Monday, April 28, 2025

Picture Book Neighborhoods: General Animals, Fiction and Nonfiction


  I'm continuing my posts on the picture book neighborhoods, section by section. After the favorites and classics, next up is the Animals. I love nonfiction, especially science and animals, and this is a favorite section of mine. However, I will note that, especially in the picture books, Dewey numbers do NOT denote strict nonfiction vs. fiction - they are categories. There are plenty of items in the "nonfiction" Dewey numbers that are informational or that I just wanted in that section for ease of use.
  The first part of the section includes general nonfiction and fiction about animals. There are two Dewey numbers - 590 for general animals and 591 for eggs/animal babies. I've tried to make the animal fiction in this section primarily realistic, not anthropomorphic animals, although some of them do talk. I've also found that general animal books that might otherwise go in the juvenile nonfiction do better in this area. There are a couple major authors and then some specific titles I'd like to highlight.
  Some especially prolific authors have had titles weeded and not replaced and some, like Nicola Davies, had or have very popular titles that are sadly out of print. There are currently ~150 titles in this section.

Nonfiction Authors
Fiction Authors
Highlighted titles, fiction and nonfiction
Other titles in this neighborhood I have reviewed in the past
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Sunday, April 27, 2025

This week at the library

My hyacinths are doing well this year.
Do not talk to me about tulips. Or squirrels.

Programs
  • Family storytime
  • Homeschool Hangout - safety presentation
  • Teen Advisory Board
  • Family storytime
  • Teen engagement
Outreach
  • 1st grade Library on the Go storytimes (3 sessions)
Self-Directed Activities
  • Read and Grow
  • Reading scavenger hunt
  • Pokemon Hangout
Meetings, Hosted events, etc.
  • YS planning meeting
  • Managers meeting
Notes
  • What even is time? People were sick, plans were made, outreach was cancelled, field trips were scheduled.
  • When I sent out field trip scheduling invites to one school I phrased it so badly that they thought I was telling them there were no field trips this year. Thankfully, one of my staff checked in with them and I still have time to schedule them. I need more sleep.
  • I finished a bunch of small collection updates - juvenile magazines, Spanish, Parenting, etc. I'm still working on some other sections and getting shelves labeled and a concrete plan made for our upcoming renovations (my small part I mean, not all of it thank wombats).
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Sunday, April 20, 2025

This week at the library

Scilla hiding under a pot,
surrounded by even
more evil invasives
(ground elder)
Programs
  • Paws to Read
  • Family Storytime
  • 4K annual event: Incredible insects
  • Family Storytime
  • Teen Engagement
Self-Directed Activities
  • Read and Grow
  • Book-themed scavenger hunt
  • Construction Hangout
Meetings, Hosted events, etc.
  • 4-H meeting
  • Girl Scouts
Notes
  • Our grant process is involving a lot more work than any of us had expected! So many potential changes under discussion, lots and lots of measuring, etc. We hope to have a finished plan for the public in the near future though. I'm also deep in summer planning; we don't do a lot of programs and we're certainly not doing a lot this summer, but I have a ton of small updates for our summer reading itself, school field trips to coordinate, and our very complicated desk schedule. I'm also working on a bunch of collection projects. I took Thursday "off" and we were closed Friday.
  • I have not stopped blogging! I am still working on my category by category overview of the picture book neighborhoods. However, I want to link to all my past reviews and I am updating, reformatting, and transferring them to Flying Off My Bookshelf. I also have a big stack of review copies ready for reviews but, as above, I am incredibly busy. Hopefully once we get into summer things will slow down a little, but it is more likely that I won't really get a break to catch my breath until next year.
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Sunday, April 13, 2025

This week at the library

Chevy had a motor
that just didn't stop!
Programs
  • Paws to Read
  • Family Storytime (2 sessions with my associate. Bat theme)
  • Sewing workshop - no attendees
Outreach
  • 3K-4K outreach storytimes (5-6 sessions)
Self-Directed Activities
  • Read and Grow
  • Book-themed scavenger hunt to coincide with National Library Week
  • Pokemon Hangout
  • Homeschool Hangout
Meetings, Hosted events, etc.
  • Youth department summer reading meeting
  • Managers' meeting
  • Staff meeting aka measuring party
Notes
  • Measure, measure, measure. It was not what I would call a party, as it involved a lot of staring at diagrams, measurements, blueprints, and numbers and constantly going back and forth and measuring things. Far too much like geometry. However, I don't particularly like parties and I have had much more miserable social experiences, so there's that. It's quite a process but we hope there will be a final plan we can make public in the near future.
  • I am in full swing of planning/scheduling summer so I was not really very upset that the folks who registered for sewing didn't manage to make it. My associate covered storytimes and did a marathon of outreach storytimes - our regular storytime provider, a colleague from the school, is involved in a new testing (Act 20 for those of you in WI) and getting ready for the big annual 4K party next week.
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Sunday, April 6, 2025

