Computer Konk-out leads to Culinary Craze

Okay, so it's been a frustrating day and you're looking for something different, like maybe a new life. Well unless you booted up your computer like I did today and found yourself in a time warp back to 2004 then maybe my day has been just a bit more stressful than yours. It appears that due to some glitch, anything I did on my computer at work after November of 2004 has been lost. Yeah, maybe I am ready for a new job, new career. Maybe something in the food business. If you've ever read any books by Ruth Riechl maybe you've thought the same thing.

Well the library does have a variety of books with a food theme. Fast Food, the latest addition of photographic fun by Saxton Freymann shows just how much fun you can have when you play with your food no matter what your mother used to say.

Those wanting a little more meat in their fiction should try Flavor of the Week by Tucker Shaw or My Saucy Stuffed Ravioli: the Life of Angelica Cookson Potts by Cherry Whytock. Angelica Cookson Potts is an English teacher setting of for a trip to Italy and stressing over relationships and getting into that vacation bikini. This can't be fiction, can it. It even includes recipes, very Diane Mott-Davidson.

Teens Cook: How to cook what you want to eat is a cookbook written by teens for teens. Authors Meghan and Jill Carle offer up some great advice on how to be more proficient in the kitchen with most of the recipes offering vegetarian options. Best yet, there are tons of good photos. What's a cookbook without pictures?

If you've watched Super Size Me (our copy is lost) then you might be looking for Fueling the Teen Machine by Ellen L. Shanley and Colleen A. Thompson. Both authors are registered dietitians and cover everything in this book from carbs to fast food.

Iron wok Jan! by Shinji Saijyo combines culinary capers and manga madness in one of the newer offerings in our Graphic Novel section. Imagine Iron Chef with a Japanese teen twist. You might even learn some vague, obscure food trivia while you're at it. We have volumes 1 through 3 but look for more soon.

Meanwhile if you've never read anything by Ruth Reichl, start with Tender at the bone : growing up at the table and finish off with Garlic and Sapphires. Well know for her restaurant reviews for the New York Times, Reichl realized early that she would never be the funniest or prettiest, but she knew the power of food. Hmmm...I bet she didn't let a computer malfunction ruin her day. Where's that cookbook? A chocolate cake does much toward absolving stress. (Ancient library proverb.) I get dibs on licking the bowl.

This is only a test

Are you an aspiring librarian? Maybe you didn't choose to shadow someone at the library for your class project this week. I realize some people can't handle the pressure of working at a library and choose to shadow other professionals, like doctors and lawyers.

You may want to try your hand at this test that was included in the recent American Library Association newsletter. While there is a link to join an on-line dating web site at the end, you may just skip that section and still see your results. The first time I took the test I qualified for book store clerk. See how well you do.

The Librarian Test

Wickliffe Library Bans Kids

While Banned Book Week is my favorite holiday I guess we are lucky here at the Amherst Public Library in the fact that we've never banned or censored a book ever, and we don't have a situation where banning kids from the library seems like a reasonable solution.

If you are unfamiliar with Wickliffe's situaion, they have banned kids, ages 14 and younger, from the library during after school hours unless the child is accompanied by a responsible adult. For more information you can check the following link:
http://www.woio.com/Global/story.asp?S=4338149&nav=menu68_2

Working in a public library that is within walking distance to schools has always presented a problem along with an opportunity. We've had occasions where we've asked kids to leave, where the patron population at any one time has an average age of 13, and where working life seems to resemble a circus more than the quiet, hushed library environment I remember from my youth.

But let me say that I'm very proud of the youth that use our library. When we had a problem with kids playing computer games and jumping around on the computers we came up with a solution that worked well for everyone. And for any adult who wonders why they have to wait to check their email when the kids "are just playing games", well they have as much right to be there as anyone else. Everyone is treated equally weather you get here using your Volvo or your Volcom.

I feel bad that a library reached such a critical point that banning kids was their only solution. On the other hand maybe there are a few adults we could ban unless they are accompanied by a child under the age of 10. Let me work on that...

Beyond Narnia @ the Amherst Public Library

Yalsa, the young adult component of the American Library Association, has come up with a booklist for those teens looking for something beyond Narnia. With the movie bringing a new generation of readers to the classic series “Chronicles of Narnia” by C.S. Lewis kids are looking for more literary journeys that go beyond the wardrobe. While the Yalsa list is nice I think they left off some great books and the fantasy series list had already been done.

Here’s books I would suggest if you stopped at my desk at the
Amherst Public Library:

Tithe: A Modern Faerie Tale
-by Holly Black
Kaye is a sixteen year old modern nomad of sorts who knows life on the road as she travels from city to city with her mother’s rock band. Having a mother who is a rocker can be one thing, but when Kaye if forced to return to her blue-collar roots she soon finds herself involved in a struggle between two rival faerie kingdoms that puts her world, no her life, in peril. We have three copies of this book that we can’t keep on the shelf! Look for the sequel, Valiant: A Modern Tale of Faerie.

Alice in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass
-by Lewis Carroll
What better Narnia follow-up than exploring this classic that should be on every library shelf. Written well before Narnia was even conceived, Alice was a girl ahead of her time. Take another look at Alice as she experiences a strange world that includes a violent queen, and a hookah-smoking caterpillar.

