Tuesday, December 19, 2017


           

  And They Read Happily Ever After


"Promise me you'll always remember: you're braver than you believe, and stronger than you seem, and smarter than you think." A.A. Milne, Winnie the Pooh


I'm a firm believer that we're never too old to read a great picture book. And if we have a baby or toddler curled up next to us, listening and learning, it's even better.

Recently my sister and I were talking about all the babies in our lives. "We're surrounded by cuteness," she said. It's true. We have a second generation of adorable blossoming readers discovering all the magic of books. And through them, I am again transported back to picking blueberries with bears, hanging out with cows that type or anxiously waiting to find out just what the polar bear heard. 

Even as a young aunt, I was a book giver. (I loved reading the books, too!) Toys and clothes were occasionally given, but I cherished the time spent choosing the perfect book for a young niece or nephew. Now they are adults in their 20s, 30s and 40s, and we still talk about books. They remember The Giving Tree and Peter Rabbit. They remember trips to the library and book stores.

And some of those same books are special to their children. As a great-aunt, I'm still excited about buying a memorable book for my youngest of developing readers.

Choosing a picture book can seem daunting with so many choices on the shelves. First, have fun looking around the store. Don't hesitate to ask for suggestions. And think back to your own childhood...which books interested you? Look for familiar names like Seuss, Boynton, or Carle. Are you looking for a quiet book (Goodnight Moon) or an explosion of sound (Sheep in a Jeep)? A classic or introductory science? Books about siblings or the alphabet? 
  
Many books are published in both board book and picture book formats. Board books are usually able to withstand a lot of chewing, throwing and grabbing. Board book topics range from colors to yoga to sign language to nursery rhymes. 

Do you need a last-minute gift idea? Buy some bath toys, a soft baby robe or towel, and a fun waterproof bath book (Barnyard Bath or Bath Time!) by Sandra Boynton.

Packing for a trip? Grab a few of the Indestructible series (Baby Night Night or Things That Go). The language is very simple but the books themselves are just about... indestructible. 

If you've forgotten the joy of a picture book, check out Bruce Handy's book Wild Things - The Joy of Reading Children's Literature as an Adult or Leonard Marcus' compilation of conversations with celebrated illustrators about why picture books matter in Show Me a Story

Have fun shopping and reading


                                     Classics

Make Way for Ducklings, Blueberries for Sal - Robert McCloskey

Corduroy - Don Freeman
The Giving Tree - Shel Silverstein
Goodnight Moon - Margaret Wise Brown
The Snowy Day - Ezra Jack Keats
Where's Spot? - Eric Hill
Velveteen Rabbit - Margery Williams 
Where the Wild Things Are - Maurice Sendak
The Very Hungry Caterpillar - Eric Carle
Paddington - Michael Bond

And check out these classic authors: Eve Bunting, Marc Brown (Arthur series), Tomie dePaola, Chris Van Allsburg and Steven Kellogg.


                                     Manners


Please and Thank You Book - Richard Scarry

Cookies: Bite Sized Lessons - Amy Krouse Rosenthal
Llama Llama Time to Share - Anna Dewdney
The Thank You Book - Mo Willems

                                 First Books


I Wish You More - Amy Krouse Rosenthal

When the World was Waiting for You - Gillian Shields
On the Night You Were Born - Nancy Tillman
What a Wonderful World - Tim Hapgood
Pat the Bunny - Dorothy Kunhardt
Ten Tiny Toes - Caroline J. Church 


                                      Love

Hugs for You - Paula Hannigan

That's Me Loving You - Amy  Krouse Rosenthal
Sugar Cookies - Amy Krouse Rosenthal
I Love You to the Moon and BackAmelia Hepworth
I Love You More - Laura Duksta
Wherever You Are, My Love Will Find You - Nancy Tillman
I Love You Through and Through - Bernadette Rosetti-Shustak
How Do I Love You? - Marion D. Bauer 
Love You Forever - Robert Munsch
Papa Please Get the Moon for Me - Eric Carle

