This week at the library; or, New year, new challenges!

Plump New Year's Squirrel, one of my pack

Happening at the library

• Monday
• Closed for holiday
• Tuesday
• Closed for holiday
• Wednesday
• Worked 8:45-5
• Thursday
• Bookaneers
• Worked 10-6
• Friday
• Worked 10-6

My new associate started work on Wednesday, so we did a lot of training. Wednesday was our first official day of going fine-free on children's and teen items and of course things went wrong. I spent several hours working on end of year statistics and reports and consequently lost all my work. This has destroyed any desire I have to write up data posts this year, so you can all look at the data yourselves if you so desire.

• Program and attendance statistics
• Circulation statistics
• January-May program calendar
• Department goals for 2019
• 2018 End of year report

Edison Beaker, Creature Seeker: The Night Door by Frank Cammuso

Four years ago Edison's dad gave him a flashlight to scare away the monsters in the dark, went out to help a friend... and never came back. The story really begins when Edison and his annoying little sister Tess (Tesla) and Tess' hamster Scuttlebutt have to spend the night with their weird Uncle Earl, an exterminator. When Uncle Earl gets an emergency call, the two quickly discover that he isn't exterminating just bugs - and the creepy story he told them about the monsters on the other side of The Night Door is true! Edison finds himself traveling through the dark and dangerous Underwhere, battling monsters with his flashlight and trying to save his sister (and her hamster) as well as the whole world from being overrun with monsters! He makes an unexpected friend and gets hints of many secrets before the Night Door is closed... forever?

Cammuso's distinctive cartoons, with old-fashioned Disney-style characters that sport big noses, large eyes, and lumpy hair, will draw in readers who were fans of his previous series, Dodgeball Chronicles and Misadventures of Salem Hyde. Red-headed Edison and Tesla sport skinny, stick-like legs and arms and the monsters they face, ranging from one-eyed black globs to dragons and blobby, colored creatures will give readers a little thrill without being too frightening.

The book passes quickly over Edison's father's disappearance and although his journey into the mysterious blackness is scary, it's more "monsters under the bed" scary than "monsters potentially eating your guts" scary. There's plenty of humor with Scuttlebutt's antics and Tess's determination to do exactly what she pleases, and although the Night Door closes at the end of the first volume there are plenty of hints that it hasn't closed forever, from his monster friend Knox's past to the hint that his father may be trapped in the dark.

Verdict: Readers who like fantasy adventure but aren't ready for the more intense action and emotional punch of Amulet or Bone will happily settle down with Edison and his monstrous adventures. This new series is sure to grab your graphic novel fans, both young and old.

ISBN: 9780425291924; Published October 2, 2018 by Viking; Review copy provided by the publisher; Donated to the library

Tiger vs. Nightmare by Emily Tetri

Technically, this could be called a picture book, but the content and length feels more beginning chapter to me, and that kindergarten - 2nd grade audience can enjoy both simple chapters and picture books. So I'm calling it a beginning chapter and I'll put it in my juvenile fiction, when I purchase it.

Swashy blue watercolors show a family of humanoid tigers in a futuristic world with space ships parked outside the dome-shaped houses. The wider world is only briefly sketched in though, because the real focus is Tiger, the young daughter of two adult tigers. Her parents think she has an imaginary friend, but it's real - there's a monster under her bed! Monster isn't scary though; she's a small, blue, lizard-like creature. Tiger explains to her parents that Monster came to scare her but they became friends instead - and now Monster scares away the nightmares that come at night. But what happens when a really big, really scary nightmare comes? One too big for Monster to scare away on her own?

The dark blue washes over the pages, showing a terrifying creature with a crocodilian skull, skinny black antlers and claws, and a dark sweep of black trailing in its wake. Tiger and Monster at first cower together in fear, then try strategies, but only when Tiger faces her fears and protects her friend is she able to banish the nightmare in a burst of glorious light.

The art is dividing into loose panels and the book is longer than a picture book at 62 pages. I'd also be hesitant to hand it to a younger child, especially one struggling with nightmares because of how scary the nightmare is. But for a slightly older child, to read alone or with an adult, it's perfect. The warmth of the two friends, their struggle together to banish the nightmare, and Tiger's burst of bravery and courage, are very endearing.

