You Mean, I Can't Leave My Girlfriend's Kid Unattended?

Yes, folks! That's right! There are rules to leaving kids unattended in the Children's room, especially if they are under 9 years old. Today, in the PL, a little kid was left in the library. Because you know, the library is safe and also, we offer free babysitting services. NOT! A lot of time, parents will leave there kids in here for a short bit of time so they can browse the main collection and do work on the computers in the main area. Usually, they drop in to just make sure their kids are here and doing all right. That's normal. However, this jackass (excuse me but I'm pissed) just dropped the kid off and went about his way. The kid came up to me and mentioned being done on the computer and headed out. Our supervisor came back to the Children's library to call the mom. They paged this paged this guy, walked around the library calling out his name and then nothing. So, we called the kid's mom. I sat with the kid for 30 minutes playing Life. Finally the guy shows up. And starts reprimanding the kid about how he told him where he was sitting and blah blah blah. Then walked away. After that the kid says "oh, I'm going to be in so much trouble." I told the kid it was an honest mistake. They tried everything they could do to find that guy but the kid seemed a little nervous of course. Then I guess, the mom kept calling the guy. Our supervisor warned him that if he did that again, she would call the police. And this guy had all this attitude about it too. WTFringe? I hope the kid will be ok. At one point the kid was all "Oh no...she's [Mom] not his girlfriend. He's just a friend." So who knows what kind of drama that's about. OY!

What Is The Point of the Children's Library?

Today, a patron came and was really upset with me because I told him he could not use the computers in the Children's Library. This got me thinking about why there is a special area set up for the children's collection and I thought I should post about it for the benefit of all those adults who think there is no reason for the children's library except to keep them away from using computers and making their life difficult. (excuse the snark but I really am irritated at how entitled adults are)

In 1895, American libraries started building separate areas for their childrens books and media, later this innovation spread to Europe. The mission of these spaces were to provide a distinct area for children to use. It was to provide a space where children can learn about what the library has to offer, promote literacy, and provide other sources to enhance their interest in life-long learning. These spaces would be separate from the adult collection and also be distinct in their construction, layout, and decor. This mission has not changed, but I think, it's been forgotten by some of the people who come in to use the library, especially those people who do not have children.

So, this long established space now has dvd and cd collections and computers. Computers that are set up for children 14 and younger. There are reasons that kids have their own area with their own computers to use. And one of them is so that kids do not have to sit next to the older guy who decides he can look at porn on the library computers. It is set up so that kids can do their homework without interruption. It is also here so that kids do not have to battle adults for a library computer to use. You might laugh at that one but there are adults who use these computers all day long, steal other patrons card numbers and use them, and just are online for those 2 hours they have alotted under the library policy. It is also a "safe" area for kids to be.

So, I'm sorry if you think I'm being unreasonable because I won't let you use these computers. It's moments like these when I remember the father who came up to me and thanked me for enforcing the policy set up in this room. He said "My daughter would not be comfortable using a computer next to a man."

Nonfiction Mondays: Extreme Scientists by Donna M. Jackson

Sorry this is a late. We were so busy yesterday that I did not have a chance to write a post for Nonfiction Monday on Monday. Tons of 9th grade history students running around the library, kids finishing up pamphlets, lots of questions to answer about bibliography citations, and of course, controlling and preventing our students from taking over the labs with March Madness mayhem!!!

Today's selection is Extreme Scientists: Exploring Nature's Mysteries from Perilous Places by Donna M. Jackson

What Caught My Eye: I have really enjoyed the last book I read, The Frog Scientist, from the Scientists in the Field series published by Houghton Mifflin, and saw that we had this at the public library's New Books shelf and picked it up. Plus I am part of Generation X so you know, if it says "extreme" I have to read it. Just kidding!

Why I Didn't Put It Down: This book was a great introduction to some really dangerous and exciting careers in science. There are 3 types of scientists Jackson covers (1) a hurricane hunter (pilot) (2) a cave (land and sea) exploring microbiologist and (3) a tree canopy exploring, tree scaling botanist. It is filled with color photographs of the scientists, the environments they study and their equipment. It also contains a great glossary of words for the 3 disciplines and some helpful links and bibliography in the end.