                                    Action


The Napping House - Audrey Wood, Don Wood

We're Going on a Bear Hunt - Helen Oxenbury 
Five Little Monkeys Jumping on the Bed - Eileen Christelow
Little Blue Truck - Alice Schertle
Chicka Chicka Boom Boom - Bill Martin Jr.
Dinosaur Dance - Sandra Boynton
Silly Sally - Audrey Wood
Sheep in a Jeep - Nancy Shaw

                                New Classics


If You Give a Mouse a Cookie - Laura Numeroff

Don't Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus - Mo Willems
The Day the Crayons Quit - Drew Daywalt
Click Clack Moo Cows That Type - Doreen Cronin 

                         Science/Early nonfiction


Baby Loves Science series:

Quarks
Aerospace Engineering
Thermodynamics

Richard Scarry - Best Word Book Ever, Busy Busy Day, A Day at the Fire Station

Jamie Lee Curtis - Today I Feel Silly, Big Words for Little People
Byron Barton - Building a House, I Want to be an Astronaut, Machines at Work
Gail Gibbons - From Seed to Plant, Farming, Sea Turtles

                            Classics with a Twist

Baby Lit series - Jennifer Adams:

The Nutcracker (dancing)
Little Women (playtime)
Moby Dick (ocean)
A Christmas Carol (colors) 

                                  Strong Girls


Feminist Baby - Loryn Brantz

This Little Trailblazer - Joan Holub
She Persisted - Chelsea Clinton
Isabella: Girl in Charge - Jennifer Fosberry
Malala's Magic Pencil - Malala Yousafzal
Little People Big Dreams (series): Marie Curie, Rosa Parks
Baby's Big World: Women Who Changed the World - Alex Fabrizio

                              My New Favorites

Birds - Kevin Henkes

What a Wonderful World - Tim Hapgood
Itsy Bitsy Spider Iza Trapani (among others)
When the World was Waiting for you - Gillian Shields
I Wish You More - Amy Krouse Rosenthal

                                     Siblings


Little Miss, Big Sis - Amy Krouse Rosenthal

Sisters - David McPhail
The New Baby - Mercer Mayer
I'm a Big Brother/SisterJoanna Cole

                                  Good Night 


Llama Llama Nighty Night - Anna Dewdney
Goodnight Moon - Margaret Wise Brown
Dream Animals - Emily Winfield Martin
Ten, Nine, Eight - Molly Bang
Pete the Cat: Twinkle Twinkle Little Star - James Dean
Goodnight Yoga - Mariam Gates
Goodnight Goodnight Construction Site - Sherri D. Rinker
The Night Gardener - Terry Fox
Goodnight, I Love You - Caroline J. Church

                You Can Never Go Wrong With...


Lois Ehlert - Snowballs, Eating the Alphabet, Leaf Man, Feathers for Lunch, Planting a Rainbow


Eric Carle Very Hungry Caterpillar, Brown Bear Brown Bear, The Tiny Seed, ABC, (with Bill Martin, Polar Bear Polar Bear What Do You Hear?)


Dr. Seuss - Cat in the Hat, Green Eggs and Ham, Hop on Pop, What Pet Should I Get?


Kevin Henkes - Birds, Sheila Rae the Brave, Lilly's Plastic Purse, Old Bear


Paul Galdone (fairy tales) - The Three Billy Goats Gruff, Henny Penny, Jack and the Beanstalk


Beatrix Potter - The Complete Adventures of Peter Rabbit, The Tale of Jemima Puddle-Duck, The Tale of Mrs. Tiggy-Winkle, The Tale of Two Bad Mice 

                             Books About Books


Read to Your Bunny - Rosemary Wells

Bunny's Book Club - Annie Silvestro
Rocket Writes a Story - Tad Hills
Llama Llama's Little Library - Anna Dewdney
Lola at the Library - Anna McQueen
Library Lion - Michelle Knudsen
Biscuit Loves the Library - Alyssa Capucilli
How to Read a Story - Kate Messner
Five Little Monkeys Reading in Bed - Eileen Christelow

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Wednesday, December 13, 2017

                                Mortalis*

"The curse of mortality. You spend the first portion of your life learning, growing stronger, more capable. And then, through no fault of your own, your body begins to fail. You regress. Beauty withers. Organs fail. As your wisdom and experience are peaking, your traitorous body becomes a prison." Brandon Mull, author of Fablehaven


