This week at the library

Me doing storytime last week

Programs

• Paws to Read
• Family Storytime (2 sessions)
• Outreach storytimes (4 sessions)
• Family Fun (drop-in)
• Pokemon Club
• We Explore Nature

Notes

• I was off on Monday and Tuesday and just did a few hours of work at home on Thursday. I planned limited programs this week because we had a lot of other stuff going on. On Wednesday, I spent the day working on the collation and organization of all the data from our survey for our strategic plan. Friday we were closed for staff development and our adult services librarian and I were responsible for the afternoon presentations. I worked on Saturday and then after the library closed we had the strategic plan meeting to present the data.

City Beet by Tziporah Cohen, illustrated by Udayana Lugo

This is a retelling of one of my most-used storytime folktales - The giant turnip. I do a flannelboard of it as The Giant Carrot and I believe there are versions of it as an onion as well. This new version has an intergenerational and urban twist.

The story begins Victoria, a young girl with an orange raincoat, red glasses, light brown skin, and short dark hair, is hanging out with her neighbor, a white-haired woman named Mrs. Kosta. They see a sign for a community potluck and block party and decide to bring raw beet and garlic salad (which, to me personally, sounds ewww, but with a potluck you have lots of different things to eat, so whatever). They plant seeds and care for their sprouts, until they have one TREMENDOUS beet! With the repeated refrain, "But that big red beet wouldn't budge." Mrs. Kosta calls from help from Mr. Wen in his taxi, Officers Deena and Tina, Mr. Vitelli in his street sweeper, and other neighborhood workers. Victoria, however, her offers of help refused, wanders off to work on making the other salad ingredients while the grownups try and fail to pull the beet. Finally, with a bit of clever thinking from Victoria, the beet comes free, Mrs. Kosta grabs her grater, and it's time for the potluck supper!

An author's note talks about the importance of community and sharing food and a simple illustrated recipe shows readers how to make their own raw beet and garlic salad. Should you, um, wish to (I do not like beets cooked or raw, so....) Cheerful illustrations show a multicultural and diverse city, even including a few folks with different body types.

Verdict: The real draw for this story is the repeated refrain and this is a delightful new version that is sure to get preschoolers tugging and chanting the text. It's an especially nice addition if your town has any kind of community gardens or food sharing to tie into the story.

ISBN: 9781534112711; Published March 2023 by Sleeping Bear Press; Review copy provided by publisher; Donated to the library

Browsing the beginning chapter books: Fairylight Friends: A magic spark by Jessica Young, illustrated by Marie Vanderbemden

Genre: Fantasy

Protagonists: Male and female, variety of skin colors, male does not conform to gender stereotypes.

Reading Level: J

Series: Appears to be complete with three titles, the last published in 2021. Part of the Acorn imprint.

Originally reviewed in December 2020

To be shifted to transitional chapters

Review: This series for Acorn brings lots of flighty fairy fun. Acorn is Scholastic's easy reader chapter book line. They are fully illustrated, sometimes in traditional comic book format, but more often just with speech bubbles and some explanatory text. The reading level is usually intermediate, similar to Frog and Toad or Henry and Mudge. However, they do include both dialogue and exposition.

They're formatted in a small size, a little larger than a Beatrix Potter book, and give kids the feeling of reading a "real" chapter book. I actually put them in with my beginning chapter books, because I feel that they'd be lost on the easy reader shelves.

This book introduces three fairies; Ruby, with brown skin and dark brown, curly hair, likes to draw and create. Iris, with tanned skin, blue hair, and stripy leggings under her shorts, is athletic and loves to fly fast. Pip is quieter than the girls, with blonde hair and fair skin, and he likes to garden.

The three friends go to school with Miss Goldwing, brown-skinned with her hair in a tied back afro, who teaches them all the fairy skills they need, tiptoeing and making magic along with them in green slacks and a gold sweater. In three short stories, the friends discover their magic powers and then join together in creating a party for Miss Goldwing.

Verdict: This is fluff - cheerful, colorful fluff, but definitely fluff. It's more diverse than a lot of fairy offerings though and I'd much rather hand this to readers wanting fairy/magic easy readers than, say, Pinkalicious. I'd purchase the Princess Truly books from Acorn first though and get these if you have funds left.

