Ikebana at the Library

Impress your friends and family with beautiful, unique floral displays when you learn Ikebana, the Japanese art of flower arrangement, at the Library on Tuesday, November 15th, 2011 at 6pm. Floral designer Mako Pekarski of the Japan-America Society of Indiana will demonstrate Ikebana and teach you how to create your own masterpieces. Ms. Pekarski is an Ikebana expert who has taught in Japan, Hong Kong, and the United States. While you’re at the Library, check out our collection of Ikebana and other floral design books and take a few home with you.

Handmade Sachets

Thanksgiving and the winter holidays are just around the corner. Learn to make handmade scented sachets -perfect for gift giving- in the “Holiday Sachets” class at the Library on Tuesday, November 8, 2011 at 6:30pm. You’ll make a scented sachet for the home and bath, using lavender, cedar, juniper berries, rose hips, cloves and cinnamon sticks. Adults ages 18 and up only. There are twenty seats available for this class, reserve yours today.

United We Read: “Who Owns My Body?”

October has been filled with fascinating discussions and presentations at the Library about the many topics in the United We Read selection, “The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks,” by Rebecca Skloot. Whether you’ve read the book, just started it, are almost finished with it, or are re-reading it, you won’t want to miss a spot at the last presentation: “Who Owns My Body?” by Dr. Richard Gunderman, on Tuesday, October 25, 2011, at 6:30pm in the Lora Hussey Room.

In “Who Owns My Body?” Dr. Gunderman will talk about the ways in which Henrietta Lacks’ story prompts us to question our relationships to our bodies, along with our notions of ownership of our bodies. If the body is our property, are we at liberty to sell it, or portions of it? Be a part of the conversation as we explore the complexities of bioethics and what it means to be human.

Richard Gunderman, MD PhD, is Professor of Radiology, Pediatrics, Medical Education, Philosophy, Liberal Arts, and Philanthropy at Indiana University, where he also serves as Vice Chair of Radiology. He is the author of over 300 scholarly articles and 8 books, including "Achieving Excellence in Medical Education" and "We Make A Life By What We Give." He is president of the faculty at Indiana University School of Medicine. He and his wife, Laura, reside in Zionsville and have four children.

Frightfully fun Halloween reads

October is the time for cozy sweaters, hot apple cider, bonfires, and hayrides. It's also the time for spooks and scares as we amp up for Halloween. Are you looking for something bloodcurdling to get you in the Halloween spirit? Or perhaps you like the festivities, but not the frights, and a Halloween cozy mystery is more to your liking. Try these holiday reads to get you in the mood for tricks or treats!

Ghost Road Blues, Jonathan Maberry

From a new master of horror comes the first book in a new trilogy that chronicles an apocalyptic showdown between the residents of a secluded, rural farm and the deadly evil that confronts them wherever they turn. This novel won the Bram Stoker Award in 2006.

Something Wicked This Way Comes, Ray Bradbury

Three hours after midnight, one week before Halloween, Cooger & Dark's Pandemonium Shadow Show rolls into Green Town, Illinois. A carnival like no other, it feeds on the dreams and weaknesses of those drawn to its eerie attractions, destroying every life touched by its strange and sinister mystery. Two boys--best friends Will Halloway and Jim Nightshade--are about to learn the secret of its smoke, mazes and mirrors as they confront a nightmarish evil that will change their lives forever.

Ghost Shadow, Heather Graham

“There are those who walk among us who are no longer alive, but not yet crossed over. They seek retribution…vengeance…to warn…Among the living, few intuit their presence. Katie O’Hara is one who can. As she is drawn deeper and deeper into a gruesome, year-old murder, whispered warnings from a spectral friend become more and more insistent...the body count is rising on the island of Bones and the dead seem to be reenacting some macabre tableaux from history.” This is the first book in the Bone Island Trilogy. (The quote is from the book.)

Fatal Undertaking, Mark De Castrique

Funeral director and part-time sheriff Barry Clayton lends Jaycee member Archie Donovan a casket to be the centerpiece of a haunted house, the Jaycees’ charity event. But when the organization’s president is murdered in the casket on Halloween, the national press descends upon Gainesboro. Barry must follow a trail of winding clues to find a killer whose unmasking will be a fatal undertaking.

A Catered Halloween: A Mystery with Recipes, Isis Crawford

In the fifth adventure in Crawford's much-loved culinary mystery series, sisters Libby and Bernie Simmons attend a haunted house fundraiser--with some truly spooky surprises.

