We are big fans of VR! Starting this year we have several VR/AR kits
we are loaning to our school libraries, complete with lesson plans they
can use to connect classes with all kinds of great resources.
Sure, it’s fun to play with these. But virtual and augmented reality is playing an increasingly important role in a lot of other areas. We are going to look at a different use each week, so you can work with your community members to help them learn about the great things possible for them today, and tomorrow.
We have libraries covering some pretty rural areas, and some of those areas include dairy cows. And it gets cold here in the winter – REALLY cold. So we probably understand the value of this article more than some may! Check out the excerpt below, and click the link to read the whole things.
“Around this time of year, life in Russia swings from one extreme to the other: from sunshine to snow; green to grey; apricots to atrophied apples.
The adjustment can cause emotional strain and illnesses in the best of us. But it’s not, apparently, only the humans who suffer.
According to veterinary experts, the country’s 20
million-strong bovine population is particularly susceptible to a bout
of the winter blues.
Luckily, scientists now believe they have a solution to their Russian winter problem in the form of virtual-reality glasses.
They draw on experimental data that shows cows are better at
processing red than they are blues and greens. As a result the movie
showreels tend to focus on grass – the lovely, green, summer, meadowy
sort.
A farm in northwest Moscow has already begun testing the prototypes with positive results.
Almost universally, its cows have become calmer, with improved mood. Researchers say they will continue to monitor the effects on overall milk production. “
I’m getting better at stopping in time to take pictures of the state signs! Less time spent backing up on the highway, or parking and running back down the side of the road!
So I continued to travel around the country, checking off states as I hit all 48 of them this year. You can catch up here, or just enjoy some travel ideas and admire a book from each state. There is so much great stuff to see all over the country, and so many great books to read, that we have a lot of great stuff to discuss!
Safety is always an issue when you are on the road, especially when traveling alone. But I have to say I find it both annoying and sad that the first question many people ask me is whether I was scared to be alone. No. No I was not. For the most part, everywhere you go people are always the same, and generally people are pretty nice. (Yes, I do carry my middle aged, middle class white lady privileges with me everywhere I go; and that’s usually pretty helpful. It also renders you essentially invisible to most people, which can be helpful too.)
When I was in tents for a summer, I did carry a can of wasp spray. I have no idea if it’s true, but I read that it’s good for safety because it’s easier to spray than bear spray and goes a long distance. No idea if it’s true, because I’ve never had a problem while camping. But it’s good to think about potential problems.
In the trunk of my car I keep a portable battery charger, a can that is supposed to inflate flat tiers, a pretty extensive first aid kit, flashlights, assorted knives, spare shoes and socks, and a few other basic supplies. Think about things that might go wrong, problems you could reasonably encounter, and think about how you could solve them.
And remember: you probably won’t have big problems! Generally things are going to go okay, especially if you have planned ahead. So, go places! Travel! Try things! It makes everything feel better in your life!
Kentucky
And this was not a disaster, but a great example of why it’s good to a paper atlas along with your gps. As I was routing up through Tennessee to Kentucky, I noticed Google’s estimated time for arrival jumped from about 90 minutes to over four hours. Clearly, there was a major accident ahead, and I had time to reroute. Whew! Getting stuck in traffic jams is always a drag, and it’s so much easier to avoid them if you can quickly grab a paper map to find a new destination.
Kentucky is another absolutely beautiful state to visit. The rolling hills, horse farms, and generally lovely scenery is worth seeing.
“The hardscrabble folks of Troublesome Creek have to scrap for everything―everything except books, that is. Thanks to Roosevelt’s Kentucky Pack Horse Library Project, Troublesome’s got its very own traveling librarian, Cussy Mary Carter.
Cussy’s not only a book
woman, however, she’s also the last of her kind, her skin a shade of
blue unlike most anyone else. Not everyone is keen on Cussy’s family or
the Library Project, and a Blue is often blamed for any whiff of
trouble. If Cussy wants to bring the joy of books to the hill folks,
she’s going to have to confront prejudice as old as the Appalachias and
suspicion as deep as the holler.