Revisited: I still like these better than Pinkalicious or Daisy Meadows, but with only three titles there wasn't really enough of a series to build up an audience. I do recommend purchasing them if you have space in your budget and shelves though.

ISBN: 9781338596526; Published September 2020 by Scholastic; Purchased for the library

This week at the library

Miss Esther found a dino costume for our teen
services librarian and she wore it for
two hours, much to the glee (and occasional
terror) of the small children.

Programs

• Paws to Read
• Family Storytime (2 sessions)
• Anime Club
• Outreach storytimes (3 sessions)
• 4K party: Dinosaurs
• Late Bookaneers

Notes

  Every year we have a huge 4K party, masterminded by our Parent Connections coordinator from the school district (who also regularly does our family storytimes) and with the assistance of multiple staff from the school district and the three 4K locations. We had about 200 attendees this year, which is a very nice number. Enough to make the work worth it, but not so many that it's crowded and miserable.

  This was the last anime club - we're going to try a different format next year, potentially a "fan club" that would be more of a drop-in with different options. We really only had two regular attendees. I did a family storytime, which I rarely do, and it went fine, which was nice. We've got a really nice group of families and they were nice about missing Miss Esther (who was busy preparing for the dino party). I finished up the week on Thursday with a managers' meeting, my annual review, and book club and took Friday off.

World's Worst Time Machine by Dustin Brady, illustrated by Dave Bardin

Dustin Brady, creator of the Escape from a video game and Trapped in a video game adventures, has a knack for writing stories that grab the attention of reluctant readers. His newest series starter is no exception.

Liam, in his usual race for the school bus, is startled to see a huge crowd of strange people outside his eccentric neighbor's house. Belatedly, he realizes that he's missing the garage sale of the century, and is not comforted by the practical reminder of his sort-of-friend Elsa that he has a report on Thomas Edison due soon and he hasn't read the book.

After some encounters with a bully, Liam finds a treasure in the old house - a real time machine! Excitedly, he ignores the "World's Worst Time Machine" label and sets it up in his basement, only for things to go immediately go drastically wrong. Now he's got a wanna-be gangster, real-life (and scary) gangsters, missing parents, and an annoyed bully on his trail! His only hope is Elsa's mysterious familiarity with the time machine and a good supply of Cheetos...

Spot illustrations and one-page spreads are scattered throughout the book, showing the action and giving pictures of the three (white) young protagonists. Back matter includes profiles of the real-life gangsters and their fates as well as historical context for the Depression-era people Liam meets. Brady keeps the action moving with a constant stream of disasters, most caused by Liam's headlong rushes into events without stopping to think or ask questions. There are some fun call-outs for local libraries and lots of snarky dialogue. One thing that really shines in this book is Brady's ability to write a strong girl character and mesh her smoothly into the story, showing her as competent and in charge but also vulnerable and making mistakes. Although Liam is shown as the main character, both in the description and images, we get a good understanding of Elsa's character and motivations as well and she is a strong protagonist in her own right.

Some promotion for this book leans heavily into the "reluctant boy reader" which I really dislike, but the cover and description are generally neutral, if leaning a little heavily on Liam as protagonist, (he's more of a catalyst in some respects) so if you want to play it that way you can.

Verdict: Recommend this to readers who want fast-paced action, humor, and strong characters without lengthy emotional scenes as well as those who want a book that doesn't double as a doorstop. It will please the parents who insist on their kids reading "real" books, not graphic novels, with a few illustrations to sate the kids. Brady has written a great series starter that also has a nice sprinkling of history, a little science, and engaging, fun characters. Highly recommended.

ISBN: 9781524884130; Published April 2023 by Andrews McMeel; Purchased for the library; Review copy provided by the publisher; Donated to the library so I have 2 copies, which I will definitely use!

Browsing the beginning chapter books: A friend for dragon by Dav Pilkey

Genre: Humor

Protagonists: Male fantasy character

Reading Level: J

Series: Five titles, originally published in the 90s, republished as part of the Acorn series starting in 2019.

Originally reviewed in August 2019

Review: While most kids - and adults - think of Dav Pilkey only as the author of the riotously popular Captain Underpants graphic blends and Dogman graphic novels, he originally started his career in the early 90s with picture books and other titles for a young audience, one of the first being the Dragon series. It was well-reviewed at the time, suggested for readers age 6-8 and marketed as a beginning chapter book.

