Ladybug Land

Do you know what a ladybug looks like in its larvae stage?  I sure didn't before yesterday!  To go along with our science theme for this summer, we have purchased a ladybug habitat.

Yesterday the ladybugs arrived, although, I would have never recognized the bugs as ladybugs and have probably squashed a few in this state.  Oops. 

Over the next week, they will eat and grow, and then they will attach themselves to the walls of the habitat and become pupae, before finally transforming to ladybugs.  Hopefully, we will be able to watch them a few days and then turn them loose.

Did you know that ladybugs are considered useful insects because they eat aphids and other crop destroying pests?  Their trademark bright colors and spots are meant to be a warning to predators that they taste bad, and in fact, ladybugs can secrete a foul tasting fluid from joints in their legs to discourage predators from eating them.  Ladybugs do not just come in red varieties, but can also be pink, yellow, white, orange, and black.  There are over 300 types of ladybugs in North America.

Come on in and watch our ladybugs develop!!!

Information found at www.ladybuglady.com and www.nationalgeographic.com
 

Julie's Journal : What Alice Forgot by Liane Moriarty

For awhile now, my mother has been telling me to read What Alice Forgot by Liane Moriarty.  I put myself on hold for it in Overdrive, our digital library, and finally was able to check it out this week. 

I FLEW through it.  The main character Alice is a 39 year old mother of three going through a divorce.  She stays busy, busy, busy running her kids around and being an all around super mom.  She and her husband are embroiled in nasty disagreements about custody arrangements and visitation rights. 

The problem is that Alice doesn't remember any of that.  After a minor accident in a gym class, Alice wakes up with a concussion and amnesia.  She believes that she is 29, deliriously in love with her husband, and pregnant with her first child.

As she returns to  her life, she is slowly told about the past 10 years from the people around her.  She doesn't recognize the person she has become.  At 29, she is more free spirited, more understanding, and more flexible.  Her children are shocked when she allows them a sugary breakfast instead of their normal healthy one.  She begins to reconnect with her ex-husband.

As I read about Alice trying to fit back into her 39 year old life with her 29 year old mind, I kept wondering what was going to happen when she regained her memory.  I knew that she would regain her older personality as well as her memories, but I wondered how her week or so of living with her younger mind would affect her long term.  Would she still wish to reconnect with her husband or would she continue dating?  Would she revert back to her strict parenting ways, or would she relax a little bit?  Would she be able to maintain the new relationship with her sister, or would they drift back apart?    

I won't give away the ending, but I will say that I was very satisfied with how everything turned out.  I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book.  It is interesting to look at my own life and think about how I was different 10 years ago.  What aspects of my younger self should I try to bring back, and what changes are for the better?  I plan to read Ms. Moriarty's newer book The Husband's Secret, next.

A Day in the Life of a Librarian

As librarians, we love our jobs. Our days are fun, sometimes exciting, and full of variety. We never know what we're going to get into when we come to work. However, several times a year, a well-meaning patron will look at us and say, "I would love to have your job. It must be so nice to sit and read all day." While, reading a variety of books and materials is a part of our job, so that we can make recommendations to our patrons, we definitely don't get to read all day. In fact most of our reading is still done on our own time, at home. I thought I would tell you a little about our different responsibilities, and what it takes to make a library run like clockwork.


Lisa is our director. Her responsibilities include budgeting and money management, managing our yearly calendar, attending county meetings, applying for grants, coming up with and scheduling all of our programs, purchasing new materials, and managing the rest of us.  She must keep up with the ever changing state and federal laws and mandates regarding public libraries and making sure we comply. Lisa also deals with all the maintenance that a 100 year old building requires. She must keep abreast of technology changes and making sure that we have the technology and services that the public needs. She works with the different community organizations as well.  She is responsible to, and works with, the Library Board and also works with the Friends of the Library board for fundraising and events.


I (Julie) am the assistant director. My responsibilities include managing the front desk, preparing and teaching computer classes, preparing and presenting Marvelous Mondays, repairing materials, and maintaining this blog and our twitter feed.  I am responsible for staying up to date with technology and am usually the person who helps patrons when they have a problem with their personal computers or tablets.  I maintain our collection by rotating older items out, moving bestsellers upstairs to make room for new items, and recommending new items for purchase.  I visit the public school fairly regularly to promote our programs and activities for children.  I also work on the veteran's interviews, both conducting interviews and transferring the interviews to DVD for checkout.


