March 2008 - Posts
The Wide Window - A Series of Unfortunate Events
By: Lemony Snicket
Fortune continues to frown upon the Baudelaire orphans. We meet them arriving at Damocles Dock with Mr. Poe. Of course he's too busy to actually take them to their new guardian's. Instead he puts them in a taxi and sends them to the most rickity house I've ever seen pictured. The best part of the house is Aunt Josephine. She's scared of everything! She doesn't use the stove for fear the house would blow up, there are cans all over the floors by doors so you can hear burglars, you can't use the doorknobs for fear they will fall and shatter and you'll end up with glass in your eye, and she doesn't answer the phone or make calls for fear of being electrocuted. She's a well-meaning woman, but the things I just described are only the beginning. The Baudelaire's are grateful to Aunt Josephine, but still, she could be a bit of a better guardian. I mean, heat in a cold house is a nice thing to have!
When Count Olaf shows up in his latest disguise, the orphans again have a difficult time convincing Mr. Poe and Aunt Josephine that he's not Captain Sham. The drastic measures the children have to take keep increasing in their difficulty and terror levels! This time they have to sail across a lake in the middle of a hurricane after narrowly escaping one of Olaf's henchmen and then they still have to convince Josephine to leave with them. She's a very silly woman who, I'm sure, has reasons for her eccentricities, but one would almost have to wonder if Mr. Poe is so extremely blind that he can't pick out a decent guardian, or if he's in on the plot with Olaf......okay, I really don't think he is, but his decisions and outright refusal to listen to the children after they've been proven right time and again is really annoying and old (already!).
The plot thickens even after the children rescue Josephine, but not everyone is going to make it out of this story alive!
In order to make the award-winning children's books in our collection more visible, we've added stickers on the spines of the books to signify if they have won an award or an honor. The three awards that we marked are:
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Newbery winners and honor books
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Caldecott winners and honor books
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Coretta Scott King - Author and Illustrator, as well as the honor books
So you know what you're looking for:
Keep in mind that you will find these books throughout the children's collection. The majority of the Caldecott winners will be in the PZ7-10s in the picture book area. You will also find some in with the juvenile books and nonfiction areas. The Coretta Scott King books are going to be in with the picture books, the nonfiction and the juvenile sections. The Newbery winners are all pretty much in the juvenile section. There are some in with the nonfiction books as well.
Also, if you want to look to see what we have for award winners, simply type in newbery or caldecott into the search box and you will be presented with a list of the winners and honorees. FYI - if you type in coretta scott king you will get a couple of results that are located in the general and reference collections. If you click on the title of the book you can tell in the record if it has won an award. Simply look at the Awards Note in the record. Some books have won more than one award and have two stickers.
The stickers are roughly 2-3 inches up from the bottom of the book.
Any questions? Comments? Concerns? Send me an e-mail!
The Reptile Room - A Series of Unfortunate Events
By: Lemony Snicket
When we left the Baudelaire's the last time, they had foiled Count Olaf's evil plan to wed Violet, kill the siblings and take their fortune. Now they are on their way to their 'Uncle' Monty's house. He's an intriguing character who likes to study snakes. He's so nice to the children; they even get their own rooms and don't have to cook dinner! They do help him with things in his Reptile Room.
Unfortunately, Monty's assistant can no longer go so a man named Stephano will be joining them on their trip. The Baudelaire's are quite alarmed when they meet Stephano and try to warn Monty. Of course, he doesn't believe them (since children are just full of foolishness - joke people!). He thinks Stephano is from the Herpetological Society and trying to steal his thunder when he presents his newest finding, the Incredibly Deadly Viper. When he tells the children that Stephano will not be joining them on their research trip to Peru they are relieved. Unfortunately, that feeling doesn't last long and pretty soon the Baudelaire's are pretty much up a creek without a paddle, so to speak.
Again, warnings abound if you prefer happy stories! We all know that something terrible will happen to the Baudelaire's, but what will it be this time?
