Ladybug Award Winner Announced

During the month of November, 18,193 New Hampshire children from preschoolers to those in third grade voted for their favorite book from the 2010 list of Ladybug Picture Book Award nominees.

And the winner is...Princess Hyacinth: (the surprising story of a girl who floated) by Florence Parry Heide (receiving 2,941 votes!).

This award, designed to promote early literacy and honor the best in recent children's picture books, is a project of the Center for the Book at the New Hampshire State Library. Click here to see the complete voting results.

Past or Present?

I finished a book the other day and went on to the next book in my stack. Crown of Dust by Mary Volmer had received good reviews and sounded like an interesting story. A young girl runs away to find her fortune in California during the gold rush, posing as a boy. I just could not get into it. I realized that the author had written it in the present tense and it was really irritating me to read a historical novel written in the present tense. No worries, on to the next book in my little hoard. The Red Queen by Philippa Gregory is another well reviewed book with the added bonus of glowing reviews from other library staff. Just the ticket. I picked up this historical novel about Margaret Beaufort, the matriarch of the Tudor line. Aaaagh! Once again it is written in the present tense, and to top it off it is in the first person singular. I do not like first person singular narratives, just another quirk of mine. So now I am down to the last book in my stack, a modern Gothic novel taking place in the Great Lakes. It is not written in the present tense or first person singular. So far, so good.

What do you think, should a historical novel be written in the past tense? Do you have any quirky reading habits?

Special Holiday Story Time

The Children's Room will be hosting a holiday "drop-in" story time on Saturday, Dec. 11 from 10:30am to 11:15am. Take a break from shopping and enjoy this special story hour with Miss Kimberly--it promises to be lots of FUN!

Hogwarts Holiday Tree

The library's "Hogwarts Holiday" tree, abounding with Harry Potter decorations, won 2nd prize in Dover's first annual Festival of Trees at City Hall auditorium on Friday night, December 3! We had golden snitches, owls, lightning bolts, school scarves in Hogwarts colors, Bertie's Bots, Marauders Maps, school crests and gowns, Harry's glasses, and the Sorting Hat as the tree topper! And under the tree was a set of all 7 HP books by J.K. Rowling! The winning bid for our tree was $110, with all proceeds going toward the City Lights organization which is raising funds to illuminate downtown Dover during the holiday season. Here are some photos of our tree in progress but check out our Facebook album if you want to see some close-up photos of all the decorations. What book series would you like to see us create as a Christmas tree next year?

Children's Holiday Books & Crafts

Stop by the Children's Room and check out the "Happy Holidays" bulletin board display. Miss Karin has created a little house that looks good enough to eat as well as many samples of crafty items that the kids can make while they wait for the holiday celebrations to begin or to give as gifts to someone special.

Also, there are still many Christmas, Hanukkah, and Kwanza books available for borrowing.

Is it a House? A Hat?

I recently took home a brand new picture book from the library for my son and I to enjoy--The Wonderful Book by Leonid Gore. As you can probably guess I was attracted to the title and the great cover. It is a really cute story about how different animals come across a book in the forest and each decide for themselves what they think it is--a house, a hat, a table, and a bed. My son thought that this was hilarious! Near the end of the book a little boy comes along and tells them it is a book and reads the story to them. It is a really simple story with great illustrations--perfect for our overstimulated lives. Imagine my amusement when I read a review of the book in Kirkus magazine and the reviewer used terms such as metatextuality, metalayers, and codex. Oh well I just thought it was cute:).

Christmas at the Library

Christmas elves visited the Library yesterday. Come see the lovely decorations and bring something for the City of Dover employees' Food Drive or our Dover Fire Toy Bank box.

Say it isn't so!

Recently, the New York Times newspaper ran an article about the fading popularity of children’s Picture Books (see: Picture Books No Longer a Staple for Children). They blamed not only the economy but the fact that parents and schools are encouraging children to read “big-kid chapter books” earlier and earlier. Bookstores agree that sales are down and that they sometimes have to pack up the Picture Books and return them to the publisher. In turn, the publishers are curtailing the number of Picture Books they produce for market and those wonderful, talented authors and illustrators of Picture Books are feeling the pinch. Please, say it isn’t so!