Chance is one of our clerks. He is responsible for checking patrons in and out, shelving returned items, and is usually the one who puts new items into the system. He assists patrons when they need help with using the computers and is my assistant during computer classes. Chance is responsible for anything requiring a tall person and gets to do all our heavy lifting!

Debbie is our other clerk. She is responsible for checking patrons in and out, shelving returned items, and keeps our plants watered and the coffee made. She also helps to process new items by adding all the stickers, stamps, and other identifying labels to new materials. She has become adept at putting on the plastic wrapping that we use on book jackets.

During the summer, we host many events for children, including Summer Reading, Watermelon Day, and Magic shows.  We have two other assistants that help us with the summer activities. They are Jami and Kristen.  The library also employs a part-time janitor, Rhonda.  All of us love our jobs, and I personally hope to never work anywhere else!! 

Stuffed Animal Sleepover Tonight!

Animals, dolls, and action figures have begun to arrive for the stuffed animal sleepover at the library tonight!

Waiting for the party to start!

 

Don't forget to bring your stuffed animals for the party!  Participants will be treated to a night of fun and games in the library and will be sent home with pictures documenting their experiences. 

Rainbow Connection 4 year old class after dropping off their animals!

Shel Silverstein

Did you know that the Franklin County Library has a collection of books by Shel Silverstein?  If you didn't know, Mr. Silverstein wrote primarily poetry and music, including the lyrics for Johnny Cash's hit A Boy Named Sue, and is most well known for his poetry for children. 

His book The Giving Tree for children is also still very popular and one of my (Julie) favorite children's stories.  It describes the many ways a boy uses an apple tree throughout his life, from picking the fruit and playing in it's branches, to courting his wife under its shade, to using its wood for building a boat, to resting on its stump in his old age. 



Silverstein's poetry is found in most elementary schools in the country, and yet some of it is quite profound when read from an adult point of view.  I particularly like the poem "Masks".

 

Franklin County Library has eight titles by Shel Silverstein.  Six are poetry and two are children's stories.  Stop in and check them out!





New Stuff for the Vault!

Come in and check out all the new stuff for our Pre-teens, Teens, and Young Adults!

And much more!

In Honor of Mothers

Julie's Journal : Are you a writer?

Franklin County Library has a few patrons who are published writers and several more who are aspiring authors.  Our own Chance Crane is published, with more projects constantly in the works.  Lisa has also dabbled in writing at different times in her life.  I am not much of a writer, although I'd like to be.  Writing this blog is as far as I get! 

When I think about writing one of two things stop me.  Either I don't feel like I have a good topic to write about or I am not sure how to convey my thoughts on paper so that they come alive for the person reading them.  I so admire authors whose words draw me into their stories.

Recently, Jeanie Pamplin, another published author and member of the Northeast Texas Writer's Organization (www.netwo.org), dropped off a few magazines. 

 

I flipped through the magazine and found it very interesting.  In fact, hopefully the library will offer it for check out soon!  In particular, there was an article about the art of describing everyday things.  The author wrote a compelling essay about a set of metal measuring spoons from her childhood.  She not only described what they looked like, but also what they felt like and what memories she had that were associated with them.  She made the simple measuring spoons come alive for me.  It inspired me to perhaps try describing something as well.  It's not as simple a task as it seems at first glance.  First, of course, I have to find something to describe!

 

I then went to the Poets & Writers  website and discovered that they offer weekly writing prompts on several topics.  I found all of this week's prompts intriguing.  Maybe they'll get me writing something! 

 

What inspires you to write?  

Destination Imagination and Other Things

Well, I took a very nice video of the 5th grade Destination Imagination kids performance, but I can't figure out how to upload it from my ipad to this blog.  So any tech help would be appreciated!!  I can show you this picture though.

We had about 25 people here to watch their performance.

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Also - did you know there are only 19 school days left this year?!?  Eeek!  The library is gearing up for summer.  We have our summer reading sign up sheets available along with a schedule of our summer events.  Our first summer event is June 6th with Bubble Day on the plaza at 10:00. 

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Before we truly kick off summer, though, we have an event for all you cooks.  We are hosting a recipe exchange on Thursday, May 29th at 5:30.  Bring a copy of your recipes and samples to share.  We have done this several times and we always get good recipes!  

We hope to see you at the library in the coming weeks.  It's going to be lots of fun!!!!