The Daily Grin

If you’re like a lot of people, you’ve heard of Marley and Me, by John Grogan, the New York Times Bestseller, which first captured the hearts of reading America and most recently made movie-going America cry on the big screen. The popular book has led to a slew of other books in this “animal memoir” genre, like last year’s sensation, Dewey: The Small Town Library Cat Who Touched the World, by Vicki Myron (which is also being made into a movie starring Meryl Streep as Myron).

The latest book showcases a somewhat unlikely hero- a barn owl. “Wesley the Owl” by Stacey O’Brien brings her readers into a world which is ruled by “The Way of the Owl”. Like Dewey, Wesley has a sad beginning (a problem with his wing that means he would never survive in the wild), but with some luck, finds his way to O’Brien, a biologist, who at the time was working at CalTech with owls.

The tale of Wesley the Owl is endearing, funny, touching, and much more. Owls are intelligent, quirky, emotional animals who mate for life and are generally solitary animals. Nocturnal, they “see” the world in a much different way than we do.

For enthusiasts such as myself, you can even visit www.wesleytheowl.com and get a Wesley mug or tote bag.

Books like Marley, Dewey, and Wesley, remind us of the importance of animals in our lives. Never judging, they are always there for us whether we are in a good mood or not. Makes you wish people could be as compassionate as some of these “animals”.

Check out the library’s extensive collection of personal finance books, including the following titles:

Live Well on Less Than You Think by Fred Brock

The Wealthy Barber: Everyone’s Commonsense Guide to Becoming Financially Independent by David Chilton

America’s Cheapest Family Gets You Right on the Money : Your Guide to Living Better, Spending Less, and Cashing In on Your Dreams by Steve Economides

The Motley Fool Personal Finance Workbook : A Foolproof Guide to Organizing Your Cash and Building Wealth by David and Tom Gardner

Personal finance books are located on the lower level of the library, under the Dewey Decimal call number 332.024.  More titles will be coming soon to the “New Books” section of the library.

The library will be closing at 4:30 p.m. today, due to inclement weather.

“Lemon the Duck” is a picture book that tells the true story of a special duckling who learned to thrive with the help of a class of kindergarteners. Lemon was one of four ducklings born 3 years ago during a classroom hatching project. Teacher/author Laura Backman and her students realized within a few days that while Lemon looked and quacked like the other ducklings, she couldn’t move around like her siblings. A visit to the vet revealed that little Lemon had serious neurological problems, and would never be able to maintain the balance required to stand or walk.

The class rallied around Lemon, who stayed with the classroom long after her siblings had moved on to a local farm. They took turns feeding her, taking her for walks in a basket, and finding ways to help Lemon thrive. By caring for Lemon, the students shared in her triumphs and defeats, and learned about love and acceptance. Most important, the children discovered that disabilities and differences don’t make a person or animal less special or valued.

The illustrations by French illustrator Laurence Cleyet-Merle help bring Lemon’s story to life. For those that need more Lemon after the story ends, she has her own website. Lemon is one lucky duck!

OverDrive has improved the interface of their Downloadable Audiobook Catalog.  From the library’s catalog, click on “Downloadable Books.”  On the left-hand side, you can click on “New MP3 Audiobooks” or “View all MP3 Audiobooks.”  Alternatively, you can click on “Advanced Search” and limit your results to “OverDrive MP3 Audiobook” in the “Format” drop-down menu.

This will be especially helpful for iPod users, whose devices cannot play WMA-format audiobooks, which currently make up the majority of our downloadable audiobook collection.  Going forward, however, I plan on purchasing only MP3 titles, which will play on any digital device, including iPods.

Several years ago, the Children’s Department sponsored a knitting workshop in the summer. This workshop was so popular that knitters from local churches assisted in teaching our patrons. Some adult class members started a knitting and crocheting group on Wednesday mornings at the library. This group has made numerous newborn caps for local hospitals and made a large contribution of scarves, hats and mittens for our annual “Mitten Tree” drive that occurs during the holiday season here at the library. These handmade items are given to Cheshire Human Services and local shelters. Contributions of yarn are always welcome for our handicrafters to continue making their excellent handmade items.

The Cheshire Public Library will soon offer Kill A Watt meters for checkout by patrons.  You can use these devices to find out how much energy your home appliances use — whether they’re turned on or off.  You may be surprised at the results!

I don’t know about you, but when I read books that are part of a series, I want to be sure to read them in order. There’s something so frustrating about reading a great book, then finding out it was part 3 in a series. It’s like starting a movie somewhere in the middle! Many don’t share my finickiness (is that a word?) about book order, but for those that do, there’s a great database online for keeping it all in line.

The Kent District Library in Michigan has developed a terrific list of both adult and children’s series, searchable by author, series title or book title. It’s called “What’s Next”, and I keep it bookmarked on my computer. Interested in some ideas for a new mystery series? You do a broad search by genre. A narrower search by author for “Parker, Robert” reveals 3 separate series written by him. If you enjoyed one series, you are likely to enjoy another! Just finished “The Gunslinger” by Stephen King, but can’t remember the title of the series? A title search for “The Gunslinger” reveals that it’s the Dark Tower series, and a series search reveals 6 more titles waiting for you to read. In order, of course.

As someone who likes following characters from one book to the next, I find it very helpful to have all of this information at my fingertips. If you are a series reader, I recommend you try it out!

What is Anime? Anime is Japanese animation, or what we might call cartoons in the U.S. Anime, in addition to Manga (Japanese comics), is extremely popular in Japan and well known throughout the world.  Anime can be released either by television broadcast or released directly to video, and it can be hand-drawn or computer animated.

You may wonder if you have ever seen any Anime.  Chances are that you have.  Over the years there have been many Anime shows that have been shown on television in the United States and Canada.  I became hooked on Anime as a child by watching Astroboy, Speed Racer, and Kimba the White Lion on TV- some episodes produced in black and white (!).  People who are younger than I am may remember watching Voltron and later, Sailor Moon and The Big O.  And of course, more recently Pokéman, Blue Dragon, BoBoBo-Bo Bo BoBo and Bakugan are all to be found on American television.  In fact, the Anime style has become so popular that many new animated shows borrow heavily from Anime design elements.

Unlike American cartoons, Anime is not strictly intended for young children. Quite the contrary, there is an entire Anime subset devoted strictly to older viewers (18+), as well as all the maturity levels in between. Another distinguishing difference between Anime and American cartoons are the storylines themselves. Because American cartoons target young children, their plots are relatively simple and typically tell the story from start to finish in 30 minutes or less. Anime on the other hand, deals with much more complex plots and frequently stretches the story out over numerous episodes. You’ll find stories that deal with death, murder, romance, ghosts, and even a demon girl that offers to do your bidding via her own website. In the long run, most Anime do ultimately support the “good over evil” ideal, however don’t be surprised if some of the good guys don’t make it to the end of the series.

So, how can you find out if you like Anime?  Easy! Try them out! The works of Hayao Miyazaki are a great place to start. Miyazaki is an animation magician, a crowd-pleasing storyteller who is also a builder of worlds. His film, Spirited Away, was the first Anime film to ever win an Academy Award, and his later film, Howl’s Moving Castle, was also nominated but did not receive the award. CPL has many wonderful Miyazaki movies included in its AV collection, (including Spirited Away and Howl’s Moving Castle):

My Neighbor Totoro

Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind

The Cat Returns

Castle in the Sky (Laputa)

Kiki’s Delivery Service

Princess Mononoke