New Books!

I received two shipments of books this week, the usual one from Junior Library Guild and a big one from Follett. Lots of great stuff that I'm excited about, like the 2011 Newbery winner Moon Over Manifest by Clare Vanderpool, Artemis Fowl: The Graphic Novel, and Room 4 favorite Heck; Where the Bad Kids Go by Dale Basye. If you want to see all the new books that have come in to the library, go to the catalog and click on the 'What's New' icon in the Explore window. The glitch has been fixed and it will now show you what's actually new. Also, you can put holds on books through the catalog again and leave reviews as that was part of the same glitch that got fixed. While you are at it, check out what's popular at Marshall Lane and I've broken down the award winners link into the individual awards so that list is no longer so daunting. You may have also noticed that I added a 'Graphic Novels' icon. I plan to add some more genre icons and put them all under the 'Explore' button - someday when I have a little extra time. Meanwhile, here's a picture of Roxy, my poodle, taken using the Hipstomatic app on my iphone:

Crispin and a Sneak Peak

Crispin: the Cross of Lead by Avi won the Newbery Award in 2003, but I think it is often overlooked so I made it this week's Book of the Week. I finished listening to it early this morning when I woke up and couldn't get back to sleep. The story revolves around a 13 year-old-boy in living in a small village in feudal England. A family secret has made him an outcast in his village and when his mother dies, leaving him alone in the world, he is accused of stealing from the Lord's manor house by the Steward and a price is put on his head. Thus begins Crispin's adventures and education. I didn't care for the reader of this audiobook, but I did like the story. It was an exciting and fast paced adventure story with a satisfying ending. There are two sequels to this novel, however, this first installment reads like a stand alone title. I would recommend this book for grades 5 and up.

And now, a sneak peek of the new library catalog.

Yeah, that's a very little sneak peek, apparently this blog doesn't like large pictures! If you would like to explore it some more on your own, you can find a link to it on the home page of the old catalog. Once you click the link, you'll be presented with a list of schools. Choose Marshall Lane - obviously - and then book mark the page once it loads. And have fun!