And two boys will discover the secret of its smoke, mazes, and mirrors; two friends who will soon know all too well the heavy cost of wishes. . . and the stuff of nightmare.” (from the cover)

And then there were none / Agatha Christie
From the Queen of Crime, one of her best-selling mysteries. Ten guests arrive on an island and one by one, are mysteriously murdered. See also, By the pricking of my thumbs.

Complete stories and poems of Edgar Allan Poe
Specializing in the macabre, Poe was the father of the modern detective story.

In “The Fall of the House of Usher”, the narrator receives a desperate letter from Roderick Usher, a "boyhood friend" requesting a visit. The visit to the old mansion becomes a Gothic horror story.

In “The Masque of the Red Death,” Prince Prospero seals one thousand royals in a castle in an attempt to escape the Red Death that has killed half the kingdom’s population.

In “The Tell-Tale Heart,” the narrator describes and carries out his plan to kill an old man and hide his dismembered body beneath the floorboards. The plan goes well until the killer hears his victim’s heart beating.

Killer Stuff / Sharon Fiffer
Jane Wheel, former business woman, is now a picker for an antique dealer, scrounging yard sales and auctions for treasures. When she stumbles on two dead bodies and winds up a murder suspect, Jane finds herself sleuthing for killers rather than killer stuff.
Fiffer is a native of Kankakee and a Bishop Mac grad whose books are set in Illinois and incorporates many local references. Her fifth Jane Wheel mystery will be published soon.

The girl who loved Tom Gordon / Stephen King
Nine-year-old Trisha McFarland wanders away from her brother and mother while hiking on the Appalachian Trail. When night falls, she finds solace listening to the Boston Red Sox game, following the performance of her hero, relief pitcher Tom Gordon. She imagines Gordon is with her as she tries to survive a night in the woods hiding from “an enemy known only by the slaughtered animals and mangled trees in its wake.” (from the inside cover)

"It's a Book!"

It's flat and rectangular. It doesn't tweet or text. It doesn't require a mouse or a password. What is it?
It's a book!

A mouse, a donkey, and a monkey discover the joys of reading in a new illustrated children's book by Lane Smith. Read more at The New York Times.

New Books, 10/20/10

Profiles in Economics
Adam Smith (1723-1790)
Known as the founding father of economics, Smith wrote about the importance of free trade.

Karl Marx (1818-1883)
German philosopher and author of the “The Communist Manifesto.”

John Maynard Keynes (1883-1946)
British professor and philosopher who advocated government spending to stimulate the economy.

Milton Friedman (1912-2006)
American economist who believed in free markets, individual liberty, and limited government. Awarded the Nobel Prize in Economics.

Government
Homeland Security
Agricultural subsidies

Opposing Viewpoints
Video Games
Discusses addiction to video games; how the games are linked to aggression, tolerance, gender roles; and whether their use should be regulated through legislation.

Lending a hand

The November issue of U.S. News and World Report is titled "Giving Back : a citizen's guide to public service."

Topics include the history and tradition of volunteerism in American, corporate phlanthropy, the "Giving Pledge" taken by some of our wealthiest, and the physical and spiritual benefits of volunteering.

Don't miss this issue!

Books and Bars

Avi Steinberg chronicles life as a prison librarian in Running the Books. He quickly learns there are many imaginative uses for library resources from fashioning weapons and body armor to leaving letters and notes for each other inside the books.

Read more at The New York Times

National Book Award Finalists

The National Book Awards are presented annually to recognize outstanding achievement in American literature. Given by writers to writers, the four categories include fiction, nonfiction, poetry, and young people's literature.

For the 2010 list of finalists, see http://www.nationalbook.org/

Man Booker Prize Awarded

The Man Book Prize for Fiction was awarded to Howard Jacobson for The Finkler Question.

"The Finkler Question is a novel about love, loss and male friendship, and explores what it means to be Jewish today.

Said to have ‘some of the wittiest, most poignant and sharply intelligent comic prose in the English language', The Finkler Question has been described as ‘wonderful' and ‘richly satisfying' and as a novel of ‘full of wit, warmth, intelligence, human feeling and understanding'." (http://www.themanbookerprize.com/news/stories/1459 ; accessed 10/15/10)

Grant Project - Vote Now!

bishop McNamara has applied for a "We Are Teachers" grant. The proposed project would begin an ebooks program in the Mac library. Voting for grant projects has begun and will be open until October 28th. Please visit the link below and cast a vote for Bishop Mac.

vote here

Thank you!

