It's Arbor Day Charlie Brown - by Charles M. Schulz

 

My husband (James) was recently named to our town's Tree Committee (yes, that's a thing). Our adult child told him that there was a Peanuts television special about Arbor Day that he would probably be interested in. He found a copy for purchase on DVD and we await its arrival. Meanwhile he also found a used copy of the book version for purchase and had it sent to our house. (I also discovered that our local public library has a copy on DVD; I always check the library before buying.)

This full-color comic features Sally being humiliated when asked in class to tell what Arbor Day is and responds that it's the "day that all the ships come sailing into the arbor". Assigned to write a report about Arbor Day she seeks Linus' help who suggests a trip to the library where he's sure there are "some books about Arbor Day". What follows are several pages of images of Sally and Linus doing research at the library, as well as some shots of Snoopy and Woodstock laughing at a book on dog obedience training, and playing with the photocopier, which gets them kicked out.

I look forward to celebrating Arbor Day  is year on April 28. I guess that's what my elementary school was celebrating in the 70s when they used to give us saplings to take home and plant. Otherwise, I don't recall ever recognizing it.

Labor Day (the movie)

On Labor Day weekend 1987 a mysterious wounded man, Frank (Josh Brolin) coerces Adele (Kate Winslet) and her son Henry (Gattlin Griffith) into bringing him into their home. When Adele and Henry learn that Frank is an escaped convict they are understandably quite fearful at first, but as Stockholm syndrome kicks in the predictable love story ensues. Once Adele and Frank's lust takes over they manage to get Henry out of the house by sending him to the library to look up information on Prince Edward Island. Adele has heard it's lovely there and so they make a plan to escape New Hampshire together to build a life in PEI. (This is of course in the days when one didn't need a passport to go to Canada.) 

I have been unsuccessful in verifying that the gorgeous interior library scenes were filmed in Fairhaven, Massachusetts' gorgeous Millicent Library, but my husband and I are both convinced that they were. The imdb page for this film lists seventeen filming locations for this movie, sixteen of which are in Massachusetts.

We did not watch this movie on Labor Day, but we did watch it from our Fairhaven home on Pi Day (3.14). This film has a wonderfully sensuous peach-pie-making scene. I found out about the movie by googling "movies about pie". The library scene was a bonus.

Love Sugar Magic: A Dash of Trouble - by Anna Meriano

I found out about this brand new book from "A Mighty Girl" on my Facebook feed.When I read that it was about Día de los Muertos (Day of the Dead), and celebrated Mexican, Texan, and American cultures, and had a lesson in the importance of being bilingual I knew I had to read it. What luck that it was sitting on a shelf waiting for me in the Children's Fiction section of the very library where I work.

Leonora Logroño (Leo) is the youngest of five sisters. Her family owns a bakery and as everyone is busy preparing for Leo's favorite holiday, Día de los Muertos, it seems that they are hiding something from her. Maybe she should learn some more Spanish so they wouldn't be able to talk without her understanding. Beyond language abilities, though, Leo is sure that there is something else that everyone in her family knows, and she doesn't. When she discovers that she comes from a family of brujas (witches) Leo decides help her friend Caroline by deciphering a spell using her rudimentary Spanish-language skills and her decidedly untested magic only to find herself getting deeper and deeper into magical trouble as she attempts to undo her botched sorcery.

Of course it wouldn't have a place on my blog if it didn't include at least a mention of those most magical of places - libraries. The first place we find them is with the famous "going to the library" excuse in order to sneak out to do something else. There is also a classroom library, used as a decoy destination so that a note could be passed. Leo and Caroline do like to read though, and Leo wonders, while looking at Caroline's bookshelf, if Caroline might "reopen her lending library" now that she has moved back to Rose Hill.

The novel does also give a bit of a shout out to information literacy when Brent (the unfortunate object of Leo's failed hocus pocus) asks Leo if her "methods" had been "tested and "peer reviewed". Although I had to wonder how many sixth graders would know about the peer review process I had to smile at the passage.

In addition to being an avid reader, my other passion is cooking, so I was especially happy to see that I would be able to make use of this book on my other blog "Una Nueva Receta Cada Semana". I am looking forward to making "Leo's Lucky Pigs" (aka "Piggies", or "Puerquitos"); and "Pan de Muerto Mensajero" (Bread of the Dead) and documenting my experiences later this year.

A book for lovers of Harry Potter, the Spanish language, and baking. Looks like I hit the jackpot!

A Nantucket Christmas - by Nancy Thayer

'Tis the season for light reading. I noticed this book while we were shopping at Costco and threw it in the cart because I love Nantucket, and I love Christmas. Last year I even got to go to Nantucket during the Christmas season and enjoy all the lovely Christmas trees still decorated from the annual Christmas Stroll.

This book has everything you might expect from a Christmas story: a love story, a martyr, family drama, friends, redemption, a birth, a cute kid, a dog, and of course, a library. The library is the Nantucket Atheneum, which doesn't really have a big role in the book (it is simply the place where the protagonist, Nicole, drops off some cookies for the Christmas Stroll). But, for me it especially significant because it is also the place where I have actually heard the author of this work give a book talk, and where I am personally acquainted with one of the employees. And, in fact, my husband and I gave a coffee talk there ourselves a few years ago. I enjoyed visualizing all of the places Thayer mentions in the book making this an especially fun to read for me.

The Hayes-Bohanan's talk about coffee at the Atheneum November 2007

Miss Smith and the Haunted Library - by Michael Garland

Busting all sorts of stereotypes, librarian Virginia Creeper has blue hair and purple nail polish, and a "high-pitched squeaky voice." She also can truly make books come alive! When Miss Smith brings her class to the library they end up partying with a host of literary monsters including Sleepy Hollow's Headless Horseman, Count Dracula, Frankenstein's monster, and the Wicked Witch of the West. In a scene reminiscent of Jumanji, as Ms. Creeper reads from the Incredible Storybook each of the characters appears in the library.

A not-so-scary book with bright illustrations, plus a cool teacher and a cool librarian.

The book includes a key as to which story each of the spooky characters comes from, in case anyone does want to read a spooky book for Halloween!

It's All Relative-by Wade Rouse

Rouse reveals much about his lovingly dysfunctional family in this series of essays about holidays. He tells of New Year's Eve celebrations, Christmas, Easter, and Halloween, as well as some of the lesser celebrated days such as Arbor Day and "Swedish" Day. What he doesn't celebrate is National Library Week. He barely mentions libraries at all, in fact. The only essay that suggests the use of a library is "Spring Break: Heaven's Waiting Room" in which he describes befriending an elderly couple (Dottie & Ira) while wintering in Florida. They tell Rouse that they read his book America's Boy.

"Where did you get it?" I asked.
"The library"
"You should have bought it. I need the royalties."

Interesting then, that on his acknowledgement page he recognizes libraries "for promoting reading and keeping authors' work alive forever." 

A funny and touching book. One of the blurbs compares him to David Sedaris, the connections are clear in that Rouse is a funny gay guy who writes essays about his family. Rouse definitely has less of an edge, though. Rouse says he has never met Sedaris, but I have; he gave me some coffee cake mix at a book signing once.