Yay to Passion Planners!

The awesome company Passion Planner was kind enough to donate twenty planners to our library! This was a part of their Get One, Give One program.

This innovative company designs planners created for reflection and goal-setting. After the horrible tornado last year, I thought this would be a perfect program for our Teens to get motivate this Summer.

The program was a success, with many Teens telling me that they had never tried any goal-setting or future planning before. I was very excited to share this habit with them.

The Invoice by Jonas Karlsson

What if all of the experiences of your life were billed? This is the conceit of Jonas Karlsson's new novella. You must pay for the good experiences and the common privileges you have received. However your bad experiences are deducted from that total.

When the our hero receives an invoice in the mail, he doesn't know that it's about to make him question everything about his life. The protagonist ventures out and grows close to someone and seems to ask himself, 'Can I truly be happy even though I have not achieved much? Was I ever happy at all?'

I really loved the Room by Karlsson and was surprised to find I love this fable even more. The message is not subtle, but it's still fun to read.

Uncomfortable but important

Awad is very skilled at making the reader inhabit Elizabeth's world. This book is about her relationships and how her weight has affected those relationships, whether it's her mother, husband or a shop clerk.

One particular highlight of the book is Awad's description of the late 90s early 2000s and her ability to write about not just the important relationships in Elizabeth's life, but the passing relationships.

Five Star 2015 Books

Better late than never. So many kids books this year. 

Disaster Preparedness

My city was recently hit by a huge tornado that made national headlines. And if you have seen this floating around on the Internet, it should not come as a surprise.

We were so lucky that no one in the City was killed and that all of our coworkers were safe (although some had some hair-raising stories!)

These are the awesome things we were able to do for our customers.

1. Stay open a little later so people needing Internet access could come in.

2. Entertain those that have nothing else. Our story times were on hiatus, but we had two big parties; Noon Year's Eve (go me!) and Winter Reading Club. These were both very well attended and I think parents really enjoyed the break as well. 

3. Gave people a sympathetic ear. I think this was the most important. 

4. Asked for guidance. 

This one wasn't really for our customers, but very important. I immediately went to a well-known library social media hang out and asked for guidance. All of the members were extremely supportive, and someone led me to an awesome librarian from Moore, Oklahoma who had been through this before. She not only gave us tons of ideas, but may have acted as a temporary therapist.

These are the things that I wish I had done BEFORE the storm hit;

1. Made sure there were plenty of disaster books that are appropriate to our region. 

Obviously tornadoes are a big risk in North Texas. I wish we had invested in more in books for all ages about loss and disasters before this had happened. However, we were able to organize a list through our catalog and share it with our patrons

2.  Organized a Pillowcase Project

This project allows 3rd-5th graders to become involved in disaster preparedness and gives them a sense of control. 

3. Been a part of the essential city staff

When I worked for a different system, I always groused at the fact that library staff was made to come in on extremely icy days. When another staff member asked about this, we were told that the library should always be considered essential staff. Now I completely get it. It was horrible to not be able to come in and serve the customers you love so much when they are in a bad position

That time Michael Ian Black made gentle fun of my review.

And thought I was a dude. 

That time Merrill Markoe responded to that tweet about me.

Then when my friends chimed in to tell me I am great...and then Michael Ian Black liked that. 

That time he tweeted about my reviews again. 

Noon Year's and Lessons Learned

The Noon Year's Party went well with 108 party-goers! That is great for our little library. Even though it went well, I learned a few things;
*There should be a break in the action, an hour of dancing got a lot of the kids riled up
*Kids will try to use almost anything as a sword
*The apple juice for a "toast" was unnecessary and I don't think the kids really got it (maybe a popcorn bar next year?)
*You will get the bubble machine when you can handle the bubble machine!
*The best moms have your back, don't worry!