Book Highlights, 10/13/10

Rosalind Franklin & DNA / Anne Sayre
Rosalind Franklin (1920-1958) was a scientist whose “photographs of DNA were called ‘among the most beautiful X-ray photographs of any substance ever taken.’" Her photos were shown to James Watson who recognized the double-helix structure and rushed to publish the discovery; Watson, along with Francis Crick and Maurrice Wilkins, was awarded the 1962 Nobel Prize for this discovery. Franklin never received credit during her lifetime.

The Fossil Hunter / Shelley Emling
Mary Anning, the daughter of a poor family in Lyme Regis, England, was a fossil hunter and dealer who made significant contributions to paleontology. Her discoveries included the first ichthyosaur skeleton to be correctly identified and the first pterosaur skeleton located outside Germany. Her observations contributed to the discovery that belemnite fossils contained fossilized ink sacs, and that coprolites, known as bezoar stones at the time, were fossilized feces.
[For a fictionalized story of Mary Anning, see Remarkable Creatures / Tracy Chavlier]

The Haunting of Hill House / Shirley Jackson
A supernatural thriller, The Haunting of Hill House has been hailed as a perfect work of unnerving terror. “It is the story of four seekers who arrive at a notoriously unfriendly pile called Hill House: Dr. Montague, an occult scholar looking for solid evidence of a "haunting"; Theodora, his lighthearted assistant; Eleanor, a friendless, fragile young woman well acquainted with poltergeists; and Luke, the future heir of Hill House. At first, their stay seems destined to be merely a spooky encounter with inexplicable phenomena. But Hill House is gathering its powers—and soon it will choose one of them to make its own.” (from Amazon.com;10/13/10)

Alas, Babylon / Pat Frank
As boys growing up in Ft. Repose, Florida, Randy and Mark heard a fire-and-brim-stone preacher railing about the end times; each fiery statement was followed by “Alas, Babylon.” The phrase became the brothers’ code for trouble, and as adults, their code for a nuclear attack.

One day, based on military intelligence, Mark sent a telegram, "Urgent you meet me at Base Ops McCoy noon today. Helen and children are flying to Orlando tonight. Alas, Babylon."

Fewer Picture Books? Say it isn't so!

The Caldecott Medal is awarded annually by the Association for Library Service to Children, a division of the American Library Association, to the artist of the most distinguished American picture book for children. The 2010 Caldecott Medal was awarded to Jerry Pinkney for The Lion and the Mouse.

Recently, The New York Times ran an article stating that publishers are accepting fewer picture books and book sellers are allocating less shelf space to them. Parents are encouraging their young children to read text-heavy chapter books at an earlier age. I can’t help but wonder if by scrimping on picture books, parents are pushing children to skip or cut short an important developmental stage.

As the Times article relates, picture books often introduce children to serious topics. And they often use a larger, more challenging vocabulary than chapter books, the link between text and illustration helping children to learn new words.

Imagine a world without Dr. Seuss and his lively cast of cartoon characters. No Shel Silverstein and his funny line drawings. No Tasha Tudor, the eccentric American artist known for her lush borders and ubiquitous Corgis. Do we want our children to miss out on these and all their talented successors?

Emily Dickinson said, “There is no frigate like a book to take us lands away.” Picture books do that for young children. Not only do they amuse and entertain, they spark the imagination. They encourage flights of fancy, creativity, and artistry. Illustrations are a child’s earliest training in art appreciation. They train the eyes - of both young and old - to notice details. Picture books encourage their audience to be aware of wonder.

I believe picture books help children fall in love with reading. Their early encounters with beautiful and gently challenging picture books are a necessary step toward reading more text-heavy books. Studies have shown a correlation between reading and writing ability and academic achievement and for adults, athletic and civic involvement. We need creative thinkers and problem solvers. Businesses list the ability to write well at the top of their lists of desired skills for prospective employees. So let us not scrimp on the development of future readers. Encourage children to read picture book and when they are ready, any other book they can find. Stop by the library or the book store, curl up with an old classic or a new favorite, add a pinch of pixie dust, and let the imagination take flight.