Blackwork, Monica Ferris

This Halloween, Betsy Devonshire, owner of the Crewel World needlework shop and part-time sleuth, is haunted by murder. After one too many pints, a local blames bar owner and Wicca practitioner Leona Cunningham for a series of "accidents" that have happened throughout town. When he ends up dead without a mark on his body, Leona is the main suspect, but Betsy being on the case spells trouble for the killer.

Teen Read Week

Movie, free popcorn, and a treasure chest! What’s not to love? Teen Read Week is an initiative by the American Library Association to get more teens to read. The 2011 theme is “Picture It @ your library.” Starting Sunday, October 16, come to the Library and enter your name in the drawing for the Teen Read Week treasure chest. One entry per person, per day through Saturday, October 22. Since Rick Riordan has already released his latest book, Son of Neptune, we thought we’d make sure you are familiar with Rick’s more popular works by showing the movie “Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief” (rated PG). If you are not heading out of town for fall break, you can earn an extra chance to win the treasure chest by watching the movie (bring your own lawn chair) on Friday, October 21 at 1:00 p.m. We’re pairing the movie with a unique activity afterwards… so come for the movie and stay for the activity! Registration is recommended and just a reminder, this program is only for teens in grades six and up. See you soon!

I Geek Halloween!

Do you love dressing up in costumes as much as I do?  It must be the children's librarian in me, but I do love to dress up and I don't get the chance to much anymore ... except when I do a Harry Potter program and at Halloween.  Well, guess what's right around the corner?  HALLOWEEN! 

If you've visited our Library around Halloween the last 5 years or so, you've probably seen some of our staff dressed in various Halloween costumes while they're at work.  It's something that our Staff Appreciation Committee has sponsored as a contest with 3 top prizes the last 5 years and we've had some very creative and fun costumes through these contests.  Since we're in the middle of our Geek the Library campaign, our Staff Appreciation Committee decided that we should GEEK the costume contest this year and ask staff to dress as something that they geek, something they love and are passionate about.  Then, we thought it would be a great idea to include all our visitors in the Geek Halloween Costume Contest ... and award prizes to both staff and visitors. 

So, the 2011 Geek Halloween Costume Contest is open to staff and YOU -- our public!  Anyone of any age may participate.  The contest will run from Monday, October 24th through Monday, October 31st.  The Library is closed to the public on Friday, October 28th so that staff can participate in some staff training, but the other 7 days you are encouraged to dress as what you geek.  

Here's what you need to do to participate:

**  Dress as what you GEEK.
**  Come to the Library and visit the reference desk on the 1st or 2nd floor in Youth or           Teen/Adult Services.
**  Fill out an information card about yourself and ask that your photo be taken.
**  Come in and vote for your favorite 3 costumes in each category from Tuesday, 
          November 1st through Sunday, November 6th.

There will be 3 winners among staff and 3 winners among public participants.  Winners will be announced and contacted on Monday, November 7th.

Top prize for each contest (staff and public) is a $25 Zionsville Chamber of Commerce gift certificate, good at many businesses throughout Zionsville; 2nd and 3rd places are $15 and $10 ZCC gift certificates, all of which are provided through the generosity of a grant received by the Staff Appreciation Committee from the Library Foundation.


So, get creative!  Think about what you geek!  Look for fun ways to dress as what you geek!  You're not limited to just one costume because we all geek more than one thing, so get creative!


Good luck!  I've already got my thinking cap on and am putting together my costumes!

I Geek Writing

I’m hooked on writing. I carry a Moleskine (the literary equivalent of a pocket notebook) everywhere I go, just in case inspiration strikes while I’m waiting at the deli. Some people do crosswords for fun; I write American Sentences, a 17-syllable variation on haiku created by Allen Ginsberg. An American Sentence is part story, part poem. Here’s one Ginsberg wrote in 1987: “Four skinheads stand in the streetlight rain chatting under an umbrella.” And one of mine: Smelly tractor trailers hauling pigs up the road, tomorrow’s bacon. Try one!

I’m so hooked on writing, that I went back to school. I’ll graduate next spring from Butler University with an MFA in Creative Writing. (If you’re interested, you can read some of my stories at SubtleFiction.com and Luna Station Quarterly.)

What does the library offer geeks like me?

