Grant Books Arriving!!

Hooray!! 68 new children and young adult books have now arrived. Every 3 years this library is able to apply for a special grant from the Libri Foundation. I had the absolute pleasure of picking out books a few months ago and this week they ARRIVED!! Here are 3 of them. Gary Paulsen is a favorite author along with Dan Gutman. The other book entitled Ever by Gail Levine falls into the high interest level of mortals vs. immortals brought on by the success of the Twilight series. Of course, along with the thrill of receiving the books comes the added work of getting them all processed so guess I'd better get busy!

L.V. Library in Spring

Thought those who don't check out the new library website should see this recent picture of the Lake View Public Library. One can also read some of the history about this library on the website but allow me a brief walk down memory lane as I relate how this building sits on land that once belonged to my father, the town doctor for over 30 years who built his own medical clinic seen partially to the left in this picture. As a child ,when the land the library now sits was a vacant lot, I spent many hours mowing!! I even rode my horse onto the lot to allow her to graze and thus help with the "mowing" at times. Not much lawn to mow now but library board members and city crewmen keep up with the landscaping and yard maintenance.

Tulips

Earth Day 2010. Didn't have my Earth Day books ready so decided to post this picture of my first tulips since moving back to Iowa. One can see a variety of tulip colors throughout the town reassuring all of us that indeed Spring has finally sprung!! With the predicted rainfall for this weekend more of nature's foliage will spring forth for all to enjoy. I saw some of our Park Committee ladies busy working around the new bike trail entrance as I drove into town and soon there will be new plantings along our newly renovated main street. Watch for pictures of both in future blogs.

I added this newer picture of my tulips to make sure anyone reading this will notice that I do keep them watered! The ground looks a little dry in the first picture.

"Arthur"

Marc Brown is the author of the popular "Arthur" books. We are fortunate to have a large cloth hanging of this famous creature along with some 20 books about him and his many friends. The ones pictured here relate to April Fool , baseball and an upcoming family vacation. We even have a book about Arthur for every major holiday season such as Halloween, Valentine's Day, Christmas, etc. . If you are an Arthur "fan" you will want to come check out our collection or just enjoy reading one of his books in our colorfully decorated Children's Area of the library.

Graphic TWILIGHT!

ATTENTION "TWILIGHT" FANS!! Here is the latest version of this popular series___ a Graphic Format. This book is now available at the Lake View Public library along with this earlier book,Host, by the now famous author, Stephanie Meyer. I imagine more graphic versions of the Twilight series will be forthcoming along with the soon to be released 3rd movie from this series. Having read the 4 book series and seen the first two movie versions I must admit this graphic version is not "my cup of tea" but will be interested in seeing how well it circulates with other interested readers.

NEWS FLASH The graphic book above was checked out the very day I put it on the shelf!!!

Puzzle Fun

This puzzle of the Earth was started last week by a father and daughter. Hopefully someone will finish it so we can see it all together and better compare it to our newly purchased Globe seen partially in the background. (There is an earlier blog posting about this new globe for your perusal.) In fact, the young girl who started working on the puzzle was seen frequently walking back and forth from the globe to the puzzle table. I, myself, am an avid puzzle fan and have close to a dozen now glued and displayed on different walls in my lakeside home. This particular library puzzle was one of many wonderful donations we receive.

More Butterflies

With the lovely butterfly display we presently have in our display window Iwant to highlight the two items pictured here. The DVD entitled "The Blue Butterfly" is a wonderfully inspiring movie of a 10 year old boy diagnosed as terminally ill, whose dream is to catch the most beautiful butterfly on Earth, the elusive Blue Morpho. The movie takes the viewer to the Costa Rican rain forest where the search begins. A wonderful family movie inspired by a true story. The pop-up pictures are from a truly colorful and educational book entitled Young Naturalist's Pop-Up Handbook -Butterflies by Robert Sabuda and Matthew Reinhart. Several other books on butterflies are also available for checking out.

Pelican Arrival

The 2nd annual Pelican Fest (it had to be cancelled last year due to a blizzard) will have much better weather this weekend, April 11. I spotted the first pelican from my lakeside view the middle of last week as seen on the calm water picture. Then later in the week as you can see in the other picture (on a much more windy day) there were a lot of pelicans for me to enjoy watching from my home. With the events going on this weekend there will be ample opportunity for me to get some pictures a little closer to shore as there have been more and more congregating in our town bay area. To find out more about this town event check out the city website www.lakeview-ia.com.

Butterfly Window Display

Butterflies! That is the lovely window display for the month of April here in the Lake View Public Library. It is a collection started by one of my able assistants. Her son had given her a butterfly necklace and pin(seen on the green scarf when you enlarge the picture) as a Christmas gift the year before he was killed in a tragic accident. Since butterflies signify "new life" his mother has been collecting "butterflies" ever since.

I have also put out a variety of adult and childrens books about butterflies and there is even a hanging, butterfly wind chime above the main check out desk for patrons to enjoy.

Rabbits Galore

We have almost as many books related to Easter as we do to Christmas! Here are just a few of the secular ones with just a few of the stuffed rabbits that are also visible throughout the Children's Section of the library. The author Marcus Pfister, has several books about Hopper. I just read one earlier this week entitled, Hopper's Easter Suprise, which is about Hopper trying to find out how he can become the Easter bunny himself. At least now he wouldn't have to "hunt for Spring" here as the weather has warmed up considerably, all the ice is gone off the lake, and numerous feathered creatures are flying and swimming in the area.