That's One Whopper Candle!

I noticed that there's one whopper candle burning outside the Friends of the Library (FOL) book sale room at my Library.  Click the images to bigify.

Biggest Candle I've Ever Seen

That Flame Seems Strange

I'm not sure what to make of that flame.  It's not hot; it doesn't burn my minions when they touch it; and it doesn't flicker like most flames.  It must be a faux flame.  Still, I'm steering well clear.  Better safe than scorched, I'd venture.

So what's this candle all about?

FOL Fundraising Sale

Yankee Candle

So, where's the merchandise?

Quite Nice Stuff

These make great people-to-people holiday gifts.  Plus, portions of proceeds benefit the FOL, which supports the Library.  That's reason enough to purchase a whole bunch.  Maybe not as big as that huge candle on display, though.  Safety first, after all.

Your Roving Reporter On The Go,

Cauli Le Chat

 

Crafty Gal Monkeys Around

Crafty Gal monkeys around with Foo Foo in two music videos from her Story Time Rocks! series.  Let's watch.

"Five Little Monkeys"

Fingerplay Show by Crafty Gal

(Story Time Rocks! Video Series)

Here's where Foo Foo comes in.

"Little Bunny Foo Foo" by Crafty Gal

(Story Time Rocks! Video Series)

Pretty cute songs, Crafty Gal!  Great for your early literacy troops.  I'd sing along moiself, but I'd sound like I'm caterwauling.

Your Roving Reporter On The Go,

Cauli Le Chat

P.S.  The Monkees released "The Door Into Summer," co-composed by producer Chip Douglas and Bill Martin, on the album Pisces, Aquarius, Capricorn & Jones, Ltd. (1967).  

Everyday, Pretty Much

Long-time readers know from my previous blog posting that tomorrow (October 29) is National Cat Day.  This year, my Library has a book display devoted to us felines.  How cool is that?

 Click Images to Bigify

I've blogged about some of these books (or others in the same series).  Click the quick links below to read (or re-read) all about them.

• Sparkle the Designer Cat (two books);
• Dewey the Library Cat (children's book);
• French for Cats;
• Why Cats Paint;
• Desmond Morris' cat books;
• Making Rounds With Oscar;
• Cat in the Stacks mysteries

I may have blogged about some of the others, too.  I've uploaded 1,153 posts to this blog, so I really can't remember everything I've written about.

Some books were checked out when my minions put up this display, so I couldn't include them.  Fortunately, we have book trailers.

If You Give a Cat a Cupcake, by Laura Numeroff

(MPL Book Trailer #142)

Pioneer Cat, by William H. Hooks & Charles Robinson

(MPL Book Trailer #90)

File M For Murder, by Miranda James

(Cat in the Stacks Mystery)

(MPL Book Trailer #151)

Murder Past Due, by Miranda James

(Cat in the Stacks Mystery)

(MPL Patron Book Trailer #2)

Classified As Murder, by Miranda James

(Cat in the Stacks Mystery)

(MPL Patron Book Trailer #3)

You can see "Flat Cauli V" (Flat Five for short) checking-out and checking-in Sparkle's books in our instructional videos using our automated self-check machines.

How to Use Our New Self-Checkout Kiosks, by Flat Five

Auto Check-in @ MPL, by Flat Five

Pretty good reading for National Cat Day, I'd venture.

Your Roving Reporter On The Go,

Cauli Le Chat

Surviving the Siberian Steppe

Esther Hautzig (1930-2009) first published The Endless Steppe: Growing Up in Siberia in 1968.  It is an autobiographical account of her family's struggle to survive in a Soviet gulag during World War II.  Our book trailer elaborates.

MPL Book Trailer #178

The Endless Steppe, by Esther Hautzig

Growing up in a middle class Jewish family in Vilna, Poland (now Vilnius, Lithuania), was comfortable and culturally stimulating for the Rudomin family.  All this changed when Soviet troops invaded the region in 1939.  In June, 1941, when the author was 10 years old, Esther and her family were arrested as "capitalist enemies of the USSR," and they were herded aboard railway cars and shipped to a forced labor camp in Siberia.  Life there was beyond grim and despairing.  It was a daily struggle to survive the hardships of the northern Asian steppe.  Esther's survival depended upon her close-knit family and the strong ties to the Jewish community incarcerated together.  It is an unforgettable read.  The book is available in our Evergreen Indiana online catalog.

The book is targeted toward 'tween readers (ages 10-12), although young adults (ages 13-18) and grown-ups will surely learn valuable historical lessons about the brutalities inflicted upon innocent victims during the Stalinist regime.  Atrocities like this still happen, so it's important to study the historical record and learn why and how they occur so we may be prepared to do what we can to prevent their repetition.

Your Roving Reporter On The Go,

Cauli Le Chat

My Vote, For Sure

Casey at the Bat and Crafty Gal have entered an Indiana State Library (ISL) competition to receive a guitar or ukulele to use in youth services programs.  ISL is sending "rock star startup kits" to the winning video entrants from Hoosier public library youth services departments.

Want to watch their video entry?  Sure you do.

ISL Rock Star Startup Kit Video,

by MPL Youth Services

They have my vote, for sure.  Of course, I'm not among the officials voting in this contest, so my vote counts for squat.  Still, I'd vote for them--particularly if there were cans of tuna-in-oil forthcoming.  Just saying.

