The View from the Leslie Library Windows: Shrink to Fit - No!

Monday, December 8, 2014

Shrink to Fit - No!

It's not very often, but occasionally I do have to print barcodes for textbooks. They've been damaged and just need a new one. So I was getting book covers ready to laminate today and just grimaced that I'd have to print new barcodes. I know there was just one little thing I needed to change to get them to print perfectly on a 3x10 sheet of labels and for the life of me I couldn't figure it out. Until today! I was printing up the codes and I looked all over the Insignia program preview for that box, and as I finally gave up and hit print, noticed on the print message box "shrink to fit" and the light taa-daa dawned! I just needed to move that to 'none' and voila! There they were, all pretty and perfect! So, today yes, I worked on my book covers that needed to be fixed from tears and some hard wear and tear so I can laminate them tomorrow. We had gotten some 'let's save money' laminating film back a few years ago that really was cheap and didn't work for the abuse our books get, so I peeled off old laminating that was coming apart, fixed the tears, colored in missing colors over the crack n' peel we use for reinforcing the bad spots and generally got them all ready to go. Checked in and out books today, really watched the kids who were sent on passes to the library. Sent in a notice to get a PO for book money at the Scholastic Warehouse sale next week just up the street at our convention center and our principal surprised me by doubling the amount I wanted out of the general fund. Wow! And he wants me to leave earlier to get a better selection! So I will leave next Monday after 5th period and just close the library for the day and go book shopping! That was exciting!! Went to our monthly classified meeting and got a very heart felt thank you from our principal on how many comments he had received about our amazing staff. It was very nice. He also told us about his personal philosophy for his job. One was that every student can learn. I turned it around and said every student can read, when they say they can't, they just haven't found the right book yet! I want every kid to walk into the library thinking they will find a just right book and find more!

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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.