A Trip To Toberville

"Flat" Cauli V is currently guarding my Indiana Roving Reporter Room in the secluded sleeping spot.  But she is planning a big adventure trip, and this will be quite exciting, let moi assure you.

"Flat" Cauli V wants to travel through the U.S. Mail, like "Flat" Stanley.  She knows exactly where she wants to go. She wants to visit Tober, Boss Cat at Thorntown (Indiana) Public Library (TPL).  I'm trying to convince Five (as I'll call "Flat" Cauli V from now on, to avoid redundancy) that she should travel to Thorntown in an E.I. transit bag.  TPL, like MPL, is an Evergreen Indiana (E.I.) library.  Since my Library has to return materials checked out from TPL and checked-in by us here, that would be the perfect travel arrangement for Five.  E.I. transit is "free," meaning it's already included in operating costs for the consortium.  Free is good, after all.

Tober the Thorntown Public Library Cat

(Photo From Tober's Blog--Thanks For Letting Us Borrow It!)

Visiting Tober is like going to a rock star's house to party.  Tober is a bona fide world-famous feline, and it would be quite the social event for moi to have Five drop by Tober's cool library pad.

But it's not as simple as just dropping Five into a bag and sending her off with the other E.I. materials bound for Thorntown.  We have to write letters of introduction for Five, which I'll assign to my minions.  Then we need to meet with our E.I. Transit Team, which arranges for everything to get back to home libraries safely and soundly.  But these are all just details, and my minions are good at detailing.

Five is bound for quite an adventure, to be sure.  Tober keeps things ship-shape up there in Thorntown, so we know a great time will be had by all.



Wishing I Could Go, But I Must Stay Here, Doing the Roving Reporter Thing,

Cauli Le Chat
MPL Roving Reporter
"Flat" Cauli Travel News Beat

P.S.  Tober is a stern, but fair, taskmaster at TPL, but he has his cute side, as we cats all do.  Watch Tober's video.  This is massive cuteness.  Resident kitties make libraries much more fun.  Just saying, Boss Lady.

Friday Features is Funny Today

The MPL YouTube Channel has a bunch of playlists topically divided to showcase fiction and nonfiction books for various ages and exploring a wide range of subjects.  But are any of them funny?  (I mean, ha-ha funny, not "tetched in the haid" funny.)  Try this on for size.

Humor (MPL Book Trailers) Playlist

Find out what that guy (in the video window above) is yelling about. You'll discover a clever, humorous book waiting for your perusal.  Trust moi on this.  I know funny when I see it.  (Just look at Scowl-Face and try not to LOL.)

Click the play button above (conveniently inside the guy's mouth--ugh!) to begin playing the book trailers in this playlist.  If you run it from start to finish, it will sequentially play the entire compilation of 21 videos, so you may want to choose individual titles by visiting the playlist page directly. It's your call.

The Library has made every effort to diversify its book trailers, program (or promo) trailers, music videos, and other such like to provide a broad educational and entertainment experience.  Have we succeeded?  Well, we're trying, that's the main thing.

We hope you find a book that tickles your funny bone.  Or funnies your tickle bone.  I get these cliches all mixed up.

Cats Even Laugh Sometimes, But Mostly We Smile Knowingly,

Cauli Le Chat

MPL Roving Reporter

YouTube Playlists News Beat

P.S.  Mike Nelson is probably most famous as having been the head writer (and, later, the experiment victim trapped in space) in the television program Mystery Science Theater 3000 (1988-1999). We featured Nelson's novel, Death Rat!, in our humor book trailer playlist.  Here is the closing sketch to the MST3K episode that lampooned the awful movie Manos: The Hands of Fate (1966), which fans of the series voted as THE worst movie ever shown on MST3K.  The Torgo character (from the movie) is played perfectly by Mike Nelson, while the "mad scientists," played by Frank Conniff and Trace Beaulieu, discover Torgo's unfortunate secret to keeping the pizza warm.  Watch the episode to fully appreciate the comic genius here.  My Library has a DVD copy of the Rifftrax Live version in its media collection, available through the Evergreen Indiana online catalog to E.I. library cardholders.

