The View from the Leslie Library Windows: Not Much Lunch & the Greenhouse

Tuesday, December 9, 2014

Not Much Lunch & the Greenhouse

The library was really busy today during my lunch, which meant that I didn't really get a lunch. It seems a couple of teachers decided to send groups down to the library and forgot that the library is only 'semi-open' during the period between our two lunches. I have an aide then, and she's great, but she's not an adult to corral and check up on the groups. So, I sent out an all staff email today just reminding people that it's my break and that a kid or two quietly working is all right, but just to remember it's my lunch! I remember Mrs. B saying she would close the library, have the sign on the door, turn off the lights and still people would come in and ask questions! Maybe I should feel honored that they think I can do it all! So hopefully tomorrow will be quieter. I felt today like we were used for a study hall and a library! Picked up my PO authorization today and printed up the books I just purchased at Baker and Taylor so I don't double buy. Thinking I will be checking out the graphic novel section, we need new ones and to get some lost ones in. Checked out books to four classes and checked their books in. Checked in and out all day. Laminated the covers on the books I repaired and got them back out there. Cleaned up the library because there is a parent meeting tonight in there. Had my wonderful volunteer work on moving all the lit books to one aisle in the back. She was doing a fabulous job! Mrs. V walked in to the back and was like 'holy cow! it looks so good back here!' made me smile. Finished up the Scholastic Book Fair paperwork today since our bookkeeper got all my totals ready and turned that all in. After work I stopped behind the library to check out the greenhouse. When it's windy, Mrs. V and I notice that the top door swings free, so I stopped to see if I could close one of the panels on the roof and the door. Well, the door top is broken that holds it closed, so I ended up taking a gardening glove that was in there and wedging the door shut. Was about the only thing I could find that would stop it! The roof panel is stuck open, and I couldn't get it closed, so I just left it. Away to home!

No comments:

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)

What I'm Reading

The Butchering Art by Lindsey Fitzharris was a great non-fiction read! Love a good non-fiction! Joseph Lister worked hard, studied hard, never gave up on his ideas that something outside was causing untold numbers of people to die after surgery. His quest to find the answer was long overdue and he was the one to craft it and make it a medical standard. Brilliant!
Uncomfortable Conversations with a Black Boy by Emmanuel Acho was so good. I liked it even better than Stamped. His honest and open look at what is was like for him growing up really brings the issues into focus. Highly recommended!
Verify by Joelle Charbonneau - what if everything went digital which gave the government and people in power a way to change history, past and current. What happened to some words, like the word 'verify' that is no longer in the digital dictionary. Meri has lost her mom and her dad drowns sorrow in liquor. Meri is entranced by her mom's last art pieces and is given a slip of paper (the horror! what about the trees? recycling?) and on it is the word 'verify'. Atlas gives her a dictionary, a paper one and an old history textbook. Meri jumps on the train with him so they can change the world.
Kalahari by Jessica Khoury - what a ride! I even took this home one night to finish! Sarah lives with her dad doing research deep in the Kalahari. A group of students are sent to see if they can qualify for a grant and when her dad goes missing when he heads off after poachers, she is left to take care of them. Her dad doesn't return and the poachers are after them. They come across a white lion stalking them, but wait? It isn't white it's something else. They come across a lab and realize there is a virus, that has been let loose on the Kalahari that could destroy the whole world. So exciting!! Great ending as well!
The Year of the Buttered Cat by Susan Haas with Lexi Haas - Okay. I have to admit that I got this book because of the title. Buttered cats, what an intriguing thought! But the real intrigue is the persistence, the optimism of Lexi. Because of jaundice, she was disabled and this story is about her decision to take a chance on ground breaking surgery to try and get some mobility, speech and live her gifts. She has five she had to find. Read it for Lexi (and maybe to find out about that buttered cat).
Darius the Great is Not Okay by Adib Khorram. There are spaces only you can fill, and Darius learns this as his family travels to Iran to see his grandfather who is dying. Along the way he deals with his depression, makes a friend, has innumerable Star Trek references and also learns that it's okay, to not be okay. I must admit, I had to look up some of the places he got to visit. What a rich heritage. I thought Zoroastrians were long gone, but no, they are still practicing today in Iran. Great book, totally okay.
The Last Bookshop in London by Madeline Martin - perfect book lover tale of a woman captivated by a man and a bookstore and how she made more impact on her fellow book lovers and the man who got her to read than any bomb that fell during the Blitz. Very lovely!
The Girl From the Channel Islands by Jenny Lecoat - Lovely WW2 story by Jenny who actually grew up on one of the Channel Islands. Hedy fled Austria only to find her island haven invaded by the Germans. And though she is wary, she falls in love with a German officer. The twists and turns of German occupation test them both as each find a way to help the allied forces win.
Ancestor Approved edited by Cynthia Leitich Smith. I loved these short stories that all center around a modern day Native American Powwow. My fave was Rez Dog and they were all a great window into culture that I have rarely seen. I watched some videos on Fancy Dancing because of this and I would love to attend one, but feel a bit like a looky loo if I did. Fun, eye opening and full of information. Loved it!
The Dictionary of Lost Words by Pip Williams Loved this fictionalized tale of the daughter of one of the lexicographers of the first ever Oxford Dictionary. As Esme goes from hiding under the sorting table, to one day being a lexicographer herself, we see her story unfold along with the people attached to the dictionary. It was really wonderful as we glimpsed her life and how the words she found and rescued formed the backbone of this novel. Really well done. It will stay on my shelves.