A Series of Unfortunate Events: The Bad Beginning
By: Lemony Snicket
This is my second read-through of a majority of this series. I only made it to book 9 or so, then graduate school hit and reading simply for fun was put on hiatus for awhile. I have finally collected all of the books, so I thought I'd start over since it's been so long. Note: Every time you see S.U.E. in the title line, it will be a book from the series.
You know a book is interesting when it starts out by telling you that if you like happy endings you should put the book down. You are also reminded a few times that if you're not enjoying it now, it's not going to get any better. I will admit that the first time I started this series I hated when the author would tell you what a certain word meant in the context in which he was using it. I felt that I was being talked down to (yes, I know I am not the intended audience of this series) and that children would feel the same. I would think that a child reader would like to figure out the meaning of a particular word through the context. I admit, I've had a change of heart on that topic. On my second reading of the first book, it seemed like when the author was giving you the meaning, it had a bit of humor to it (not always, mind you!). Example: "The word 'briskly' here means 'quickly, so as to get the Baudelaire children to leave the house" (p.18).
Spoiler: I'll be talking about the content of this particular book. I have a tendency to give a lot away, so continue at your own peril!
Violet - 14 and the eldest; if her hair is tied back she's inventing something
Klaus - little over 12, only boy; likes to read and retains a lot of the information
Sunny - infant who likes to bite; also speaks a language only her brother and sister understand
The Baudelaire children are at the beach when Mr. Poe finds them to tell them their parents have died in a terrible fire that also destroyed their house. They have to stay with Mr. Poe, his wife and their two boys until he finds someone to take them in. When he takes them to the house of Count Olaf, things are not looking good. Granted, Mrs. Poe had bought them horribly ugly and itchy clothes to wear, but just looking at Count Olaf's house makes them shudder, especially when they compare it to Justice Strauss's house next door. She is the one bright spot in their lives (mostly!).
Count Olaf is a nasty, mean man. He makes the children do chores that don't seem to have a purpose and that they're probably a bit young to do anyway (chipping firewood, cooking dinner by themselves). When he finds out that he doesn't have access to their fortune even though he has taken them in, he's upset, but he has a plan. A plan so heinous that I can't even bring myself to mention it. It involves - yeah, I can't tell you that either. Spoiler! (The plan fails).
Mr. Poe finally sees the true side of Count Olaf, but will it be enough? There are 13 books in the series, so we know things are probably only going to get worse before they get better (if they even do!).
Recommended To:
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I think boys will really like this series - adventure, misfortune, mortal danger
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I can't think of another series that is similar - so maybe you'll like it!
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everyone!
The Appeal
By: John Grisham
I love John Grisham. There, I said it. Every time he has a new book come out I know that it will be purchased and read shortly after coming out.
Wes and Mary Grace (I think that's right. The Mary part is anyways...) have risked their law practice, their cars, their home and their more than comfortable lifestyle to bring down Krane Chemical. Their client, Jeanette Baker, lost her son and her husband within less than a year of each other. The reason? Krane Chemical dumped illegal toxins into the ground which ended up polluting the town's water supply, causing cancer and many other illnesses in the small community, and all the while denying that they were doing it.
Carl Trudeau has been making money for as long as he can remember. That is, until the verdict in the Baker case comes back. He's never seen his stock take such a dramatic hit. He does NOT want to be the man who lost a billion dollars in a day. Carl sets in motion a chain of events that will forever change the lives of Jeanette Baker, Wes, Mary and their family, the entire town of Bowmore and possibly the rest of the United States who elect their State Supreme Court Justices. Carl has hired a very secretive, very high-end firm to help place a candidate who is friendly to big business on the State Supreme Court. Carl can not afford to lose the appeal, so he sets his henchmen on an unsuspecting family man to prep him to be their man, and they also destroy the "liberal" judge who has "ruined" so many lives. Of course, what their ads don't tell you are the facts behind the cases - they skew everything to make their point and ruin the lives of others in the process.
The drama of this book takes place after the verdict is given. Usually in a Grisham novel you reach the verdict at the end and everything is as it should be. I can't tell you that that will happen in this case.
