Storytime starts on Monday and the theme of our first "organized" storytime is Building Blocks. I love building blocks and I remembered two of the best Christmas presents I ever got.
I was in college and besides all of the college-y things a person can get my Mom and Dad bought me a box of wooden building blocks and a set of plastic blocks called "Cubes and Tubes". The Cubes and Tubes made tunnels that a plastic ball rolled through and the trick was to create a structure that would take the ball down and then back up again using just gravity. My set came with a little motor so the motion could be kept up but wow! in the days before video games - years before Pong, even - my dorm room was the place to be when coursework was just too much.
The wooden blocks were especially appealing to friends who had been, um, under the influence of herbal supplements so to speak. The game Janga! (spelling?) had not been created yet but my friends created their own version of the game building precarious towers and carefully and slowly de-constructing them one block at a time. Toys! I love them.
I kept the Cubes and Tubes for years. Remnants might even be in my attic as I type this.
I'd love to read about the memories other people have of building with building blocks or of their favorite building toys. So submit a comment and I'll post it! Thanks.

Me again. How lucky you are!! Two posts in one day.

1. On my Shelf Awareness e-newsletter, they interviewed Gregory Maguire, author of Wicked - the novel from which the musical was derived - and many other books. They always ask the same questions - it's in a segment called "Book Brahmins". Here is the answer to the last question.

Gregory Maguire
Books you most want to read again for the first time: "Hop on Pop, because that would mean that all of my reading life was still magnificently ahead of me."



Isn't that a cool response? Think about all the books you love. Now, think about being able to read them all over for the first time. Wow!



2. On PW Children's e-newsletter (you have to pay to subscribe to it so I'm not linking to it) there's an article about readergirlz and their "31 Flavorite Authors for Teens" project. They are going to interview authors who write for teens every day in October. Get excited!! Meg Cabot is October 1st which is very exciting BUT Stephanie Meyer is on October 31st!!! Jump up and down! Jump up and down! Now shriek! Get a grip, really. So click on the link and take a trip to their MySpace for the interviews. And I think the interviews are live and I think that if you join readergirlz you can actually ask them questions. So all you reader girls should join. At least, check out their website.

See, anon comes sooner than you think.

Hey! I recently wrote a column for the little weekly about craft books. Do you know that there is a two book mystery series about soapmaking? That didn't get into my column but I was tickled to go on Amazon and find soapmaking fiction. The reason I looked is that a friend and library patron, Peg Bruno, stopped by so I could photograph her for the column. (I get extra $$$ - make that $ - if I include a photo.) Peg is a soapmaker who got her start after borrowing a book from the library!!! Check out her website at www.pegbrunosoaps.com.

Anyway, I already found the quilting, knitting and scrapbooking fiction and mentioned some of the authors in my column but soapmaking??? Yep. Tim Myers is the author and the second title is "A Pour Way to Dye" (eeewwww, a punster.) I haven't read it. I'm just here to tell you about my book related discoveries.

I'm planning a crafts fair - did I already tell you that? And it has taken over my life. My house, normally dishevelled in a charmingly disarming way, is scary. (I did have a marathon outpouring of cleaning energy on Tuesday which means I'm done for the rest of the month.) I am making ornaments from lightbulbs - high art here everyone - and I am disappointed with my efforts. Oh well, this crafts fair is for the OTHER crafters and artists and luckily some of them actually are artists. More about that as the date approaches.

I attended a very cool workshop on making libraries warm and welcoming to teens. Kim Bolan was the presenter. I've linked to her blog there. She goes around the country interviewing teens for libraries to help plan building renovations and new construction. She had so much energy that I think THAT was why I cleaned so much on Tuesday. (I saw Kim on Monday.) So now, with all these great ideas, I will be able to transform the small, dusty, dark, tucked away, out of sight area in this library known as YA (yayayayayaya) into a vibrant, pulsing with energy, beacon of teen-ness. YES!!! Well, maybe....um, I am not sure exactly how... Nevertheless, Kim Bolan is a certified CLP (Cool Library Person) and the world can always use another one of those.

Enough! I will return anon.

Oh for gosh sakes! I forgot to mention that I read Wynne-Jones' "The Pinhoe Egg". So, of course, only a few of you are going to get the oh-so-humorous reference to it in my last post.

"The Pinhoe Egg" is a Chrestomanci novel starring Cat Chant from "The Charmed Life' and introducing Marianne and Joe Pinhoe, two dwimmer magical kids from a nearby village. Marianne gives Cat an egg that she finds in her Gammar's attic after her Gammar goes "senile" and that egg helps to unleash all kinds of previously imprisoned magic.

At the end of the book there are six children involved with the Castle, Julia and Roger, Chrestomanci's children, Janet, stranded by the awful Gwendolyn in "Charmed Life", Cat, Gwendolyn's brother and the future Chrestomanci, and now Marianne and Joe Pinhoe. It's not exactly a school but this set up leaves the door open for some very cool magical adventures. Cool. Well, my lightbulbs are waiting.

Corrections:
For those who actually read this blog, here are a few corrections. e. lockhart's new book, out in the Spring, is "The disreputable history of Frankie Landau-Banks" NOT "The outrageous..." as earlier noted. I'll fix it in that post but if you are looking for that book, it's good to get the title correct.
And "Charlie Bone and the Beast" is exactly that NOT "Charlie AND the Bone..." Oh well, I am a lousy proof-reader.

