April.

I'm not positively disposed towards April.  Because of a slew of poorly timed staffing changes, I had to redo the reference desk schedule for April 4 times.  Then today, it hailed, rained, was sunny, was gusty, hailed, snowed, hailed, and was sunny while snowing.   The weather is the joke around here.

Oh, and if anyone is looking for a full-time library job, there is a non-MLS requiring position in serials at the University of Idaho, only 8 miles from my lovely self!

Nicolas, Where Have You Been? by Leo Lionni.  New tool: Nicholas doesn't want to read?  Get books with his name.  Also from this book we now have the phrase, "he's poking them in their blood."
I liked the illustrations; they were a little Carle-esque.

Muskrats, by Margaret Hall.  So, there has been a lot of rain hereabouts, and the creek that runs through the middle of downtown has been at flood stage off and on the past week.  On one such day, I took the boy down to look at it, and we sat and watched what is normally a less-than-1-foot-deep, 2-feet-across-if-it's-6-inches-deep creek as it ran through town fully up to its bank, more than 20 feet wide, touching the 10-foot mark on the bridge pylon.  The point of all this is, a little muskrat got flooded out of its home temporarily and we watched it for a while as it ate grass and ignored everyone taking its picture.  We then promptly went to the library to check this out.

This is a very informative book, great for the age level, and has great full-color, close-up pictures.  We approve.

The boy can't say "muskrat" but somehow has settled on calling it a "mousecrap."  I don't even know.

The Moral Lives of Animals, by Dale Peterson.  This seemed like it would be interesting, but it is tough going.  There is interesting information in here, but it seems like the parts that I think would be interesting or exciting are things the author thought to just barely mention, and what he thinks is more important isn't so much.  He also seems to be jumping around all over the place.  Yes, he is imparting interesting information, but it doesn't seem extremely relevant to the topic he claims to be the focus of the chapter.  This does not get my seal of approval.

This is a little bit different, but I thought I would put it in here anyway; I mean, it is printed material that I paid for.  I downloaded some patterns from PlanetJune.com.  The AmiDogs sets (various breeds, all in amigurumi patterns) run $4.50 apiece.  (I got a three pack for $12(?).)  I finally broke down and paid for the patterns because I couldn't find a free one anywhere, book or online.  I would have done better to make my own pattern.  There are numerous errors in the patterns I used, which I could live with if they were free, but for the price of the few sheets of paper, I expect better.  They were stupid, simple errors, like the instructions say to start with the wrong color of yarn, or miss one stitch on the row.  That's the first and last time I pay for an instructional PDF.