Creepy roadrunners

Hey, here's some pretty innocent Halloween stuff from the ubiquitous world of nature.

http://www.youtube.com/user/TexasParksWildlife#p/c/0654E5BE43B17805/1/Ph3zIao8wrc

Roadrunners also beat their food to a pulp before they eat it.  Males often offer limp lizards to females as an enticement for hanging out together--for a long time:  roadrunners are monogamous.

Did you know that Griffin used to have a couple of resident roadrunners?  One of them tried to make a nest in the crepe myrtle tree outside of Lawrence's room and then came in through the open window.  Lawrence had to shush it out.  Can't you just see it?   Especially today when Lawrence is dressed up like the queen in Disney's Sleeping Beauty?

Halloween at Griffin is absolutely the best. 

Some of my favorite books were "discovered" again.  This week its was The Wall by Peter Sis (Call number NC975.5 .S57 A2 2007) and Kabuki Today photographed by Shunji Okhura.  This second book is a rare one, beautifully packaged.  (Call number PN 2924.5 .K3 1989).

I'm running out of time, so quickly, here are a few good spooky books in our collection for Halloween:

Ghosts (BF 1461 .G48 1984)

Wizards and witches  by Brendan Lehane (GR 135 .L4 1984)

Into the Unknown (BF 1411 .I55 1981)

Witches by Erica Jong (!) (BF 1566 .J66 1982)

Oh yeah.  That turtle I found behind the school a couple of weeks ago was an Ornate Box Turtle. I knew it was a male because it had glowing, red eyes.  For real.

Bookishly yours (and shamefully un-costumed),

Ingrid

Stuff and Ill Nature (Book of the Week)

Woo hoo!

SOMEBODY found one of the few gems of absurdity that I've snuck into Griffin's Room of Words.  That would be Young Samurai: Bodybuilders of Japan, photographs by Tamotsu Yato. It could just be me, but I think it's hysterical. (Yeah, I know I have a very weird sense of humor.)
Call number TR675 .Y3213 1974

Somebody also found one of the classics that is being added to the Room of Words, which is Stone Soup by Marcia Brown.  This was one of the omnipresent books of MY childhood (I think they used to read it on "Captain Kangaroo")  Call number PZ7 .B8162 St 1947

Also going out on the shelves is another one by Maurice Sendak:  Chicken Soup With Rice.  Call number PZ7 .S47 Ch 1962.

Have you seen "The Story of Stuff?"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gLBE5QAYXp8

I had to watch it this week in my Environmental Science class at St. Ed's.

It's a good tie-in for pointing out one of my personal favorite books (I like it so much that I bought a copy for Griffin's Room of Words (i.e. the Library):

Ill Nature:  Rants and Reflections on Humans and Other Animals by Joyce Williams.  (Yes, those are dead fish on the cover, and I'm sure Williams thinks they are  totally appropriate)

The book is sharp, sarcastic and uncompromising.




Let others tell you about it:
"A mocking, sarcastic tone pervades "Ill Nature." It will turn some readers off. But mockery and irony are key to Williams' message. These essays are brave, uncompromising and angry takes on contemporary American culture. She skewers hunters, developers, fishers, consumerists, tourists, yuppies, omnivores, animal researchers — in short, just about everyone who lives in America, including the Makah Indian Tribe, which won the legal right to kill whales off the coast of Washington.

Williams is talking directly to you, and she's holding you responsible for the slow, steady destruction of Earth. Through our consumerist economy, Williams is saying, we have lost our connection with nature, and the further we move away from this connection, the more shallow we become as a society, and the more superficial we become the more ruinous we are.

Not all of the essays in "Ill Nature" are eco-rants, though. One of the best pieces, "Sharks and Suicides," concerns the life and death of Wendy O. Williams, lead singer of the punk-metal band the Plasmatics. The final essay, "Why I Write," is a quaint, lyrical reflection on the writing life."
— Ben Welch (bwelch@english.umass.edu)

Find it at call number GF75 .W56 1971

It's a good day for being out in the world.

Bookishly yours,

Ingrid

Who wants to be a book reviewer?

October 19, 2009

Ever read a book that you absolutely loved and wanted everyone to know about it?  How about a book that was so stupid that you wonder why the author even bothered to write it?  A book with really great pictures/art?  Something that was so weird that took a while to wrap your mind around but then you really got into it?  Oh yeah, videos count too.

You get the picture.  Feel like sharing?

I'm looking for Griffin book reviewers.  Nothing complicated--even one-sentence reviews would be fine.  I'd prefer student reviewers, but teachers, parents and friends are OK too.  I'd also prefer that the book/video come from the Griffin School Library (and returned so that others can read it too!). 
Reviews will be posted on Griffin's Room of Words. 

I can't wait to see what you come up with...

And hey, it's a beautiful day--so go outside and read!

Bookishly yours,

Ingrid

Book of the Week

October 16, 2009

Everybody knows that Where the Wild Things Are, based on Maurice Sendak's classic book, is in the theaters and creating a lot of buzz.

You've probably know the book too, considering you're one of the "wild things" that calls the Griffin School your learning institution of choice. Come to think of it...who at Griffin would be a good Max? What about the"wild thing" with two horns? With three horns? The rooster? The "girl?"

Maurice Sendak is a pretty interesting and complicated fellow and he's created many more fascinating artistic works in his lifetime. In the Night Kitchen has often been censored for it's depiction of a naked boy. Sendak rarely has failed to evoke powerful reponse through his art.

The Griffin School Library has a great collection of Sendak's art in The Art of Maurice Sendak by Selma G. Lanes. You can find it on the shelf at call number
NC
975.5
.S44
L36.

Oh yes, I've renamed the blog.
Let me know what you think and thank you for all of your great suggestions.

Bookishly yours,

Ingrid

Book of the Week

So one thing I'm going to try to do is select a book of the week from the Griffin School Library stacks.

This week's pick is :

The Skeleton at the Feast: The Day of the Dead in Mexico by Elizabeth Carmichael and Chloë Sayer

Great reviews at Amazon.

Here's what University Press Book News says:
( June 01, 1992 )
"Lavishly illustrated with color and b&w photographs of scenes and artifacts, explores both the current and historical celebration of the Day of the Dead in Mexico and the US. Much attention is paid to the artisans who make pieces for the festival. Includes a glossary without pronunciations. ".

Perfect for getting into the Halloween spirit. Find it on the shelf at call number
GT
4995
.A4
C37
1991

Bookishly yours,

Ingrid

I need a better name

Hello hearty Griffin School community members.

I've been thinking. Since I sit here in my assigned corner of the Griffin School Library so infrequently* (and most of the time that I'm here you are in class) and our communication is fleeting at best, I should embrace the "Library 2.0" and "Web 2.0" concepts that are being bandied about so casually these days.

What I mean is: I'm starting a Griffin School Library blog so that I can tell you all of the exciting things that I encounter while I'm here like cool, new books, ways to use the databases, support materials for your classes, and the few gems of absurdity that I sneak in and hope that you'll find serendipitously.

So the first order of the day is: I need a better name for this blog so give me some suggestions. (PLEASE--nothing like "Off the Shelf" or "In the Stacks.") What does the Griffin Library connote to you? What exemplifies the spirit of the school and this cool space within it?

I await your suggestions with bated breath.

Bookishly,

Ingrid

*I'm in the library Monday and Friday, 9 to 11 am.