Fast-forward nearly 30 years and Pilkey is extremely well-known in his field, children are being pushed to read younger and younger, while reading abilities continue to decrease (hmmm... can't be any connection there, can there?) and Scholastic is turning out a new line of easy readers marketed to kindergarten through 2nd grade, for kids who are not yet ready for their Branches chapter books. Among their original titles for the Acorn line, they are also republishing higher-level easy readers (or low-level chapter books, depending on how you look at it) and one of the first is Pilkey's Dragon books.

The story is simple; Dragon, a blue, dinosaur-like creature, goes out to find a friend. A snake plays a mean trick on him, and he takes home his new friend - an apple - thinking it can talk to him. The apple, while at first just what he was looking for, eventually doesn't seem well and Dragon takes it to the doctor, where a hungry walrus transforms the apple into a skinny, white core. Sadly, Dragon buries his friend. He grieves throughout the fall and winter, but in the spring, a new tree appears with lots of apple friends!

Pilkey's trademark humor isn't quite fully realized here, although his apparent dislike of female characters is in the grossly overweight female walrus. A note in the newer edition says that Pilkey taught himself to use watercolors, with a child's paint set from the grocery store, when making this book. According to original reviews, later books in the series are funnier; this one has a bit of a melancholy feel to it, especially with the mean snake and Dragon's extended grief.

I compared the original and the new edition; the text remains the same (right down to words like "catsup") and the art appears the same as well, if slightly brighter on some pages, but that could be just that it's a newer book. The layout has changed a little - the original was just 47 pages long and the new edition is 51, plus some bonus features in the back, like how to draw Dragon. This was done by splitting up some of the pages; some text is against a white background and the art has been shrunk to fit in the smaller format.

Scholastic recommends this for 1st grade and it has a lexile of 460. As I mentioned above, the Acorn books are being marketed as easy readers but because of the simultaneous push for kids to read younger (I get a lot of parents of four year olds asking for leveled readers) and the drop in reading ability (I only know a handful of 5th graders who read - and comprehend - what is being produced for middle grade) I've decided to put the Acorn titles in our beginning chapter books. This will satisfy kids and parents who want to read "real" books while offering something more accessible.

Verdict: I've realized before that I'm not really a fan of Pilkey and don't necessarily "get" his sense of humor. However, name recognition he's got in spades and I think this will be a popular series once there are more available so kids can get past the sad first book.

Revisited: Captain Underpants is slowly falling out of favor, mostly because kids have read all of them, and Dragon is a little more recognizable, having been used for a summer reading theme in 2022. This series gets a lot of use, especially from teachers who request older easy readers and are surprised and pleased to discover there are new editions. Kids don't seem to consider them depressing and those who like Pilkey's goofy humor are happy with them.

ISBN: 9781338341058; This edition published June 2019 by Scholastic; Purchased for the library

This week at the library

One of our staff brought her horses to visit
for Fact Finders book club. Mom (Journey) and
yearling (Dreamy).

Programs

• Dungeons and Dragons (adult svs and director)
• Family Storytime (2 sessions)
• LOTG outreach
• We Explore Nature
• Project Explore
• Lakeland School field trip
• Fact Finders: Horses
• Stargazing (adult svs, open to families)
• Outreach storytimes (6 sessions)
• I like to move it
• TAB
• Sewing cosplay

Notes

• This week was unseasonably warm - in the upper 70s and 80s - so we had smaller turnout than usual since most people were outside. I started working on the easy reader project and we came up with a more or less satisfactory arrangement of the teen area. Now if I can just get the kids to sit there and not in the kids' area...

Cook in a book: Spaghetti! an interactive recipe book by Lotta Nieminen

Previous books in this series, featuring pancakes, cookies, and tacos, are included in several of my circulating toy kits and I was curious to see what this latest title was like.

It's been a while since I've read the previous titles, but this one felt more like a direct recipe than the others for some reason. A list of the ingredients and utensils required fill the first spread, then step-by-step instructions for cooking the ingredients for the sauce. Readers can slide a tab to pour in olive oil, lift the top of a can of tomatoes, and pull a tab to watch water boil in the pot. This last one makes more sense on the opposite side, where pulling the tab pours the spaghetti into the pot. You can detach a cardboard fork to test the spaghetti, pull a tab to pour it into a colander, and then use the same tab to grate Parmesan cheese. On the final page, you can use the cardboard fork to twirl "spaghetti" around your "fork."

