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This week the American Library Association announced the 2012 Caldecott and Newbery award winners. Several the winning titles are already available here at the library, and our Children’s Librarian, Lisa Anderson, says the rest are coming soon.

The 2012 Caldecott Medal winner–awarded to the artist of the year’s most distinguished American picture book for children–is A Ball for Daisy, written and illustrated by Chris Raschka.

This year’s Caldecott Honor books are:
Blackout, written and illustrated by John Rocco
Grandpa Green, written and illustrated by Lane Smith
Me … Jane, written and illustrated by Patrick McDonnell

The 2012 Newbery Medal winner–awarded to the author of the most distinguished contribution to American literature for children–is Dead End in Norvelt by Jack Gantos.

The year’s Newbery Honor books are:
Inside Out & Back Again by Thanhha Lai
Breaking Stalin’s Nose by Eugene Yelchin

Here are links to lists of past winners:
Caldecott Medal and Honor books, 1938 to present
Newbery Medal and Honor books, 1922 to present

Looking over the lists I see a couple of family favorites. As part of a train-loving family, my boys enjoyed The Polar Express by Chris Vans Allsburg, the 1986 Caldecott Medal winner. And one of my personal favorites on the list is Officer Buckle and Gloria by Peggy Rathmann, a 1996 Caldecott Honor book.

I remember when my youngest son read Across Five Aprils by Irene Hunt, a 1965 Newbery Honor book, and it’s a book I still recommend to grade-schoolers when they need a historical-fiction chapter book.

Do you recognize any old favorites on the lists of medal winners and honor books? Books you loved as a child, or maybe books you read to your children and grandchildren? Tell us in the comments.

Here’s to award-winning reading,
Janice

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Around the library, we know it’s a new year when the tax forms appear in the lobby.  This year, the public has been impatiently waiting for the IRS to get their act together and send out the instructional booklets for 1040 and 1040EZ returns… and that day has come.

Need forms?

We’ve got you covered.

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As you know, libraries across the globe are in dire straits.  If you love libraries, now is the time to speak up and protect your library’s future.

And if you love mysteries, now is the time to follow this link.  This is the most charming example of library advocacy, activism, art and mystery I’ve ever encountered.  Also, a pretty neat example of gratitude.  And the pleasure of surprises.

If you love books, click here!

P.S.: Don’t miss the update at the top of the page, after you’ve read it through once.

 

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Want to brush up your computer skills? We’re now offering drop-in computer training sessions.

Tuesdays 11 a.m. – 1 p.m.
Wednesdays 6 p.m. – 7:30 p.m.
Thursdays 1 p.m. – 3 p.m. & 6 p.m. – 7:30 p.m. 

Come in for guided training and practice sessions to learn basic computer skills including:

• creating an email account,
• navigating the Internet for basic searching and online commerce,
• learning Microsoft Office programs,
• searching the library catalog and online references,
• using social networking sites,
• managing ebooks & audiobooks.

The sessions are individually paced, and practice time is available on library computers or your own laptop. 

Contact us by email at blibrary@ci.burlington.wa.us or call 360-755-0760 if you have questions. Meanwhile, the links on our Learn to Use a Computer page will help you get started. 

~Janice

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You may notice something funny about the internet today.

Here’s what Google looks like:

And Wikipedia:

So what’s up?  If you care about your Internet access, you’ll want to be informed about SOPA and PIPA, two proposed national legislations in the news currently.  And here, courtesy of The Rumpus, is a great list of options for educating yourself in your preferred tone of voice.  (I especially appreciate the inclusion of LOLCat, but that’s just me.)

********************************************************
“You don’t need to be a tech nerd to want to know what’s up with the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) and its counterpart the Protect IP Act (PIPA), so here are some links to help you understand SOPA/PIPA and today’s blackout.  After those links you’ll find a few to help you take action, if you so choose.

If you want to go to the source and read the actual House legislation, here’s a pdf for SOPA.
Similarly, if you want the actual Senate legislation, here’s a pdf for PIPA.

If you want something that summarizes SOPA/PIPA and the Wikipedia blackout, here’s a very basic understanding from ABC News.

If you want CBS News to explain what it believes you need to know on the issue, here’s that summary.

If you want FOX News to explain it to you in its own special way, here’s that link.

If you want the New York Times to explain it to you, you know where to go.

If you want an incredibly specific website to explain SOPA, try here.

If you want to read Obama’s Administration’s response, read this.

If you want a daily technology news website’s take, visit Wired.com‘s explanation of why it went dark today.

If you still don’t understand how SOPA/PIPA might affect you, try reading this CNET article for an FAQ.

