Misadventures of the Monster Librarian

Ray Lamontagne - The Man in Me (Bob Dylan Cover) Found this gem the other night--felt apropos since I was thinking of my life at the Farm, my old work, my old boss (who is a HUGE Dylan fan). And since I am a HUGE Ray fan--you're welcome.

The Muppets Attack Fox News This is great.

I borrowed this list from EarlyWord --2011 Oscar nominated movies that were all based on books. The Adventures of Tintin — Best Music (John Williams) –  Tintin Teaser Albert Nobbs – Best Actress (Glenn Close), Best Supporting Actress (Janet McTeer), Best Makeup  The Descendants — Best Picture, Best Actor (George Clooney), Best Director (Alexander Payne), Best Editing (Kevin Tent), Best Adapted Screenplay Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close — Best Picture, Best Supporting Actor (Max von Sydow) The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo   – Best Actress (Rooney Mara), Best Cinematography (Jeff Cronenweth), Best Editing (Kirk Baxter and Angus Wall), Best Sound Editing   Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2 – Best Art Direction, Best Makeup, Best Visual Effects   The Help – Best Picture, Best Actress (Viola Davis), Best Supporting Actress (Jessica Chastain), Best Supporting Actress (O...

I was supposed to do a storytime this morning, but apparently it was never advertised, so of course, no kids showed up. Thought I would share the lesson plan for the winter storytime that never was: Into myself and theme: WINTER (again...sigh) Music/Movement: "Shake your sillies out," #13, Raffi's More Singable Songs Book 1:   A Hat for Minerva Louise , Janet Morgan Stoeke Prop Story: a shortened version of The Mitten , Jan Brett w/puppets and mittens (one small, one GINORMOUS!) Music/Movement: Greg and Steve's "Freeze," #14, Kid in Motion CD Book 2: I love snow , Cynthia Rothman OR Jacket I Wear In The Snow , Shirley Neitzel Prop Story: "The Great Snow," my retelling of "Papa's Teepee" from Handmade Tales, Stories to Make and Take,   Dianne Las Casas  Book 3: Snowy Day , Ezra Jack Keats Book 4: The Snowmen Pop-Up Book , Carolyn Buehner OR OH! , Kevin Henkes Rhyme/Poem: "Bear in There," Shel Silverste...

Hari Kari Will Ferrel SNL sketch.flv Ok, I swear I will post real stuff soon, not just videos. Our friends Chris and Kate are coming down from Michigan today; looking forward to a good dinner and drinks tonight and lots of laughs. Can't wait! Can't it be 5pm yet, so I can leave work!?!

SWAGGER WAGON Official Toyota Music Video HD This was great.

Bridesmaids the car scene OMG! I love this movie so much--I watch scenes from it when I want to laugh. Never fails.

This winter in Cleveland the weather has been strange. After all the melted snow then rain, then rain, then rain, I am wishing for things to dry up. I am wishing I were back at the Farm on one particular hot summer night, when a coolness surged in and surprised the fields into a mist that slid across the road and crept around the plants in my garden. I am wishing I was taking one of my "no talk walks" with my friend Sierra and admiring the beauty that is the Farm in any season. I am wishing that this hollow lonliness, which I've felt these past couple of days would stop lingering--like fog. "Fog" The fog comes on little cat feet. It sits looking over harbour and city on silent haunches and then moves on. --Carl Sandburg

Once upon a time in the land of Liberry there were was an amazing building called the Fortress of Knowledge. The Fortress of Knowledge wasn't really a fortress against any enemies, but rather acted as a fortress against stupidity, for anyone no matter how old, who came into the Fortress of Knowledge and tried earnestly to learn the secrets of the books; who studied the ancient maps and scrolls of Pages du' Yellow; who quietly tried to master the maze of Internetia --any of these persons would benefit from the Fortress and fend off ignorance for another day. There was much activity in the Fortress, both good and bad. Many wonderful pupils came to study the many arts made accessible in the Fortress, these were people of all ages, from the oldest of the old to the youngest of the young. Many were the variety of these pupils: quiet, lively, talkative (in a Fortress-volume'd voice), studious, or thoughtful. These pupils visited the Fortress, respectfully observing the customs ...

Chris Raschka’s “A Ball for Daisy” won the Randolph Caldecott award for best illustrated book, announced today by the American Library Association (ALA). And feel free to read a little review here by Seven Impossible Things Before Breakfast--this site rocks!

Congratulations to Jack Gantos' for taking the Newberry Award for his 2011, Dead End in Norvelt . I just ordered this book this morning, looking forward to reading it. Also, here is a list of the School Library Journal's June mid-year guesses at who they thought had a good chance in the running for the Newberry and Caldecott medals...I love looking over things like this, almost always a good list of books to check out!

I was supposed to have a Pre-school storytime last Friday, but wouldn't you know it, they cancelled a half an hour before our storytime. I was ok with that. It was a slow Friday and it felt nice to just sit at the desk and chat with the othe librarian, catch up on some future storytime planning, and catch up on some library journal reading. Thought I would share my Pre-school storytime on TRANSPORTATION 1. Welcome and Introduce myself and theme 2. Music/Movement: “Shake my sillies out,” #13 Raffi’s More Singable Songs 3. Movement: “I'm A Little Airplane ,” (tune "I'm a Little Teapot") I'm a little airplane, ( children raise arms at sides to shoulder height. ) I can fly! ( tilt back and forth like a plane coming in for landing) I look low (look around the ground) And I look high. (look around the sky) When I get all revved up. ( Make engine noises) Watch me fly, ( Children raise arms to shoulder height .) Lifting off Into the sky! (Point u...

West Side Market Cafe outside West Side Market Cuts of beef and cow tongues, West Side Market Ursula Von Rydingsgard pieces, Cleveland MOCA Crepes Du Luxe, West Side Market Crepes De Luxe, West Side Market Crepes and people watching at West Side Market The gorgeous architecture at West Side Market Ursula Von Rydingsgard, Cleveland MOCA Presti's Bakery, Little Italy, Cleveland And thanks to my bestie Kim for allowing me to post her pics on my blog!

Last weekend was a great weekend. Kim, (my best friend since age 12) came for a visit, arriving late Saturday night. Both of us were wide awake and so spent an hour chatting and laughing over high school, middle school and elementary school yearbooks which I'd unearthed when moving. Yikes. It's funny how some memories are so clear and others so muddled. We got a kick out of reading some of the messages in the yearbooks which ranged from the cliche, "have a great summer!" to the more specific, inside joke ones which always included cryptic messages, nicknames and such. Apparently I was always boy crazy...? "Good luck with the boys this summer!" appeared in both my 3rd and 4th grade yearbooks, as well as high school ones. Hmmm... Sunday was a lovely day: breakfast with the bestie, then meeting up with A3 and Dayna for an adventurous day which included: Driving through (and getting turned around several times!) Cleveland; especially gorgeous is a city calle...

For those of you who may not be familiar with Bert's "Doing the Pigeon." (Mentioned in my last post ). I just had to share it. I love it so. And yes, for the record, I did dance like this...and I do a mean pigeon impression.

Thankfully there are a ton of great resources out there for librarians, teachers, day care providers and parents who do things around theme, or just want a catchy song or activity--hours of my life have been spared because so many people share said resources online. I will try and post my "lesson plans" for my storytimes and programs. Last week I had a public school visit with a class full of Kindergarteners. Let me first say A. I love school visits  B. I try and have lots of movement in my storytimes, especially with younger kids--not only to make things more fun, but also to help keep their attention.  C. I HEART Sesame Street to pieces and will probably ALWAYS feature some of their music in my programs. There are so many choices!  And so many funny song!  D. Our storytimes are roughly a half an hour long (this one ran about 35 minutes) The pigeon who wants to drive the bus. Found here . Introduce myself and theme: BIRDS! Now before we b...

Blizzard of Glass: The Halifax Explosion of 1917 by Sally M. Walker One thing I like about reading YA nonfiction books are that they are shorter and more to the point then adult books. Sometimes I wish some of those loquacious authors of adult history would take a hint, but maybe they're not into the whole brevity thing. Did you know that before the atomic bombs the biggest man made explosion happened (yep, you guessed it) in Halifax, Nova Scotia in 1917 when a Belgian relief vessel, the Imo, and a French munitions ship, the SS Mont-Blanc, collided in Halifax Harbour. World War I was happening and both ships were trying to aid in the efforts in Europe. Not only did the explosion caused by the crash kill tons of people, but what followed was a tsunami within minutes. And as if matters couldn't get worse, as relief workers showed up and started to do some serious "damage control," the island was hit by a huge snow storm (this was the following day). Rea...