March 2010

  • March Question of the Month – an irregular series

     The reference librarians at Seattle Public Library are pretty darn amazing. They don’t know everything, instead they know where to find everything. As part of an irregular series of posts we salute the talented and dedicated reference staff at your local library. Names and other identifying information have been removed from the questions we showcase.… Continue reading

  • Plant a Seed Day at The Seattle Public Library

    Are you looking for a way to celebrate the joy of spring weather with your child? Are your green thumbs beginning to itch? With the weather getting warmer and spring blossoms popping all around us, it’s time to start planning your vegetable gardens and flower beds.  Gardening with children can be especially rewarding. The Seattle… Continue reading

  • Pursuing the bird of a lifetime: Birders and birding resources

    We are a group not to be ignored. The numbers of birders in the United States totals approximately 48 million individuals who generate some $82 billion in expenditures toward equipment and trips near and far to pursue the bird of a lifetime. These figures come courtesy of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. One can… Continue reading

  • Book Buzz with Nancy Pearl

    Who could resist going to a program called “Book Buzz with Nancy Pearl”? Certainly not the thousands of librarians here in Portland this week for the Public Library Association Conference. Your Shelf Talk team was there, scoping out upcoming novels and nonfiction titles. Under Heaven by Guy Gavriel Kay (coming out soon; available to place… Continue reading

  • Technical Proficiency, Part II

    As promised in Part I, here is a criminally incomplete selection of non-standard, modern folks well deserving the title of Virtuoso. Jean Luc Ponty is a classically trained violinist and was accepted to one of the premier music schools in France at age 16. Afterwards he had a pretty good gig going with one of… Continue reading

  • More Books Worth Talking About

    Good titles for book discussions come from all over the place, and provoke all kinds of responses. Here is a diverse international blend: The Elegance of the Hedgehog, by Muriel Barbery Nobody guesses at the unplumbed depths hidden behind the veiled eyes of the self-taught drudge Renée or the precociously suicidal 12-year-old Paloma, until one man… Continue reading

  • Technical Proficiency, Part I

    A virtuoso is generally defined as a person technically proficient on an instrument or in a field. While a technically sufficient definition, it is as unsatisfying as a birthday cake with white paste frosting. While I may be technically proficient at walking and could possibly qualify, John Cleese would be correctly considered an ambulatory virtuoso.… Continue reading

  • Children’s Books that Bite!

    Though the words “children’s picture books” conjure up visions of sweet dreams, fluffy animals and happy endings, there are legions of readers who prefer stories that involve sharp teeth and a clever twist at the end – most likely the same children who enjoy Tim Burton movies. For all those children (and adults) who take… Continue reading

  • Touring Egypt via book or camel

    When I took a tour of Egypt earlier this year, I found myself exchanging book titles with my fellow travelers.  Historical fiction, mysteries, contemporary serious literature; some are fun reading for getting a feel for the country, the history, the landscape, the emotional qualities of Egypt.  Others are very heavy reading, intense, much like the… Continue reading

  • Ali Zaoua: Prince of the Streets movie

    Come to the Central Library this Sunday, March 21, from 2-4pm in the Microsoft Auditorium on Level 1 for a film screening of Ali Zaoua: Prince of the Streets. This film is a memorable and moving portrait of the lives of street kids living in Casablanca’s abandoned lots. Ali, Kouka, Omar and Boubker, four young… Continue reading

  • Be a Part of World Water Day.

    How often do we really stop and think about the water we consume each day? Not just the eight glasses we’re supposed to drink on a daily basis, but the water from the dishwasher, the laundry, washing our cars, brushing our teeth and that daily shower or pot of coffee. It’s an understatement at this point… Continue reading

  • Do you want turbocharged Internet connectivity in Seattle?

    Longing for ultra-high speed Internet connectivity at home? Think how quickly you could log on to the Library’s web site, search for books and check our online resources! Support the city’s bid for Google Fiber for Communities:  Seattle Broadband Initiative. Continue reading

  • What I Made: Embroidered & Embellished

    Seattle is home to a thriving DIY ethic and culture.  As part of an occasional series of posts, we feature hand-made items created by staff at The Seattle Public Library and the library books, CDs, and DVDs that showed them how to do it themselves. We hope you’ll draw inspiration from their creations and check… Continue reading

  • Not Just a Pretty Face

    It’s not the power of the curse – it’s the power you give the curse. Born with a pig snout for a nose due to her rich family’s curse Penelope, played by Christina Ricci,  must find one man to marry her from the world of high society blue blood to make that curse go away forever.… Continue reading

  • Allen Say’s Beautiful Children’s Books

    Allen Say was born in Yokohama, Japan in 1937. At age 16 he came to the United States. He first went to a military high school, and then to different colleges to study art. In 1989, he earned his fist Caldecott honor award for his illustrations for The Boy of Three-Year Nap written by Dianne… Continue reading

  • Books for the Employed, or Un-

    Have you been laid off or fired?  Are you unemployed or underemployed?  Generally in a bluish funk job-wise?  Get over it with help from these books and videos that offer advice that’s both practical and entertaining.  You can do it. Working: A Graphic adaptation  by Harvey Pekar (2009) A loving adaptation of Studs Terkel’s original Working: people… Continue reading

  • St Patrick’s Day & the Irish Festival are coming!

    The green in Seattle this month is not just the trees, lawns, and flora doing their thing. It’s countdown to Wednesday, March 17th! There’s no formal connection to green and St. Patrick’s Day. According to some Internet sites, the link is that green is the color of spring, Ireland, and the shamrock. This is an Irish… Continue reading

  • Catiline & Catiline & Catiline

    Friends, Romans, Countrymen, lend me your imagination. You are a Senator in ancient Rome, sitting on the back bench as the Senate convenes on November 8, 63 BC. The great orator, the Consul Cicero, a self made man, has just noticed that his mortal enemy, the Senator Catilina (Catiline or Cataline in English), has entered… Continue reading