Books and Such

Hello,
Don’t you need more ideas of books to get? I have a few good ideas again this week.

A friend of mine is a vet and has written a book about his experiences. Ask the Animals by Bruce R. Coston is one that you will enjoy. Bruce relates stories about his practice and his clients. Think James Herriot and add a Seventh Day Adventist point of view.

Dewey, The Small Town Library Cat Who Touched the World by Vicki Myron and Bret Witter is about a tiny kitten that was put in the book return slot one wintry night. Vicki Myron found the kitten the next morning, cleaned him up and fed him not realizing that Dewey would claim the library as his home. The original book is wonderful and there are some picture books for younger readers about this cat named Dewey Readmore Books.

We have a popular series in our library called the ‘Dear America series’. These books are written in diary format by a fictional character but the reader learns about a particular event or time in history. If you don’t’ have any of the books in this series, consider getting them. One of the newest in this series is “The Fences Between Us: Seattle Washington, 1941”. The story revolves around Piper Davis, a young girl whose father is the pastor of a Japanese Baptist Church in Seattle. When his congregation is incarcerated in an internment camp, he follows them taking Piper with him. This could be a good introduction to this period in US history. The Dear America books are all diaries written by girls, but boys who aren’t interested in reading a book by a ‘girl’, might enjoy reading the series called “My Name is America” which are journals written by ‘boys’. I was visiting family in British Columbia and found three books called ‘Dear Canada’ which I bought and put in our library here. Lastly, “The Royal Diaries” written by historical royals are quite popular here, as well. All of these are published by Scholastic.

Another series that is loved by the same group that loves the Dear America books is the Sisters in Time series. I am about to place “Lydia the Patriot’, ‘Maria Takes a Stand’, ‘Nellie the Brave’, ‘Betsy’s River Adventure’, and ‘Meg Follows a Dream’ on our shelves. In a fashion similar to Dear America, these books help to chronicle a period of history through story format. ‘Lydia the Patriot’ is about the Boston Massacre, ‘Maria Takes a Stand’ is on the battle for women’s rights, ‘Nellie the Brave’ is about the Cherokee Trail of Tears, ‘Betsy’s River Adventure’ tells of the westward expansion, and ‘Meg Follows a Dream’ is on freedom for slaves. There are many more; just choose the subject or area of history you would like to have in your library.

I have heard that some of you print out and save my weekly posts. Some save them in a folder on their computer, and I am sure that many of you delete them. If you ever find yourself needing to refer to something that I have written or just need to check back, remember that I have each post on a blog. You can check back to each post dating from January 2009. (The blog was actually started in February and I posted January’s posts at that time, so you won’t see any posts for January, but they are there. I promise!) The blog is sdalibrarian.blogspot.com.

I hope you have a wonderful week. The sun is shining here and it is lovely weather. I hope the weather is good where you live, as well.
Audrey