Inspired by the true blue-skinned people of Kentucky and the brave and dedicated Kentucky Pack Horse library service of the 1930s, The Book Woman of Troublesome Creek is a story of raw courage, fierce strength, and one woman’s belief that books can carry us anywhere―even back home.”
West Virginia
If driving into West Virginia does not inspire you to hum along to “Almost Heaven, West Virginia…” you really need to have more John Denver in your life.
Too Many Cooks (A Nero Wolfe Mystery Book 5), by Rex Stout
I absolutely love the Rex Stout series. Most of them are set in Nero Wolf’s beloved brownstone in New York City, but in a few he ventures (reluctantly) to other locations.
“It takes place at the Kanawha Spa in West Virginia where ten of the world’s greatest chefs, Les Quinze Maitres, are holding their quinquennial get-together. Everyone knows that too many cooks spoil the broth, but you’d hardly expect it to lead to murder. But that’s exactly what’s on the menu at a five-star gathering of the world’s greatest chefs. As guest of honor, Wolfe was lured from his brownstone to a posh southern spa to deliver the keynote address. He never expected that between courses of haute cuisine he and Archie would be compelled to detect a killer with a poison touch—a killer preparing to serve the great detective his last supper. “
If you also read this as a kid, and cried, it might be time to reread it as an adult. (You may still cry. But it’s good.)
“Jess Aarons has been practicing all summer so he can be the fastest runner in the fifth grade. And he almost is, until the new girl in school, Leslie Burke, outpaces him. The two become fast friends and spend most days in the woods behind Leslie’s house, where they invent an enchanted land called Terabithia. One morning, Leslie goes to Terabithia without Jess and a tragedy occurs. It will take the love of his family and the strength that Leslie has given him for Jess to be able to deal with his grief. “
Maryland
Being named Mary myself, this state has always been special to me – I mean, how great it must be with a name like this!
“Until her paper, the Baltimore Star, crashed and burned, Tess Monaghan was a damn good reporter who knew her hometown intimately — from historic Fort McHenry to the crumbling projects of Cherry Hill. Now gainfully unemployed at twenty-nine, she’s willing to take any freelance job to pay the rent — including a bit of unorthodox snooping for her rowing buddy, Darryl “Rock” Paxton.
In a city where someone is murdered almost everyday, attorney Michael Abramowitz’s death should be just another statistic. But the slain lawyer’s notoriety — and his noontime trysts with Rock’s fiancee — make the case front page news…and points to Rock as the likely murderer. But trying to prove her friend’s innocence couls prove costly to Tess — and add her name to that infamous ever-growing list.”
Are you doing any armchair traveling?? Read some good books and enjoy the fun of getting to travel without ever leaving home!
Each week we assemble a collection – a bouquet, if you will – of books you can read for yourself, or use to build into a display in your library. As always, the books we link to have info from Amazon.com. If you click a link and then buy anything at all from Amazon, we get a small percent of their profits from your sale. Yay!!! Thanks!!! We really appreciate the assistance! 💕😊
This week we are in the the thick of holiday travel season, so you may be thinking about staying in some hotels. Or you might just enjoy some armchair traveling and avoiding the real life hassles while you settle into your books!
This is is one of the classic books about hotels, all about a girl who lives at the Plaza Hotel. (This link is to the board book, and there are a lot of other versions!)
” Eloise is a very special—and very precocious—six-year-old girl who lives at The Plaza Hotel in New York City. She may not be pretty yet, but she’s definitely already a real Person. Join Eloise and experience her fabulous life in the famous Plaza Hotel. You’ll be glad you did!”
