Just a little something...

Today I went to take a quick lunch break, leaving the Children's Desk unattended for a few minutes.  When I returned, this was waiting for me on the desk:

Awww!  Too sweet (even if we are missing an "r").

If Einstein Said It, Then It Must Be True

I've actually been very busy in Library Land lately, but I haven't had the time or the energy to do much blogging.  Oops!  I'll try to do better next year.

In the meantime, enjoy this lovely thing that I stumbled upon on the Interwebs:

True story.

Book Drop Excitement

Earlier this week we had the third graders from the local elementary school visit the library.  We booktalked several great reads, and then each class was taken on a tour of the library.  During the tour we visited the adult reference desk, the circulation desk, the children's room, and finally the back area of the library where patrons don't usually get to go.  In this area the kids got to see where the magic of circulation happens - how the books are checked in, sorted, and sometimes sent to other libraries.  

For the last stop of the day, I opened up the back room where our bookdrops are located so that the kids could see the slots where they drop their books off from the other side and the bins where the books land.  Generally the book drop is the coolest thing that these kids will see all day.  They're fascinated by how cold it is in this room (the slots are open to the outside, after all), how big the bins are, and they love tilting their heads to see up the slots.  

At the end of the tour, one boy expressed his awe out loud to his friends:

"I got to touch the inside of the library!"

Glad we could make your day, kid.

LEGO Librarians

Have you seen the official LEGO librarian minifigure?

Image taken from the LEGO website, link above.

It's pretty much exactly what you expect:  Female, glasses, cardigan, book in hand, and of course a cup labeled "Shhh."  But believe it or not, this is not actually what most librarians are like!  This stereotype has been around for decades, and sometimes it seems that no one except for the librarians themselves quite realizes that the profession is filled with a lot of different types of characters.

Joe Hardenbrook, a librarian at UW-Green Bay here in Wisconsin, saw this official minifigure and decided it just wasn't enough.  He created and photographed lots of other librarian personalities and then shared his creations, along with some snarky commentary, on his blog.  It's spectacular, and it seems pretty much spot-on.  I'm pretty sure that I've encountered most, if not all, of these sorts of librarians at some point.  Enjoy!

Gaming Trophies

Not long ago I hosted a Wii gaming event for kids of all ages.  We spent two hours playing Mario Kart and Wii Sports resort.  I've done this sort of event before with great success, but this time I added a new twist to the program.  In the back of our storage closet I found a box of small plastic trophies we had purchased from Oriental Trading for a long-forgotten reason. 

I set the trophies out at the gaming event.  When the kids asked about the trophies I told them that I would decide who got a trophy and when.  They might get one for winning the game they were playing, for example, but I would give trophies for other things too.  It was all up to me!  The kids were somewhat intrigued by this and constantly come running to me to brag about their accomplishments.  Many of these involved winning:  Long winning streaks (or thwarting long winning streaks!), perfect scores, etc.  But there were other achievements too, such as helping a younger child learn to play the games or organizing a rotation system so that everyone could get a turn to play.

Over the course of the afternoon I found a reason to reward every child who attended the program with a trophy.  The highlight of my afternoon came at the end of the day when one of the older kids saw that, miraculously enough, I only had one trophy left in my box.  He took the trophy, handed it to me, and told me that I could keep it because I was the best at setting up the gaming program.  Isn't that sweet?

Label added by yours truly after the fact.

But kids aren't simply sweet.  Sometimes they say the darndest things.  Over the course of the afternoon I was able to show off my own gaming skills by competing with the kids in attendance.  After schooling a couple of fifth-grade boys at Mario Kart one of them turned to me, patted me on the shoulder, and said:

"You're pretty good for an old person."

I didn't know if I should take that as a compliment or as an insult!  When I posed the question to the boy he actually thought about it for a moment before telling me that he wasn't sure either.

Dear Librarian

I have one last Summer Reading story to share!

At my new library we don't just ask kids to read during the summer. We also give kids the option to do a number of other activities to supplement their summer experience ranging from riding their bikes to doing art projects to visiting a museum. One of the activities that kids had the option to do during the last week of the program was to write a letter to someone.

One of the kids (age 5) in the program decided that he wanted to write a letter to the librarians! He composed the letter and dictated it to his mother who did the writing, but he signed his own name. Here is the letter:


Aww, how sweet!

Perfection

Said by a father, who was apparently impressed that I knew exactly where to find the book his daughter was seeking (So Totally Emily Ebers by Lisa Yang) without even needing to look it up in the catalog:

"You're perfect!"

I don't know that I can really call myself perfect, but I'll certainly take the compliment!