Who Would I Recommend This To: Anyone interested in reading about science. Kids, adults, teens...if you just want to gain a little insight into what these people do this book is definitely worth picking up.

Nonfiction Mondays: Life in the Boreal Forest by Brenda Z Guiberson

Happy Nonfiction Monday!! I'm happy to host this week's Nonfiction Monday! so..thank you for stopping by! Don't forget to check out all the great reviews linked below.

What Caught My Eye: I liked this painting by Gennady Spirin who illustrates this wonderful book, Life in the Boreal Forest by Brenda Z. Guiberson. The bobcat going after the ermine just made me want to pick it up.

Why I Didn't Put It Down: This a really fun read-alound book. As Guiberson goes through a year in a boreal forest, she includes sounds like "plish! plosh!" for a loon diving into a lake and "swoosh!" for when an owl snaps up it's prey. The paintings have a lot of things going happening but in a silent, minimal way. For example, on the owl painting, there is a great horned owl in the foreground, the forest is covered with snow and in the background is the river with a white rabbit listening for danger. Farther back is an image of a lone moose walking through the quiet forest. You just want to keep reading and looking at all the images to see what happens next in the forest.

Who Would I Recommend This To: It is filled with interesting facts about the boreal forest, like there are over 200 species of birds that migrate to the boreal forest and that it grows acrous Alaska, Canada, Scandinavia and Russia. Kids would love having this read to them and will enjoying looking at the paintings. Also, kids having to write about the boreal forest for their 2nd or 3rd grade class.

Nonfiction Monday: How Robots Work by Tony Hyland

Happy Nonfiction Monday!!! Today's host is Simply Science, go visit to see the round-up and stick around to read the great science-related posts!!! Thanks Simply Science Blog!!!

Today's read is How Robots Work by Tony Hyland, who is an Australian childrens book author and you can also follow him on Twitter (@TonyHylandwrite). It's pretty neat following authors on twitter..I also follow @neilgaiman and a couple of others... How Robots Work is part of a 6 book series from MacMillan Library called Robots and Robotics - a couple of the titles that I would be interested in reading : Space Robots and High Risk Robots.

What Caught My Eye: If you know me, you know I love robots!!! Love them!!! Look at my Flickr stream - ROBOTS!

Why I Didn't Put It Down: This book is filled with color photographs of all sorts of robots - humanoid robots, industrial robots, space robots and you cannot help but want to read about how they work. There are helpful captions and sidebars and it will keep a kid engaged through the 32 pages. It was interesting to read about the types of multi-legged robots that are used to scale walls and robots that can smell and robots that can built things. Fun and interesting facts fill the pages and kids who are interested in robots and robotics will really find it a great read.

Who Would I Recommend This To: To those kids who love building things and taking things apart. Also, if you are interested in robots and robotics, it is just fun getting a little information about what is happening out there in the field - who knew robots could smell!?!?!

Book Drops: Nonfiction Monday - "The Story Behind Toilets"

Happy Nonfiction Monday!! There are lots of great books to read about on Sally Apokedak's Whispers of Dawn blog to check out what people have read for today's Nonfiction Monday.

This week I grabbed the newly acquired "The Story Behind Toilets" by Elizabeth Raum. It is part of the True Stories series from Heinemann-Raintree. The 12 book series is geared towards 3-5 grade and covers things like oil, salt, chocolate, diamonds and more. The 32 page book is filled with color photos, a timeline, a glossary, great little sidebars and even a section called "Find Out More" that contains books, websites, and even places to visit in a child's town. Raum has filled this book with a lot of fun facts as well, like the reason people refer to the toilet as a "crapper" is because, in 1884, Thomas Crapper, an English plumber, improved the toilet and during World War I, U.S. soldiers stationed in England started calling them "crappers." There are lots of diagrams and illustrations showing how toilets have evolved over time as well. Who knew that learning about toilets could be so entertaining. Definitely a great one to add to the collection.