This week at the library

Programs
  • Itty Bitty Bopping Bakers
  • Teen Homeschool Hangout (no show)
  • Paws to Read
  • Family Storytime
  • Teen Engagement
  • Youth D&D
  • Family Storytime
Outreach
  • Elementary classes at Lakeland School
Self-Directed Activities
  • Open Storyroom
Notes
  • I was supposed to do an outreach visit on Tuesday, but I just couldn't fit it in and I needed to cover the desk instead so I had to cancel it. I took Thursday and Friday off, but came in for a meeting with our design firm for the grant committee. It was a weird week because everyone was kind of in recovery mode from spring break, we had an election on Tuesday (our local school referendum did not pass, so there will probably be a lot of changes ahead in our partnership with the school district), and I got started on summer reading projects while my staff continued shifting. With Monday being the 31st that seems to have thrown everyone off, not just us, as people showed up for meetings that are usually on the first Monday, or didn't show up, etc. It was the quietest Monday night I can remember in a long time!
  • Exciting things I did on my long weekend - purchased a load of dirt, arranged all the garden pots, distributed the dirt (with help from my upstairs neighbor), cleaned things, thought about cleaning things, caught up on some reading, sorted out some boxes of miscellaneous junk, put off doing laundry.
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Friday, April 4, 2025

This month in the collection: March 2025


I was still purchasing replacements and updates for the picture book neighborhoods this month, but I also jumped over into a new project in high gear; weeding our young adult fiction and creating a new middle school/young teen collection. A lot of materials purchased this month were still replacements and that will continue into April. We also had staff out and various things going on, so it was a small month as far as adding materials to the collection.

Library Pinterest - new materials
Purchased or added to the library collection, unless otherwise noted.
**not yet purchased, but it's on a list!

Board Books
  • Yeah, Baby!
  • Firefighter Flo by Andrea Zimmerman (board book edition)
Picture Books
Early Readers and Transitional Chapters
Beginning Chapter Books
  • Emerald Egg (A to Z animal mysteries)
  • Penny and the tragic voyage (Girls Survive)
    • Just started moving this series to JBC.
  • Bigfoot by Dinah Williams (Unsolved Mysteries - new series)
  • Adrift on the Indian Ocean (Wilderness Survival - new series from Capstone)
Other
  • Sunrise on the Reaping by Suzanne Collins
    • The first "new" book in our new young teen/middle school section!
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Sunday, March 30, 2025

This week at the library: Spring Break nearly broke us, but we remain standing!

Visiting snakes,
Curious George and Noodle
Programs
  • Family Storytime with snakes (Tues & Thurs)
Self-Directed Activities
  • Open Storyroom
  • Construction Hangout
  • Homeschool Hangout
  • Daycare field trip
  • Craft-o-rama
  • Insect scavenger hunt
  • Read and Grow
  • Reading Explorer
Meetings, Hosted events, etc.
  • Friends Book & Bake Sale
Notes
  • In short, our already skeletal staff lost some bones this week. I got to do payroll for the first time, which was very exciting. I must have done it right because we all got paid lol. There was weirdness, which usually happens when our director is gone. I went all out and finished weeding the young adult area and my staff put in heroic effort and did all the shifting. I even managed to get it down to only THREE carts of books behind my desk, only one borrowed! There are still empty shelves in weird areas, and the youth area generally looks like a hurricane came through, but it will all settle down eventually!
  • What really saved us this week, at least in my department, was that my school colleague was gone last week and so offered to come in for storytime this week! She even sourced some special guests (a teacher with snakes to share) and a great time was had by all 100+ people who crammed into our storyroom. This enabled my staff to jump over and cover gaps in the desk, plus people from other departments who stepped in.
  • Oh, and what weirdness you ask? Well, I was at the library at 7:45am for Reasons on Tuesday and shortly before we opened the cook from the community org that uses our kitchen (they work with adults with disabilities) three times a week came in and said she was sorry to add to our load but... me "WHAT NOW?" and she says "I was in the kitchen and I heard a thump and, well, the clock fell off the wall." This is not a small clock. It is, (or was) almost 3ft in diameter and hangs on the wall in our Community Center. It turns out to have been an interesting mix of cheap and quality, i.e. the frame was all plastic (which broke, ripped, and snapped off) but the face was, you guessed it, glass! Which shattered. All over the floor. I hauled away the broken clock, the cook very kindly helped pick up all the large pieces of glass, then we swept the floor. There was nobody in the room that day besides Tax Aide, and I did warn them not to crawl around on the floor and it got vacuumed that night. I assume. Now that I retell the story, I had maybe better check the floor again, although I'm pretty sure anything still there is completely engrained. However, we do have small children in there this coming Monday... oh well.
  • The week ended with the HVAC going out again, but thankfully the company came, flipped a switch, and it cooled off almost immediately. Hopefully it's still working next Monday...
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Sunday, March 23, 2025

This week at the library; In which we have actual programs

A seagull hovering in the
wind over the lake
Programs
Self-Directed Activities
  • Pokemon Hangout
Meetings, Hosted events, etc.
  • Girl Scouts
Notes
  • I hardly ever do traditional "programs" anymore, not counting family storytimes, which are usually done by my school colleague or subbed for by one of my staff. We just can't get the attendance to make the time spent worth it. However, I did the Very Hungry Caterpillar Party last year, in lieu of storytime, and it worked out even better this year as my school colleague was absent, so we did this on Tuesday and my staff subbed in an actual Very Hungry Caterpillar storytime on Thursday. We actually got over 70 people, despite Unauthorized Shenanigans that required police attention.
  • I took Friday off in mental preparation of a pretty intense Spring Break (our already skeletal staff is greatly depleted - we are very grateful that our school colleague was able to come in and cover storytimes after all so my staff and I can cover desk shifts and help out in circulation). I also spent a large portion of the weekend making candy for our last Friends book 'n' bake sale next week.
  • I started my big slash and burn weeding project of the young adult fiction last week and I'm also slowly getting together a mental picture of what a young teen/middle school collection will look like as new items and replacements come in. It will be very patchy at first, as I'm not going to relabel a lot of things.
  • A lot of collections are in transition right now, which is confusing for staff and patrons, but I can't magically relabel and shift everything all at once!
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Sunday, March 16, 2025

This week at the library; A week of meetings

Teen volunteer hanging
out with our Paws to Read
visitor.
Programs
  • Paws to Read
  • Family Storytime (our school colleague was out sick, staff subbed)
  • Teen engagement: journal-making
  • Family Storytime
  • Teen Advisory Board
Outreach
  • Daycare/preschool/4K outreach storytimes
  • 1st grade Library on the Go outreach
Self-Directed Activities
  • Read and Grow
  • Reading Explorer
  • Scavenger Hunt: Bugs
  • Construction Hangout
  • Homeschool Hangout
Meetings, Hosted events, etc.
  • 4-H meeting
  • Virtual consortium meet-up
  • Collection/shelving measurement meeting
  • youth services department meeting (except two people were gone, so really it was just lunch)
  • 2 virtual meetings to pick the brains of some helpful librarians regarding the new middle school collection
  • Managers' meeting
Notes
  • So many meetings this week. I am still researching and working on my new young teen/middle school collection as well as finishing the last bits of the neighborhood projects. I started my new big weed/project in the young adult. Picture book replacements are starting to come in. I spent some very frustrating hours measuring shelves - I just couldn't get my head around the numbers/formulas I was asked for! Happily, I finally got something that worked as well as made my own data overview.
  • AND I was late to one of said meetings b/c a herd of deer decided to cross the road ONE AT A TIME in the MIDDLE OF THE MORNING. Very annoying.
  • We had a heat wave, more or less (thank you climate change) and the library hvac system did NOT react well. Wednesday - Friday it was ~75 or higher on the lower level around the circulation/info desk and probably closer to ~80 in the youth area, due to the heat pouring in through the windows. I suffered.
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Sunday, March 9, 2025

This week at the library

Little noodlers at Miss Esther's
family storytime
Programs
  • Family storytime
  • Teen engagement
  • Family storytime
Outreach
  • School wrap-around outreach
  • 4K & Daycare outreach
Self-Directed Activities
  • Pokemon Hangout
  • Open Storyroom
  • Open Storyroom/Homeschool Hangout
Meetings, Hosted events, etc.
  • Girl Scouts
  • Summer Fun for All Ages with GLOBE Citizen Science! (webinar)
  • Vendor meeting
  • Elementary school art show
Notes
  • Finishing reports, meetings, desk time, busy evening with the art show, etc. I am almost finished with the neighborhoods project - at this time there are only ~30 books still checked out to be reviewed and one more large section of replacements depending on grants that I'll be putting in next week.
  • As I'm going over the final stages of the picture book neighborhoods project, it's going to affect my reviewing only in so far as I'm going to be a LOT pickier about putting books I've borrowed from other libraries on my wishlist. I'd certainly rather buy lots of interesting books than another 20 copies of Pete the Cat, but here we are.

