Still Timely After 41 Years

How many grown-ups out there have read The Lorax, by Dr. Seuss? If you raised your hand, then that's fine, and you deserve a special treat. If you didn't--Well, c'mon!  You've had 41 years since this children's environmental classic was first published.  Everybody should read this book.  It is more timely today even than it was nearly a half-century ago.

Seeing the new movie isn't the same as reading the book.  Check it out if you have an Evergreen Indiana library card.  If not, then visit your favorite library and use whatever library card you have (or get one) that allows you to check out items there.  You could also buy your own personal copy, if you're so inclined.  But you should read it, then read it to your (grand)children (or have them read it themselves), and share it with other friends and relations.

The Lorax (1971) is as important an environmental awareness book as Rachel Carson's Silent Spring (1962), which is also available in our E.I. online catalog.  Even now, after over half a century, their warnings remain unheeded by too many.

Two words, everyone.  Unless Stone.  'Nuff said.

See the Movie, Too, If You Want,

Cauli Le Chat

MPL Roving Reporter

Young Readers' Advisory News Beat

P.S.  "Big Yellow Taxi," by Joni Mitchell, must be the premiere folk-rock environmental ballad of the 1970s (perhaps of the 20th century).  The song was originally released in 1970, and a live version was re-released in 1975.  If your band hasn't covered it yet, Google the lyrics and snap to it.  A great song deserves to be played often.

Nature Has Her Say

We felines perceive reality differently than humans.  We see, hear, and smell better than people, and our senses of taste and touch are probably as good, if not better.  But our perceptive powers go beyond mere sensory capabilities.  Cats have extrasensory capacities as well, which are well documented in the books of biologist Rupert Sheldrake.  I've blogged about Sheldrake's works before, so we needn't rehash here.  Suffice to say that you should not automatically discount others' extrasensory experiences simply because you cannot discern what is, to you, invisible but nonetheless existent.

Conversely, one shouldn't uncritically accept allegations that someone's awareness detects what others cannot see, hear, smell, or feel. Hallucinations occur with a variety of medical or psychological ailments. If somebody suggests that s/he, for instance, can sense elemental beings and nature spirits, we should maintain an open mind, but we must also use our critical thinking to analyze and scrutinize whatever evidence is presented before drawing any conclusions.

Cheri Barstow claims to perceive entities from the natural world.  These are the nature spirits, devas, elementals, and other beings that populate folklore from around the world.  In her book, Elementally Speaking: The Nature Spirits' Guide to Their World (Trafford Publ., 2006), the author listens to what these alleged living energies have to say.  Our book trailer sums up.

Is Barstow crazy?  Is she actually aware of beings that are invisible to most humans?  If so, is she transcribing accurately what they are communicating?  You'll need to decide for yourselves about all that.

Scowl-Face has an interesting trick he employs when reading "far out" nonfiction.  If, after delving about a third of the way into such books, he decides that he cannot accept the reality of what's being presented, he mentally transfers the writing from nonfiction to fiction.  That way, he can continue reading and enjoying the book as an exercise in creative imagination.  Some nonfiction reads better as a novel.

The world of nature spirits and elementals is no stranger to our book trailers, as you can see below.  We've covered this topic before.

MPL Book Trailer #94

Nature Spirits & Elemental Beings: Working with the Intelligence in Nature, by Marko Pogačnik (Findhorn Press, 2nd rev. ed., 2010) (ISBN 9781844091751). 

Whether or not you believe what these authors are saying, their works are interesting.  They're seeing the world differently, and that, if nothing else, can be entertaining.  At best, it may also be enlightening.

Finely Tuned With Nature, Moiself,

Cauli Le Chat

MPL Roving Reporter

Readers' Advisory News Beat

P.S.  "Mother Nature's Son," by the Beatles, appeared on the group's self-titled album, which is more commonly known as the "White Album" (1968).  Paul McCartney wrote this tune when he was practicing transcendental meditation during the group's India retreat.  TM is a cool way to feel connected with the world around you.

Friday Features Welcomes the Man in the Moon

Friday Features welcomes the Man in the Moon to the top ten videos currently being viewed on the MPL YouTube Channel.

Click to Bigify

The Man in the Moon, by William Joyce

(MPL Book Trailer #128)

Besides our book trailer for the children's classic, The Man in the Moon, another newcomer to the top ten list is something to croak about.

