A quick note on my current book:
I’m loving The White Darkness by Geraldine McCaughrean. I’ve been a fan of McCaughrean’s writing ever since reading A Pack of Lies years ago, and am finding The White Darkness to be as masterful a piece of literature as A Pack of Lies. Unexpected, quirky, intelligent, engaging: it’s awesome, and I’ve only just begun it.
Current summer reading hour total, for those of you who have made Heifer pledges based on the hours I read: 4 hours. 🙂
After a few rough patches in the first week of using the e*vanced Summer Reader software, we’ve finally hit smooth sailing with the summer reading logs. I had to make a few adjustments (book reviews are no longer required from the children who use the online log, sadly) and had to learn the ins and outs of the software, and, most importantly, had to learn how to accomodate the kids who didn’t want to use the online log. But it’s all working now, and in the long run, I think it’s substantially easier to operate than the traditional paper clock-face summer logs.
And the statistics are fabulous. Now I can run reports and see the distribution of hours read – the concentration is in the rising fourth grade population – and really get a sense of which kids are intrigued by summer reading, which are enthusiastic, and which could give it a pass.  I can run reports on prizes awarded, total number of hours read, number of kids registered: you get the idea. I can also read the book reviews that the kids have written, and get a sense of what the most popular books are at this moment.Â
All of these statistics will help me to do my job better, help me to do next year’s summer reading outreach, and help me to plan a truly phenomenal summer reading program for next year. If you’re a children’s librarian and haven’t tried this software out, or if your region/state doesn’t yet offer the software, do investigate it. It’s a terrific tool and makes our job easier.
Could it be? Is it possible? Has it happened?
For the last two and a half months, I’ve felt more than a little behind, the way I used to feel when running track races in high school (clearly I never made varsity). Pant, pant, pant. Can’t quite catch up.Â
After being closed for a month for the library move, then being swarmed with business in the new building, then the preparations for the summer reading program – well, my office looked like a combination of a storage area and dumping ground. Not good. And my hyper-organized self was miserable. All I wanted was to get rid of the piles of books and catalogs and reams of lists that were stacked on my office desk. It didn’t seem too possible.
But then there was yesterday. I got in a half hour early (I love getting to work early now…I must be aging), and by Renee’s arrival in my room at 1, I was actually caught up. Well, ok, my office was clean. I’ll be fully caught up by the end of next week. But most of my to-be-done piles are taken care of, and it no longer feels like I’ll never be caught up. So now we have our fabulous new building, AND the rhythm of my work is starting to fall into a manageable pace. Aaaaaah.
…a children’s librarian?
What is it that we do each day?Â
This time of year, I feel a bit like the cruise director on the Happy Reading Ship (I’m not knocking this role, by the way - it’s a lot of fun).Â
Come September, I’ll feel like Serious Book Ordering Lady.
By November, as school projects are in full swing, I’ll be wearing my Children’s Reference Question hat.
Some afternoons, after school, I feel like the school’s Adjunct Guidance Counselor as I help kids with school problems and social interactions.
Tuesday mornings at 10:30, through the school year, I’m a Singing Fool leading rounds of “The Itsy Bitsy Spider” and other youthful hits.
Grumpy Friday evenings at closing time, I’m the Who-Elected-Me-To-Clean-Up-After-Your-Child? Lady.
But mostly, I’m really, really happy, and never, ever bored. The children’s librarian from Maynard came to visit me and my library on Thursday, and at one point he announced with great passion and vim: “This is the BEST JOB IN THE WORLD!! I LOVE being a children’s librarian!!!!”Â
I totally agree.
Though I was truly honored to be chosen as a reviewer for that publication I’ve mentioned in the past, I’ve officially submitted my resignation to them. After writing 15 reviews on 27 books (if you count my audition reviews, it’s really 18 reviews for 30 books) in the last three months, it was time to retire.
If I had no other commitments in my life, I think I’d actually enjoy writing reviews. But it was just plain TOO much to try to squeeze the reading of the books, the background research, and the writing of the reviews into my already jam-packed days. With my library and tutoring schedule, I often leave home at 9 in the morning, not to return until 8 at night, hungry for dinner. Once dinner is in my belly, that leaves an hour or so to read review books (with my exhausted eyes) before bedtime.Â
Granted, my tutoring has ended for the summer, so there’s more free time in my schedule now. But we ARE trying to finish the painting and siding of the house, as well as the installation of the new windows that arrived on Tuesday, and the gardens need some major weeding already.