Emma Morano of Verbania, Italy, witnessed a lot of change in her 117 years of life. She arrived along with the new century, lived through two world wars, watched a world quickly changing thanks to industry and technology. According to The New York Times, Emma Morano was the oldest documented person on Earth at 117 years, 137 days, and a few hours. She was also the last person documented to have been born in the 1800s. The Times described her as a devout Catholic who was married once and only briefly because she "didn't want to be dominated by anyone." Her diet included three raw eggs each day. Being well-groomed was important as was the anti-aging skin cream found in her nightstand drawer, the Times reported. Emma Morano died April 15, 2017.

We're often reminded that only two things are certain in life: death and taxes. Taxes are fairly predictable. Death is a  sometimes unpredictable, always inescapable conclusion. Chuck Palahniuk, author of Fight Club, summed it up this way: "On a long enough time line, the survival rate for everyone drops to zero." 

If you're struggling with the death of loved ones or your own mortality, you aren't alone. At times it can seem that grief has moved in and now has a permanent seat at the table.

Rumi, a Persian poet (1207-1273), wrote that being human is to have unwelcome guests of grief, anger, fear, etc... His poem, "The Guest House," is often used in mindfulness classes and retreats:
"This being human is a guest house. Every morning a new arrival.
A joy, a depression, a meanness, some momentary awareness comes as an unexpected visitor."

The unexpected visitors can be difficult subjects. There are  books to enlighten, accompany, and comfort us.

Every Breath Becomes Air - Paul Kalanithi
End of Your Life Book Club - Will Schwalbe
Being Mortal - Atul Gawande
On Living - Kerry Egan
Bettyville - George Hodgman
Enjoy Every Sandwich - Lee Lipsenthal
A Widow's Story - Joyce Carol Oates
The Last Lecture - Randy Pausch
The Theft of Memory - Jonathan Kozol
The Year of Magical Thinking &
Blue Nights - Joan Didion
Can't We Talk About Something More Pleasant? - Roz Chast
The Bright Hour - Nina Riggs
The Middle Place - Kelly Corrigan
Stitches - Anne Lamott
The Art of Death: Writing the Final Story - Edwidge Danticat


"Songs to aging children come,
Aging children, I am one.

People hurry by so quickly
Don't they hear the melodies
In the chiming and the clicking
And the laughing harmonies?

Songs to aging children come,
Aging children, I am one."  Joni Mitchell, 1967 


                                         * * * * *
* Mortalis - (Latin, 1520s) noun. A mortal, human being. American Heritage Dictionary


                                      * * * * *
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Monday, December 4, 2017

                       Random Word

"Words are, of course, the most powerful drug used by mankind." 
                                                                       Rudyard Kipling


Protean:  (PRO-tee-en) adj.1598. 1: of or resembling Proteus in having a varied nature or ability to assume different forms  2: displaying great diversity or variety

Synonyms: adaptable, conversant, handy, skilled, variable

Sources: Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary & Roget's Thesaurus of Words for Writers, thesaurus.com. 


"To realize the emotions she (Stevie) wanted to express, Jimmy Iovine brought in the protean young English arranger-conductor Paul Buckmaster, famous for his work with the Rolling Stones, Elton John and Miles Davis."
                           from Gold Dust Woman: The Biography of Stevie Nicks by Stephen Davis



                                      * * * * *

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Friday, December 1, 2017

   December...it's going to get loud in here*

"...all the Who girls and boys, would wake bright and early. They'd rush for their toys! And then! Oh, the noise! Oh, the Noise! Noise! Noise! Noise! That's one thing he hated! The Noise! Noise! Noise! Noise! >>Dr. Seuss' How the Grinch Stole Christmas



It's not every day that you attend a tuba concert at a library. But if you're lucky enough to be in the vicinity of Cedar Rapids, Iowa, on Dec. 2, stop in to the library and be cheered by tubas.

As in years past, it is expected to be loud and merry with dozens of tubas playing holiday music. People will be sitting everywhere - stairs, benches, display areas. They'll be clapping and singing, surrounded by music.


