The View from the Leslie Library Windows: What a Wonderful World

Monday, August 31, 2015

What a Wonderful World

If we all got to go back to jobs we love?? Today was my first day back, and it was busy! The carpets had been cleaned so I had to do some rearranging of a few tables I could move, as well as put back stuff where it belongs! Checked in books. Threw away stuff that didn't need to be kept. (Like the poster paper I had to put up in the windows if we needed to blackout - we got in new blinds for all the windows, so those could go!). Unpacked the books I read for my book talks. Unpacked and checked in the new books we got in over the summer from a list put together by one of the high school librarians. Found another box of books that had familiar titles, but no paperwork! I called LMSS and they tracked down that they were purchased to put new books into Language Arts class libraries, so I set those aside for the teachers. Ordered new sign in sheets for the library. Ordered some new tape and contact paper. And new sharpies. Worked with our new bookkeeper on the library end of stuff. Hopefully we'll finish up with what she needs to know tomorrow. We had to call LMSS to get her added into Destiny for the textbooks. Unpacked 3 boxes from Junior Library Guild. Talked to one of our counselors about a great book on bullying. We got in our first set of math books. I kind of ignored them for a bit, and a good thing because my sets of barcodes came in this afternoon! So I was able to start to work on them. Got all the sign up sheets for the teachers for the library and the computer labs all set and ready to go for them (they come back tomorrow!). Talked with tech services about my quick to close down Outlook account, and got that all figured out. Found my library programs and got them all set. My new flat screen in my office is so huge! Asked for the Net Support program so I can monitor the computers in the lab. Learned that tech services is working on a system that the students can use their student ID's to access their computer accounts. That works for me! Talked with a couple of teachers. One a returning, the other brand new to us. Found that our Spanish workbooks didn't get ordered in June, so hopefully they will be in before the new year. Before I knew it, the day was over! Still so much to do!

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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.