Book Drops: Nonfiction Monday

My first Nonfiction Monday post of the year. To check out more selections, visit the Picture Book of the Day blog. I joined this group at the end of the year and now I'm hooked. I have actually found really great stuff for the middle school and the public library that I work at. Also, I'm finding more blogs to read and more interesting folks (librarians and others) to interact with. Pretty neat how this circle keeps on growing.

Today, I am featuring 2 books:

1. Liana Romulo's My First Book of Tagalog Words published in 2006 by Tuttle Publishing. I found this while helping one of my patron's who was looking for the Pokemon Handbook. It is illusrated by Jaime Laurel. My First Book of Tagalog Words is cute and fun introduction to Tagalog. The words Romulo features are some that are regularly spoken in most Filipino households. The illustrations are bright and colorful and convey the short verses that Romulo used to describe each word. There were a couple of letters, like X and Z, that do nore really have Tagalog words so she was kind of stretching it there but I think, little kids would love still love this book.
2. Ken Robbins' Food For Thought: the stories behind the things we eat published 2009 from Roaring Brook Press. If you have read this blog and my other one, you know, I really like to read a lot about food. So, in keeping with my little obsession, I decided to read this selection for Nonfiction Mondays as well. Robbins' explores the history, myths, jokes and other facts that are associated with some of our favorite foods - apples, oranges, potatoes, tomatoes, grapes, bananas, mushrooms, corn, and pomegranates. It is almost like a kid's version of Michael Pollan's The Botany of Desire. Robbins' presents the facts and stories in a lighthearted and fun approach, so as not to turn children away from wanted to learn more about where their food comes from. For example, he writes about the game "hot potatoe" and then talks about the potatoe famine and next tempers it with the different names the potatoe is known by. Robbins does try to include a lot of information and at times it jumps from one face to the next fact but overall, it is a great read about those different I listed earlier. Hopefully, it will make children more interested in the food they are eating.
   

Book Drops: Nonfiction Mondays - "The Frog Scientist"

This week's Nonfiction Monday host is In Need of Chocolate Blog. Check out the weekly round-up to see if there are any new books you might want to add to your collections.

This week I'm featuring The Frog Scientist, by Pamela S. Turner, which is part of the Scientists in the Field series. The featured scientist is Professor Tyrone Hayes from UC Berkeley who studies the affects of pesticides on frog populations. Filled with large color photos, Turner follows Hayes and his students as they collect samples from the field and work in the labs. She also explains the scientific process from posing a hypothesis to conducting experiements to prove or disprove that hypothesis. Another added bonus is the brief biography about Professor Hayes and the look inside his personal and professional life as well as a glimpse into the lives of his research students. The book also included wonderful color photographs of various frogs, website links, an educator's link, and a wonderful bibliography. It is geared more towards 5-7 graders and could inspire children to study the different sciences.

Book Drops: NONFICTION MONDAYS

Picture Book of the Day started the Nonfiction Mondays feature and I thought I would join in the fun.

You can check out Rasco from RIF's blog for the Nonfiction Mondays roundup for Monday, December 7.

These books are available at the Burbank Public Library. It's the holidays and maybe you need some ideas for gifts and these two caught my eye. The first one is Do It Yourself Projects! series : Make Your Own Books. It is a great introduction to kids who are crafty. There are very simple projects and it also stresses recycling and reusing materials. 24 pages with 8 projects and a short history about books. Also filled with wonderful color images and step-by-step instructions. It also includes side boxes with great facts about felt, reed paper, etc.