The art is blocky and minimalist, with bright colors and simple shapes. The spaghetti sauce is a simple recipe with garlic, tomatoes, basil and a few spices and the book could be followed as an actual recipe as well as just an experience. The cardboard pages are very sturdy, as are the tabs and movable parts, although the fork is likely to be lost and the binding is vulnerable at the hinges.

Verdict: These work very well in my library as part of real life play kits - the cookie one is included in a set with a Melissa and Doug tray of cookies and a play mixer for example. This would be a fun addition to a play cooking kit as well and is sturdy enough to last through numerous uses. It can also be added to a board book section, although the cardboard fork is likely to be quickly lost.

ISBN: 9781838666323; Published April 2023 by Phaidon; Review copy provided by the publisher

Quest kids and the dragon pants of gold by Mark Leiknes

Ned, the narrator, is the brave and noble leader of the Quest Kids, whose journal has been discovered by J. B. Lucastoothe, curator of a museum and the Quest Kids manuscripts. The story opens with the Quest Kids trying to remove the pants off a dragon...

Let's go back a little... Ned is a typical village kid, although now he is the Leader of the Quest Kids. He is joined by his best friend Gil, who is.... sort of... a wizard, the 700-year-old elf Terra, Boulder the gentle rock troll, and their dog Ash. Pig dog? Who breathes fire? Well, some kind of dog. Maybe. Well, anyways, they are experienced adventures... kind of.

Really, they have no idea what they're doing, but they've only got each other and Ned's desperate desire to Save the World, at least the town, well, maybe the girl from his old village he met. They set out on an impossible quest, buoyed up by Ned's leadership (and, unfortunately, a number of lies) and encounter disaster, boring elves, aggressive creatures, and a giant golden monster. Will Ned come clean to his friends? Will he discover clues to the mysterious disappearance of his parents and Gil's wizard-master? Or will he get yet another village burned to the ground through ineptitude and false bravado?

Black and white illustrations decorate the pages of this fantasy, notebook-novel style, with hilarious illustrations of the group donning life jackets for "Crazy Larry's Acid Swamps of Doom Adventure Lines," the gold sweatpants-clad dragon, and the climactic battle with the golden rage-beast. There are the obligatory lessons about being honest with friends, as well as an unexpectedly mature discussion of making your own choices in life, even if your parents don't agree, as well as plenty of fart jokes.

Verdict: This is likely to appeal to fans of Cowell's How to train your dragon and Brallier's Last Kids series. The quest aspect may also click with young Dungeons and Dragons fans and the combination of humorous illustrations and text will pull in readers as long as they're ok with goofy humor. It was also nice to see that, although the main character is white, the creator did not completely default to the predominantly white cast of medieval/feudal fantasy.

ISBN: 9781454946250; Published September 2022 by Union Square Kids; ARC provided by publisher and passed on to my beta-readers (aka the D&D kids)

Browsing the beginning chapter books: Hello, Crabby! by Jonathan Fenske

Genre: Humor

Protagonists: Animals, mostly male pronouns

Reading Level: H

Series: Currently six titles and ongoing, part of the Acorn imprint.

Originally reviewed in June 2019

Review: Acorn books is Scholastic's new easy reader series, a step between leveled readers and the Branches books, which are a step before chapter books. Some of the Acorn books are new and some will feature familiar easy reader characters like Pilkey's Dragon and Rylant's Poppleton.

I have been eagerly waiting for Fenske's contribution to this new line - kids love his silly easy readers like the nut series and his picture books. Fans of Barnacle is bored and Plankton is pushy will be delighted to see all his ocean critters joining a new character for this series; Crabby.

Crabby, a grouchy red character with lowering eyebrows and a determined frown, is having their usual crabby day. They meet Barnacle, "He is always hanging around" and get sloshed by a wave. But the real fun (or frown) doesn't begin until they meet pushy Plankton. Plankton is determined to get a smile out of Crabby. They try jokes, introducing Crabby to some not-so-crabby crabs, and even baking a fantastic cake. Will Crabby get over their crabby mood? Or are they just meant to be crabby?