So what this all comes down to is establishing priorities in one’s life. Life is short, and I want mine to be about more than just how many hours I can work in a week. For me, something had to give in order to remain sane, and I chose book reviewing.Â
Recently there was a conversation on MASSYAC (the list serve for children’s librarians in Massachusetts) about movie nights and why it’s hard to attract patrons to movies at the library. The whole conversation totally puzzled me, since it was the exact opposite of what I experience at the library I work for. Other librarians complained that they would hold a movie night and no one would come, or only a few people would come, or that attendance would be spotty and irregular from one movie to another.
Perhaps it’s simply the geographic makeup of the town in which I work, but movie nights are a consistent hit for us. This town has no movie theater, and is quite a drive from movie theaters in other towns. So the weekly, sometimes bi-weekly, movie nights that we have planned for this summer are a terrific way for families in town to socialize with each other, and now that we have reliable air conditioning, it will also be a great way to beat the heat in the midst of summer.
And the fact that Mary, Lisa, Roy, and I are willing to work an evening shift in order to run movie nights, even Friday evenings in the school year, must count for something too. Though I do want to instigate gentle afternoon movie showings in the children’s room for the coming school year, I also feel quite strongly that it’s necessary to hold movie nights, events that working parents can happily and easily attend with their children.Â
All these reasons aside, our first movie night in the new building was an unqualified success, with an almost full house of attendees (a full house is 89, we had 74). The movie was Flushed Away, a movie that Jim and I had rented a few months ago to watch at home. Truthfully, I didn’t enjoy it much when Jim and I watched it, but I still put it on the summer schedule because the demand for our circulating DVD has been high at the library. And I was pleasantly surprised by Flushed Away when I saw it on the library’s big screen, with a crowd of happy, rowdy (in a good way) children in attendance. It was a LOT of fun, and the crowd gave a heartfelt round of applause at the conclusion.
Next week’s movie is Shrek (might as well show the first of the trilogy, the one that started it all!), and I’ll be going out today to buy some more of the incredibly popular popcorn that we served at this week’s movie. Which might be another key to our success: good popcorn.Â
It’s definitely been an interesting week – the sad time with Rudy, and the utter highs of the start of the summer reading program.
The Ice Cream Social was on Wednesday, and that morning was absolutely insane. It was pouring with rain at 10 and 11 AM, and many, many library patrons called the library to see if we were moving the Social to the rain date. More times than I can remember, I had to kindly tell patrons that the weather forecast was indeed conducive to an outdoor afternoon event, that I was obsessively viewing the weather radar, and that it was going to be ok, really, it was. I even sent out an email to all patrons who had pre-registered, and asked them to please pass the word on to their friends who might not have registered.
After a brief hiatus in the staff room to make some rain of my own after hearing about Rudy, I sat back at my desk and saw the rain move out and the clear skies move in. By 12:30, things were obviously going to be fine, and it was time to get the ice cream and start to set up.
Jim and two of his buddies, Mark and Rich, were the band for the event, and they did a fabulous job. Really awesome. (I’m not just saying this because I’m married to Jim – they really were awesome. One woman who attended with her kids came up to me to rave about the band, and her jaw nearly hit the grass when I told her it was my husband’s band.)
We had lots of volunteers helping with the event: six teenagers and one adult, as well as the library page extraordinaire, Alyson. This meant that I could schmooze rather than scoop ice cream, and it was so much fun. I can’t count how many times grinning parents came up to me, shaking their heads, and saying “Wow, you’re good. I thought you were crazy about the rain letting up, but you were SO right! What a beautiful day!”
So it was a success, hugely fun for all, and the best summer kick-off the town has ever seen, thanks to the extensive grounds we have at the new site – plenty of room to run and play without danger of cars. Roy took some great photos of the event, and if I get ambitious I’ll try to post one or two that don’t feature kids (for safety reasons, of course).Â
Tomorrow’s post: the first movie night in the new building!
Our beloved cat Rudy died today, at the young age of eight.Â
We took him from the emergency care folks over to the animal hospital for surgery this morning – didn’t say a proper goodbye, perhaps because we knew it probably might be goodbye for good – and left him there, rubbing his face against the front gate of his carrier.
At 11:30, the surgeon, Dr. Sager, called to tell me that he had bad news: Rudy’s intestine was fully cancerous, and his liver was almost completely gone (perhaps because of the peritonitis). The humane thing to do was to put Rudy to sleep, and not try to wake him up.
And so Rudy is gone, and I miss him – a lot. He was a great cat, and we loved him.
– Rudy, the double-pawed big-hearted tuxedo cat, will be receiving an ultrasound this morning. Hopefully the news will be good.
