Dispatch from the Hidey Hole

Scholastic Book fair has arrived at Marshall Lane.  The kids have been visiting the library to preview the book fair and make their wish lists.  I'm very excited about this fair because there are so many wonderful new books!  I've already filled three boxes with books for the library.  Some highlights include Tommysaurus Rex by Doug TenNapel, the Harry Potter boxed set with new illustrations by Kazu Kibuishi, the new Diary of a Wimpy Kid book Hard Luck by Jeff Kinney, and my new favorite picture book A is for Musk Ox by Erin Cabatingan with illustrations by Matthew Myers, who was the illustrator of Battle Bunny.

Here's me in my hidey hole in which I will be cataloging all of these fabulous new books next week:

Don't forget that Wednesday evening is family night at the Scholastic Book fair at Marshall Lane.  I will be a guest reader that evening along with some of your favorite teachers and the principal.  I'll be reading A is for Musk Ox so be sure to come out and say 'Hi!'

I have a library again!

Book Fair is gone and the library has returned to normal.

It's so funny to watch the kids walk in to the library during book fair.  It's like they are walking in to Willy Wonka's chocolate factory.  Then when it's gone, they comment on how empty the library looks. Then they see my stacks and boxes of new books.

And why can't they check them out NOW?  Oh, so much cataloging and processing!  It's one of my favorite things, though.  I really get to know the books through the process of getting them into the computer, putting on their labels, and wrapping their dust jackets.  Every book is a gift.  And there are well over 200 new ones between my regular orders and book fair books!

So many books, so many labels to affix!  Come down to the library and check out the new books!  Or, go to the online catalog and put a hold on books that are still in processing.  I promise I'll get them done as soon as I can.  

Book Fair and other arrivals.

I arrived at work this morning and found that the Book Fair had already been delivered, as if the Scholastic fairies had arrived during the night.

And as is par for the course, I also received books from three different orders.

I'll be getting even more books directly from the book fair so by the time the book fair is over, the library will have lots of new books for your reading enjoyment.  Here's a teaser:

I'm very excited about many of these titles!  And I'm very eager to see what Scholastic has sent us.  And of course, I'll need to remove some of those old books that keep surfacing to make room for these wonderful new ones.  

The Scholastic book fair will be open for business starting this Friday afternoon and running all next week.  Come by and support you local elementary school library!  

New Books and wonky formating

 

 

 

 

 

New Books from Junior Library Guild!  Come check them out from the library!

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! And a sock.

Yesterday, a box of books from Junior Library Guild arrived at the library! Yay! Here's what came:

These awesome books are brought to you by our generous Marshall Lane PTA, whom I'd like to thank for providing the library with funds again this year to buy materials for our library. And here is the sock I was knitting at the PTA meeting last week:

A couple of other things I'd like to share with you. I know I've mentioned Mo Willems' Blog before but I want to mention it again because recently he had Eric Carle and his wife over for dinner and doodles and he shares pictures of the doodles.

Also, we are almost into October now so it's time to think about All Hallow's Read again. Why not give someone you love a scary book to read?

One last thing! Tom Angleberger, author of The Strange Tale of Origami Yoda and Darth Paper Stikes Back is going to be at Hicklebee's tomorrow, September 29 at 3:00 and will be talking about his books and signing books afterwards.

I'm back in the library again!

Welcome back to school everyone, now that we've made it through the first week. Here is what was waiting for me on Monday:

Those are textbooks that were waiting to be distributed. And some other things that needed dealing with. Also, there were some new books waiting for me, which is much more fun!

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:

New Books coming in February

Here are the books you can look forward to reading in the Marshall Lane Library in February: