Misadventures of the Monster Librarian

I remember reading Where the Wild Things Are when I was a kid. I don't know who gave me my copy, probably a relative, because we were poor, but I do remember the way that book made me feel. I knew exactly why Max needed to chase that dog around in his wolf suit, and why he would tell his mother that he'd eat her up. I envied him for being able to sail away from his problems to a land where he was in charge--and he wasn't even scared of the wild things! I wanted to hang in trees and howl at the moon...but eventually I wanted to be my mother's child again too. That book resonates with children because they understand it and see themselves as Max! Iread that book to my nieces and nephews and I love reading it at the library with storytimes--I've never met someone who didn't enjoy it...so, it felt apropos to wind down Banned Book Week 2012 with sharing quotes from this, one of my top 3 favorite picture book of all time. Where the Wild Things Are was banned a...

"In plain terms, a child is a complicated creature who can drive you crazy…There's a cruelty to childhood, there's an anger. And I did not want to reduce Max to the trite image of the good little boy that you find in too many books." –Maurice Sendak Thought I would share a little bio info on Sendak: The Forest that grew in Max's Room, Where the Wild Things Are Maurice Sendak was born on June 10, 1928 in NYC. Growing up in Brooklyn, the son of Polish immigrant parents, he was sickly, spending much time indoors left to drawing and reading G ot a part-time job at at All-American Comics while still in high school At the age of 20 (1948),he began working for F.A.O. Schwartz Attended New York Art Students League While working at F.A.O. Schwartz, S endak met legendary children's book editor Ursula Nordstrom who helped him   get his first illustrating job. his first job illustrating children's books. He left F.A.O. Schwartz to become a full-time...

"The American black bear is the smallest of the three bears species found in North America, and are found only in North America. Black bears have short, non-retractable claws that give them an excellent tree-climbing ability... Height: 2-3 feet at shoulders Length: 4-7 feet from nose to tip of tail Weight: Males weigh an average of 150-300 lbs. Have been known to weigh from 500-600 lbs.; females are smaller Lifespan: Can live 20-25 years in the wild, although there is increased mortality around 10 years of age..." Wanted some information about the American black bear, so I did some reading at the Defenders of Wildlife page. For more info, click here . Why, you ask, did I do reading on the American black bear? Well, dear readers, the Farm has a returning visitor who likes to climb into our dumpster and pull bags of garbage out and into the woods. Yes, it is a black bear. The bear has been spotted by various farmers and after repeatedly hearing about these sightings, I was ...

Seriously, I love being a Children's Librarian. I did a reading a couple weeks back at one of the local elementary schools. I read books to 2nd graders for about a half an hour. I carefully chose my books, trying to get crowd pleasers that would show the kids that, "reading is fun," etc., so I wound up taking: Where the Wild Things Are by Maurice Sendak (my favorite) Sylvester and the Magic Pebble by William Steg The Stinky Cheese Man and Other Fairly Stupid Tales and The Little House by Virginia Lee Burton (an oldy, but still a favorite story of mine!) (Also any Librarian might notice that I am also trying to innundate the little monsters with award winners: Where the Wild Things Are, Sylvester and the Magic Pebble and The Little House are all Caldecott Medal Winners . Anyway, I was a little intimidated at first--reading to 60+ staring eyes--but once I started reading things went great and the kids seemed interested. Anyway, today I received a stack of Thank-you lett...

Fall semester 2007 I am taking my final three classes of my Masters' Program! LIS 6510 - Current Literature, PreSchool -3rd Grade LIS 6530 - Young Adult Literature LIS 7996 - Research in Libreary & Information Science My 6530 class is online, my first online class ever, so it may prove more of a challenge. Then again, it may be sinfully easy...who knows? My first 6510 assignment is to bring in my favorite picture book from childhood and be prepared to talk about why it was my favorite. Sounds easy, right...but, oh, such an agonizing decision for me...like Sophie's choice. I previously wrote about this dilemma at the start of the summer, but since the class was cancelled I didn't have to think about my decision all summer. I gave it much thought again yesterday and decided to go with Where the Wild Things Are , by author and illustrator, Maurice Sendak . If you read my original posting on the topic you can see what other books this was up against, and why it is one of ...