Inkheart
-by Cornelia Funke
I love a book with German roots and any book that has within it a reference to libraries or books. Score double points with this offering by a German author that introduces Meggie, a young loner who leads a quiet life with her father, a book-binder. But when a sinister stranger arrives one day, a long lost secret in her father’s past pits Meggie in a game that has her playing for her life. Don’t miss the next installment, Inkspell.

Faerie Wars
-by Herbie Brennan
I like any kid who is willing to help clean. That’s why I was drawn to Henry Atherton who agrees to help out old Mr. Fogarty clean out his house. But when Henry finds more than just your common dust and clutter he enlists the help of his sister to help him on his journey to return a member of royalty to his proper home. Hey, they time travel with the use of trapped lightening. How cool is that.

Other books to check out:
Half-Magic
-by Edward Eager
They recently printed a special 50 year anniversary edition of this classic.

A Wrinkle in Time
-by Madeleine L’Engle
There was a wrinkle in the time continuum long before Star Trek made one famous.

Summerland
-by Michael Chabon
Ethan Feld, the worst baseball player in the history of the game, finds himself recruited by a 100-year-old scout to help a band of fairies triumph over an ancient enemy. The four alternate worlds include the Winterland, the Summerland, the Midling (Earth) and the Gleaming. If the fact that baseball has become a hang up, now Ethan must travel through time to look for his kidnapped father.

I Need a Summer Reading Theme!

Paws, Claws, Scales and Tales (not)

I'm looking for ideas for our library's summer reading program theme. The state of Ohio has joined in with other states in the collaborative program "Paws, Claws, Scales and Tales" but besides being way too long of a name to remember, let alone write down, I just thought we could come up with something better.






Here are a few ideas:

"Go Wild - Read!"
"It's a Jungle Out There"
"Wild About Reading"

I'm at a loss. I like the idea of "Wild" because we can incorporate an animal theme into our program to parallel the state theme but I'm open to ideas. We could have "wild" prizes, "wild" programs, and maybe some "wild" books to go along with some of the other just plain wild things going on here at the library. How about turning the upstairs into a jungle?

If you have an idea - post it. I'm looking at some great prizes for this year and I need to get some things on order by the end of the month. I'd like one theme we can use for both kids, teens, and adults.

Also for the state theme we would have had to have our prize order in before Thanksgiving. I mean what kind of system is that. We were in the middle of storytimes, holiday planning, and craft day and they want you to coordinate your summer program. Send me your ideas!

Can we do something with instant messaging, rock and roll, and computers?

Hockey Books

Okay, you want to know about more sport books? You liked Open Ice by Pat Hughes but now you want more hockey facts? Here's some of the books we have at our library:

These books deal with coaching and conditioning

52-week Hockey Training
Don MacAdam, Gail Reynolds
796.962 MAC
2002

Bobby Hull’s Hockey Made Easy
Bobby Hull, with Roy G. Nelson
796.962 HUL
1983

Goal Scoring
Sean Rossiter
J 796.962 ROS
1997

Goal Tending
Sean Rossiter
J 796.962 ROS
1997

Hockey
John Wright
796.962 WRI
2004

Hockey for the Coach, the Player, and the Fan
Fred Shero and Andre Beaulieu
796.962 SHE
1979

The Illustrated Rules of Ice Hockey
Tom Ayers
J 796.962 AYE
1995

Kid’s Book of Hockey: Skills, Strategies, Equipment, and the rules of the game
John Sias
J 796.962 SIA
1997

Skating for Power & Speed: Hockey the NHL Way
Sean Rossiter, Paul Carson
796.962 ROS
2002

Total Hockey Conditioning: from Pee-wee to Pro
Tudor Bompa, Dave Chambers
J 796.962 BOM
2003

Coaching Hockey Successfully
Dennis “Red” Gendron
796.962 GEN
2001


Other Interesting Hockey Books
Kids’ Hockey: the Parents’ Guide
Gary Abraham
796.962 ABR

The Hockey Mom’s Manual
Laurel Phillips and Barbara Stahl
796.962 PHI
2001

Hockey Now!
Mike Leonetti
796.962 LEO
2003

Ice Time: a tale of fathers, sons, and hometown heroes
Jay Atkinson
796.962 ATK
2001

Thunder and Lightning: a no-b.s. Hockey Memoir
Phil Esposito and Peter Golenbock
B ESPOSITO
2003

The Unofficial Guide to Hockey’s Most Unusual Records
Don Weekes, Kerry Banks
796.962 WEE
2002

Ballad of the Whiskey Robber: a true story of bank heists, Ice Hockey, Transylvanian Pelt Smuggling, Moonlighting Detectives, and Broken Hearts
Julian Rubinstein
364.15 RUB
2004

Hat Trick Trivia: Secrets, Statistics, and Little-known Facts about Hockey
Bruce Adelson
J 796.962 ADE
1999

Fiction

The Chicken Doesn’t Skate
Gordon Korman
JF KOR
1996

Boxcar Children-80: The Hockey Mystery
Gertrude Warner
Child Paperback B

Open Ice
Pat Hughes
YA HUG
2005

The Hockey Machine
Matt Christopher
JF CHR
1986

Ice Magic
Matt Christopher
JF CHR
1973

Penalty Shot
Matt Christopher
JF CHR
1997

Arthur and the Goalie Ghost
Text by Stephen Krensky
JF BRO
2001