July 2010

  • Monday, August 6, 1945: Part 1

    August 6 marks the 65th anniversary of the atom bomb’s use against the Japanese at Hiroshima and August 9 at Nagasaki. To date, there has not been another military use of this terrible and powerful weapon. Our lives in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries have been marked in many ways by the presence and potential of atomic weapons.… Continue reading

  • About Time: The Big Picture

    Big History: From the Big Bang to the Present by Cynthia Stokes Brown An ambitious, exciting history of the earth, from its origins to the development of civilizations to the spread of computers. Salt: A World History by Mark Kurlansky Kurlansky takes us on an entertaining and informative romp through the centuries, showing the enormous… Continue reading

  • … good ol’ summer time in Seattle!

    The Emerald City is in a streak of several days of sunny weather. There’s excitement in the voices of the television and radio weather people as they say “no precipitation in the forecast for the next few days, actually many days!” Another barometer is the warmer-than-warm feeling when one opens the door of a car that’s been parked… Continue reading

  • Read-aloud tongue-twisters

    Some picture books are just meant to be read aloud. Your voice flows over the words as you unravel the story for little (or big) ears. Others are meant to be read aloud even though they are written to be hard to read aloud — with rhymes that trip you up and wordy mouthfuls that make them… Continue reading

  • Children’s Classics from the 1970s

    On a recent sunny summer day, I had the chance to work in the Children’s Center at the Central Library. Besides enjoying that wonderful space and seeing lots of cute kids, I got a chance to pick up some books for my two-year-old granddaughter, Cleo, who is coming to visit from Brooklyn. As I browsed the… Continue reading

  • Información sobre la salud

    Our library serves people speaking many languages. Here is information in one of those languages. ¿ Sabía Ud.  que la biblioteca le ofrece recursos electrónicos sobre la salud? ¿Y que están disponibles las 24 horas? Si Ud. necesita información sobre medicinas, enfermedades, si necesita un médico que hable español, quizás encuentre la respuesta en la… Continue reading

  • Personalized reading suggestions for teens in Seattle!

    For all you teens in Seattle — our incredible teen services librarians are ready to help you find a book you WANT to read. All you have to do is use the Ask-a-Librarian form to tell us a little bit about what you like to read. We’ll get back to you in a day or two… Continue reading

  • Community Gardens

    It never really occurred to me that having fresh produce from our own garden was such a luxury until our family moved to the United States. Growing up in the central highland part of Vietnam, we were lucky to be surrounded by luscious green trees and vegetables. When harvest times came, children spent a lot… Continue reading

  • ‘But I want a REAL princess book . . .’

    This is frequently heard on the bookmobile. Not to stereotype our young patrons, but many four- and five-year-old girls are rather fond of princesses. Perfect, pink, pretty princesses, preferably the versions used as Disney’s® corporate spokesmodels. Finding princess books that will please a picky preschool patron can be problematic.  There is a delicate balance to… Continue reading

  • About Time: Dark Days and Deeds

    The Great Mortality: An Intimate History of the Black Death, the Most Devastating Plague of All Time by John Kelly Kelly provides a detailed and readable examination of the black death, which killed about a third of Europe’s population in the 14th century. The Wreckers: A Story of Killing Seas and Plundered Shipwrecks, from the… Continue reading

  • July Question of the Month – an irregular series

    The reference librarians at Seattle Public Library are pretty darn amazing. They don’t know everything, but 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

  • Amar a Frank de Nancy Horan

    Our library serves people speaking many languages. Here is one of them. Below is a review of Amar a Frank, the Spanish-language translation of the novel Loving Frank by Nancy Horan. Frank Lloyd Wright es un arquitecto que es contratado por Edwin y Mamah Cheney para construir su casa. Al cabo de unos años se vuelven a… Continue reading

  • Cycling: Today and Yesterday

    The Seattle to Portland Bicycle Classic, or STP, is back for its 31st year on July 17-18. It is now called the Group Health Seattle to Portland Bicycle Classic. This annual ride is the largest in the Northwest, with over 9,000 riders traveling 200 miles in one or two days. The riders will pedal over… Continue reading

  • Science Friction– Where science and words rub together

    This summer, our Summer Reading Program will take you where you have (most likely) never gone before.  In July and August, the Library and the Northwest Science Writers Association team up to present “Science Friction” – a duet on Pluto (what’s planetary about it?) and Pandora (what’s real about it?).  On July 18 (2-3 pm),… Continue reading

  • A Different Kind of Beach Read

    Personally, I’ve never understood the concept of a “beach read.”  I like to read the same kind of books at home by the fire (note to self: put in fireplace soon) in the middle of winter as I do while lying on a wrinkled, too small towel on the hot sands at the beach.  Here… Continue reading

  • Cool Clear Water

    Water is 70% of the earth’s surface. You can drink it, wash with it, swim in it and find it underground by using a stick. It is the universal solvent, colorless, odorless and just right for tea and Tang. Here are a few more tributes to the glory of H2O. Water edited by John Knechtel.… Continue reading

  • Move Over, Twilight: Try Vampire Academy

    At this point, there are two kinds of readers (and media consumers) out there: those who can’t get enough of vampires and those who can’t stand to hear the word vampire. That being said, like any genre, there are some fantastic books and some that just don’t quite make the cut. I enjoyed the Twilight series even… Continue reading

  • By the Sea Shore

    It was many and many a year ago, In a kingdom by the sea, That a maiden there lived whom you may know By the name of ANNABEL LEE; And this maiden she lived with no other thought Than to love and be loved by me… Living in Seattle and having access to lakes, rivers… Continue reading