If I had to choose my favorite type of children’s book, it would be the Picture Book. Most Picture Books are written with a sophisticated vocabulary that children can understand but not necessarily read (until they are school-age) and their bountiful illustrations can help develop sensitivity, humor, critical thinking and imagination. And remember, there are the Picture Books that are written with the older child or even the adult in mind (see books by Patricia Polacco). Oh, the things they can teach and the emotions they can invoke (I’m often seen at the circulation desk with teary eyes after reading a new picture book)! Picture Books are so important to developing a love for reading.

Please say it isn’t so…that their popularity is fading or that parents don't see (as literary experts are quick to say) that Picture Books are not for dummies …

Wait…
one of our patrons just checked out 30 Picture Books!

Have You Downloaded Today?

Librarians are freaks for statistics. The beginning of the month is my big day to collect all my statistics on how many people visit our blog, Facebook and Twitter accounts, the We Remember Dover and Rabid Reader wikis (thank you to all of those who do!) I also collect statistics on our databases, how many books we borrow and loan through Interlibrary Loan, and how many audiobooks and eBooks are borrowed through our website. Downloadable eBooks just became available this spring so I was curious to see how popular the service was with Library patrons. I was delighted to see that 3,677 eBooks have been check out by Dover Public Library patrons since March! I wonder how many more titles will more get checked out if eReaders like The Nook are popular Christmas presents this year?

A Wild and Crazy Guy

I love reading fiction about art, artists--generally anything about the art world--I'm not sure why, it's just how it is. So I was very excited when I read the review of Steve Martin's new book, An Object of Beauty, which is set smack dab in the center of the New York art scene. I loved Mr. Martin's last two fiction novels, Shopgirl and The Pleasure of My Company, so I had high hopes. I was thrilled when I got the book just in time for the Thanksgiving holiday--could things get any better? Yes, because I loved the book! I was immediately taken into the story and felt like an art world insider. The story is that of Lacey Yeager, a young woman fresh out of college, just getting her start at Sotheby's, the auction company. Even though Lacey is an awful person--conniving, dishonest, manipulative, amoral, I could go on and on--she is also fascinating. Steve Martin also fascinates me because I have a hard time picturing "that wild and crazy guy" as the writer of these wonderful novels. Anyhow, I strongly suggest you try one of his novels, or even better, listen to the book on CD which he narrates himself. Let me know what you think.

The Distant Hours

I have been waiting for The Distant Hours with great anticipation since I read a review of it last winter. Kate Morton writes the sort of books that I can’t wait to get back to. I dive into them and have to be dragged out, and I’m sad when I finish one.  The House at Riverton (1920s England) and The Forgotten Garden (Australia and Cornwall) were beautifully written; atmospheric with intriguing characters and involving plots, books you could lose yourself in. unfortunately The Distant Hours proved difficult to get into. People Magazine called it “nuanced”. That’s one way of describing a 500 plus page book that doesn’t begin to get interesting until 400 pages in. I found myself reluctant to return to the book, it became a chore rather than a pleasure. Things do pick up in the last 100 pages or so. You will have to decide for yourself whether the commitment is worth it. I only persisted so long because I am such a fan of Kate Morton’s early books.

Holiday Hours

The Library will be closed Thursday and Friday in honor of Thanksgiving. We will be open again on Saturday 9-5. Have a happy Thanksgiving!

Award Winner or Not?