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Thursday, March 6, 2025

Picture Book Neighborhoods: Favorites


  This collection has moved around as we moved our shelves. At one point, it was directly facing our play area. In the last shifting of shelves, it was at the beginning of the shelf ranges for the neighborhoods, across from the play area, but facing our windows. This is also the narrowest of the aisles and most folks who stopped at the desk asking for Pete the Cat, Pigeon books, etc. then had to walk to the back of the area. While I was shifting the books, I kept most of this collection on a cart at the desk and people beelined to it right away. I then put it at the end of the picture book neighborhoods, so it's the first thing you see as you approach those shelves, and whole sections were immediately checked out. I also shifted a couple favorites that had grown in popularity into this area, like Pig the Pug and Grumpy Monkey. Disney books have moved in and out of this collection and the current area makes it easier to point folks to the tub books, with additional media tie-ins.

List of favorite characters and series
 - This changes over time - some become classics, sometimes new ones are added, sometimes I shift away older titles that have fallen out of favor (or out of print). Generally I look for things that have 5 or more individual titles and that kids ask for by name. The number of items currently on order is mostly new or prebound titles - I am still working through replacements! All of these have dividers unless otherwise noted.
  • Stanley by William Bee
  • Pig the Pug by Aaron Blabey
  • Bluey
    • These are a mix of prebound and hardcover. 
    • 25 titles, 24 checked out, 35 on order (includes preorders through fall 2025).
  • Clifford by Norman Bridwell - no divider
    • Most of these are paperbacks in the tub books - and many of the originals are out of print. However, I have the original, first title in hardcover and plan to add ~5 more as I update the collection. I may, at that time, add a divider for these.
  • Drew Daywalt - The Crayons
    • There's only two picture books in this "series" but there are a whole bunch of mini books centered around holidays. They quickly got lost on the shelf, so it made sense to move them here.
    • 10 titles, 5 checked out, 7 on order.
  • Llama Llama by Dewdney
    • This is mostly the originals with only a couple prebound tie-ins.
    • 26 titles, 6 checked out, 2 on order.
  • Ryan T. Higgins
  • How to catch...
    • Originally it made the most sense to put these with the holiday or season. Then they started getting more esoteric with things like "garden fairy" and "yeti." So far, they are all just sitting in a sullen lump on the shelf, so we'll see if putting them all together was a good idea or not.
    • 36 titles, 14 checked out, 1 on order.
  • The Food Groups by John Jory
    • There are 7? of the basic picture books, but I have multiple copies as they get used for various school projects and are popular. There are also a couple tie-ins.
    • The Bad Seed
    • The Good Egg
    • 18 titles, 10 checked out, 1 on order
  • Pinkalicious by Victoria Kann
    • I've always disliked these, but the patrons and kids want them. A lot of my copies have worn out, including the couple tie-ins I had. I keep more in the tubs (paperbacks of the easy reader spin-offs).
    • 16 titles, 8 checked out
  • Grumpy Monkey by Suzanne Lang
  • If you give... by Laura Numeroff
    • This is another popular series that I don't particularly care for, but people love. I am trying to have 4 copies of each of the original titles. They're labeled on their divider with the Mouse from the first book.
    • 16 titles, 5 checked out, 2 on order
  • Fancy Nancy by Jane O'Connor
    • I've always rather liked Fancy Nancy - I definitely prefer her to Pinkalicious. The original picture books expanded to include smaller format spin-off picture books, then easy readers, then some tie-ins. My collection is very, very worn and needs replacements, but I haven't yet started ordering them.
    • Fancy Nancy and the wedding of the century
    • 23 titles, 19 checked out
  • Paw Patrol
    • These have always been paperbacks in the tubs, but they've started publishing some hardcovers so I added those and then some prebinds.
    • 16 titles, 11 checked out, 5 on order.
  • Peppa Pig - no divider
    • Like Paw Patrol these have always been paperbacks, but they've started publishing some hardcover books.
    • 1 title, 4 titles on order.
  • Pete the Cat
    • I liked the first couple books, although endless repetitions quickly took the shine out of them. I don't particularly care for the later ones, or the gazillion spin-offs and tie-ins, but people love them.
    • Pete the Cat and the New Guy
    • 40 titles, 15 checked out, 7 titles on order
  • Jasper Rabbit - Aaron Reynolds
    • This is Creepy carrots etc. It doesn't really fit, since there's only 3 titles, but it gets asked for so much that I decided to put it in the favorites. I thought there was going to be a new book next fall, but it turned out to be a chapter book! Which is cool too.
    • Creepy pair of underwear
    • 7 copies, 6 checked out.
  • Mo Willems - Knuffle Bunny and Pigeon
    • I previously had all of Mo Willems' books together in the favorites area. However, I've found that his non-series books are much less-known and since he's moved away from his signature style, and started writing some titles with other illustrators, I decided to spread his books out throughout the collection and just keep these two popular series here.
    • The duckling gets a cookie
    • The pigeon needs a bath
    • Knuffle Bunny - 3 titles, 3 checked out. I have three additional copies on order.
    • Pigeon - 33 titles, 9 checked out, 5 titles on order.
  • Bear by Karma Wilson
    • I admit these mostly leave me cold, but the pictures are cute and the kids do like the rhymes.
    • 17 titles, 5 checked out, 6 titles on order.
  • Dinosaurs by Jane Yolen