If you require a lolcat connection, then watch “The Day the LOLcats died” video.

If you can only function in internet lists mainly composed of graphics, then check out the Washington Post’s collection of the five best anti-SOPA protests from today’s blackout.

Now, as far as taking action goes…

If you’re looking to contact your officials, you visit their websites for direct contact information.  You can call their offices or you can send an email.  Or both.

• Visit Congress’s website and type your zip code in to the box at the top right: http://www.house.gov/
• Visit the Senate’s website and use the drop-down state selection at the top right: http://www.senate.gov/

If you want to sign the Google petition, go here: https://www.google.com/landing/takeaction/

If you want to sign the petition on sopa.com, it’s as easy as going to: http://www.sopa.com/“

                                             –The Rumpus

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Among the many e-resources the library has is Reference USA, a directory of corporations and other business data for use by job seekers, businesses, and individuals.  Depending on your needs, you may find a simple phone directory or a marketing research tool.  It provides ad-free  information on brands, products, stocks, corporate structure, names of executives, and hiring managers.  Funding for this resource is provided by the Port of Skagit.  The resource is available from home, by logging in with your library card, or in the library at any time.  For more info, call the library at 360-755-0760, or email blibrary@ci.burlington.wa.us.

A free one-hour webinar on the use of this resource is available.   

Title:  Search Essentials: the basics of ReferenceUSA

Day/Date: Offered Fridays (January 13 –  March 30)

Time:  11:00 AM Central

Lots of time will be reserved at the end of the session for questions.  Attendees need an internet connection and a phone line to participate. 

To register for any of the session dates, follow the link below:

ReferenceUSA Search Essentials

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At our monthly staff meeting yesterday morning I asked each staff member to share “what they’re reading” right now– here’s the list. You can see, we’re a pretty varied bunch, as far as our literary tastes go. Hopefully this variety will give you an idea for your next good read.

Sarah Lunde: The girl of fire and thorns by Rae Carson. This first book in a medieval fantasy trilogy follows the adventures of 16-year-old Princess Elisa.

Angelica Ascencio: There’s something about Christmas by Debbie Macomber. A small-town Washington news reporter learns to love fruitcake in this take on A Christmas Carol.

Karen Prasse: The shallows: what the Internet is doing to our brains by Nicholas G. Carr. As the Internet causes us to become ever more adept at scanning and skimming, are we losing our capacity for concentration, contemplation, and reflection?

Lisa Anderson: Halt’s peril by John Flanagan. Book number nine in the Ranger’s Apprentice series finds Halt, Will, and Horace back on the trail of the same vicious, thieving outlaws.

Cherí Torrence: Stardust by Neil Gaiman. A charming fairy tale in the tradition of The princess bride and The neverending story.

Rachel Gage: Thereby hangs a tale: a Chet and Bernie mystery by Spencer Quinn. Number two in the mystery series narrated by Chet, a 100-pound crime-fighting canine.

Janet Royer: Wesley the owl: the remarkable story of an owl and his girl by Stacey O’Brien. Biologist and owl expert O’Brien chronicles her rescue of an abandoned baby barn owl–and their astonishing and unprecedented 19-year life together.

Mary Beth Conlee: Steve Jobs by Walter Isaacson. A timely portrait that pulls no punches, and gives insight into a man whose contradictions were in many ways his greatest strength.

Janice Burwash: The discovery of witches by Deborah E. Harkness. witches, vampires, and demons outnumber humans at Oxford’s Bodleian Library, where witch and Yale historian Diana Bishop discovers an enchanted manuscript, attracting the attention of 1,500-year-old vampire Matthew Clairmont: Harry Potter + Twilight for grown-ups. Number two in the series is set to come out in July.

Maggie Buckholz: Blood Red Road by Moira Young. In a distant future, when eighteen-year-old Lugh is kidnapped, his twin sister Saba trails him across bleak Sandsea. A possible “read-alike” for fans of The hunger games. (On order for our Teen collection.)

Eileen Barnes: The river why by David James Duncan. First published more than two decades ago, this classic has become on of the most widely read fiction titles about fly-fishing. (Not in our collection, but available from several of our “reciprocal borrowing” partners.)

So there you have it, we’re reading a mix of fiction, non-fiction, children’s, Teen, and adult titles. What are you reading?

~Janice

 

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As part of our Winter Adult Reading Months program, “Between the Covers,” we’re offering a free writing workshop, coming up on January 28.  Kris LeBlanc, who teaches at Skagit Valley College and is just a dynamo of enthusiasm, is presenting.  This will be a fun, informal time that will appeal to any level of writer who is over 18.  No registration is necessary; just show up at 10:00 a.m…. and earn 3 prize entries into the W.A.R.M. prize drawings!