Fallen by Lauren Kate is a popular book with the teen crowd--it's a supernatural romance need I say more. There is a glowing blurb on the cover by P.C. Cast (another wildly popular author with teens) that reads "Sexy and fascinating and scary...I loved loved loved it!" Does it need any further recommendation? While straightening up in the teen section yesterday I noticed that Fallen had a silver sticker on it denoting it as an award winner--you know like the Caldecott and Newbury winners have? Anyhow, I didn't remember this book ever winning such an award, and when I looked closer at the sticker it read "The Stephen T. Colbert Award for the Literary Excellence". Of course I researched this award and found this description:

The Stephen T. Colbert Award For The Literary Excellence is the most prestigious award given for literature in the United States. To qualify for the award, there is only one requirement: you must be Stephen Colbert. The first recipient of the Stephen T. Colbert Award For The Literary Excellence was the book I Am America (And So Can You!), a work of such staggering genius that it was given the award before it was even published. Subsequently, several books have been honored retroactively with the award.

Too funny! I don't know if we have a reader who is putting these stickers on their favorite books, but it certainly did give me laugh.

Potter Mania Begins

I have posted before about Cake Wrecks, a really amusing blog about professionally made cakes, often created with hilarious errors. They have a post up of some extraordinary Harry Potter themed cakes, no errors on these beauties! The golden snitch and the sorting hat are spectacular. I wanna have a Harry Potter party!

Food for Fines

City of Dover employees' FOOD DRIVE is on! Bring a canned good or dry staple item to the Library and get $.50 deducted from your current fines for each item you donate to our collection box! Sorry, donations may not be used to pay for "lost" items or as credit towards future fines. Help us help the local food pantries! Donations accepted up until 4:00pm on Monday, December 13th.

Harry Potter Tattoos

I was doing a Google image search looking for a picture of Harry Potter's marauder's map for a library project (more on that later) when I noticed loads of  Harry Potter themed tattoos. Apparently quite a few people are walking around with Potter quotes, Hedwig, Dumbledore, a house elf, and even the dark mark permanently etched onto their bodies. I like the series, but not enough to wear it forever. I also ran into another site that specializes in literary tattoos. There were some really striking images.What literary quote or image would you choose as a tattoo?

Patti Smith Rocks

The National Book Award winners were announced last night, and rock musician Patti Smith won for her nonfiction book Just Kids. In her acceptance speech Ms. Smith said “I dreamed of having a book of my own, of writing one that I could put on a shelf. Please, no matter how we advance technologically, please don’t abandon the book. There is nothing in our material world more beautiful than the book.” Well said Ms. Smith--we couldn't agree more!

Here is the full list of winners:
Fiction: Lord of Misrule by Jaimy Gordon
Nonfiction: Just Kids by Patti Smith
Poetry: Lighthead by Terrance Hayes
Young People's Literature: Mockingbird by Kathryn Erskine

The View from the Library

This is the view of the skylights from my desk this morning.

 It brought to mind a certain song I'm sure you have heard before.

All the leaves are brown
And the sky is grey
I went for a walk
On a winter's day
I'd be safe and warm
If I was in L.A.
California dreamin'
On such a winter's day

Stephen Abram has Killed the Romance

Recently I read a blog post by Stephen Abram titled "Are books smelly?" in which he outlined the components of book smell: Glue, dust, mould, ink and dryness. He expounded a bit on each of these, but dust is the one that has really stuck with me--the principle component of dust being sloughed off human skin. Ewww!!!! I always loved the scenes in books where the bibliophile would happen upon a library--usually in a large English castle--and take a favorite title off the shelf, open the book, and breath in the heady scent. Romantic? Not anymore--just dead skin of the previous Viscounts, Dukes, and Lords who had spent time in that library. Thanks Stephen for killing the romance.

Free Lecture on Loons Tuesday, November 16th

The Friends of the Library present Loons by John Rockwood, Tuesday Night at 7:00 in the Lecture Hall.

Have you ever heard that haunting and eerie sounding call of a loon on a lake? Doesn’t it send shivers down your spine? Want to know what loons are really communicating to each other and learn more fascinating behaviors about these elusive aquatic birds? Join us for a spectacular and very entertaining multi-media slide show, filled with stunning close up Loon photos by Professional Photographer, John Rockwood.