Dance, Dance, Dance!

The Animal Boogie by Debbie Harter

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


This was a gift from a friend. Just got around to listening to the cd that came with it and reading the text.  Oh so cute!  This will be a lot of fun at storytime.
Lots of movement and movement vocabulary.
Lots of animals.
This book can be used many ways: just read and sing along with movement, set the book aside and do it again hauling out the appropriate puppets, let kids hold up appropriate puppets (perhaps on sticks - I made a quick sheet of all the animals in a black and white format so they could be colored and either backed with something to use on the home/travel flannelboards (made with 9x12 sheet of flannel on the inside of a pocket folder) that we've given out fairly regularly at storytimes or had a loop of paper taped to the back to make a fingerpuppet, make flannelboard animals to point to, OMG!, and just dance, dance, dance!
Can hardly wait to use it!
The cd has 2 versions: one with Fred Penner singing it and then next one more like a karaoke format that you do your own singing, but will animal noises backing you up.  Cuuuute.



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Doesn't Live Up To the Title

Service Included: Four-Star Secrets of an Eavesdropping Waiter by Phoebe Damrosch

My rating: 2 of 5 stars


I was living in Manhattan in the early 1980s, eating at diners mostly (or whatever foreign food took my fancy), but occasionally at a fancier place (one time at La Grenouille where I learned what good service is) so I was interested in this book. 

There isn't much of a story, except the one about her love life which seems to build up some tension, but in the end she doesn't get fired or anything particularly interesting.  I sympathize with this, having led a more-or-less uneventful life.  Yes, I moved on my own to Manhattan to pursue acting.  I ate some food, had some escapades, but in order to make things interesting, I'd have to embellish.  One is almost hamstrung if she has to confine herself to the facts. 

The food wasn't anything I would long for, but the service sounds outstanding.  [Now, if you could have that sort of dining service with Indian food or Thai or even Mexican (Oooo, think of all the moles!)]  I'm afraid I'll have to side with David Rakoff on this - as nice an idea that even the middle classes who are willing to surrender a couple of months' wages on a four-star dinner will receive the same deference as the absurdly wealthy or famous might be, I prefer the stories about exceptional chefs who use their skills in elementary school cafeterias to improve the eating habits of the less advantaged young in this country. 



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Rich As Kugel

The Yiddish Policemen's Union by Michael Chabon

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


Many years ago, when I was young and willing to read just about anything, I plowed through A Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess.  I knew nothing about the movie, although I may have seen posters.  I read ACO because I had read one of Burgess's other books and enjoyed it so I was working my way through his ouevre.  The first five pages were rough going because he had invented a futuristic cant and it was difficult to read at first.  Once I got the hang of it, though, I went back and started over.  It wasn't until I reached the end of the book (in paperback form) that I found the glossary that would have saved me so much time.  I'm glad, though, that I had the opportunity to stretch my linguistics muscles instead.
That said ... this book pushed my yiddish to the limit.  It was worth it though.  Chabon's book is rich in what I can only call wordplay and sly satire of the hard-boiled genre.  There is the main character who is an overworked policeman whose new boss is making his life miserable and his job impossible.  He has a partner who is his complete opposite.  The powers that be are on their case to get off the case.  As the story goes on, the main character no longer knows whom to trust.  Time is running out.  You know the stuff.
It might be difficult for the average goyim (say, ones outside of urban centers) to wade through.  I spent a lot of time on this book just savoring the the little twists of language.  As far as plot goes, it's the standard hard-boiled fare if you just substitute some species of hasidim for mafiosos, inuit for palestinians, and imagine an almost all-jewish cast.  Not having read anything before that was so steeped in the chosen folkways, I was amazed and delighted by little details such as guns being referred to as "sholems" [ha ha! peacemakers!] and phones as "shoyfers" [get on the horn to someone].  And if you are well-versed in yiddish, you might be a few paragraphs ahead in places.  Most of the characters are speaking yiddish to each other, but it's expressed as english.  "Woe is me!" says Landsman and the wisenheimer can retranslate it to "Vayz mir!"  There are many little treasures in this story.
The premise is that, post-holocaust, the jews were unable to take over Israel and instead were offered a temporary homeland in, of all places, Alaska.  The time is about to run out and there are some who have made other arrangements, some who listlessly do nothing, and others who have deep, dark plans.  Deeper and darker and sillier than you can imagine - but all of it drawn from contemporary headlines with parallels to history.  No, really. 



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SCLA Part 7 - What We Were All Waiting For: Music and Movement in Storytimes

Although I let Karen and LeVerne go to the Bouncing Babies session and I did something else, I had to go to this.  And we had so much fun, even though I was still yawning a lot.  LeVerne showed up with the pillows I'd "won" in the silent auction and the three of us cuddled together and prepared to have a good time.

