New books, socks, a hat, and a poodle.

Scholastic Book Fair is over. I want to thank all the parents who helped out over the course of delivery, sale days, family night, and pack up. You really help to make things go smoothly. Extra super thank yous to Saskia Choudry for chairing the Book Fair once again and to Michelle Fine for being her right hand lady. I've said it before and I'll say it again because I mean it, you are a rock star Saskia! I appreciate you taking this on for the benefit of the library and for the kids.

So, all of this means we have new books in the library! As you can see in the picture, I've got a couple new Geronimo Stilton books, the new Judy Moody book, some Ready Freddy books, some Star Wars books and lots more. I also got a copy of The Exquisite Corpse which I wrote about last year.

One of the books I picked up, The Small Adventure of Popeye and Elvis, by Barbara O'Connor, is a book I didn't realize I already had in the library. Scholastic has given it a new cover for the paperback edition. Anyway, I was intrigued by this book (the new cover is way better than the old cover, pictured) so I took the library copy home to read. I'm happy to report that it is a delightful story. It is exactly what it promises to be on its cover - a small adventure. This was a very nice change of pace from the World Saving Orphans Who Get Their Special Powers When They Turn Thirteen type of books that permeate children's literature these days. Which isn't to say that Popeye and Elvis's lives aren't completely different from yours or mine, because they are. The story takes place in modern Fayette, North Carolina, but Popeye has no computer, no cell phone, no video games. Elvis's family lives in a motorhome. But when these two boys meet, they enjoy a few days break from summer boredom, and even though their adventure is small, it is still very compelling. I highly recommend this book and have added it to my favorites list. To see what else is new in the library, go to the library's online catalog and click the What's New icon.

And now, here's what I've been knitting:

And here's a picture of my poodle:

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:

Odd Fish, Film Festivals, Yarny goodness and a poodle.

So this is exciting: the esteemed Mr. James Kennedy, author of The Order of the Odd-Fish, the ostensible winner of the 2009 Newbery Award and co-curator of the 90 Second Newbery Film Festival, left a comment on my blog entry in which I talked about the 90 Second Newbery Film Festival. This made me even more determined that Marshall Lane should be involved in this so I approached one of our 4th grade teachers, who had told me they were already working on re-imaginings of the Island of the Blue Dolphins story, and she was very enthusiastic about it. They are going to be pretty busy until the end of March but once they get started on it, I will report on their progress here.

My favorite student story of the week comes from one of our 5th grade teachers who witnessed the 1st graders playing "Zombie Apocalypse" during recess. He said a first grade girl actually used the words 'zombie apocalypse' and asked him if she was a good zombie as she held her arms out in front of her and dragged a foot behind her. He, of course, assured her that she was, indeed, a good zombie. I guess it'll be a few more years before steampunk and dystopian fiction trickles down to the elementary level.

My sweet poodle got a hair cut today, isn't she adorable?

I realize my posts have been a bit sparse lately but I have been knitting like a mad woman. This is some of what I've been working on:

Nation, Dalek, and Blueberry Pie

I just finished listening to Nation by Sir Terry Pratchett on audiobook. What a wonderful story! This book was nominated for the Carnegie Medal this year, which is the highest honor a children's book can be awarded in England, like the Newbery Medal here, but was beaten out by the wonderful Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman. (That guy wins all the awards!) Anyway, we don't have Nation in our library at Marshall Lane ... yet! I plan to rectify that immediately. The story takes place in a parallel universe version of Earth on a tiny island that is part of a group of islands called the Mothering Sunday Islands, so named by a colonial empire much like the 19th century british. A boy named Mau is sent to The Boy's Island as part of a ritual to mark his passage into manhood but on his way back to his home island, a tsunami washes through the chain of tiny islands and washes away his entire village, known as the Nation. The same wave shipwrecks the daughter of the colonial Governor of the Mothering Sunday Islands. Together, the two young people rebuild the Nation with the help of the survivors from the surrounding islands. In the process, Mau challenges the wisdom of his people's gods for allowing such a disaster to occur. A very thoughtful and thought provoking novel. I would say this book is good for grades 5 and up.

So have you checked out Doctor Who yet? I finished my Dalek. And look! It's sneaking up on my poodle! Roxy! Look out! If you haven't seen Doctor Who yet, I know this cuddly little monster (and I don't mean my poodle!) is making you curious.

I've also been knitting iPhone cozies..

And baking blueberry pies.

I'm ready to go back to school!

In the mean time, here is a terrific story about a kid who wanted to help his local library.

Also, books are being delivered to the library during the summer so next blog, I will tell you what new books you can expect to find when the library opens in the fall. Isn't that exciting? Yes, yes it is.