It's thick as peanut butter out there!

Fog / Carl Sandburg

The fog comes
on little cat feet.

It sits looking
over harbor and city
on silent haunches
and then moves on.

A Homecoming Postscript

Thursday night's bonfire and pep rally began late. The homecoming queen was running in a cross country track meet. Congratulations, Samantha!

Homecoming

Homecoming week. The forecaster keeps saying the temps are warm for October. But I think they are perfect. Chilly mornings and evenings, divided by clear, warm afternoons. Warm enough to be comfortable, and cool enough to think it is football weather. Zippedee doo dah days we call them in the South.

Thursday of Homecoming week is Games Day. Classes are shortened and a few hours are dedicated to clean fun and competition. Freshmen, Sophomores, Juniors, and Seniors face off in a variety of games. The planning done by Student Council and their mentor is very impressive. There is a little room for athletes to strut their stuff: the basketball players invariably represent their classes in Knockout, and wrestlers and football players shine at tug-of-war. And just for the record, boys and girls compete together in Basketball Knockout, and a Junior GIRL won, knocking out a Senior Boy with her last shot. But happily, the games are planned so that there is something for everyone.

Today’s competition began with all members of the four classes racing to unroll giant rolls of toilet paper. Then there was “fan the egg” in which competitors had to move two eggs down the basketball court by fanning them with a pizza box. And “the weave” in which a team of 25 must weave crepe papers streamers around the entire team, passing them hand-to-hand, without breaking the streamer.

All the students modeled good sportsmanship. But the Freshmen team in particular caught my attention during the streamer race. They moved the roll of crepe paper carefully and steadily, patiently weaving themselves into a sleeve of grey. The hand-to-hand progress of the streamer roll was deliberate and methodical. The Juniors were rushing along and for a second it looked as though they might win. But no, like the tortoise racing the hare, slow and steady won the race for the Freshmen. And later, the Freshmen boys beat the Junior boys at tug-of-war. That never happens! But those guys just kept pulling. I don’t know the Freshmen class, rarely see them in the library. (We have to work on that!) But their persistence and conscientiousness impressed me.

Tonight, students will gather around a bonfire. The Homecoming queen and her court will be announced. Football players will work up a little anger for Friday night’s opponent.

And on Friday night, gladiators will suit up to battle between the goal posts. The queen will be crowned. The 1985 football team will be honored. The game will be followed by a dance. And then it will be over. One homecoming among many for the teachers. The first homecoming for our Freshmen. The first event in a year of lasts for our Seniors.

New Books - 10/6/10

Nonfiction
Lincoln’s flying spies: Thaddeus Lowe and the Civil War balloon corps / Gail Jarrow
For two years during the Civil War, Thaddeus Lowe led a group of balloonists who spied on Confederate troops and telegraphed messages to Union generals and President Lincoln.

Fiction
Fallout / Ellen Hopkins
Nearly twenty years after Kristina met the monster, her three oldest children struggle with addiction and poor choices. Can they find the courage to break the cycle?
With “Glass” and “Crank,” this if the third and final installment of Kristina’s story.

Insatiable / Meg Cabot
Meena Harper is a successful soap opera writer with a psychic gift for knowing how people are going to die. Meena doesn’t believe in vampires and is tired of vampire books and television shows, but she can’t get away from the “undead.” In the news, there are a rash of murders-by-exsanguination (look it up!) in New York City. At work, her bosses hope to attract more young viewers by adding a fanged character to the soap. And finally, it seems that she’s fallen in love with a vampire.

Return to paradise / Simone Elkeles
The sequel to “Leaving Paradise.” Caleb left Paradise seven months ago but he’s back and participating in a program for teens affected by drunk driving. The same program as Maggie. In alternating chapters, Maggie and Caleb tell their stories as they come to terms with Maggie’s accident, Caleb’s secret, and each other.