Books, books, more books, and magazines. When I’m seeking inspiration, I turn to Julia Cameron’s The Artist’s Way: A Spiritual Path to Higher Creativity. It’s a 12-week workbook with exercises designed to help you get your creative juices flowing. When I want humorous advice on the craft of writing, I reread my old favorite, Bird by Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life by Anne Lamott. I write fiction, so when I want to find out what critics consider “good,” I check out the latest in the series: Best American Short Stories: Selected from U.S. and Canadian Magazines. (The Library also carries Best American Poems, Best American Essays, and Best American Nonrequired Reading.)

Online you’ll find still more resources. If you’re ready to submit one of your pieces to a magazine, I recommend visiting Duotrope.com, an online database of literary journals, which lists both acceptance rates and average response times. Other online resources include NewPages.com and Poets & Writers.

Last but not least, during October, the Library is highlighting books on writing, so come in and check them out.

Mock Newbery and "Mayfield Picks" Best Children's Books 2011

Mock Newbery and "Mayfield Picks" 2011 Youth Book Nomination Committee 

Sign up to nominate and promote your favorite book published in 2011! Write a short review of your book and tell others why they should read it. You can make a poster or 1-2 minute video clip. If it qualifies as a 2012 Newbery candidate indicate it in your nomination.

Sign up to nominate a book and a librarian will contact you.

Request to a book HERE

This committee is a modified version of the Mock Newbery Committee we started last year. We intend to include a wide variety of interests and reading levels with this committee.  After we receive nominations from our Zionsville Library students, parents, teachers, and Youth Librarians we will compile a list and share it with everyone.  We will have a nomination party on November 8th at 6:30 PM.  Laura Rodgers, who inspired our first Mock Newbery Committee in 2010, will give an overview of the Newbery Award and give her inside story of the "buzz" over new books this year.

"Mayfield Picks" Nomination Party Registation Link

Kindle now compatible with OverDrive!

Attention Kindle users: You may now use your Kindle to borrow eBooks from Overdrive. To see the titles available, select the “download audiobooks and eBooks” link on the Library’s homepage. You will then be directed to the eBook collection available through OverDrive. If you see the Kindle icon under a title, then that title is available to borrow on your Kindle. To get started, look at the navigation on the left hand side of the Overdrive homepage where you will see the link “Getting Started”; this information will walk you through the process. Need more help? Then contact us at 873-3149 or askalib@zionsville.lib.in.us

Farewell to my "Geek Hero" Steve Jobs

A sad farewell to the Steve Jobs. What can I say?  We have an old LC II Machintosh Computer in our garage and I can't seem to get rid of those old blue floppy educational game disks from the 1990's stored in a box in my closet.  I wonder if the old  machine with 40 MB hard drive would still work if I put in a floppy?

I Geek Mac! Thanks to my dad, who is a "Mac Man", we have laptops for all the grandchildren, desk tops to show our 25,000+ pictures & iPad. We have purchased  iPods, iTunes cards, iTV . I even broke down and purchased a new MacBook Pro laptop for work because my husband hogs my iPad for the morning news on the WSJ Online (Wall Street Journal). I am the only Librarian at this library hooked on Mac so I carry my Mac to work every day. I can be extra efficient working on both a PC and Mac at the same time.

The following two biographies found in the children's department (the only two books about Steve Jobs in our library) give a fine glimpse into his Steve's life. These books provide so much more than what one can find surfing the internet. As I watch brilliant young minds wonder through the stacks at our Library, I wonder, who will follow his footsteps and create things we never knew we needed?

Check them out! You can place them on hold if someone beats you to them.

Steve Jobs : the brilliant mind behind Apple by Anthony Imbimbo

Steve Jobs & Steve Wozniak Geek Heroes Who Put the Personal in Computers by Mike Venezia

Indy Ghost Hunters

It’s about that time of year where people get excited about being scared. How else do you explain long lines at haunted houses and movie marathons of classic and recent horror films? I thought this was where the fun ended until I ran across television shows where people spend the night in allegedly haunted places and use scientific equipment to see if they could find evidence of paranormal activity. Then things got really interesting when I discovered there is a group in Indianapolis who does this very thing. They are called Indy Ghost Hunters and upon request they have a team of volunteers who take their equipment into homes and buildings where they look and listen for things which you might otherwise not be able to hear or see. Normally I feel strongly that adults should drop off their teens at the Library for programs and come back later. However, this is such a wonderful, fantastic, and unique opportunity, it is open to both teens and adults! Registration is recommended so be sure your schedule is clear on Wednesday, October 19 at 6:30 p.m.