The second book is from the Money Matters: A Kid's Guide to Money Series. This book is A Kid's Guide to Stock Market Investing. It is a set but we only had this one when I was wandering the shelves. Honestly, I wish my parents had this set when I was a kid and I'm only writing about 1 of the books. It is 47 pages and starts with a story about a boy who gets stocks from his grandmother. There is some history about stock exchange as well as current issues, like the foreclosure crisis. It includes a glossary of terms as well as a brief example of how to break down those stock listings in the paper. It also includes a short homework assignment where kids pick their favorite commodity and follow the stock for a month to see how well it does. It has links to websites and other books and online sources for students to use if they are interested in becoming a stockmarket investing.

Both books are engaging and are even great for teens or adults.

Book Drops: "Poppy and Ereth" by Avi (children's) (rated 4 stars)

Poppy and Ereth (The Poppy Stories)

by Avi

This is the first book by Avi I have ever read. I know! Unbelievable and how can I work in the Children’s Library at BPL?!? Well, I do and better late than never.

This is also the last book of the Poppy series and I have to say it is a wonderful read. I do not want to give anything away…Poppy is coming out of a deep depression and discovers that there is more still in life even though she is an old deer mouse. It is funny but also deals with real issues, like death. There is also a little bit of commentary about global warming but I am not sure little kids will get that. Fun and we also are introduced to a new mouse, Spruce, who like his grandmother Poppy, is an adventure seeker. who knows, that maybe the new series?

A great ending to a wonderful tale that I never read. Definitely good as part of the series and also stand alone. I love that! Also Ereth, the crotchety old curmudgeon of a porcupine is probably one of my new favorite characters. He’s very entertaining with his forest cursing.

See more about Poppy and Ereth (The Poppy Stories)

Book Drops: "Christian the Lion" by Anthony Bourke (Childrens) (rated 4 stars)

Christian the Lion

by Anthony Bourke

There was a video on youTube that was going around about a lion named Christian, who a year after being set free in Africa was reunited with his former owners. Here is the link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zVNTdWbVBgc
Anthony “Ace” Bourke and John Rendall found Christian in Harrod’s. If you watched the video, you get the gist of the story. It is a very uplifting and wonderful example of people and the animals they love. If you or your kids would like to know a bit more about the story, this is a great fast year. The original book was published in 1971 and is called “A Lion called Christian.”

See more about Christian the Lion

Book Drops: "the YggYsseY" by Daniel Pinkwater (childrens) (rated 4 stars)

The Yggyssey: How Iggy Wondered What Happened to All the Ghosts, Found Out Where They Went, and Went There

by Daniel Manus Pinkwater

The YggYssey is the sequel to Daniel Pinkwater’s the Neddiad. It is just as fun and hilarious as the Neddiad. This one follows Iggy (Yggyssey) Birnbaum, Ned’s friend, who also lives in the Hermione Hotel. Iggy is friends with the ghosts living in the Hermione. One day the ghosts start disappearing and no one knows where they have gone. Iggy decides to figure out where they went. She is joined by Ned and Seamus.

It’s a fun little story and highly entertaining. I would stay it is good for 5th – 7th grade readers.

See more about The Yggyssey: How Iggy Wondered What Happened to All the Ghosts, Found Out Where They Went, and Went There

Book Drops: "The Tales of Beedle the Bard" by JK Rowling (Childrens/YA) (rated 4 stars)

The Tales of Beedle the Bard, Standard Edition

by J. K. Rowling

“The Tales of Beedle the Bard” by J.K. Rowling is collection of fairy tales that young wizards and witches grew up hearing from the parents. This edition of the Tales is translated by Hermione Granger and contains commentaries from Professor Albus Dumbledore.

This is a highly entertaining read especially if you love the Harry Potter series. These are the stories referenced in the books and movies and it is great having the opportunity to read them. However, one of the tales, “The Warlock’s Hairy Heart,” is not one for small children. You can read it with your kids or to your nieces and nephews but definitely skip reading “The Warlock’s Hairy Heart.” It is a good story but not for little ears because in the end the Warlock kills the woman he wants to fall in love with. I won’t tell you how he kills her so you will go and read the book.

If you like fairy tales or the Harry Potter series, you should also add this to your collection.

See more about The Tales of Beedle the Bard, Standard Edition