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Our Winter Adult Reading Months program begins today!

Our theme this year is “Between the Covers,” and that’s just where you’re invited to go.  Enjoy any book you like, and then visit the display table in the library to pick up book review forms (or to see cool books).  Turn in your brief review at the front desk and voila!  You’re entered to win great prizes.

Our motto?  “Read in bed, it saves heat.”   Reading and being green at the same time.  Add chocolate and you’re in heaven.

Questions?  Ask Mary Beth.  Please participate – it’s fun, and you get to read other people’s reviews and find great new books that way, too.

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Welcome Eileen Barnes to our library!  As you can see, she is full of enthusiasm — as I took the photo I said, “Think of how happy you are to be working here!”

Like all of us, Eileen will be a jack-of-all-trades here, but her primary role will be in Technical Services, cataloging books and getting them ready for you to check out.   In time, you’ll start to see her at the front desk as well.

Eileen brings lots of great skills: she’s bilingual in Spanish, and also knowledgeable in all things “web.”  She’s also in the unique and enviable position of working in two libraries at once: she also works part-time for the Mount Vernon City Library, where she does (among other things) children’s programming.  Eileen is a great fit to our great staff, and we’re glad she’s here.

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It’s that time of year again—the time for making resolutions to do better, try harder, make a change, or make a difference. 

If you make New Year’s Resolutions, here’s a list to get you started thinking about Resolutions for Reading*.

1.    I will reread a book that I loved as a child.
2.    I will finally read that classic from high school that I’ve been avoiding.
3.    I will reread a book I just didn’t get when I was eighteen.
4.    I will find a book of poetry and read some aloud.
5.    I will spend an hour in aimless browsing at my library.
6.    I will read a book written in the year I was born.
7.    I will create a journal and keep notes about books and magazines I read.
8.    I will assemble a list of my favorite people and send them my ideas about books (favorites, recent reads, etc.)
9.    I will read a book to a child.
10.  I will gather a few friends and read a play out loud.
11.  I will read a book on the history of my town.
12.  I will read a book written from a political point of view opposite my own.
13.  I will read a book about a place I’ve never been.
14.  I will read a book written by a non-American.
15.  I will ask a librarian to show me some print and online resources for readers.

For the past four years–while I was going back to school–my reading material was mostly either textbooks or brain candy. But now that I’ve graduated, I’m ready to step back into better reading. So my Reading Resolution for 2012 is variety; I’m going to try some things that challange me, are outside my usual genres, or open up my worldview–along with reading books that are just plain fun. And then, in keeping with #8 above, I’ll share my literary discoveries.

 

 

Happy New Year and happy reading,

~Janice

* List compiled by the Fiction-l listserv and posted by Camille DelVeccio from the Penfield (NY) Public Library

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This week always seems so weird to me.  A week sparsely attended, cradled at the very bottom of the calendar, hovering between Christmas and New Year’s.

Here at the library, it’s a short week, as Friday the 30th is our last city furlough day, and Monday the 2nd, the first 2012 holiday.   Hopefully, we’ll see you this week, to load up enough books to see you into the new year… and if not, we’ll see you in 2012.

Need a ‘new year’ book suggestion?  Here are some we have:
New Year’s Eve: a novel, by Lisa Grunwald
The New Year: a novel, by Pearl S. Buck
The New Year’s quilt: an Elm Creek Quilts novel, by Jennifer Chiaverini
365: no repeats: a year of deliciously different dinners, by Rachel Ray
The Year of Magical Thinking, by Joan Didion

 May your new year be full of fabulous reads…
 

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How many holidays can one person encompass in the same month?  The sheer number of possibilities can make one weak at the knees.  But it’s pretty fun to learn about them.

You can take a look at some of the books we have, like:
    Chase’s calendar of events
    Diwali : the Hindu festival of lights, feasts, and family
    Holidays, festivals, and celebrations of the world dictionary
    Kwanzaa

Those are fun. But when you go to the Internet, you can get completely overwhelmed.  Religious celebrations, cultural festivities, made-up holidays from television and book series, made-up ones by governments and activists – the diversity of celebrations in such an incredible number of cultures  is amazing! 

Here’s the funnest list I found: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_winter_festivals –which includes Xistlessnessmas, Kwansolhaneidmas (an interdenominational holiday celebrated by people on Facebook), and Festivus.

The fact that some of these are parodies illustrate the very different feelings people have about the holidays.  What’s your take?  Tell us in the comments, if you dare.  And no matter what you’re celebrating this month, we hope it’s fun and meaningful for you and yours.
                       —Mary Beth