I've discovered that it's not just books that create a library. It's a cup of coffee with The New York Times. It's a rooftop garden hosting a bridal shower. It's a little boy sporting an elf hat eating a cookie declaring that "this is the best day of my life." It's high school students playing violins in the lobby. It's genealogy classes. It's Story Time for excited preschoolers. It's a live reindeer snorting (and prancing?) on the sidewalk. 



It's my library.


It's my community. 









After a lively holiday concert, find a comfortable chair or sofa and read one of these new December books.

Fiction:
Elmot - Fiona Mozley
Three Daughters of Eve - Elif Shafak
Spy of the First Person - Sam Shephard (his final novel)
Enchantress of Numbers - Jennifer Chiaverini
The Demon Crown - James Rollins
The Boy - Tami Hoag
Year One - Nora Roberts
Death at Nuremberg - W.E.B. Griffin
The Wanted - Robert Crais
One Station Away - Olaf Olafsson

Nonfiction:
No Time to Spare - Ursula LeGuin (essays)
Global Discontents - Noam Chomsky
Waking Up in Winter - Cheryl Richardson

Children:
Paddington's Finest Hour - Michael Bond
Love From Peter Rabbit - Beatrix Potter
Dog Man and Cat Kid - Dav Pilkey



                                December Days

1     - Basketball Day (Yay to UConn women's team!!)

4     - National Cookie Day (Read America's Test Kitchen's The Perfect Cookie)

5     - Rosa Parks arrested, 1955. Boycott of bus system in Montgomery, Alabama began. (Learn more in Rosa Parks: My Story)

6     - St. Nicholas Day

7     - Pearl Harbor Remembrance Day

8     - Pretend to be a Time Traveler Day (Read the Outlander series by Diana Gabaldon or The Time Traveler's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger)

10    - Dewey Decimal System Day 

11    - UNICEF Day

12    - National Hot Cocoa Day (try a new recipe with Michael Turback's Hot Chocolate)

13    - Hanukkah begins (All About Hanukkah by Madeline Wikler)

14-28- Halcyon Days (Joy, felicity, jubilation,mirth)

15     - Bill of Rights Day

17     - Wright Brothers Day (Read David McCullough's The Wright Brothers)

21     - Celebrate Short Fiction Day
         - World Peace Day (Read Malala Yousafzai's memoir I am Malala)

24     - Egg Nog Day (Read Christmas Cookbook by Daniel Humpheys

25     - Christmas Day
         - Jimmy Buffett's 71st birthday. (Sing along with his book A Pirate Looks at Fifty

29     - No Interruptions Day

31     - Make Up Your Mind Day
        - Leap Second Adjustment Time 

                                     * * * * * 

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**Poster from a previous year...
it's tuba time at the library!







Wednesday, November 1, 2017

       November... 
       which means it's NaNoWriMo 2017

"You must stay drunk on writing so reality cannot destroy you."                    >> Ray Bradbury


It's time to gather your ideas, sharpen pencils (and minds), sit down and begin to write.


And write.


It's November, and time to celebrate National Novel Writing Month 2017. What? You don't have plans for a novel but you've been kicking around ideas for a picture book or memoir? You're in luck - November is also National Picture Month and National Memoir Month. If your genre is poetry or essays, pick up that pen. Sit at the keyboard.


And write.


Celebrate creativity every day this month. Write. Draw. Sing. Dance. Imagine.

   
Creative Sprint: Six 30-day Challenges to Jumpstart Your Creativity - Noah Scalin & Mica Scalin. Use the last song you remember hearing as your theme for the day (Day 4); write your recipe for happiness (Day 7); retell your favorite book or movie from a different perspective (Day 30).


The Creative Spark: How Imagination Made Humans Exceptional - Agustin Fuentes. Humans may not be the only artists on the planet - bowerbirds (Australia & New Guinea) spend "a good deal of time investing in something we call art." Learn other fascinating flights of creativity in Fuentes' book.


Letters to a Young Writer - Colum McCann. Don't let "young" scare you off from reading McCann's brief collection of letters. Even if you can quote from memory all the writing advice...it's good to review occasionally.