Reading is addictive and the more I read, the more I want to read. Last week I read three of Carola Dunn's "Daisy Dalrymple" books. This series takes place after the Great War. Since Daisy's only brother is killed in the War, the entire estate is passed on to the next male heir in the family and Daisy has to earn an actual living. I haven't read the first book, so I don't know how she meets up with her Scotland Yard Detective fiance-eventual-husband but her mother is horrified with Daisy's behavior. Work for a living, indeed!!
The books have lots of country estates and landed gentry and all the social changes of the 1920s. Lots of fun.

I also re-read "The Lives of Christopher Chant" for the 19th time and followed that with a re-reading of "Charmed Life", both by Diana Wynne-Jones. I like the novels that take place in Chrestomanci Castle. It's sort of Hogwarts-ish. OR is Hogwarts sort of Chrestomanci Castle-ish? Which came first the griffin or the Pinhoe egg?

I also decided that I want to run a crafts fair. I love to make stuff but I have a limited distribution outlet. SO, voila, a crafts fair. There you go. So I am reading a lot of books on selling crafts and looking for crafts to sell. And that reminds me, I have to go paint lightbulbs.

See you soon.

I haven't read the book - don't even have it in the library - but here's an example of how books, their titles and their content can effect my daily life. I put in an order for Jennifer Holm's new book, "Middle School is Worse than Meat Loaf" and, like Homer Simpson, I thought to myself, "Hmmm, meat loaf, hmmmm!"

I went home that night and made meat loaf - yum.

I'll let you know more about the book when it comes in.

Ahhh, Summer Reading Club is oooover. Darn! The worst thing about the end of summer is all the teens going off to college. Six of my best volunteers have moved on to academia, one to Princeton, one to Olin, one to Moravian, one to Waynesburg, one to KSU and one to Mount St. Mary's. And I am stuck here. They will miss the Teen Pizza Party than-q loud raucous bash and some of them will miss the Fall Fest. But, there's a whole crew of younger teens still hanging around shelving and shelf reading and straightening things up and generally brightening my day.



Okay, I found my inner reader again this summer. For months there, I was too busy dealing with family issues (death, wedding, etc.) to do a lot of recreational reading but I'm back and oh boy I have been reading some good stuff.



I read L. M. Meyer's fourth entry into the Bloody Jack series, "In the Belly of the Bloodhound" where the entire girls' school is sold into slavery and Jackie must join forces with her arch enemy Cornelia (?) to get free. Another romp into the realm of imagination stretching and early 19th century seaman- oops seapersonship, the pages practically turn themselves. Not for the squeamish, though.



HP 7 - like most of the people I've talked to, I found the cheery epilogue jarring. But on the whole, this was a satisfying end to the most read epic for children and teens ever.



e. lockhart has a superb book coming out - "The Outrageous History of Frankie Landau-Banks". A sophomore at a swanky, high prestige prep school, Frankie has bloomed over the summer - filling out and up and getting contacts. Suddenly, boys - who only talked to her because of her sister - notice her. And she becomes the girlfriend of very popular and handsome Matthew. Because her father attended Alabaster Academy, Frankie knows of the "secret" all-male prankster club, the Basset Society. Long story short - she infiltrates the society via email and takes it over and only one Basset is aware that an infiltration has taken place. EXCEPT that that is not really what the book is about. Pranks and cleverness abound - along with a rude awakening. Here's some good news and some bad news. Bad news first - the book isn't due out until MARCH of 2008!!! Good news - Frankie's just a sophomore and we might be meeting up with her again.



I am in the process of reading the new Cornelia Funke due out in September, "Igraine the Brave". I left off just as Sir Hedgehog, the evil knight, has discovered the special spell-removing powder that Igraine used to remove a victory spell from Sir Hedgehog's lance. (Hi real name is something like Sir Rowan of the whatever. The book's at home and I'm not.) Igraine lives with her magician parents and older brother and all she (Igraine) wants is to become a knight like her great-grandfather. I'm almost done and only sleep and work have kept me from finishing it.



I also read "The Glass Castle" by Jeanette Walls. Um, engrossing memoir for sure but NOT enjoyable. The book made me so anxious that I couldn't sleep. Jeanette's parents led those kids through such a wild, dangerous childhood that I'm surprised they (the grown-up kids) aren't all in padded cells and yet, there is something intriguing about people who can be so unconcerned about public opinion. My family life looks so idyllic after reading that book ( and actually it is).



The last book in the Charlie Bone series, "Charlie and the Bone and the Beast" was a noble addition to the series. Loose ends are tied up and evil forces are vanquished and animals and "un-endowed" young friends all play an important part.



And the very last book by the late Lloyd Alexander, "The Golden Dream of Carlo Chuchio", seems to mirror Alexander's life. A dreamer, Carlo Chuchio, goes searching for treasure and finds adventure, self-awareness and a life mate in the process. Magic abounds and humor is ever present for Alexander had a playful way of viewing life. (Chuchio means 'donkey' in the language that Carlo speaks.) When the book was finished, it is rumored that Alexander said "My life's work is done." Lloyd Alexander died in May two weeks after his beloved wife died. I still am saddened by his passing.