Verdict: Hand this to young readers and listeners who need some encouragement to tackle their fears or just enjoy a good, heartwarming story.

ISBN: 9781626725355; Published November 2018 by First Second; Borrowed from another library in my consortium

Read, Read, Read, said the Baby: Wee Beasties: Huggy the python hugs too hard by Ame Dyckman, illustrated by Alex G. Griffiths

Huggy the python, a dapper green snake with top hat and blue scarf, loves to give hugs. But there's a little problem. As the title says, Huggy hugs too hard! Despite the narrator's reminders to be gentle, Huggy pops a balloon, splats his ice cream, and then he's going to hug a cute little dog... oh no. Luckily, before Huggy gets his coils on the puppy, readers have a chance to demonstrate a gentle hug with the cute puppy. With the demonstration in mind, Huggy manages a gentle hug and the puppy survives his love (not so a water bottle in his tail, but you can't have everything...)

Griffiths' wacky cartoons are a great match for Dyckman's humorous text. Some of the spreads include simple comic panels, with yellow backgrounds, while others show Huggy snaking his way across the white background, splattered in ice cream, gazing sadly at a popped balloon, and finally celebrating with party hat and confetti.

Verdict: This is a great choice to teach little ones how to use a gentle touch with animals, friends, babies, and other fragile items and will also give a laugh to parents who will pick up on the more subtle humor. Recommended.

ISBN: 9781534410800; Published May 2018 by Little Simon; Borrowed from another library in my consortium

The Epic Adventures of Huggie & Stick by Drew Daywalt, illustrated by David Spencer

My sense of humor is, I have been told, a little weird. Also, I dislike sentiment and infinitely prefer snark and sarcasm. Which explains why I have no strong feelings about Daywalt's bestselling The Day the Crayons Quit and all the love for his new book, featuring a goofily optimistic stick and a surly stuffed bunny.

Told in alternating sheets of torn notepaper, readers follow the exciting adventures of Huggie and Stick. Falling out of a little boy's backpack, they plummet to the ocean, to the delight of Stick and the disgust of Huggie. Their adventures follow this theme with Stick thrilled to test out their new friends' diving board and Huggie barely escaping pirates with his stuffing intact; Stick thrilled to visit a magical forest and get a kiss from a giant bear and Huggie rescuing Stick from being eaten by a panda against his better judgment; the penguins; the sharks; the bugs....

The illustrations are bold swathes of digital color, showing Huggie's disgruntled expression and rapid deterioration and Stick's delighted smile in the face of numerous calamities.

Verdict: This will make a hilarious, if somewhat lengthy, read-aloud. Buy it for reading with older kids and for your own enjoyment.

ISBN: 9780399172762; Published October 23 by Philomel; Review copy provided by publisher; Donated to the library

Baby animals moving; Baby animals playing by Suzi Eszterhas

These two titles are part of a series by wildlife photographer and author Suzi Eszterhas. I've really loved her books in the past and, although some are a little long for reading with younger children, they are great fun to look at and talk about.

Eszterhas knows just what interests children - cute animal babies! In Baby Animals Moving she explores how a wide variety of baby animals get around. A lion cub is carried in its mother's mouth, a warthog piglet trots through the grass, bear cubs piggyback on their mom in the water, and many other animals cavort through the pages. Some of the text is a little clumsy, "Orca calves are strong swimmers. They dive and flip as they move through the ocean with their family pod. Sometimes they swim for miles to find fish to eat. See you later, orcas!" but it's simple enough to explain to a young child and kids will enjoy mimicking the different animal movements.

Another title in this series, Baby animals playing, features a different set of cute baby animals frolicking; but it's not all fun and games, their play will prepare them for survival later in life. A bison calf butts heads to practice protective moves, jackal pups play with a ball of elephant poop to learn to work together, and many baby animals climb trees. The text in this title isn't quite as even - some explain how the baby animals' play will help them survive later, other pages just make generic comments, "Raccoon kits perch high in the treetops. It's a safe place to hang out while Mom looks for food below."