Some of the reviews I have read about the book were not favorable. They thought the characters were dull, that the plot dragged. Honestly, I did not find that to be the case. Sure, there were a few more answers I would have liked, but the characters are the way they are to help portray the differences between the good guys and the bad guys. I thoroughly enjoyed the book. And as to the ending, well, life just isn't fair sometimes. A book like this makes a person take a good, long hard look at what they value.
Recommended To:
What Jane Austen Ate and Charles Dickens Knew: From Fox Hunting to Whist - the Facts of Daily Life in 19th Century England
By: Daniel Pool
First: I'm sorry it's been so long for a new book review. I have no excuses, other than the fact it just took me awhile to read this one.
Second: If you don't know who either of the people in the title are you may not want to pick this one up. :)
Third: If you DO know who they are and are interested in the time period they lived in, well, let me tell you! This is a great book for you! (I almost said novel, but it isn't. It's a non-fiction title. Yes, I do read non-fiction as well!)
The long and short of it is this: this book is divided into two sections. The first section consists of 1-3 page essays on various factors of life in England in the 19th century such as: Currency, Society rules (addressing people, organizing the entrance into a dinner, etc.), calling cards, rules for card games, holidays, clothing, money, life on a farm, life in town, types of homes, the plight of the poor and so much more! The essays incorporate the works of various authors at the time like Dickens, Austen, Trollope, Eliot, Hardy, Charlotte Bronte and Oscar Wilde. These sections can be read quite quickly and quite fascinating. I really enjoyed learning about the order of the procession into dinner, as well as the sections on the workhouses, prisons and the poor. It makes you quite grateful for today's society!
The second half of the book is a glossary. It is fantastic! Occassionally the author will make a comment that you really aren't expecting. One example is the entry for 'letter of credit' - "A letter from a banker or similar figure to another banker or businessman, asking him to give money to the person presenting the letter. Used by travelers abroad in the days before American Express" (p.332). There were others that made me laugh out loud, but you get the gist of it!
Recommended To:
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See 'Third' from above!
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Junior/YA readers will appreciate this as well, especially if they're interested in the time period
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everyone! (okay, don't throw rocks at me for that, I realize this isn't going to be up most people's alley's, but it's still an interesting read!)
The library will be open:
8-5 Thursday, March 13
8-4:30 Friday, March 14
8-5 Monday - Thursday March 17-20
CLOSED: March 15-16, March 21-23
8-5 Monday, March 24th
Regular library hours will resume on Tuesday, March 25
The Minnesota Digital Library Coalition (MDLC) — professionals from libraries, archives, historical societies, and museums across Minnesota — is creating a digital collection of the state's unique resources and special collections. The Minnesota Digital Library supports education, scholarship, and enrichment through Internet access to this collection. The MDLC provides a server and database environment and imaging support that is the technical foundation for current and future digitization activities. (from the About MDL page)
http://www.mndigital.org/
You can browse by collection, topic or region as well as entering a search term and starting from there!
By clicking on the Southeast MN area, I saw an 1877 teacher's contract, pictures of St. Peter from the 1897 flood, a 1925 student guidebook, sports team pictures from the early 1900s, and pictures of houses, mills, harnesses, aftermath of fires and so much more!
FYI: Quite a few of the images I looked at require the permisison of the Historical Society that donated that image to reprint or re-use it in any way.
Take a few minutes and check out some of Minnesota's history!
Yes, this is late. No, I don't have a good 'excuse.' I just forgot, until this morning!
Sayings and Phrases:
http://www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/index.html
Is there an old adage that you just can't remember? Check out the Sayings and Phrases website! You can browse by the first letter of the phrase, Shakespeare, the Bible, and even Sailor's lingo!
For instance, did you know that the phrase "Come What May" is from Shakespeare's MacBeth? Did you know that "In a Pickle" comes from his play "The Tempest?" "Wild Goose Chase" even comes from Shakespeare!
Take a gander and get lost in the wealth of phrase information on this site!