The View from the Leslie Library Windows: November 2021

Thursday, November 4, 2021

More New Books

Wednesday - Went up to the office to mail a book back and there were three new book boxes waiting and the Scholastic Book Fair box waiting! I had to make two trips down to get them all! This was all my JLG books starting from August, so a nice non-fiction haul of new books! Chromebook issues today, had one of our techs in today and he was an old friend from Sprague! It was good to see him today as he worked on my pile of Chromebooks with issues. Read Rez Dog today - a quick little novel in verse. Very good! Thank you Mr. Bruchac! Had both lunches in. I haven't had the cart out and it's been so much quieter in the library. Makes me wonder! Got all the books put away that had been piling up on the shelving cart.

Thursday - Got an email that we're all set for our Time Capsule opening tomorrow and the student that is my aide and also did some research on it is giving a speech! She gave it to me today for practice! She even got to write it and did a great job. I'm looking forward to seeing that tomorrow. They are actually streaming it to the school since our lobby where it is is so small. Got all the new books out today. Not as many Chromebook issues, nor books in. Though I did have a student ask for her books that had been on holds and were ready to pick up. Went to the shelves, looked all over and when I finally pulled up her name, duh, they were on the little bookshelf I have on the table behind the check out counter I use for holds. I felt really silly. And last Friday I was at a party for a neighbor and as we cleaned up, I found out her daughter is a student at Leslie and she came into the library today to get a book! That was pretty cool. A better easier day today.

Tuesday, November 2, 2021

Three Days In

Friday - I got in new books!!! I went up to the office and there were three boxes of new books that I ordered back in July! So excited! I got them all checked in. Put in their date due slips. Checked them all out because it's been so long since I ordered them! Chromebook issues all day again and had both lunches in. It's been a few days, so I might have lost a few things.

Monday - Put up a display for the new books. I had to take all the old books down and put them away. I fell in love with Katie the Catsitter. So adoracatable!! I also wiped down all the tables today, they were getting pretty gross looking. Chromebook issues - I did a test count and yes, spend about 25% of my time with Chromebooks on average. Had both lunches in. Started to read Bridge of Souls - so very good! Love this series!

Tuesday - Gimme some Chromebooks! More Chromebook issues, both lunches in, finished reading Bridge of Souls. Checked out quite a few books and took some in. Got some textbooks for Mr. F's science class. Had to play Jenga with the Chromecarts so I could get to them. Had both lunches in, but didn't put out the Makerspace things today. So, the library was a bit quieter. I did send some kids out again today. Mask issues, eating issues. I get tired of telling them.

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.