I have started yet another blog.  As the director of a small town library for the last ten years, I have found my niche in libraries.  I want to share my love of small libraries with others.  So I have started Small Town Librarian.  It only has a couple of posts so far, but I have plenty to share.  Please feel free to share comments, experiences and more.  Even those running big libraries may enjoy learning about their little siblings. 

Even better, being an administrator at a little library has let me continue my love affair with children’s books and teen literature. 

J.K. Rowling has updated her website with an note saying that she is dedicating the next year to the writing of the final Harry Potter book. 

“For 2006 will be the year when I write the final book in the Harry
Potter series,” she says. “I contemplate the task with mingled feelings
of excitement and dread, because I can’t wait to get started, to tell
the final part of the story and, at last, to answer all the questions
(will I ever answer all of the questions? Let’s aim for most of the
questions); and yet it will all be over at last and I can’t quite
imagine life without Harry.”

Sigh.  Readers feel exactly the same mix of yearning to know how it ends and dread of the ending of the Harry Potter series. 

Carson Kressley, star of Queer Eye for the Straight Guy, has written a children’s book about being different and being true to yourself.  The article focuses more on Carson and his own past rather than the book itself, but I loved a similar book, The Sissy Duckling, written by Harvey Fierstein.  I will hold out hope that if this is really based on his experiences as a child, it will reach farther than other celebrity books.

Happy Happy Holidays! I won’t be posting over the next couple of days as I celebrate with my two little boys and extended family.
Blessings to all.

Take a quick Which Winnie-the-Pooh character are you quiz.  I am Kanga.  According to the results, I always worry about things.  But I am very loving and friendly and mean no harm to anyone.  I don’t always worry about things, do I?  Golly, do I? 

Blue Ball Machine is a fascinating Rube Goldberg type online machine that has a broad sense of humor.  Kids from preschool to late elementary school who enjoy this type of thing will sit for a long time enjoying following the blue balls from one gizmo to the next. 

I’m off on vacation later today, so don’t expect any updates for a week or so. Then I will be back having hopefully made it through some of the stack of books I have packed. I always pack far too many books on a trip for fear of not having enough to read.

The Christian Science Monitor has an article on a new book about Nancy Drew and the collaboration that made the books possible.

Clara and Asha by Eric Rohmann, winner of the 2003 Caldecott Medal, is a wonderful picture book about a little girl and her imaginary friends. Clara isn’t sleepy, so she opens her bedroom window and in comes Asha, a gigantic blue and black fish. Clara tells the story of how she met Asha in the park and brought her home, the adventures they have had together, and then they go flying in the night sky side by side. It is a lovely gentle fantasy perfect for bedtime. Rohmann’s art is luminous and with its deep colors will remind reader’s of their own childhoods and the magic that they found there. Share this quiet story for pajama storytimes or with your own child. One can’t have better dreams than flying above the earth.