Earthquake in Indiana! Did you feel it?

We had staff on the third floor of the library hear and feel the seismic activity just before 8 AM this morning. The staff on the first floor did not notice a thing. We checked the building and everything has held in it's place.

Rumbling into a new year!

Let us know if you heard or felt the earthquake this morning.

Happy Holidays!

Happy holiday wishes from the Youth Services Department! The busy little Librarian Elves are hard at work planning a great program line up for 2011. We want to thank all of our patrons for the sweet treats that have been keeping us going-yum, yum!


If you’re looking for some last minute gift ideas for your young reader, here are a few of Miss Julie’s favorite chapter books…

The Tale of Despereaux, Kate DiCamillo
Mysterious Benedict Society, Trenton Lee Stewart
The name of this book is secret, Pseudonymous Bosch
Percy Jackson Series, Rick Riordan
39 Clues Series, Various Authors
Holes, Louis Sachar
Tales of a fourth Grade nothing, Judy Blume
Sideways School Stories, Louis Sachar

NERDS, Michael Buckley

Sisters Grimm Series, Michael Buckley

If they can handle a little bit of dark humor…
A series of Unfortunate Events, Lemony Snickets
Edgar and Ellen series, Charles Ogden
The Spiderwick Chronicles, Tony DiTerlizzi

For the Girly types…
The Penderwicks, Jeanne Birdsall
Allie Finkle Series, Meg Cabot
Judy Moody Series, Megan McDonald
Clover Twig and the magical cottage, Kaye Umansky

Can you share any book titles that your child just couldn't put down?

Thinking about a Kindle? Think again.

I hope I'm not too late in telling you this: Think twice before buying a Kindle for Christmas.

I was just thinking about getting an ebook reader as a Christmas present for my mom. Maybe a Kindle? I realized that would be a bad choice. Mom borrows books from the Brownsburg Public Library. You can't use a Kindle to read an ebook from that library. In general, you cannot use a Kindle to read an ebook borrowed from any library, including our favorite library.

Ebook and audiobook downloads offered by Hussey-Mayfield come from a company called OverDrive. OverDrive and Amazon (the source of the Kindle) haven't agreed on terms that would permit OverDrive to offer Kindle-compatible ebooks.

Fortunately, there are many e-reader devices -- including the iPad, iPhone and Android devices -- that you can use to read ebooks from libraries.

Or save your money and keep life simple by reading your ebooks on your PC. I use my 4-year-old IBM Lenovo laptop to read ebooks from Hussey-Mayfield AND ebooks from Amazon. Kindle-formatted ebooks from amazon.com will work on almost any PC. You just need the free Kindle for PC software, which you download from amazon.com. To read Hussey-Mayfield ebooks on your PC, you just need free software from OverDrive. I use them both.

Have a merry Christmas and a New Year full of happy e-reading!

Mrs. Claus and the Musical Elves

Lots of little elves helped us jingle through a rousing good time last week!


Elfin Julie, Laura, and Kelli led us in some fun songs and Elfin Jazzy Matt spiced things up with his awesome drumming. We hammered toys, donned reindeer noses, and shook our Christmas bells while Mrs. Claus knitted by the fire and passed out special treats and holiday cheer. What a fun time!

From all of us to you...Happy Holidays!!!

And the Mock Newbery Goes to...

...Out of My Mind by Sharon Draper!!!

Our Mock Newbery Committee met Sunday, December 12 for our first Mock Newbery Election. Eleven students, led by our own celebrity reader/blogger Laura Rodgers, reviewed the award and its rules, and discussed and voted for their choice recipient of the 2011 Newbery Award. Also, a fair amount of snacks were enjoyed!

The group also chose three Honor books: Keeper by Kathi Appelt, One Crazy Summer by Rita Williams-Garcia, and The Dreamer by Pam Munoz Ryan.

We anxiously await the results of the official Newbery winner, which will be announced on January 10 at 7:45am to see if the official committee agrees with our choice!

What a cool experience!

We're Open!

Goodmorning! We want to let you know that the library is open. Since we are unable to reschedule our programs slotted for today, the Royal Balls will be going forward as scheduled. Our sincere apologies if this means that you are not able to attend due to the weather.

IF it is safe for you to travel, though, know that we are open if you need a wintry escape.

Happy Birthday, Jane!

“It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife. “ Sound familiar? It’s the opening sentence in Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice; and, according to The Bedside, Bathtub, & Armchair Companion to Jane Austen, a clever compendium of Austen trivia by Carol Adams, it's possibly the most imitated sentence in English literature.

Fans of the English novelist, and there are many of us, (the Wall Street Journal reports that Ms. Austen counts roughly 89,000 fans on Facebook), will want to celebrate December 16, which marks Austen’s 235^th birthday. The Library has Austen’s six major novels: Sense and Sensibility, Mansfield Park, Pride and Prejudice, Emma, Persuasion, and Northanger Abbey, in print and film adaptations, as well as an early novella-in-letters, Lady Susan. For those interested in the domestic details of Austen’s life, I recommend Jane Austen’s Letters, edited by Deirdre Le Faye. And for those desiring a peek at Austen’s romantic side, the Library has the movie, Becoming Jane (2007) starring Anne Hathaway.

And now, a question for all devoted Janeites: who’s your favorite contemporary author, writing sequels to Austen’s novels?