“Shortly after Clare arrives in Havana, Cuba, to attend the annual Festival of New Latin American Cinema, she finds her husband, Richard, standing outside a museum. He’s wearing a white linen suit she’s never seen before, and he’s supposed to be dead. Grief-stricken and baffled, Clare tails Richard, a horror film scholar, through the newly tourist-filled streets of Havana, clocking his every move. As the distinction between reality and fantasy blurs, Clare finds grounding in memories of her childhood in Florida and of her marriage to Richard, revealing her role in his death and reappearance along the way. The Third Hotel is a propulsive, brilliantly shape-shifting novel from an inventive author at the height of her narrative powers.”
“In the opening pages of Jamie Ford’s stunning debut novel, Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet, Henry Lee comes upon a crowd gathered outside the Panama Hotel, once the gateway to Seattle’s Japantown. It has been boarded up for decades, but now the new owner has made an incredible discovery: the belongings of Japanese families, left when they were rounded up and sent to internment camps during World War II. As Henry looks on, the owner opens a Japanese parasol.
This simple act takes old Henry Lee back to
the 1940s, at the height of the war, when young Henry’s world is a
jumble of confusion and excitement, and to his father, who is obsessed
with the war in China and having Henry grow up American. While
“scholarshipping” at the exclusive Rainier Elementary, where the white
kids ignore him, Henry meets Keiko Okabe, a young Japanese American
student. Amid the chaos of blackouts, curfews, and FBI raids, Henry and
Keiko forge a bond of friendship–and innocent love–that transcends the
long-standing prejudices of their Old World ancestors. And after Keiko
and her family are swept up in the evacuations to the internment camps,
she and Henry are left only with the hope that the war will end, and
that their promise to each other will be kept.
Forty years later, Henry Lee is certain that the parasol belonged to Keiko. In the hotel’s dark dusty basement he begins looking for signs of the Okabe family’s belongings and for a long-lost object whose value he cannot begin to measure. Now a widower, Henry is still trying to find his voice–words that might explain the actions of his nationalistic father; words that might bridge the gap between him and his modern, Chinese American son; words that might help him confront the choices he made many years ago. “
I should add that I love Maureen Johnson’s books, and read all of them! This is the first of a small series, so you can see how the characters grow.
“Her new summer job comes with baggage
Scarlett Martin has grown
up in a most unusual way. Her family owns the Hopewell, a small hotel
in the heart of New York City, and Scarlett lives there with her four
siblings – Spencer, Lola, and Marlene.
When each of the Martins turns fifteen, they are expected to take over the care of a suite in the once elegant, now shabby Art Deco hotel. For Scarlett’s fifteenth birthday, she gets both a room called the Empire Suite, and a permanent guest called Mrs. Amberson. “
“San Francisco’s Laguna Honda Hospital is the last almshouse in the country, a descendant of the Hôtel-Dieu (God’s hotel) that cared for the sick in the Middle Ages. Ballet dancers and rock musicians, professors and thieves—“anyone who had fallen, or, often, leapt, onto hard times” and needed extended medical care—ended up here. So did Victoria Sweet, who came for two months and stayed for twenty years.
Laguna Honda, relatively low-tech but human-paced, gave Sweet the opportunity to practice a kind of attentive medicine that has almost vanished. Gradually, the place transformed the way she understood her work. Alongside the modern view of the body as a machine to be fixed, her extraordinary patients evoked an older idea, of the body as a garden to be tended. God’s Hotel tells their story and the story of the hospital itself, which, as efficiency experts, politicians, and architects descended, determined to turn it into a modern “health care facility,” revealed its own surprising truths about the essence, cost, and value of caring for the body and the soul.”
“From the moment in 1907 when New York millionaire Alfred Gwynne Vanderbilt strode through the Plaza Hotel’s revolving doors to become its first guest, to the afternoon in 2007 when a mysterious Russian oligarch paid a record price for the hotel’s largest penthouse, the eighteen-story white marble edifice at the corner of Fifth Avenue and 59th Street has radiated wealth and luxury.