Poetry
Time you let me in : 25 poets under 25 / selected by Naomi S. Nye
If someday, in a morning, you see you,
in a mirror or the dent of a spoon, and wonder
Where is my soul and
Where has it gone, remember this:
Catch the gaze of a woan
on the metro, subway, tram.
Look at a man. Seek and
you will find you
in the slivered space,
a flash between souls.
[from Pupil / Brianne Carpenter]

Bomber County : the poetry of a lost pilot’s war / Daniel Swift
“In early June 1943, James Eric Swift, a pilot with the 83rd Squadron of the Royal Air Force, boarded his Lancaster bomber for a night raid on Münster and disappeared.”(from the inside cover) Bomber County chronicles Swift’s search for his lost grandfather while examining the poetry inspired by the bombing campaigns of WWII.

Short Stories
Short Stories / Louisa May Alcott
Contains five short stories by Alcott, best known for Little Women. From Alcott’s experience as a volunteer nurse during the Civil War come the story of her encounter with a dying soldier (“A night”)and
“My Contraband,” a tale of vengeance involving a nurse, her Confederate patient, and his former slave. The collection also includes “Obtaining supplies,” “Happy women,” and “How I went out to service.”

Hats off, Gentlemen!

“Please take off your hats, guys.”
“Why?”
“Because gentlemen always remove their hats indoors.”
“What about the girls?
“Ladies may wear hats indoors.”
“Aw … now you’re just making stuff up.”

No, dear students, I am not making this stuff up. Those guidelines are traditional manners that used to be taught to every child from the time that s/he was knee high to a grass hopper. But people seldom wear hats proper hats, such as fedoras and berets, and the traditional manners associated with them have been lost. Utilitarian hats – baseball caps, cowboy hats – have become the norm and are often worn in places other than the ball field, the corral, and the woods. I have actually seen men wearing baseball caps at a performance of The Messiah. That is just wrong.

So off to consult Miss Manners, who writes:

"Dear Miss Manners:
Where does one wear a hat these days?

Gentle Reader:
Same as always : on the head. (Whoops. You’ll have to pardon Miss Manners, who occasionally get giddy after a full day of this sort of thing.) . . . . A lady certainly may wear a hat inside church, a restaurant, or anywhere else during the daytime. The exception is a function in her own house, where hat wearing would suggest that she had some place better to go, unlike her guests. It is gentlemen who must take their hats off indoors. . . . (Miss Manners’ guide to excruciatingly correct behavior, p.42)"

I heard recently that men’s hats are making a comeback; however, the rules for wearing them are a bit fuzzy. Men are wearing or not wearing hats indoors based on a scale of perceived formality: hats are removed in formal settings and left on in more casual ones. Miss Manners must be very perturbed. The traditional rules, though old fashioned, are clear and require no judgment calls that might lead to behavior which others find offensive. Armed members of the military may wear hats indoors. Otherwise, it’s hats off, gentlemen!

Three new research titles

Social Issues in Literature series

--The American Dream in John Steinbeck’s “Of mice and men”

--Colonialism in Chinua Achebe’s “Things fall apart”

--War in Stephen Crane’s “The red badge of courage”

Oh, how far we have come!

This clothes-washing advice is not library-related, but I wanted to share it anyway. A friend passed it along, and it is terrific. And since everything is related to everything....well, technology can be wonderful. Whether it's washers and dryers or online catalogs or databases, technology has made our everyday work and our research much easier. We now have the world of knowledge at our fingertips. Machines that allow us to accomplish chores easily and efficiently allow us more time for leisure - including leisure reading. So, go do that laundry quickly and head to the library for a good weekend read!

"How sweet it is. Years ago an Alabama grandmother gave the new bride the following recipe for washing clothes. It appears just as it was written, and despite the spelling, has a bit of philosophy. This is an exact copy as written and found in an old scrap book-with spelling errors and all.

"Build fire in backyard to heat kettle of rain water. Set tubs so smoke wont blow in eyes if wind is pert. Shave one hole cake of lie soap in boilin water. Sort things, make 3 piles: 1 pile white, 1 pile colored, and 1 pile work britches and rags.To make starch, stir flour in cool water to smooth, then thin down with boiling water. Take white things, rub dirty spots on board, scrub hard, and boil, then Rub colored don't boil just wrench and starch. Take things out of kettle with broom stick handle, then wrench, and starch. Hang old rags on fence. Spread tea towels on grass. Pore wrench water in flower bed. Scrub porch with hot soapy water. Turn tubs upside down. Go put on clean dress, smooth hair with hair combs. Brew cup of tea, sit and rock a spell and count your blessings."