D’Aulaires’ Book of Greek Myths by Ingri and Edgar Parin d’Aulaires introduced me to Greek mythology. This oversized book was perfect for reading while lying on my stomach, sprawled on the floor. The detailed illustrations on every page, in expressive colored pencil and ink, captured my eyes and kept me flipping the pages, reading the [...]
In the library world, we call the art of giving book suggestions “Reader’s Advisory.” A major portion of my blog focuses on reader’s advisory: I will attempt to provide book suggestions for a wide variety of readers and recommend books that I personally have enjoyed. At its heart, reader’s advisory is a librarian’s attempt to [...]
Radical, avant garde, experimental, alternative, all words that conjure up images of edgy rebels, ahead of their time, and all words that could aptly describe the Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive’s latest offering “Radical Light: Alternative Film and Video in the San Francisco Bay Area, 1945-2000.” I am thrilled that Steve Seid, one [...]
A Hole Is to Dig: A First Book of First Definitions (1952) by Ruth Krauss, with illustrations by Maurice Sendak “Mashed potatoes are to give everybody enough”; “toes are to wiggle”; “a party is to make little children happy.” No dictionary ever had it so right. To read this slim little volume — “a first [...]
Librarians on Location is an innovative outreach program that the library is initiating as part of its centennial celebrations. As digital information becomes easier to access through library catalogs and databases, the “library” is no longer restricted to the confines of the library building. With a few wireless laptops and a few friendly librarians, we [...]
On the First Thursday of every month, the Mill Valley Public Library hosts a program just for high school students. Last month we had George Pegelos from the ACLU talking about youth rights and restorative justice, in December we had staff from The Beat Within talking about teaching Creative Writing Workshops to incarcerated youth and [...]
Ender’s Game by Orson Scott Card introduced me to a world of smart science fiction. When I read about Ender Wiggin, who as a child enters battle training to combat the alien Buggers, I loved how his intelligence and proficiency with video games helped him rise to the top of his class. He was clever [...]
The Dawn Patrol by Don Winslow While you may have heard about Don Winslow’s latest book, The Savages, I’d like to encourage you to seek out an earlier title of his called The Dawn Patrol. The inside flap of the dust jacket ends with “The Dawn Patrol is epic macking crunchy from start to finish”, [...]
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