– Two new kids signed up for the summer book groups: one for the fifth grade group, one for the seventh-ninth grade group. Something tells me that there will be even more new kids signing up over the summer, which is very exciting.
– The Ice Cream Social, the summer reading kickoff event, is only a day away. There’s a chance that we may need to use the rain date of Thursday, but I’m really hoping that we don’t have to make that decision.Â
– Last storytime of the school year is this morning. It’ll be nice to have a break from all the planning that entails, but I’ll miss the social, fun group that comes every week (average attendance lately has been well over 30).
– Perhaps because of Rudy’s health, I’m only mildly freaking out about summer reading this year (as compared to last year). But I still can’t wait for it to get started, to get over the hump of beginning the summer.
– And, last but not least, a funny story from yesterday: I was buying water for the upcoming movie night and for the Ice Cream Social. Kmart had a really great deal on individual bottles of Poland Spring water, so I piled six cases into my shopping cart, along with three of the counter-top bottles that have a pouring spout. As I maneuvered the heavy-as-heck cart to the register, I announced to the clerk that “I clearly have a drinking problem.” She thought that was pretty funny.
It’s been a yucky weekend. I’m working on finishing up the five reviews on eight books that I owe – had set aside this entire weekend to finish them – but I’ve ended up doing most of the remaining reading while sitting in the reception area of Animal Emergency Care.
Rudy has had a few instances in the last month and a half of ill health: he’d stop eating for a day or two, and be terribly lethargic, then, just when we started to be worried, he’d bounce back and be his regular hungry active self again. This past Friday morning Jim woke up to feed the cats and found several puddles of cat-puke on the carpet; he fed the cats breakfast as usual, and Rudy declined to eat. Then he didn’t eat dinner Friday evening, either, and threw up some more. Nor did he eat Saturday breakfast. When I got home from work Saturday afternoon, he was vomiting clear puddles of puke, not a trace of food left in his body.
So Jim and I debated, and finally decided that I’d take Rudy over to Animal Emergency Care. Rudy and I waited, and waited, and waited, for three hours. While Rudy slept listlessly in his carrier, I got to know some of the other people and animals waiting their turn. The funky, personable husband and wife with the 18-year-old cat who was limping. The mother and little boy with the cat who had peed all over the house. The young couple with the Pomeranian puppy who had chewed an electric cord and gotten a shock. The man and his wife who rushed in and urgently asked for help for their dog.
And I read my young adult novel in the waiting room, hating every sentence and every page.Â
By 7:15, Jim came by to visit Rudy and me, and convinced me that Rudy wasn’t really sick enough to bother waiting anymore. So we headed home, and fed the cats dinner. Rudy didn’t eat. Rudy was lethargic. We decided to take him back to Animal Emergency Care at about 9:00 PM.Â
The funky couple was still in the waiting room, while their cat was being examined. They filled us in on what had happened in our absence: the urgent man and wife with the injured dog had left in tears, without their dog. The Pomeranian had been admitted for observation, after it was discovered that his heartbeat was irregular. And then the funky couple got the news about their beautiful, aging cat: he had bone cancer, and would need to be put to sleep. They left in tears, hugging their cat, planning to put him to sleep on Monday.Â
A new patient, a sweet 16-year-old dog, and her owners had arrived meanwhile, and Jim and I had a lovely chat with them. Two young women, one stunning, one funny, sat with the stunning girl’s lapdog. The other groups both ordered pizzas and other junk food, while we waited. And waited.
Finally Rudy got his turn, and was examined and approved for blood tests and x-rays. He was hustled out back, we went out and got V-8’s and donuts and chatted some more with the owners of the sweet elderly dog.Â
Rudy’s blood tests came back: a bad systemic infection, with white blood counts off the chart. He’d need to stay the night, and we were given a monetary quote for services to be rendered that made us both feel faint. Through the wall we could hear the diagnosis for the sweet elderly dog: pancreatitis.
By morning, Rudy had had his x-ray, and it shows a mass in his belly. Whether the mass is cancerous, or an abcess, we don’t yet know. Either way, his chances aren’t good. He’s still at the hospital tonight, and they don’t like him much because he’s cranky and attacking them (they wear gloves that look like chain saw gloves when handling him, and he has a collar around his neck to keep him from trying to remove the IV, and, I think, to protect the staff from his ire); we’ll be moving him tomorrow morning to the animal hospital down the street for a second opinion. I don’t hold out much hope that the second opinion will be positive. It’s an unbelievably sad night. Life without Rudy feels like a pretty crappy prospect.
And I’m still reading that young adult novel. And still hating it. I think it’s fair to say that the circumstances of life are affecting my judgement. I’ve decided to retire from the book review business.