Ban the Dictionary!

A 1979 ban request.

And then there's Wendy's perspective over at Six Boxes of Books: Would you ever challenge a book?

I'm curious about Daniel Boone and Amos Freeman, now - I never read either, and we own them both.

The Whine of Miss Jane Brody

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/29/health/29brod.html?em
Does anyone else find the tone in this article a tad condescending? Of course these are important points, but the "back in my day..." descriptions really irritated me.

Switcheroo

Hey y'all! This Saturday I super-heavily weeded the nonfiction VHS (hellooooo, book sale!) so that the collection could fit into three bays instead of five. [Many thanks to Danny for help canceling all those suckers.] The next step is to switch where the nonfiction DVDs and the nonfiction VHS currently are--giving the NF DVDs more space to grow and moving the VHS toward their natural destiny (to be withdrawn completely within the next couple of years). I'll make sure to change the signage and, eventually, the department maps, too. Feedback welcome--thanks!

ST books for preschoolers

A.K. Rosenthal's latest is lots of fun, but maybe 1 spread too long...

...and Horacek's 2008 "oblivious goose in trouble" tale worked very well, except for the 3 year old who kept insisting that the titular fowl was "a baby!"...dunno 'bout that one.

Stuffed Animal Sleepover

I'm busy planning the Stuffed Animal Sleepover Party for Dole. Thanks for all the helpful advice--I'm going to read stories about animals on the loose: Corduroy, Duck on a Bike, Where's My Teddy?, and Duck's Not Afraid of the Dark. We'll end with a rousing game of "Librarian Says" and Rockabye Your Bear. We're making blankies, and the kids will tuck in their friends and say goodbye. Then, I'll madly try to photograph them in interesting poses like this: www.slideshare.net/elancolibrary/stuffed-animal-sleepover
Wish me luck!

Historical Field Trip!

Brooklyn Public Library Children's Room, 1941:



My friend Alison works there now. She says that it was recently remodeled, but the windows and reading "easels" are still the same. What a great space! I think I'm most jealous about the balcony - except for the inevitable projectiles.

Click through to view much larger - great details.

via shorpy.com

Guesting at Dole

So I subbed for Lori this AM at Dole, for a Family Open ST. I took along lots of stuff, so I'd be ready for whatever ages showed up. As it turned out, I did the same exact books and stretchers from my 2s ST yesterday, and it went very well. Seriously, there were 18 kids, and I'd say 2 of them were 1 years, 2 were 4 year olds, 2-3 were 3 year olds, and all the rest were not-so-terrible 2s. Anyway, here's the books I did:

They all were received well, but the biggest hit was definitely Walking through the Jungle. And even though JN was gagging at the cheesiness of the rhyme when I briefly showed it to her yesterday, the "5 Little Mice" flannel was a lot of fun to do - I hammed up the ending, having all the mice running for shelter while the kitten chased them around, until only their tails were showing, at which point the kitten tickled those tails with its whiskers. Finally, the biggest bear puppet continues to be a golden ending, with kids coming up for bear hugs and kisses. Muy cute.

Later, Levar!

PG-13 rated, and perhaps slightly inappropriate. however, very funny.

http://www.theonion.com/content/opinion/my_living_nightmare_of?utm_source=facebook_1