But the real focus of the books are the engaging photos of wildlife and different movements that kids can mimic as well as showing young children how they are similar and different to animals. Back matter includes a note from the author and some additional photographs and information about them.

Verdict: These are great introductions to animals for young children and I will happily add them to my animal section (and my storytimes) to spark interest in preschool and kindergarten-age listeners.

Baby Animals Moving; ISBN: 9781771472999; Published 2018 by Owl Kids; Borrowed from another library in my consortium

Baby Animals Playing; ISBN: 9781771472975; Published 2017 by Owl Kids; Borrowed from another library in my consortium

Holiday Edition: Once upon a snowstorm by Richard Johnson

This cozy story is a sweet read for to celebrate the new year. The wordless pages tell the story of a lonely boy and his father. Grieving the loss of the boy's mother and with no food to eat, the father takes his rifle and his son and sets out to hunt. The boy becomes lost in a white blizzard, where the snowflakes look like leaping stags and running foxes. Frightened and alone, he falls asleep in a sheltered part of the forest and awakens to find himself surrounded by the forest animals. They become friends, sharing what little they have together and celebrating until the boy misses his father. The kind bear takes him home and the boy tells his father of his adventure; the father puts away his gun and as spring slowly awakens the woods, the boy and his father become friends with the animals and their weight of grief and loneliness lifts.

The practical, unsentimental side of me would like to point out that if they don't hunt they're going to starve; that chipmunks and many of the animals portrayed actually hibernate (not to mention eat each other); and that there are a lot of odd inconsistencies in what historical time period is being portrayed. But this isn't a nonfiction nature story; it's a story about opening up to friendship and new life after grief and loss. The fanciful pictures light up the pages and this wordless story becomes a powerful metaphor for choosing friends and life.

Verdict: Not for every library and not necessarily a strong storytime choice, but a great book for a quiet family gathering with the right child to talk about new beginnings and new friends for a new year.

ISBN: 9780571339280; Published November 1, 2018 by Faber & Faber; Review copy provided by publisher; Donated to the library

This week at the library; or, Holiday edition

What's Happening at the Library

• Monday
• Closed for holiday
• Tuesday
• Closed for holiday
• Wednesday
• Worked 9-5:30
• Thursday
• Worked 9-5:30
• Friday
• Worked 10-5:30

No programs this week! Um, all three days of it. Yeah, I should maybe have given myself a longer break, although I didn't start ALL programs immediately in January. Anyways, the big projects this week were finishing one last grant and shifting/weeding/moving. On Wednesday I and my staff moved the movie shelves and I did a lot of serious weeding - I needed to bring all the juvenile video games back over, so I needed to free up six shelves! We left a lot of movies piled on top of the shelves, but finished on Thursday. At least, I finished weeding and shifting, with my staff's help. I still have a bunch of lists to look over and replacements to order in the new year and then my associate has to finish adjusting the labels but we can do that next year! In a week! Oh yeah, and somebody threw up on a chair. Whatever.

Friday was everything-i-didn't-finish-the-last-two-days-b/c-i-was-weeding-movies day. The grant turned out to be really easy! No narrative! Then I worked on the process of inputting all the programs and staff schedules to google calendar, cleaning off my desk, answering questions, etc. I didn't finish - I took home the schedule and my year-end report to work on, but oh well.

I'm excited to have a new staff member, but the schedule does not get easier! So, I have myself (full-time), two 20-hour associates, two teen shelver/aides (9 hours each and one has a flex schedule so is available during the school day), and an outside programmer from the school district. You can see my beautiful color-coded master calendar here. I've got the bulk of the programs January - May done, we might add a few more teen events (my teen associate is starting next week!).

The problem comes when I try to lay out the desk schedule. The main information desk is staffed primarily by the adult services department (full-time department head, two part-time associates with a total of around 42 hours I think?) and then the director, myself, and tech services fill in as needed. We can also call on our head of circulation in a pinch. So, I regularly work one evening, one Saturday a month, and I and my staff cover weird bits on Thursday. Thursday is weird.