The deadpan humor of Fenske's other books is here in full force and will have kids who appreciate the more subtle jokes laughing hysterically as they read the goofy story. I am curious how long it can be sustained as a series - does Crabby have enough dimension to have more books with three chapters each? But I have faith that Fenske will make them funny, whatever happens.

Verdict: There's no doubt that Acorn is going to be a hit in libraries, schools, and homes. The only question is how many copies you'll need to buy for your Barnacle and Plankton fans.

ISBN: 9781338281507; Published April 2019 by Scholastic; Purchased multiple copies for the library, for my outreach library, and for prizes.

This week at the library

Programs

• Paws to Read
• Family storytime (2 sessions)
• Family fun (drop-in)
• Anime Club
• Outreach storytimes (3 sessions)
• We Explore Nature
• Dungeons and Dragons
• Bookaneers
•  - Closed Friday-

Notes

  Programs I directly supervised or offered this week - 4 (3 outreach storytimes and Bookaneers). I do Dungeons and Dragons with my teen services associate. My school colleague did family storytime, my teen services associate supervises the volunteers who do Paws to Read and offered Anime Club (no attendees this time) and one of the Dungeons and Dragons sessions (we split everyone into two groups), and my YS associate did We Explore Nature. She was scheduled for our biggest outreach storytime visit, but that had to be rescheduled to next week. My teen associate usually sets up Family Fun and supervises approximately 8 different teen volunteers at various times throughout the week.

  I was on the information desk for 3 hours and the youth services desk for 3 hours (it would normally be 6 but we closed on Friday). My teen associate had 5 hours on the YS desk and my YS associate had 6 hours on the YS desk.

  My teen associate had a board meeting for our school district's charter school (we take turns being on the board), and I transferred the marketing meeting over to her, so she ran her first meeting, which I totally forgot about and was 45 minutes late to... I had a managers' meeting, which I was NOT late to.

  My projects included my monthly report, latest updates on the data collection for the strategic plan, working on summer reading plans, and plans for the upcoming early reader weeding project, which I was able to discuss with one of our reading specialists last week. I also selected and packed a large collection of reading material for the fourth graders at one school, 4 baskets for a daycare/4K, and a number of monthly baskets for teachers doing Classroom-book-a-day.

My big touch-and-feel colors by Marion Billet

This fabric book, part of the Baby Basics collection, offers a cute tactile adventure for infants and toddlers.

The book is two large, lightly padded fabric rectangles, measuring about 12x20 inches. They are stacked on top of each other and sewn down the middle in two seams to create a four-paged "book." The front and back feature a four-colored rainbow, each stripe made of a different fabric from satin to velvet. Printed clouds and bugs decorate the fabric as well. There are six pages featuring orange/yellow, blue, green, red/brown, purple/pink, and black/white/gray. Each page has a lighter background of the color with simple images of flowers, bugs, and a few other natural items like raindrops printed in darker colors. The only words are the colors. Each page also includes a different sensory fabric. A satin sun, tufted/minky cloud, textured suede frog belly, smooth and glittery heart, and velvety wings.

The book comes in a plastic bag with a cardboard backing and retails for $22, although Baker and Taylor discounts it to $15. Except for one thing I would happily add this to my library toys, specifically for the infants. However, it is hand wash only, no bleach, no dry clean, no dryer, etc. That's just not realistic for a baby toy, especially in a public library. The first thing any baby is going to do with this is put it in their mouth and the second thing will probably be to spit up on it. Now, as a gift, especially if you get it discounted, I'd go ahead and risk tossing it in the wash on cold and hanging it to dry - I suspect it will be fine, except possibly a little fraying or some damage to the special fabrics. But I wouldn't risk something this costly and delicate in a public library.

Verdict: Cute as a gift, but if you want something along this line to circulate look at Indistructibles or washable books - you could even make something yourself, if you've got some basic sewing skills.

ISBN: 9791036353109; Published April 2023 by Twirl/Chronicle; Review copy provided by publisher; Given as a gift to a new baby (we'll see if it washes!)

Fearless little farm boy by Astrid Lindgren, illustrated by Marit Tornqvist, translated by Polly Lawson

I have a soft spot for Floris books, as they often create or republish titles from my childhood or ones that are similar. My favorite authors include Gerda Muller and of course Astrid Lindgren. This cozy story was originally published in the States in the 90s, under the title "The day Adam got mad" by Swedish publisher R&S Books. It had tepid reviews, except for Tronqvist's lovely watercolors. Last December, I saw an egalley of the new edition and gave it a brief review and now I'm happy to present the finished, hard copy! It's been slightly revised, although at least as far as returning "Adam" to the original "Goran" as the bull's name and the text seems to have been edited a bit to shorten it.