Your Roving Reporter On The Go,

Cauli Le Chat

Two Hundred Is Pretty Grand

Sometime before my breakfast tomorrow morning (or tonight--early is fine with moi), my blog should reach 200,000 page views.  If I had a can of tuna-in-oil for each one of those viewings, I'd probably be pretty tired of tuna by now.  Still, I have many feline friends who could use a square meal.  I'd share it all with them.

Let's celebrate with a song that has the number 200 in the title.

"One Angry Dwarf and 2oo Solemn Faces,"

by Ben Folds Five, from the album

Whatever and Ever Amen (1997)

Thanks for reading!  Now, minions, bring moi some tasty treats, if you please.

Your Roving Reporter On The Go,

Cauli Le Chat

Cleaning Grandfather's Clock

Humans sometimes use the expression that somebody taken to task (or struck a sharp blow to the face) has had his/her "clock cleaned."  As you can see, the Library's grandfather clock got its -- well -- clock cleaned.  Minions, make with the before-and-after shots.  Click the images to bigify.

MPL Grandfather Clock

(March 19, 2011)

MPL Grandfather Clock

(October 15, 2013)

Since the clock accident occurred last Saturday (10/12/13), all the broken bits have been removed to our dumpster, but the clock did a Humpty Dumpty (or a London Bridge) and crashed to the floor into a gazillion pieces.  I will state unequivocally that it was (wait for it ...)

NOT MY FAULT!

I was nowhere near the Library last Saturday.  CircMaster said that it was totally an accident, but I've learned that we felines are often blamed for unforeseen events for which we cannot reasonably be held culpable but, nonetheless, are.  (That sentence sounded better in my head.  Perhaps my minion's typing is at fault.)

This tragedy naturally raises a burning question.

 Where Will Cauliette Sit?

Just Wondering

 Actually, Cauliette is stationed in the Indiana Roving Reporter Room.

Still, she really enjoyed sitting atop the Grandfather clock.  Now she's sad.  (Sniff!)

Any chance the Library will purchase a replacement for Cauliette?  Just asking.

Your Roving Reporter On The Go,

Cauli Le Chat

Still More "Canvassing" the YAZ

Our teen patrons have been putting the finishing touches to their Halloween decorations in our Young Adult Zone (YAZ) windows.  Like so:

 Click Images to Bigify

You can vote on your favorites (from these and the others mentioned in my previous blog posts) when you visit the Library.  Look for the bright yellow box.

Your Roving Reporter On The Go,

Cauli Le Chat

P.S.  One of our teen patrons, who was also a former library staffer, created this book trailer for The Phantom Tollbooth (1961), by Norton Juster (illustrated by Jules Feiffer).

Traveling Stateside? Ask Kit

Planning to travel somewhere in the United States?  Ask Kit.

Click Images to Bigify

Our travel kits (in big plastic bags) are available to check-out using your Evergreen Indiana library card.  They are located in the Media Alcove.  Just follow the footprints.

 Just look for the hanging plastic bags on the window sills in the Media Alcove.

Couldn't be simpler, I'd wager.  Even "Flat" Cauli V can find them.

Your Roving Reporter On The Go,

Cauli Le Chat

Spooky Reading Galore

Halloween will be arriving before we know it, and so my minions have assembled another topical book display with plenty of spooky reading.  Will you find something paranormally engaging in these books?  I'd say there's a ghost of a chance.

 Click Images to Bigify

There's plenty of spooky fiction, too, but this display focuses upon nonfiction.  For more paranormal reading and ghostly folklore, check the stacks at Dewey numbers 001, 133, and 398.  If you're looking for some spooky fiction, here's our horror and supernatural book trailer playlist:

MPL Horror & Supernatural Fiction

Book Trailer Playlist

We've moved our book display for Adopt-a-Shelter-Slobberdog Month (October) to the display case immediately behind the round display. It's well worth a peek.

Every Slobberdog Still Has His or Her Day

Ask my minions if you need help finding any materials.  Especially Scowl-Face.  He lives for this stuff.

Your Roving Reporter On The Go,

Cauli Le Chat

P.S.  Want to see our book trailer playlist for paranormal nonfiction?  Sure you do.

FOL's BBBS @ MPL

Today (Friday, October 11, 2013) and tomorrow (Saturday, October 12, 2013), the FOL (Friends of the Library) is having its big book bargain sale (that's what BBBS stands for in the title) at MPL. The sale lasts all day, which means 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Friday and 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Saturday.

Click Images to Bigify

 

Where should you bring your trailer, pickup truck, or shopping cart (you know you'll need to, since you'll want to purchase so many wonderful books)?  A sale this large needs a huge venue.  No problem.

MPL Bonita C. Marley Community Room

You thought I was kidding about the shopping cart (see photo above).

 Books Aplenty

Yep.  Pretty Much.

Packed to the Gills, I'd Venture

You've never seen bargain prices like these!  Well, maybe you have; how would I know, really?  The point is:  These books are cheap!  There's no downside to that.

Drop by and buy bags of books.  You know you want to.  There is no such thing as too many books.  Just saying.

Your Roving Reporter On The Go,

Cauli Le Chat

P.S.  "Bargain," by The Who, appeared on the LP Who's Next (1971). Great tune from the group's best album.  It's a song about finding spirituality by overcoming material aspects of existence.  Or maybe not.  I'm no philosopher.  Ask Pete Townshend.