Once I've got the programs, outreach, meetings, and information desk schedule down, including who's doing what program and helping with which programs (and made sure I haven't conflicted with class schedules or staff's other jobs and counted out all the hours) then I have to cover the youth services desk. What I've ended up with is one associate primarily covering mornings and early afternoons, three days a week, one associate doing the late afternoon/evening, three days a week, and then I cover two mornings and an afternoon. Except Thursday late afternoon - that's on its own.

All of which is to say, I finished two months of schedule around midnight last night and my staff still has to check my math!

The Phantom Tower by Keir Graff

Even though they're twins, Colm and Mal (sometimes their mom calls them "Malcolm" collectively), don't agree on much of anything. Mal likes things organized and planned; he's a realist who enjoys building house layouts in Minecraft. Colm is a dreamer, a rule-breaker, and sometimes a trouble-maker. But they both agree that they don't want to move from Texas to Chicago. Unfortunately, after their father's death two years ago they're still tiptoeing around their mom and Colm especially doesn't feel like he can complain or act out, especially after all the trouble he's gotten into recently. So, off to Chicago they go.

The boys are cautiously interested in the historic apartment building they move into, and they meet an interesting, if slightly mysterious, girl named Tamika. But the professor their mom is working for is weird and there's something... off about the building. As the secrets of the tower and it's phantom twin, trapped in time, begin to be revealed, the boys realize that this is more than a fun adventure; they're facing some serious dangers.

This is a mystery, an adventure, and a time-travel fantasy all in one, but it's tied together by an exploration of how people grieve and how it can be painful and difficult but is important to move on with your life after losing a loved one. There are some truly scary moments, but overall it's a fairly gentle fantasy with a whiff of Minecraft and "following the clues" mysteries.

Verdict: While not a must-purchase, this is a good backlist title for readers who like mysteries with a hint of magic and danger but are not fans of epic, Warriors-style fantasy.

ISBN: 9781524739522; Published August 2018 by Putnam; Review copy provided by publisher; Donated to the library

Read, Read, Read, said the Baby: Birds of a color and Contrary dogs by Elo

These two board books are created by French designer Elo (there should be an accent, but my computer doesn't want to add it in). Both include flaps.

Birds of a color displays a variety of fanciful birds in black and white patterns. Each has a flap to lift - a wing, ruff, beak, or other part to reveal a surprise color. The first spread, a long-necked black bird with white spots and a white wing, has the word "white" on the flap. Lift the wing flap and it is black underneath with "black" in white letters. All the other words (colors) are under flaps. A toucan-like bird has an orange beak, drop a black head flap and show a blue eye, lift a chicken's solid black wing and show a yellow wing and yellow chick, etc.

Contrary dogs has a similar design but illustrates opposites with an odd assortment of dog shapes. A squat, bright green dog with pink and black polka-dotted ears and legs sits against a chartreuse background with the word "short" on their squat body. Lift and spread the flap, which turns into a long tab, and see the word "long". A pear-shaped dog with a long pink snout, pink ears, and pink legs has a red-orange body with vertical black dashes and the word "fat". On the opposite page is a pink dog with green and black ears and legs, a strip of color labeled "thin." Lift the fat dog's belly to double it in size and see the words "very fat." A mint green dog with darker green ears sits against an orange background with peach dots. Punched out holes in the dog's body gives them "spots". Lift their body to show the other side, which is the same light peach as the spots with speckled charcoal ears and see the words "no spots".

Both books are very artistic and have fun design concepts, but they're definitely not sturdy. The flaps are light cardboard and lift in different directions, usually a precursor to ripping. While "artsy" the designs aren't really particularly good for babies or toddlers, besides the ripping factor they're such odd shapes that the kids aren't necessarily going to recognize them as birds or dogs, in my opinion. I prefer simple, clearer shapes or photographs for this age.

Verdict: When reviews include words like "chic" and "sophisticated" that's a sign to me that these are board books that aren't a good fit for my audience. They would make cute presents, but I wouldn't expect them to last long with an actual baby or toddler.

Birds of a color
ISBN: 9781536200638

Contrary dogs

ISBN: 9781536200621

Published May 2018 by Candlewick Studio; Borrowed from another library in my consortium