For some, the hotel
evokes images of F. Scott Fitzgerald frolicking in the Pulitzer
Fountain, or Eloise, the impish young guest who pours water down the
mail chute. But the true stories captured in THE PLAZA also include
dark, hidden secrets: the cold-blooded murder perpetrated by the
construction workers in charge of building the hotel, how Donald J.
Trump came to be the only owner to ever bankrupt the Plaza, and the tale
of the disgraced Indian tycoon who ran the hotel from a
maximum-security prison cell, 7,000 miles away in Delhi.
In this definitive history, award-winning journalist Julie Satow not only pulls back the curtain on Truman Capote’s Black and White Ball and The Beatles’ first stateside visit-she also follows the money trail. THE PLAZA reveals how a handful of rich, dowager widows were the financial lifeline that saved the hotel during the Great Depression, and how, today, foreign money and anonymous shell companies have transformed iconic guest rooms into condominiums that shield ill-gotten gains-hollowing out parts of the hotel as well as the city around it.”
The American Association of School Librarians had their annual conference recently, and the topic of diversity in the books provided in school libraries was a big part of their work.
One session was a panel of people interested in the important work of providing diverse books. Check out the excerpt below, and click to read the entire article!
Panel discusses how librarians and others can work for increased diversity in publishing
“Joy Triche, founder of Tiger Stripe Publishing, started the company because she “felt the absence of diverse books for many years.” As a child, her favorite book was The Snowy Day—despite growing up in Phoenix, Arizona, where she had never seen snow. “The one thing I had in common with Peter [the main character] was his little brown face,” Triche said. “The fact that he was African-American helped me connect with him as a character and jump into this adventure that I otherwise couldn’t relate to.”
Now she looks for diverse books for her own children, but said that
once you get past picture books, the selection of chapter books gets
thin, a problem she’s trying to rectify with her publishing company, she
said.
CM! Winters-Palacio, chair of the library department at Malcolm X
College in Chicago, said, “It’s important that we be our own best
advocates.” As a librarian and a mother of four, “My children are all
avid readers… or else,” she joked. The question for her is how to find
favorite authors and then go out and promote them.
Author Alma Flor Ada argued that all children—not just those
from underrepresented communities—need to see and read diverse books.
As a Latina writer, she said she’s often asked to speak at schools and
libraries that have a large Latino population. While she said that it’s
wonderful that children see someone from their culture who has had a
successful professional life, she said it’s almost as important for
children from less ethnically diverse communities to also see such a
person speak at their school or library. “We need all children to
interact with these authors,” Ada said.
She noted that an author friend, who is also Latino, has been told
many times by school and library officials that “We don’t have that
population that you represent,” to which he answers, “And do you have
any wizards?”
These concerns have changed how she writes, she said. “We need to think of mirrors and windows for everyone.”
These concerns also spurred Mike Jung, author and founding member of We Need Diverse Books,
to create the nonprofit after BookCon announced its May 31, 2014,
lineup of authors at BookExpo America. “The lineup was glaringly,
blindingly white,” Jung said. There was even a fictional cat on the
lineup, but not one person of color. (He noted that 40% of the US
population is people of color.)
We Need Diverse Books, he said, is a grassroots organization made up of children’s books lovers who are advocating for essential changes in the publishing industry to produce and promote literature that represents the lives of all young people. That includes trying to effect change, not only through diverse books but also authors, book characters, agents, marketing staff, editors, and readers.”
Join us on Wednesday, Dec. 4th from 3-5pm to write your own messages of library support! We will be working at the Local Blend coffee shop in St. Joe (Postcards, postage, and sample text provided!)
CMLE works to support all of our library members and that means telling legislators, principals, School Board Members, and other important stakeholders about all the amazing work YOU are doing in your library!
Feel free to arrive and depart as your schedule allows, these are casual events! Come enjoy a warm beverage, chat with library fans, and send a few postcards sharing why all types of libraries are important and need funding and support!
Partnering with libraries for visioning, advocating, and educating