You're Welcome

Scowl-Face has written another of his blog installments about the Library's century of public service.  If you're into that sort of thing, click here.  If not, click here.  See--there's no escaping Scowl-Face's dronings.

Seriously, it's worth a quick glance.  The Library's history is quite interesting.  How many of us have been around for a whole century?

Not Moi, At Least in This of My Nine Lives,

Cauli Le Chat
MPL Roving Reporter
Library History News Beat

P.S.  "Welcome Back" (1976) was a solo hit single for John Sebastian.  It was the theme song to the television series, Welcome Back, Kotter (1975-1979).

Savvy's New Teen Blog

Savvy has created a new teen blog at MPL!

Click Image to Bigify

Savvy Book Reviews speaks directly to our teen patrons.  If you know any teens, or if you were ever one yourself, you know that this crowd can be tough critics when it comes to literature.  Today's teens are busier than ever, and so young adult books must grab--and hold--their attention within the first 10 to 20 pages or so.  The YA crowd can't afford to waste any time, so they need a reviewer whose opinions they can trust.

That's where Savvy delivers the goods.  As the MPL Teen Librarian, Savvy knows about all varieties of reading materials, and you can take her "two cents" to the bank.  If she thinks you might enjoy reading the books she's reviewing, then she will state plainly why, and you will be able to decide for yourself, based upon her discussion, whether or not the book's worth your bother.  Not that Savvy is telling you what to read.  Far from it!  She wants to inform readers so that they may make their own educated choices.

So all you teens out there!  Chickteens, this means you, too!  Scamper over to Savvy's new blog and get an inside track on your reading list. Summer is fast approaching, and there are so many books, but so little time.

Hey, Savvy:  Blog suggestion.  Book trailers.  Just saying.

Now Scowl-Face Will Have to Change That Blog Flyer He Just Made Today,

Cauli Le Chat

MPL Roving Reporter

Library Blogs News Beat

P.S.  Savvy does book trailers, too.  We blogged about it awhile back. Here's one of her book trailers for the feline classic, Whiskers & Rhymes, by Arnold Lobel.

What Wonders Spring Forth Around Our Library!

by Cauli Le Poussin

MPL Special Correspondent

Nature News Beat

Boss Lady took a few photos with the new digital camera yesterday showcasing the Library's exterior.  Aren't the trees and flowers magnificent?  Something to chirp about, I'd say.

MPL Kinder Garden

MPL Front Entrance

MPL Courtyard

Click Images to Bigify

Where's William Wordsworth When You Need Him? 

Cherry, Weep For Moi 

Somehow, that lyric sounded better when Chad & Jeremy sang about willows ["Willow, Weep For Me" (1964)].

 Zebra Stampeding in the Library Parking Lot!

Oh, wait.  That's just Boss Lady in her zebra dress.

I've found several roosting places among the bushes around the Library's Pathway to Knowledge. Cauli Le Chat said not to roost in the Kinder Garden, however. That's her turf. 'Nuff said!

Love Those Pretty Smelling Flowers,

Cauli Le Poussin
MPL Special Correspondent
Nature News Beat

P.S.  Any posting about the beauty of Spring calls for "Morning Has Broken," by Cat Stevens, which was originally included on the LP Teaser and the Firecat (1972).  The song was first published in 1931.  The lyrics were composed by Eleanor Farjeon as a Christian hymn, and the music had been previously used in a traditional Gaelic tune, "Bunessan," which was also used for the 19th century Christmas carol, "Child in the Manger."  (I thought Cauli Le Chat had used Cat Stevens' version as a musical closer in a prior blog post, but it may have been Scowl-Face.  It's a different video, however.)