Monthly Archives: November 2008

Blog administration, Pop culture

The mystery of readership

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Blogging is fun, but there is an element of mystery involved in being a blogger.  Who, really, is reading this blog? 

I know there are “lurkers,” people who read blogs without ever leaving a comment, and in the case of my blog, I do know who some of the lurkers are, since they’re people I know well who have confessed to reading without commenting.  I might see one of these people at work, or at Thanksgiving dinner, and the person will say, “Hey, I read your post on X, and liked it.”  (Or maybe they didn’t like the post, but we don’t want to go there, do we?)

The mystery for me, though, is whether any resident of the town in which I work has ever found and read my blog.  The residents of this town are well-educated, and most people who live in the town have a computer and internet access at home.  In addition, it’s a small town, which lends itself to residents taking an interest in the workings of the town.  So it feels like someone, sometime must have Googled my name and found my blog.  Yet I’ve never had a posted comment from a town resident, and no town resident has ever mentioned to me that they read my blog. 

Why does this matter, you wonder?  It matters to me because if I knew that town residents were reading my blog, then I would make a concerted effort to post entries about registration deadlines for events and storytimes, and I would also periodically post entries about newly arrived books at the library (much as I send lists of newly arrived books to the local newspaper in my weekly submission).  But I certainly won’t bother writing those posts if there’s no demand for them.

What a mystery.  While I ponder it, I think I’ll enjoy the company of pacified Pippa (nice woodstove fire going today), sick Ophy (kitten stress has, predictably, given her a UTI), and tuckered out Max (all that attention and love from the Thanksgiving dinner guests!).  And I’ll steel myself for going to see the movie Twilight this afternoon with Lisa and Alyson – it’ll be lots of fun to hang out with L. and A., but I’m not sure I’ll love the movie…

Book groups, Children's literature

The future of books

On Monday, I finally got around to reading the article in the latest Horn Book magazine about Kindle and other electronic reading devices.  The article saddened me, since I am such a huge lover of actual books, and I worry that paper books will be gone the way of the dinosaur within my lifetime.

But then yesterday the 6th grade book group met to discuss City of Ember by Jeanne DuPrau (a great discussion, and hopefully I’ll find time to summarize it in the next couple of days).  After our discussion, I handed out the next book we’ll be reading, Skulduggery Pleasant by Derek Landy.  One of the kids in the group commented on the rough-cut edges of the paper in Skulduggery, and I mentioned that I love books that have those rough, imperfect page edges.  Then Sue piped up and said, “Whenever I get a new book to read, I like to feel it and open it up and smell it.  I just like the feel and smell of books.”  Several of the other kids in the group enthusiastically agreed, and began talking all at once about how much they love Books.

So I asked them how they feel about electronic reading devices.  None of the kids had ever seen or used one, but they all immediately and completely dismissed the idea of an electronic reading device.  “How would I show my friends which book I’m reading now?  They couldn’t see the cover!”  “But I like to hold a book, and sit with it in my lap.”  “But I like the smell of books!!”  “It just wouldn’t be the same.”

A very encouraging sign.  Hopefully their generation will love books as much as I do, and hopefully we’ll always have books.

Etc., Spare time - Culture

Houseguest

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We have a small furry houseguest.  Chances are good that he’s just a guest, and won’t be living with us permanently, but we’re certainly enjoying his company while he’s here.

So here’s the story:  my coworker Susan has a neighbor who found a four month old kitten in her yard.  The neighbor says that the kitten must have been outside for a couple of days, and he literally leaped into her arms.  The neighbor and her husband are decidedly NOT pet people (I think one or both of them has allergies), and they walked the neighborhood hoping to find the owner of this kitten (and took him to a vet to see if he had a chip implanted, which he didn’t).  Ultimately, they talked to Susan and her husband, and knowing that Susan and spouse had a cat, they somehow got Susan fully involved in trying to find a home for this little guy.

After a few days, the neighbor was getting antsy, and told Susan that if a home wasn’t found for the kitten, he’d be going to a shelter – or maybe back out on the street.  The deadline was 7 PM last night, and Jim and I decided to rise to the occasion and foster the kitten until we can find him a good home (and we have several “hot” leads, so, please, no one volunteer right now to take him!).

We picked the kitten up this morning; our vet was kind enough to stop by and examine him an hour later; and he’s proved to be both very healthy and very, very good natured.  A star patient for Dr. Reiner: after having blood drawn for the feline leukemia test, he purred madly and waited patiently for the next procedure.  Didn’t blink after being given a pill for his worms.  Didn’t complain about being given a rabies shot and feline distemper shot.  Got a bit frisky after having his claws trimmed, but one claw did get trimmed a bit short and bled a bit, so we’ll forgive him.

After passing the physical exam (no feline leukemia, no fleas, no ear mites), the vet gave us clearance to let Max roam the house freely and interact with Ophy and Pippa.  He’s a scrappy little fella, and has arched his back and hissed a bit at the girls, but so far no fights have broken out.  At the moment, all three cats are with me in the dining room, by the woodstove.  And yes, I know, we probably shouldn’t have named him, but it’s hard to just call him “Cat” or “Buddy.”  Max suits him.