Parachute for movement activities

It would be nice to be able to play the guitar for programming, but at my age I may have waited a tad too long to start.  So much for Strings and Stories.  But you can do the same stuff with just singing, which is what I do.  They use rhythm sticks (have plenty of those!), boomwhackers (OMG, don't have those!), shakers, scarves, and a parachute with beach balls on it.  They use some books we already have and I made note of a couple more I will try to use or acquire.

Boomwhackers (sorry, this picture seems to have disappeared)

This isn't the sort of thing you can describe, because there's not so much talking as there is doing.  We need lots more stuff like this going on to make it worth going.  Or maybe someone could upload inspirational storytime stuff to YouTube.

SCLA Part 6 - The Dreaded Poster Session

I got started late because I again had trouble sleeping on the giant marshmallow with no audiobook to listen to - poor planning on my part.  But the poster session is just an hour of walking around looking at displays and listening to the spiels of the earnest creators.  Not everything is relevant to what I do, but some of the irrelevant is at least interesting!

Amanda was there trying to reach even more people with her StudySC project that was so wonderful.

 My av on her plot o' land - she had to wear the bunny suit for a month to earn money for charity. 

There was some poor gal trying to promote Second Life (which I know everyone is tired of hearing about) as an educational tool.  Her "poster" was pretty darn fancy, unlike the cardboard triptychs most had.  Curtis was there thinking it might be worth looking back into the State Library presence in SL, which is running better and faster than it used to.  I still think it would be helpful in these days of limited budgets to have SCLA running concurrently in a virtual space that people could reach without the travel costs or the commitment of time (you go to a distant location for one or two sessions and feel you have to attend other stuff to make it worth the time and expense).  However, SL is becoming more expensive, especially for non-profits who used to have it easier, so it may or not be worth it.  ALA, though, is having virtual conferences there (and charging for them).

There was also an unnamed library that was using certain e-book products probably outside the permitted boundaries as delineated by the suppliers.  It was very interesting.  They loaded them with genres (romances, Christian fiction, etc.) and were checking them out in-house - and only to people with good library borrowing track records.  They held training sessions on the devices so that those less familiar with the technology wouldn't get lost.  They found their employees were taking the training and that patrons were taking them just to get a feel for what the devices were like prior to purchase.  They will continue to do this until the suppliers send them a cease-and-desist order.  Very brave!   Anyone interested in me naming the names can come by the Children's Room and I'll blab in person.  I have seen an article online about Amazon allowing borrowing between Kindles ... here.  This indicates that the ante has done been upped in the e-reader race and perhaps the circulation of the devices might be coming in the future.

There was also some stuff on Teen programming (using recycled stuff - if anyone wants to do stuff with bottle tops, let me know because I've been saving them up for just such an occasion) and then my brain shut down.

SCLA Part 5 - Job Search Products on Discus

I had already been through one job-search-related session, but I figured another one couldn't hurt.  Also, my only other reasonable choice was the one on selecting Christian fiction for children.  Well, first of all, I don't purchase books and, secondly, I'm not a Christian, so I'm unlikely to do any programming using this genre.  Also, what passes for Christian lit for one group doesn't necessarily work for another group.  For example, there's the Left Behind series which is eaten up by one segment of the Christian population and derided vociferously by another segment.  In the past we've solved this problem in our area by putting "Christian" stickers on books from the various publishing houses, such as Bethany, and then hiding under the desk.

This was an excellent presentation, and also just in time for my Homeschooler program!   I couldn't believe my little eyeballs!  The presenter went over the products that we have available on our library's Discus* links that I was totally unaware of.

Ferguson's Career Guidance Center is a Facts On File product.  This seems to be mostly useful for those incredibly boring school assignments on careers, which they used to make kids do all the time but I haven't had a request for recently.  There is a cool "Career Interest Assessment" test that I'm dying to take.  It's 180 questions to determine where your interests lie: are you artistic? nurturing? etc.  I can't wait to find out that I should have been an Investment Banker.  I'll have to wait until I get to the library because I can't seem to access this from home - it's requiring a username and password.  Rats.  There is also advice on job hunting skills.

LearningExpress Library requires you to set up an account, but that's so it can save information for you and where you stopped on the practice tests.  It was suggested that you could use your library card number for setting up an account if doing this from outside the library - but, dang!, that's a really long number.  There is a resume creator and mini-courses on all those things you might be tested on, like math, the GED, ASVAB, SAT, ACT, all those acronyms, and some courses in Spanish to serve that demographic.