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Monday, March 3, 2025

This month in the collection: February 2025


This was a short month, and yet somehow extremely long. I'm still spending most of my time and budget on purchasing replacements.

Library Pinterest - new materials
*purchased for or added to the library collection
**not yet purchased, but it's on a list!

Board Books
Picture Books
Early Readers and Transitional Chapters
  • *Mooncakes mean family by Shum Benson
  • *My dog is best by David Catrow
  • *I help by Joe Cepeda
  • *The perfect spot by Kallie George
  • *Lone wolf gets a pet by Kiah Thomas
  • *Pup and dragon by Alice Walstead
    • I am still fairly meh about these, but they were on sale.
Beginning Chapter Books
  • *Detective Beans by Li Chen
  • *Crimson Twill: Witch in the country by Kallie George
  • *Bitsy & Boozle tell a story by Sara Goetter
  • *Connor and the Taekwondo tournament; Violet and the Jurassic land exhibit by Jen Malia
Juvenile Fiction
  • *Pablo and Splash by Sheena Dempsey
  • *Into the dark forest by Liz Flanagan
  • *Chickenpox by Remy Lai
  • *Coral's reef by David Lumsden
    • I waited to purchase this until I could get it in prebind. Instantly popular.
  • *Same page by Elly Swartz
  • *The truth about 5th grade by Kim Tomsic
  • *Inside the park by Andrea Williams
  • I purchased multiple replacement copies of Dog Man and Cat Kid in prebind.
Juvenile Nonfiction
Other
  • *Lone Wolf: Flight from the dark by Joe Dever
    • I'm curious to see if this is popular - my director certainly had fond childhood memories of it!
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Sunday, March 2, 2025

This week at the library

Small builder at Construction Hangout
Programs
  • Teen Homeschool Hangout
  • Paws to Read
  • Family Storytime
  • Teen Advisory Board
  • Family Storytime
Outreach
  • Lakeland School (off-site)
  • Homeschool event
Self-Directed Activities
  • Read and Grow
  • Reading Explorer
  • What's in my body scavenger hunt
  • Construction Hangout
  • Homeschool Hangout
Meetings, Hosted events, etc.
  • Friends general meeting
  • Managers' meeting
Notes
  • My main project this week was writing my monthly report - a lot of things happened this month and I've been cogitating over some long-term changes and projects I want to focus on. I also wrote an additional report, which involved lots of staring at security cameras, estimating numbers, and reviewing traffic patterns in the library. I discovered that one area is really hard to estimate because the way the light reflects through the windows puts patrons into shadows! (No patron privacy was violated - I can't see that well, for one thing, to actually identify anybody, but really I was just looking at how people moved through different areas at different times.)
  • I am also finishing the neighborhoods project. I organized and purchased a lot of replacements last weekend, but I'm still working on this. I've also been shifting - a sweaty and frustrating project. I am DONE and will let the collection settle and then revisit it in April.
  • I spent funds from last year's Giving Tree that were still extant, attended our Friends general meeting to request funds for the picture book neighborhoods - specifically focusing on a couple areas that need significant outlay, and did a lot of other misc. things.
  • I just managed to finish updating the Read and Grow program, which has a lot of book lists that use the Neighborhoods, but I still need to update our Pinterest pages and order replacements.
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