Show Your Work! - Austin Kleon. Try writing blackout poetry. Open your mind to creativity. As Kleon advises, "don't turn into human spam."

Looking for more ideas? Check out Your Inner Critic is a Big Jerk: And Other Truths About Being Creative by Danielle Krysa; Spark: How Creativity Works by Julie Burstein; Imagine: How Creativity Works by Jonah Lehrer; Journal Sparks by Emily Newberger; and Rip the Page: Adventures in Creative Writing by Karen Benke.

And make time to read November's new books.

Memoirs/Bios: The Mother of Black Hollywood by Jenifer Lewis; Rickie Lee by Rickie Lee Jones; The Vanity Fair Diaries by Tina Brown; Prairie Fires: The Life and Times of Laura Ingalls Wilder by Caroline Fraser; Gold Dust Woman: Stevie Nicks by Stephen Davis.

Cookbooks: Tasting Hygge by Leela Cyd; Moto: The Cookbook by Homaro Cantu; Sullivan Street Bakery Cookbook by Jim Lahey; Naturally Vegetarian by Valentina Solfrini; Bread is Gold by Massimo Bottura.

Fiction: Midnight Line by Lee Child; Darker by E.L. James; Hardcore 24 by Janet Evanovich; End Game by David Balducci; In This Moment by Karen Kingsbury; Artemis by Andy Weir.

Celebrate these November days...


1       Howl and Other Poems (Allen Ginsburg) published 1956
         National Authors' Day

2       Plan Your Epitaph Day

3       Cliche Day

6-10  National Young Readers' Week

8        Aid and Abet Punsters Day

10      Sesame Street premiere, 1969
          Sinking of Edmund Fitzgerald, 1975

13-17 American Education Week
13-19 National Book Awards Week

19-25 National Game and Puzzle Week

23      Fibonacci Day: 11/23 >> 1+1=2; 2+1=3

30      The Joy of Cooking (Irma Rombauer) published 1931


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Monday, October 2, 2017

            Tell Us a Little About Yourself

"October, baptize me with leaves! Swaddle me in corduroy and nurse me with split pea soup. October, tuck tiny candy bars in my pockets and carve my smile into a thousand pumpkins. O autumn! O teakettle! O grace!  >> Rainbow Rowell



Introducing ourselves can be tricky. Are we just our occupations? Or zip codes? What if I don't have entertaining stories about a pet or child? And does my home state reduce me to a mere stereotype?

In advance of a summer writing class at University of Iowa, my instructor emailed an invitation to introduce ourselves by way of a list. A list of what? She suggested a shopping list or even itemized tax deductions (interestingly, no one took her up on that). My assignment...750 words in list form to introduce myself to a dozen strangers.

Who I am could be explained by where I'm from. Originally Kansas City, Missouri, then circling around to Florida, Connecticut, Pennsylvania, and now, Iowa. Or by my chosen occupations of reporter, and later, assistant children's librarian. Or the hours, days and years of my childhood (and adulthood!) spent watching TV to the point my mother predicted I would wake up one day with square eyes. But even with moving from state to state, and despite all the time spent staring at a flickering screen, it's always been books that are the most tangible description of my life, of who I am or ever hope to be.

This is only the beginning of the long list of books that helped to shape me. What are the great books of your life? In honor of Great Books Week, Oct. 1-7, start your own list of books that matter.

1) Blueberries for Sal/Robert McCloskey. Young Sal and her baby bear counterpart each wander off from their mothers, seeking adventure. Decades have passed, but I can still hear my mother's voice reading me this tale, complete with the kuplink kuplank kuplunk of the blueberries dropped in the pail.

2) Three Billy Goats Gruff. Even as a little kid, I understood how the troll felt regarding the annoying goats...I could be territorial, too. I still adore the Itsy Bitsy Spider and cheer on her fortitude and vision.

3) Harriet the Spy/Louise Fitzhugh. Girl spy & writer...Harriet had a rich inner life, although I didn't recognize that concept at 9-years-old. I appreciated the idea that it wasn't weird to  live so much in your own head or to be preoccupied with writing.

