The View from the Leslie Library Windows: We're Back!

Monday, March 30, 2015

We're Back!

Had a lovely spring break over in Kauai! But today we were back to work! Scholastic came and picked up the stuff from the book fair, so I was glad to get the tables back in their accustomed space. The library lab is now booked for OAKS testing, so it's imperitive that the kids are quiet in here. So library traffic was much reduced. Our office manager made a great set of signs for the doors. They are huge, fill the window space and are bright pinkish! If that doesn't stop people from coming in, nothing will! Except me :) I did kick out a couple of kids today who were not behaving properly. Shelved some of the 920 and 921's. Made a 'New Books' sign. Looked for a lost book. Asked another LMA if a student could work to pay off his fine and she said that he would have pay. She had her reasons so I will let him know! Mr. M came in looking for another document camera and I didn't really have one available. I felt bad. One of those tasks I have just sluffed off, checking them all and seeing if they can be reset or not. He said that he'd like to know when we get down to one, then do this instead of waiting until we don't have any, and he's right. I got four of them set for surplus today along with a projector, so hopefully M made it over from technology to pick them up in the office. Sent in the count from a Language Arts teacher who sent in her Statewide materials to be barcoded. I had to check first and make sure all the materials were in the boxes, then send that list of everything to LMSS. Another teacher asked if we could check out to her class on Wednesday, so I told her that since we are testing, maybe we could try what Mrs. K does. She sends me the list of students with their ID#'s and we check the books out to the students and write the number of the book alongside the name, then just take the cart up rather than having the kids come down. She liked that idea so my aides got that all completed today and took the cart of books up to her. Then Mrs. H came in lastly and needed the new graphing calculators checked out to her. So I gave her 42 (the answer to life, the universe, and everything!) and the batteries. She will have her aides put batteries in the calculators tomorrow! Lovely day out the windows today and got to watch some of our students out working the garden! Nice!

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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.