Steampunk

I'm still new to the Steampunk sub-genre, but I am completely intrigued by it. It’s a blend of sci-fi, fantasy, and historical fiction, taking the technology of the 19^th century (like the “steam” engine) and turning the past on its head (the “punk” portion): the aesthetic of Victorian England mixed with technology that wasn't. Confused? Think about The Time Machine by H.G. Wells or Frankenstein by Mary Shelley. Steampunk wasn’t a genre yet, but these two classics are a perfect fit. Both of these stories reach into the fantastic with the use of science and machines. The trailer from an upcoming documentary titled “Vintage Tomorrows – What can playing with the past teach us about the future?” also tries to answer this question.

To make things more confusing, Steampunk doesn’t always follow its own rules. Science and machines make up a large part of the Steampunk world, but occasionally magic or paranormal elements sneak in (vampires and werewolves in Gail Carriger’s Soulless, fairies in Julie Kagawa’s teen novel The Iron King). At other times the stories don’t take place in the Victorian London (Scott Westerfeld’s WWI retelling in his teen novel Leviathan or the new Three Musketeers movie premiering this October), and they don’t always take place in the past (Jeanne DuPrau’s futuristic teen novel City of Ember or Neal Stephenson’s The Diamond Age: Or, A Young Lady’s Illustrated Primer, set in 21^st century Shanghai).

How to know if you're reading Steampunk:

• There is an abundance of clock-work, gears, and/or goggles.
• Ladies and gentlemen wear traditional Victorian garb, but more daringly (for example, ladies in trousers or steel corsets, gentlemen in leather waistcoats or the previously mentioned goggles).
• Contraptions. Lots of contraptions. Often worn and operated on the go.
• Robots (or automatons) take care of mundane tasks and the preferred mode of travel is via airship.
• The technology seems familiar to today, but powered by steam and gears rather than electricity or oil.

This genre has something for everyone. There are books for all ages and crossovers into multiple genres; they range from adventurous to horror to dystopian to romantic. Grab a cuppa tea, your favorite monocle, and a copy of one of these books and give Steampunk a try!

It's a Great Time to Read Aloud

Autumn is my favorite time of year! Crisp cool air, beautiful sunlight, changing leaves, vibrant colors, wood fires, spicy smells from yummy baking ... it's a pleasant season. And it's a great time to cozy up with your kiddos to read and create warm memories.

So ... we're celebrating reading aloud in the Youth Services area with a Read-Aloud display! Come on by to peruse fun, wacky, charming, thrilling reads. Do you have a favorite childhood read-aloud or a book your kids just love to hear you read now? Let us know, and we'll add it to our display!

You'll also find tips, advice, and reasons why you should read-aloud as part of our display, courtesy of Jim Trelease, author of a great title - The Read-Aloud Handbook (which is available at your local library :)). In this useful book, you'll get suggestions for picture books, short novels, poetry, fairy tales, and more. Keeping us current, he's added to his book by posting additional, newer title ideas on his website, too.

The Indiana Library Federation also has an award/list of which I just recently became aware: Read Aloud Books Too Good to Miss. In the four lists published so far, you'll find great, current read-aloud ideas for the whole family.

And in our era of modern technology, you don't even really have to leave home to catch a good read-aloud ... you can just download and check one out to your e-reader (now including your Kindle) with Overdrive. We have just recently added several new juvenile titles to our collection, so don't miss out!

However you find and procure a great book to read-aloud, we hope that you will read out loud to your children in the coming month! It's great for you and your kids. 

Olympian Party!

This October will mark the first every Olympian Week! Olympian Week is a seven-day, coast-to-coast celebration of Rick Riordan and the Heroes of Olympus series. In fact, on Tuesday, October 4th, the second book in the series, Son of Neptune, is being released. Since I love feeding teens, we’re having a book release party! But wait, it gets better. Because Rick Riordan is such a huge author and so many teens love coming to our programs, I’ve been able to convince the Library to let us have an after-hours party. On Friday, October 7th, the Library will close at 5:00 p.m. like we always do, and at 6:00 p.m. we will unlock the doors and allow 30 teens who have registered for the program back into the building. During the event, we’ll spell our names in Greek, make our own unique shields, and top it all off with a costume contest, with prizes for the best dressed boy and girl. That’s right, it’s a toga party! Because nothing is more awesome than having someone else convince your parents to let you wear your bed sheets to the Library (instructions here, of course you know the toga is supposed to go over your clothing)! I can’t ever remember being more excited for a month of programming than I am for this October.