The last bit was about the NetLibrary Career e-Book Collection which also requires signing up.  Each title only has eight spaces for readers ... so if eight people are trying to read the same book at the same time, the ninth person is out of luck and has to ask for a notice to be sent when a space is available.  That might seem to be an unlikely event, but I imagine that those eight spaces are available to the whole state.  We used to subscribe to NetLibrary and I had a username, but it got too expensive and the state later provided Overdrive.  Anyway, I imagine that username, whatever it was, isn't any good anymore.  It would be nice if these things were more dependable.

I think the Homeschoolers group will be very interested in LearningExpress Library and its courses and tests.  Okay, maybe the parents will be interested.

*Now with the exciting new SmartSearch which searches all the websites in Discus at once!

SCLA Part 4 - Advocacy Because That Was the Theeeeme

There wasn't much choice during this set of concurrent sessions, so I picked one advocacy session and Karen picked a different one.  I think she did better.  There wasn't much here that I hadn't heard before, I hadn't had enough sleep, and the caffeine was wearing off.  I hope I didn't distress the presenter with all my yawning.

The usual stuff on partnerships: with mutual benefit comes mutual responsibility.  If you're a librarian, you're used to being the one giving service - it might be your turn to receive.  Both parties are in it for something, even if it is only to get their logo on an ad or a handout.  Partner for a discreet (and short) amount of time the first time.  Then check to see if your partner is willing to continue or do it again.  [Yeah, we used to get ice cream coupons from Chik-Fil-A for our library card campaign in the schools - but after a while we started getting stories about changes in management, etc. and we let it drop.]
You need to weed programs the way you weed books.  Maybe something near and dear to your heart is no longer justified.  [Wha-at?!]  Demographics are easy to get hold of to assess the current needs of your population (although the most recent are not quite available from the 2010 Census, they will be soon).  But also think about other kinds of underserved populations - the invisible ones, such as businesses or tourists.

All library employees should have an elevator speech prepared, a three minute or less spiel about the library, its collections, or programs.  Just in case,  you know, you've got someone trapped.  [Me, I've been feeling trapped lately, by people asking me questions about the new library.  For two years it was, "Aren't you excited about the new library?" and now it's "Don't you just love the new library?"  It's hard to say the same thing enthusiastically again and again.  "Ohh, it's so big and beautiful and (sniffing) it's got that New Library Smell!"]  Now I tell people that they have to come see it.  I can't believe we have this huge new building uptown and there are people who "just haven't found the time."  You just want to smack 'em.

Oh, and I have this note that doesn't read like what I thought it was.  That you can put a virtual sign/bookplate on digital materials so that if some group has contributed a collection of materials (a garden club, or, at our library, the Mothers of Twins), the catalog can be searched for those items or when someone is browsing the digital catalog, they can see who donated the material.  Way cool.

So, in retrospect, maybe it was a better session than I thought.  I was just tired at the time.

SCLA Part 3 - Anatomy of a Library Job Center

If you're from a small library system like me, you can get pretty darned annoyed by what's going on at the Richland County Library.  Just when you think you have a brand-spanking-new library to be proud of, you see another over-the-top presentation and slink from the session dragging your tail between your legs.
Well, they're at it again.
They decided they needed to help job seekers and so they went about it with the relentless planning and enthusiasm we have come to know and envy.  They plan, they partner, they collaborate, they write grants, they totally redesign their reference area, they hire.  Then they make you sit through a mind-boggling power-point presentation and sit and wonder at what on earth you could possibly adapt to your 834 square foot branch in the middle of a massive job shortage.
Well, let's look at some of the easy stuff, such as the self-paced stations.  You put out a desk, a chair, and a telephone book with a little tip sheet telling them to look up companies or with a sample work portfolio.  You make tip-sheets specific for area companies on filling out on-line applications, which are apparently all the rage.
No money?  Partner with area technical colleges, public and private agencies.  Have speakers come visit.  Hold weekly job club meetings for mutual support.
They have three dedicated job specialists who can sit down one-on-one with a person and help them: create an e-mail account, fill out an online application, create a résumé, practice their interview techniques.
In the end, we were each handed the power point presentation ... on a 2G flashdrive, the same flashdrives they apparently provide to their customers with a completed résumé (and one hard copy on résumé quality paper).  
They have job-search dedicated computers, they don't ask to see library cards.  And for some reason it was thought necessary to say that the job staff don't answer the phone (but the reference staff helps with job search).  They aren't trained.  
There was more (and the power point presentation is available on request - but I want the flashdrive back), but - it was just too much to take in.  