4) Trixie Belden was a girl sleuth with an unlikely group of friends, solving mysteries and growing into adulthood in the Hudson River Valley. I often wished I could move there, too, and help figure out the Secret of the Mansion or the Mystery of the Emeralds. (authors Kathryn Kenny or Julie Campbell)

5) Waiting for GodotAs a reading assignment in high school, maybe I understood the play on some level. Maybe I really didn't. I know that Samuel Beckett's work challenged and inspired me.

6) John Steinbeck. I knew the power of language and good writing long before reading any of Steinbeck's work, yet his collection was a revelation about difficult subjects and characters that remain in readers' own lives long after the book was finished.

7) Go Ask Alice/Anonymous. Because I was in high school in the 1970s and had fairly oblivious parents.

8) Peter Benchley's Jaws. First the book and then the movie...I'm still a devoted fan of both.

9) Portnoy's Complaint/Philip Roth. It's a family debate, but I think my oldest sister, back home for a visit, left behind a copy of Roth's raw novel. I started the paperback as a sheltered Catholic high school girl and finished as a mature, worldly person. OK, not really, but I knew I had read SOMETHING.

10) My mother was a firm believer in keeping a dictionary within reach. And frequently using it. One of the best things about a smart phone is the dictionary app. Now I don't have to make a mental note about checking later for a definition or correct spelling.

11) Eudora Welty's One Writer's Beginnings. This is possibly the first advice I ever received from a writer. I absorbed it, memorized it, and was grateful for Eudora Welty.

12) Ambulance Girl/Jane Stern. Struggling with finding her place in the world, middle-aged food & travel writer Jane Stern decided to become an EMT in her small Connecticut town. I read this memoir just as I was beginning my own journey into middle age.

13) Novelist Suzanne Shea broke from her usual genre and wrote a memoir, Shelf Life, about her experiences recuperating from cancer treatment while helping out at a friend's book store. I laughed and cried my way through the book, occasionally at the same time.

14) Amy Krouse Rosenthal. We don't usually catalog our lives, but Amy did. And when she finished Encyclopedia of An Ordinary Life, she wrote another memoir as an interactive textbook. But she didn't write only for adults. Children and adults can both read and treasure I Wish You More and That's Me Loving You.

15) Tortilla Curtain/T.C. Boyle. This powerful social message is disguised as a novel. According to author Boyle, it's not enough to tell people our beliefs in political or social issues. We've got to practice what we preach, and realize that sometimes real life rises up and challenges our most ingrained beliefs. 

                                           * * * * *

New books in October to add to our shelves:

                                      Fiction
Origin by Dan Brown
Manhattan Beach by Jennifer Egan
The Rooster Bar by John Grisham
Paris in the Present Tense by Mark Helprin
The Rule of Magic by Alice Hoffman
Fresh Complaint by Jeffrey Eugenides
In the Midst of Winter by Isabel Allende
Reservoir 13 by Jon McGregor
Merry and Bright by Debbie Macomber
Two Kinds of Truth by Michael Connelly (mystery)
Strange Weather by Joe Hill (sci fi)
Her Body and Other Parties by Carmen M. Machado (short stories)
Turtles All the Way Down by John Green (young adult)

                                     Nonfiction

Grant by Ron Chernow (biography)
Going Into Town by Roz Chast (memoir)
Where the Past Begins by Amy Tan (memoir)
The Glass Eye by Jeannie Vanasco (memoir)
A Brief History of Everyone Who Ever Loved by Adam Rutherford (science)



                                  October Days

1-7     Mystery Series Week
          Great Books Week

3        Debut of Captain Kangaroo, 1955

6        Anniversary of American Library Association, 1876

8-14   Teens Read Week
          Earth Science Week

16      Dictionary Day

18       Anniversary of first comic strip, 1896, New York Journal, The Yellow Kid 

22      Cuban Missile Crisis, 1962

29      National Cat Day

31      National Knock Knock Joke Day 

October is National Reading Group Month, National Popcorn Month, National Stamp Collecting Month, Photographer Appreciation Month, Organize Your Medical Information Month and World Menopause Month. 

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