Fun Facts About Frogs!, by Carmen Bredeson

(MPL Book Trailer #130)

Ordinarily, I think of hopping dinners as, well, quite bluntly, meals, but this nonfiction book will definitely get the jump on anyone interested in early literacy.

As Always, Thanks For Watching Our Videos,

Cauli Le Chat

MPL Roving Reporter

Library Video Viewership News Beat

P.S.  To Our Children's Children's Children (1969), by the Moody Blues, was a tribute album to humans first landing on the moon that year.  In "Floating," Ray Thomas imagined what it might have been like to have been there with the Apollo XI astronauts.  What if traveling to the moon were as easy as taking a family holiday to any terrestrial vacation spot?  As the song suggests, your inner child would have liked it.

Sammy's Big Letter Day

It's Sammy the Toucan's big letter day!  Wild Thang (Miss Jaymi) and Sammy covered the letter S s in their early literacy video this week.

If you're interested in developing young readers, be sure to visit Wild Thang and Sammy's blog, Explore to Learn:  Early Literacy Fun.  The letter S s blog should be posted sometime today, if not sooner.  (UPDATE:  Okay, Monday, March 5, at the latest.)

One of these days, I'll get to introduce Wild Thang and Sammy's blog, as well as The Miss Jaymi Channel, as their "award-winning" blog and videos.  Time will bear moi out on this.  Remember--you heard it here first.

Are There YouTube Video Awards?  Just Asking,

Cauli Le Chat

MPL Roving Reporter

Early Literacy News Beat

P.S.  How's this for a great musical closer?  "The Itsy Bitsy Spider," as visually interpreted by our own Wild Thang!  Just plain fantastic, I'd say.

We Have Wienerdogs!

We have wiener slobberdogs (or, simply, wienerdogs) at my Library. Well, faux dachshunds, at any rate, thanks to Judy T.

 Wienerdogs Using the OPAC

to Search For Slobberdog Books

 "Where Are the EASY Reader Shelves?"

 Really Getting Into This Book, They Are

Hey, Wienerdogs!  The Title Says It All

How realistic are these faux wienerdogs?  Pretty much.  This breed of slobberdogs is looooooong.

Dachshund

Pretty Spiffy in That Sweater, I Must Say

We've Seen This Guy Before

(Click Here to Reprise That Blog Posting)

I suppose it's okay that our faux wiener slobberdogs are permitted to stay inside my Library, even though I am not allowed to remain inside all the time (and never where allergic patrons are).  I'm a freedom feline and tough to boot.  Cold winds don't faze moi.

What other "decorations" are there in MPL Youth Services?  Well, there are loads of faux animals.  But there's also a nice book display for March (as always, click the photo to bigify):

Have you seen any of the Library's book trailers or other videos in which we use 2006 photos of the Library?  In particular, there were some pictures of the Youth Services information desk (at which sat Cataloger Queen, whose Russian name I gave her has slipped my mind entirely, and whose old "Cauli name" from a year ago has likewise escaped my consciousness).  "Which videos?" you say.  (Go ahead.  Say it.  I can wait.) No sooner said than done.  Here's one with that six-year-old YS photo in the credits.  (But please watch the entire book trailer.  It's one of my favorites.)

The Quest For Fire, by J. H. Rosny

(MPL Book Trailer #86)

We have used the 2006 photos in our videos because the Library addition had just opened then, and everything looked so neat.  Well, Youth Services has expanded its artsy decorations during the past six years. Make with modern photos, minions!  These were taken yesterday.  If you click to bigify the pictures, you might just see Cataloger Queen.  She is, naturally, cataloging.  She was in the 2006 photos, too.  But not the same items, of course.  Cataloging is a complex process, but it doesn't take six years to catalog something.  It only feels that way sometimes.

I see that the Shining Knight has his (or her?  Can't tell from outside the armor) scarf, thanks to Broadway Gal or the Decorinator, I'm guessing. He (or she) protects the chicksoons, as you may recall.

Well, anyway, let's get back to the wienerdogs.  They're welcome to hang out anywhere they like in the Library, provided they stay away from my special places.  If they've read my blog, and it is unimaginable that they wouldn't have, then they should know where these spots are situated. Reminders?  I can do that.  And that, too.

Don't Trip Over Our Faux Wienerdogs,

Cauli Le Chat
MPL Roving Reporter
Library Critters News Beat

P.S.  This dachshund sings a sad Russian song (2007).  (Well, I'm guessing the guy's speaking Russian at the end, but I couldn't hear it very well.) With guitar playing that bad, I'd wail out a tune, too.