The cover is my favorite picture, showing young Karl, the "typical Swedish farm boy" heading home in the evening through the birch trees, his reward clutched in a bag. The opening end pages picture a gaggle of neighbors and onlookers leaning over the fence, showing a mix of everyday and Sunday clothing, ages, and expressions. The story is simple, but told in Lindgren's inimitable style. One day, for no particular reason, Goran the bull is angry. Usually the most amiable of bulls and good friends with gentle Svensson the farmhand, on a slow Easter Sunday he gets angry - and he gets loose! The crowd builds with suggestions, gossip, and enjoyment of the free entertainment on a usually quiet day. But soon it's time to milk the cows and the situation becomes urgent. Luckily, an ordinary little farm boy knows just what to do and Goran is tired of his fit of temper, so all ends well. Tornqvist's lively watercolors show a simple rural life with peaceful cows, a plethora of barn cats, and gossiping, sociable neighbors. 

Verdict: Even after the revision, this is still longer than a today's typical read-aloud - it's more the length of a chapter with illustrations, spread over a picture book. However, for those looking for longer, gentle read-alouds and those who enjoy more slow-paced stories, this will be a comforting and lightly amusing story with lovely illustrations.

ISBN: 9781782507642; This revised edition published February 2023 by Floris; Review copy provided by publisher and donated to the library

Browsing the beginning chapter books: Don't worry, Bee happy by Ross Burach

Genre: Humor

Protagonists: Animals, gender not identified

Reading level: H

Series: Three titles, part of the larger Acorn imprint

Originally reviewed in February 2020

Review: Ross Burach, author of various funny picture books and board books (The Very Impatient Caterpillar is a favorite at our library) branches out (ha ha) into Scholastic's Acorn line.

Branches are beginning chapter books that bridge the gap between easy readers and chapter books; Acorn is a step lower, coming in at the high level of easy readers but not quite up to chapter book level. I've located them in my series chapter books, because their small size makes them fit better there and because steadily declining reading abilities means I need ever more low-level reading choices.

Our favorite Acorn books so far have been Jonathan Fenske's funny Crabby stories, and I think kids will go for this goofy new series, Bumble and Bee, as well. The story has three short chapters, or stories, and is told in comic format.

The first story, Best Friends Picture Day, introduces Bumble and Bee, two bouncy and enthusiastic bumblebees, and their best friend Froggy. Bumble and Bee are super excited to take their picture! Froggy is not so pleased. Fortunately, Bumble and Bee have a great idea to turn Froggy's frown into a smile! Sort of. In "A Bad Case of the Hiccups," Froggy has the hiccups and the bees are determined to help. They decide the best way to help is to scary Froggy - but what is Froggy scared of? In the final story, the bees are blasting away on their radio, doing the waggle dance. Froggy is annoyed. Froggy does not want to join in the waggle dance. At least, that's what Froggy says...

The last page has a quick tutorial on drawing Froggy and a writing prompt. The art is bright and colorful, with simple lines and well-defined panels. Kids can easily follow the dialogue and story; the bees' dialogue is black against a yellow background and Froggy's is black on green.

Verdict: This is funny and cute; the bees are silly but never really mean and Froggy takes all the teasing in good part, even cracking a little smile at the end. A funny and fresh addition to your upper-level easy readers and lower-level beginning chapter books.

Revisited: My only regret for this is that Burach stopped at three titles, but I assume he needed time for the many other awesome books he is turning out. This is a staple of our Acorn selections and quite popular with kids who like funny books, basically everybody.

ISBN: 9781338504927; Published December 2019 by Scholastic; Purchased for the library

This week at the library

Programs

• Open Storyroom
• Family Storytime (2 sessions)
• Pokemon Club
• Project Explore (2 sessions)

Notes

This was our school district's spring break. We were packed with people, lots of staff were on vacation, there is still a giant hole above my desk, we are tired. I took Thursday-Friday off. Next week I will have reports to write, projects to work on, and lots of things to do.