Experience Is the Best Teacher

Labor Pain Simulation from Kensington on Vimeo.

This video made its way around Facebook after Mother's Day. I hope you find it as amusing as I did!

We have plenty of books on pregnancy and childbirth found in the 618.2 section, with cutesy titles such as Pea in a Pod, Expecting 411, or Belly Laughs: The Naked Truth about Pregnancy and Childbirth, however, for the gentlemen in the video, I'd like to direct them to Motherprayer: The Pregnant Woman's Spiritual Companion by Tikva Simone Frymer-Kensky [296.7 FRY].

Remembering Bernard Weber

News came of the passing of children's book author and illustrator, Bernard Waber. He was 88. Waber's long publishing career included the popular titles, Lyle, Lyle, Crocodile [JP WAB] and Ira Says Goodbye [JP WAB]. We have 20 of Waber's picture books in our children's room, many of which feature the lovable Lyle.

Here's a preview from the Seattle Children's Theater's production of Lyle, Lyle, Crocodile. Waber's books have been performed on stage as musicals!



HBO has also produced Lyle, Lyle, Crocodile as one of its series of "Storybook Musicals."

Bernard Waber will be missed, but his characters will live on.

Poetry Friday--"Two Horses"

Today is the anniversary of the first running of the Kentucky Derby. The event took place in 1875 at Churchill Downs. This year's Derby, the 139th, was run on May 4. There's an awesome picture of the 2013 mud-covered winner, Orb, on the Kentucky Derby home page.

Today I have a poem by Mark Strand called "Two Horses." It appears in the "Everyman's Library Pocket Poets" anthology, Poems about Horses (edited by Carmela Ciuraru) [808.819 POE].

Two Horses

On a warm night in June
I went to the lake, got on all fours,
and drank like an animal. Two horses
came up beside me to drink as well.
This is amazing, I thought, but who will believe it?
The horses eyed me from time to time, snorting
and nodding. I felt the need to respond, so I snorted, too,
but haltingly, as though not really wanting to be heard.
The horses must have sensed that I was holding back.
They moved slightly away. Then I thought they might have known me
in another life—the one in which I was a poet.
They might have even read my poems, for back then,
in that shadowy time when our eagerness knew no bounds,
we changed styles almost as often as their were days in the year.

Ed is the host of the Poetry Friday Round-Up at Think Kid, Think!

1901 photo of Churchill Downs courtesy Library of Congress.

Energy Saving

Early education is the key to our planet's future. If we can educate children to value and appreciate the planet and its creatures, then, when the debate finally comes round to saving the planet, we stand a chance of achieving that goal. Good.is posted an interesting article back in January, "Solar Panels and Schoolyard Chickens: A Net-Positive Campus". From the article we learn that cities around the country are now working on "net-zero energy" buildings for schools. You can learn more about green schools through the Green Schools Alliance.

Along with schools, there are other public buildings that can be built green, and, if you think that net-zero buildings can't be constructed in New England, think again! Click here for the Northeast Sustainable Energy Association's 2013 Zero Net Energy Building Award, which was built on the coast of Maine.

If you're ever up in Portsmouth, visit the Portsmouth Public Library to see what has been done to reduce energy use here in New Hampshire! (They have a brochure on their website that explains their new building.)

Private citizens, too, can think about energy efficiency in new building projects, or in renovation. We have several books in our collection that touch on green construction, including The Everything Green Living Book by Diane Gow McDilda [640 MCD]. We also have a 3M ebook, Building Today's Green Home Practical, Cost-Effective and Eco-Responsible Homebuilding by Art Smith, which you can download on your phone, tablet, ereader, or computer.

And, don't the U.S. Department of Energy's website where you'll find energy efficiency information and tips.

Happy Birthday! L. Frank Baum

On this day in 1856, L. Frank Baum was born in Chittenango, New York. Baum was, as everyone probably knows, the author of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz [J BAU].

Baum died in Hollywood, CA in 1919. This was long before the book was made into a big Metro-Goldwyn Mayer musical production, The Wizard of Oz [DVD WIZ].

The Wonderful Wizard of Oz was first published in 1900, and, in 2000, Oz: The Hundredth Anniversary Celebration [J OZ] was issued in commemoration. It contains essays and illustrations by 30 children's authors and illustrators. The cover illustration is by the late, Maurice Sendak!

Also released in 2000, was The Annotated Wizard of Oz: The Wonderful Wizard of Oz [F BAU].

The "Wonderful Wizard of Oz" is the quintessential American fairy tale, but it is also a controversial children's book.

This annoted edition illuminates the numerous contemporary references, provides character sources, and explains the actual meaning of the word "Oz". A facsimile of the rare 1900 first edition appears with the original drawings by W.W. Denslow, as well as 25 previously unpublished illustrations. There is a bibliography of L. Frank Baum's published work, every notable "Oz" edition and the stage and cinematic productions from 1939's "The Wizard of Oz", to the 1974 Broadway hit "The Wiz". --Publisher's description.

If you're going to be anywhere near Baum's birthplace on May 31, you should be sure to attend this year's Oz-Stravaganza!

An Out-Of-This-World Music Video

"Space Oddity" performed by Commander Chris Hadfield aboard the International Space Station!

Commander Hadfield has several other space and music videos on his own YouTube channel! And if you want to hear the original recording of "Space Oddity" by David Bowie, look for Best of Bowie [CD ROCK BOW].

Air Travel

A Guide to the Complex World of Airline Fees infographic by visually. Click on the image to enlarge.

Summer is coming! Many of you may be traveling long distances by plane and although total travel time may be reduced, that doesn't necessarily mean that your travel experience will be easy. Top on your list of unpleasantness is probably your dealings with the airlines. Jonathan Miles has written a humorous novel titled, Dear American Airlines [F MIL] that will make your airline experiences pale in comparison!