Here’s a photo of the cutie, a talkative little lovebug who weighs almost five pounds at barely four months of age, and has extra toes on every single paw (click on image to enlarge):

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Feltboard, Spare time - Culture, Storytime

In felt: The Very Quiet Cricket, part I

In response to overwhelming demands to see some of my felt board creations posted here (that would be you, Dan…), I have taken photos of the pieces I made last weekend for Eric Carle’s The Very Quiet Cricket.  I’ll post the photos in three separate posts; today’s photo includes the pieces for the two small crickets, the cracked egg, the large cricket, the locust, and the praying mantis (click on image to enlarge):

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Spare time - Culture, Storytime

Disaster…of sorts…

Last night I spent two and a half hours creating felt pieces for Eric Carle’s The Very Quiet Cricket.  I went to bed at 10:30 feeling pretty darn proud of myself, because they turned out really well.

But this morning, when I tried to pack up the felt pieces for travel to the library, I discovered a minor crisis.  A bit of a disaster.  Despite having had all night to dry, the glue was still fresh and wet this morning.  Ever tried to put a delicate felt praying mantis on the board when the glue is still wet?  Not a pretty sight.

I tried to manage the crisis by putting each felt figure on a fresh rectangle of felt, to help hold it together, and then I used parchment paper as a protective layer between each piece and its neighbor. 

The real challenge will come this morning as I try to tell the story while treating each piece as if it’s about to fall apart. 

*  (I know that someone is bound to lecture me now on the benefits of a hot glue gun, but there are a lot of reasons why I prefer Elmer’s white glue to a glue gun.  And up till now, it’s never been an issue.  Sigh.)

Children, Storytime

Textured table art

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Yesterday was the art week in the preschool storytime rotation, and we had a blast.

First I read two books to the large group:  Thing-Thing by Cary Fagan, a sweet story of a stuffed animal of no definable species who is given to a spoiled rich boy.  The spoiled rich boy throws Thing-Thing out the fifth story window in a rage, and the book chronicles Thing-Thing’s fall past floors four, three, and two; Thing-Thing and the reader get to observe little slices of life on each of those floors, interspersed with Thing-Thing’s thoughts as he falls.  I won’t give away the very happy ending to the story, but suffice it to say that the kids really liked the ending.

The second book was one of my favorites, Mr. Pusskins by Sam Lloyd, the story of a very grumpy, ungrateful cat who runs away from his adoring child Emily, only to discover life outside isn’t nearly so much fun.  Mr. Pusskins, of course, comes to regret under-appreciating Emily and wishes he had never run away.  My favorite scene in this story is when Mr. Pusskins calls Emily on the telephone after finding a MISSING poster with his (grumpy) photo and Emily’s phone number.  “Meow?” Mr. Pusskins whimpers into the phone, and adoring Emily immediately knows who he is and comes to get him.

We also did a couple of fun fingerplays, and wrapped up the story portion of storytime with a fingertasting.  I hadn’t used my fingertaster puppet with older kids before – Zebra has been monopolized by the toddlers up till this point – and I was blown away by how much this age group loves the humor and suspense of having their finger tasted.  Zebra tasted only things that cats like today: one child tasted like tuna, another like kibbles, a third like olive oil (Ophy Cat’s favorite thing in the whole world).  We had a great giggly time with Zebra.

And then it was time for process art.  Today’s project:  textured table art, from MaryAnn Kohl’s book Preschool Art.  I spent a bit of time agonizing over whether I needed to set up the tables prior to storytime, or whether I could let the kids really be in on the whole process.  Ultimately I reluctantly decided to set up the tables before the kids arrived, since this is a drop-in storytime with ever-increasing numbers of participating children.  So I laid out four small tables with all kinds of cool things spread out underneath the butcher paper, and presented this project as part mystery (what’s under the paper?) and part art exploration (playing with rubbing the crayons over the objects). 

It was a huge, huge, HUGE success.  Lots of discoveries as kids figured out which items were hidden – shells, paper clips, feathers, leaves, grass, coins – and lots of experimentation with color and pressure.  And what an orderly, wonderful bunch of kids.  I had given a brief introduction to the project while all the kids were still seated on the floor, and had shown them the two types of crayons they might find in the buckets: crayons without any wrappers (perfect for this project) and crayons that still had their wrappers on.  I told the group that if they had a crayon with a wrapper that they’d need to peel it off, and I pointed out the two wastebaskets that they could peel over.  And guess what?  Not a single crayon wrapper ended up on the floor.  Very, very impressive for a large group of four through six year olds, most of whom were in the story room without a parent!

I love, love, love this preschool storytime, and really look forward to it from one week to the next.  And yesterday’s meeting was a particularly wonderful time.

Children, Storytime

Storytime moment

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This morning, in my Thursday Toddler storytime, I had a last-minute additional family.  The mom called fifteen minutes prior, and asked if she could come to today’s storytime, since they’d had to drop out of the Monday storytime due to a conflict.  “Sure,” I said, “No problem – see you soon.”

But I hadn’t realized that Mary’s older sister, Grace, who is four, also would be attending.  Grace hadn’t come to the Monday storytimes with Mary (she must be in preschool on Mondays), and so I didn’t have a nametag for her.  Usually kids don’t really notice whether or not they have a nametag, so I didn’t worry too much.

Mid-way through the storytime, though, Grace raised her hand, “Abby?  I don’t have a nametag…” 

“I’m sorry, sweetie, I didn’t know that you’d be coming today,” I said, “but I’m very happy that you’re here!  I’ll make you a nametag for next week, ok?”

Even as she nodded ok, Grace’s eyes filled with tears.  She was about to lose it.

“Would you like to wear my nametag, Grace?”  Big, grateful, happy nod.  And Grace was Abby for the rest of the storytime.