now the insanity begins.

Adult SRP has been going on since June 1st (very impressive participation so far!) and Youth SRP started today!  I had the 10 to 1 shift at the reference desk and it was crazy busy.  It's great to see so many people into it!  Last I heard, with half an hour to go before closing, 483 kids had signed up.  That may be small potatoes for some big libraries, but for a town of "29,799" (discounting part-time university students, make year-round population more like 12-15,000), we're pretty happy.

My boyo is working on his daily reading-- here, it's 20 minutes a day instead of a number of books to aim for-- and excited about it.  He appreciates the challenge.  Thankfully, the 20 minutes don't have to be consecutive.

Books Can Be Deceiving, by Jenn McKinlay.  Mildly humorous, and the realistic library details added to the story; I think regular (non-librarian) readers would enjoy those added details.  (The writer is a librarian.)  There were some things that are unrealistic (a huge portion of the dialogue is stilted, for instance), but for a cozy read, I'd take this and it's sequel(s) over all the cooking mysteries I'm ordering for my shelves.

Shabanu: Daughter of the Wind, by Suzanne Fisher Staples. YA!-- not as in hurrah, but as in the teenagers.  I've missed YA, it turns out.  This is one that has earned the award that it has stuck on the cover.  I particularly liked how time seemed fluid and the period setting is vague.
 
Mycophilia: Revelations from the Weird World of Mushrooms, by Eugenia Bone.  579.  I was very interested in this book.  Unlike other nonfiction, which I tend to already know a little bit about (go, B.A.!), I knew absolutely nothing about mushrooms and fungi.  Since the book is written by someone also exploring the field, the structure worked very well for me. 
Now, we have some avid mushroomers on staff and I mentioned to one how much I enoyed this book.  My coworker had already read it and said it was quite factually incorrect.  And that's from someone who reguarly eats possibly lethal mushrooms she finds around. 

India Black and the Widow of Windsor, by Carolyn Carr.  Book two, quite like the first.  The narrator makes reference to a further novel, so I'll need to keep an eye out for that.  I got to recommend this-- and Gail Carriger's series-- to both a coworker and a patron.  Those are the moments I love!

Charlotte's Vow, by Marion Woodson.  On Saturday, I was stuck at home with a sick kiddo (just a cold, he's already better) and no print.  I was desperate, so I trolled through OverDrive and put some stuff on my Nook.  There usually isn't much checked in in our consortium.  This turned out to be YA historical fiction.  Pretty good, good setting, good sense of place; however, the way it skirted some of the issues, I would have thought it older than what the catalog is telling me (pub. 2000).  You could do worse for a 12-year-old who likes historical fiction.

We usually stick with the (pretty good) picture collection here at home, but my husband felt the need to branch out, and the boy has requested I read these with him as well.

Horton Hears a Who!  by Dr. Seuss.  This is kind of a long book, actually, but so are Yertle the Turtle and The Lorax, all new favorites around here.  When my husband and our son sat down with Yertle the Turtle the first time last week, my husband said, "now this is a book also by Dr. Seuss."  Our son said, "Dr. Seuss is such a silly man" and then he giggled.  We're doing something right.

Tiny and Hercules, by Amy Schwartz.  This isn't a terribly long picture book, but it is broken up into 5 very short stories.  I think they're actually too short.  They don't really go together.  But my son thinks it's funny for a mouse and an elephant to be friends.