How did she do that?

Tonight I helped a girl, 4th grade or so, track down the second Harry Potter book (Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone). She had tried to find it in the catalog but for some reason was having trouble. I showed here where all of the Harry Potter books could be found on the shelves and, lo and behold, there was the book she was looking for. Huzzah!

A few minutes later I overheard the girl and her mom talking. The girl showed her mother that she had found the book she wanted. Mom, apparently realizing that she had had some trouble, asked in surprise, "How did she find it when you couldn't?"

The girl's reply: "She's a librarian..."

As if it were the most obvious thing in the world. Score one for the librarians!

Thank You

Last week a class of 2nd graders came the library for a tour. We spent some time talking about library cards and what kinds of things there are to do at the library. I then read the class a story and concluded the visit with a tour of the children's area.

Today the teacher came to the library and dropped off a lovely thank-you card that the class had made:


Isn't this card awesome? I love the illustration. Escpecially fascinating is the way that everything is labeled. The word "book" appears 33 times in this drawing! There are signs featured for the "fishin" and "non fishin" books. (For the record that's "fiction" and "non-fiction," not books about going fishing! Also, these signs don't actually exist at my library, but I'm glad they were paying attention to that part of the presentation.) Even the story I read them is labeled as a "zoo book" (it was Wild About Books by Judy Sierra).

Thank-yous like this really make me feel like I'm doing a good thing for these kids as a librarian. It also makes me feel like a rock star. Both feelings are pretty awesome.

Let's Do a Rhyme

Said by a 2-year-old girl, one of my regulars, during Baby and Toddler Storytime:

"Let's do a rhyme now!"

Apparently this girl has really been paying attention during storytime and has picked up on the phrases I often use to transition between activities. Mom told me afterwards that at home she pretends to be me and teaches her dolls all of the rhymes. Apparently "let's do a bouncing rhyme," and "let's sing a song" are fairly common phrases at home!

Imitation really is the sincerest form of flattery. I feel kind of like a rock star.

Sheboygan Children's Book Festival - M.T. Anderson

This past weekend I was lucky enough to be able to attend the Sheboygan Children's Book Festival. This wonderful festival is in its second year, and I was quite happy with this year's programs. A number of authors and illustrators are invited to attend the event where they give a series of special presentations to anyone interested in hearing about these authors' books, lives, and influences. Younger children are also invited to interact with illustrators, creating world of art in studio workshops. Best of all, these wonderful authors all took the time to meet individually with those attending the festival to sign autographs.

There were a number of really wonderful moments that I was able to experience this weekend. But one of my favorite moments came from a presentation by M.T. Anderson, author of such books as Whales on Stilts, Feed, and The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing.

First of all, you have to understand that M.T. Anderson is really, really funny. Admittedly not all of Anderson's books are funny. But now I can see exactly where a book like Whales on Stilts gets its absurd humor. The presentation I attended was all about how Anderson once wanted to write books about exotic locations, having been influenced by such books as a child. In particular he referenced the old comic Conan the Barbarian as one of his influences.


Andersen then proceeded to describe how he had mentioned this at a previous presentation and someone in the audience had misheard him, instead hearing "Conan the Librarian." He thought that was a great image - the butt-kicking librarian. And you all know how I feel about that idea.


Love it!

Honestly, the rest of M.T. Anderson's presentation was just as awesome, with stories about his hilariously failed attempts as speaking French and eating foreign food. This failure at world travel inspired Anderson to instead write stories about exotic places in the United States. Places like Delaware. Don't think that this petite state is really exotic? Check out Anderson's Tourist's Guide to Delaware to get the real story about this exciting state. Even better, check out his book Jasper Dash and the Flame Pits of Delaware (part of the Pals in Peril series).

Awesome Quote

At work it sometimes take a few months for one of the journals that we use to help us select books to make its way to me. After all, I tragically don't get to actually do much ordering. But that's a sad tale for another day. The point is that as I was reading the January 2010 issue of School Library Journal, the cover story by YA author John Green (delightful author of, amongst other things, An Abundance of Katherines) had the most ridiculously cool quote about children's librarians:

Adult librarians are like lazy bakers: their patrons want a jelly doughnut, so they give them a jelly doughnut. Children's librarians are ambitious bakers: You like the jelly doughnut? I'll get you a jelly doughnut. But you should try my cruller, too. My cruller is gonna blow your mind, kid.

Awesome. And now I want to eat some form of pastry.

In the spirit of this quote, I'd like to encourage everyone to go out and read something new. Something you wouldn't normally think to try. Need help coming up with something? Ask your librarian for a suggestion. He or she is probably awesome.