SCLA Part 2 - The New StudySC Website

This session came just in time for what could have been a dull Homeschool program next Friday.  This exciting new site, StudySC,  (up "just in time" - AKA, Just A Bit Late - for the third graders studying the regions of our state) has links to information on South Carolina based point by point on the state's curriculum standards, the best information being chosen and evaluated by teachers.  Well, dang!
The site is organized by elementary, middle school, and high school levels, so that each group has access to age-appropriate materials.  Within the age levels, the sections are thematic and time-period based.  The site is still in beta (and the section on Government is not up yet), but they thought it best to put out what they have and add to it.  It was very exciting to see.  South Carolina patrons can access this at home - unless, perhaps, they have AOL, which make the site think you live in Virginia and then, of course, you can always drop by your local library.
All of the current material is existing, stable sources, such as museums, ETV, and college sites.  There may be a small amount of advertising content.   They hope to add their own content at a later date, such as lesson plans, the ability to search the site by the curriculum standards, and maybe a glossary.
Also on the site is a link to information about the current and past SC Book Award winners - some of them with related activities!
I can't say how helpful this is going to be.  The first day after the assignment, all our South Carolina social studies materials were checked out except the older reference book.  They all needed pictures and information about the regions - and here it was all the time!  This is another example of your State Library doing great things!  Full marks, y'all!

SCLA Part 1 - Best Books Forward

The first session I attended was about the SC Center for Children's Books and Literacy at USC where I always knew we could go and preview children's books for purchase ... and then not have to put them away ourselves (Shocking!  However would we stop ourselves?!).  It does make you want to visit, but it seems so far away.

Ellen Hinrichs was not able to make it, but Nonie Price chatted about the Center and enlightened us about Cocky's Learning Express.  The USC mascot travels to elementary schools all over the state (even in the upstate, where he may or may not make an appearance with that Tiger) to encourage children to read.  This is a program for children from K4 to 3rd grade and each child is able to take home a book.  Must speak to Debbie about this.  At the moment the USC students have been doing this for free, but may soon have to ask for mileage and a Kiwanis sponsorship would not go amiss there.  They can certainly do a few elementary schools in one trip.  Apparently, it makes all the difference if Cocky hands you a book - but one would hope it would not cause any problems in households of the orange persuasion.

Not My Thing

Aunt Dimity's Death by Nancy Atherton

My rating: 2 of 5 stars


This is totally a not-me sort of book. Although a fan of cozy mysteries, this type of magical fluff just makes me mad. It has several annoying points - the Cinderella factor and the ghost being the major ones.  But the invasion of Americans into my precious British landscape (and I am speaking AS an American), while smoothly handled, ... it's just wrong.  Other folks have done it, notably Martha Grimes and Laurie King, and have done it well enough to not annoy me.  This just rankles. 

I am not as annoyed about the part of the story that takes place in Boston - where I lived for six years and hung out with Harvard-educated lawyers.  I was also a temp employee and moved around, sharing apartments.  I think I would rather have read about that instead of the fairy tale/romance/ghost story.
That said, the story is quite touching and brought me to tears a few times, which only made me angrier.

The lead character has lost her marriage, her mother, her livelihood and then gets a letter from an attorney that will turn her life around.  There is, if not a Prince Charming, at least a Prince Tries-Too-Hard.  Lawyers are not only scrupulously honest, but they take you into their palatial home and squire you around in their Rolls.  England and Scotland seem to be populated with only the most helpful cast members and the mystery isn't much of one.  It is, however, the introduction to a series and the successive books (one of which I have read) get more to the mystery, which Dimity's ghost helps solve.  In fact, I will probably read more of them ... occasionally ... when I'm absolutely desperate.



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Major Project

Holy Bible, Revised Standard Version by Anonymous
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

I've been working on this for a few months - a little bit each night, absorbing it as I go. I remember being really annoyed at parts I read as a teen and a proto-feminist.  This time I started with the NewT and went back for the Old Testament.  I was delighted to find a typo in my edition, someone's son who became king at 49 when his father died at 42 or some such.  It was easy to check because the histories are duplicative (and I can't express what a pain it was to read the same info over and over).  The son was actually 29.  It doesn't ruin the whole book, but it does show I was paying attention.  My next project is to mark the sections by author.  I have a big box of highlighters.  The pages are so thin, though, and I'm afraid the highlighters will bleed through. Fortunately, I have two copies of this edition.  Dang, we have so many bibles in this house, most of them in German.
My advice to people: read it all the way through - don't just cherry-pick the good parts, and there are good parts.
My review: The Iliad is better.  I'm not saying the philosophy is better, it's just a better and more cohesive story.  Babies brains are dashed out in both, so I think it's a fair comparison.  They were both written a long time ago and as a window into their times they are very interesting - but I'm not going to live my life based on the philosophy of either of them.  All I need to know about life I learned from my mom: Forgive and forget; Never say never; You always worry about the wrong thing; Be nice; All men are creeps in one way or another, you just have to find the least creepy one; and Don't worry, we'll be dead soon and our ideas will go with us.  Wish she had been right about that last one - I get the uncomfortable feeling that our greed, pettiness, and hatred just get perpetuated generation after generation and books like this one add to the vitriol.


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