Hi, everybody!

Some of you might remember that last year I posted about my cousin Helen, who won an EEC wide art competition for high school students. This year, Helen has designed a beautiful Christmas card, which I wanted to share with you — (her school is using it as their official card!)
The colors don’t come out perfectly in my camera phone photo — but isn’t the drawing lovely?

For those who celebrate, I wish you a happy and blessed Christmas, and for those who don’t I wish you a joyous and peaceful new year!

In other news, we’ve got a new and exciting podcast episode up and running — an interview with Megan Whalen Turner, whose “Queen’s Thief” books have won all kinds of accolades and awards.

Here it is, if you’d like to listen:

Or, you can go to the podcast page.

That’s it for today, everyone! Stay well, and enjoy the day!
~D.

Our simulcast session at the Mount Kisco Library this afternoon was amazing! Mo is even more charming “in person” than in his books. We had tons of kids there and they all loved it! Plus, they got to ask him a question! — well actually, I asked it for them….see?

Mo answering the Mount Kisco students' question!

Here I am, asking the students' question.

We finally have new furniture in the Mount Kisco Library teen room!
Look! Isn’t it lovely?

Plus, we have a reference desk in the Children’s Room!

Isn’t it lovely, and don’t Lazy and Crazy look happy in their new home?

In other news, the latest library podcast episode is up! This episode features teen writers, inspiration, creativity, etc. We have two more episodes in the pipeline. The first one will feature an interview with Fidencia Solomon, who will read her poem, Looking For Change. Then we will have an interview with authors Emma McLaughlin and Nicola Kraus, of “Nanny Diaries” fame, talking about their work and introducing their new book, The Real Real! So, stay tuned! And in the meantime, I hope you enjoy our current episode.

Hey, everybody!

Today, I’ve got a couple of awesome photos for you, which illustrate interactions between human beings and the natural world, and feature (especially!) bicycles! I was inspired by the thought that our new library should soon be getting a bike rack. Who knows what wonderful things may then be seen in Mount Kisco?

The first photo is by Ton Van der Weerden from Holland. The horse is a Dutch Draft, a breed I did not know before. Isn’t he beautiful?

As you see, the type of horse is very similar to the Belgian Drafts from my home town, but the hairstyle is quite different! For pulling, people in my part of the world clip the horses’ manes short and trim their fetlocks. In Holland, they leave the horses’ hair long and make beautiful braids!

And here’s a Russian Blue kitten, photographed by Lindy Meow! Gorgeous, isn’t it!

This one’s definitely set for wurld domanashun, don’t you think?

So, it will be very exciting if we do actually get a bike rack at the library!

In the meantime, I am happy to report that we did get some new furniture today! Behold the Teen Room Computer Desks! The teenagers tell me they like them a lot, and I think they are very pretty!

That’s it for this afternoon — enjoy! And I am always amenable to comments or suggestions!

PS Don’t forget, Emma McGlauchlin and Nicola Kraus, authors of The Nanny Diaries will be at the library to introduce their new book, The Real Real on Wednesday, September 30th at 7:00 PM!

PPS Just noticed, I ended almost every sentence in this post with an exclamation point! What in the world was I thinking?!

Building the Mansard Roof, originally uploaded by deirdrej.

Hey, everybody! Just thought I’d show you a couple of pictures of what’s going on in our new Children’s Room!

This is a replica of the “American Girl” house (also known as The Doll House, or The Ragtime House), made famous by Valerie Tripp in the “American Girl” book series. The house is actually in Mount Kisco, so it’s cool to have a replica in the Children’s Room of the Mt. Kisco Library!

The big bay window you see (with the protective blue sheeting) will have shelving for special displays.

Hope you like the picture!

The grand opening of the library is going to be on September 12th. If you are in the area, please come!

Christopher Wren’s Library, originally uploaded by deirdrej.

OK, everybody!

I promised you pictures, so here’s the first one!

This has to be one of the most beautiful libraries I’ve ever seen — and it’s so perfectly suited to its environment, it’s absolutely amazing! It’s in Cambridge, and, as you see, it’s right on the river, which tends to flood. A rather problematic setting for a library, you might think. But Wren had a brilliant answer to this problem.

As you can see, there are tons of doors and windows in the building, each matched to another on the opposite side. In the event of a flood, the librarians open everything on the ground floor, and let the water wash through. Result? The building has successfully withstood many floods, and none of the books or manuscripts it contains has ever been water damaged.

Amazing, isn’t it?

But of course, this only works because the building has a really solid foundation and great stonework. ….

Speaking of which, when I visited New Grange in Ireland last year, I learned that the roof of the chamber there has not leaked in 5,000 years! Librarians, take note!

BTW, everybody, please come see the new library in Mount Kisco, if you’re in the area!

More pictures later….

~D.

EDIT
My sister just told me to remind everyone that they don’t keep any of the books on the ground floor of this library! (Well, of course not! ;-D)

The New Mount Kisco Library

I am sure you’ve been wondering how things are going at the new Mount Kisco Library — so, here I am, all ready to satisfy your curiosity!

We did indeed open on Saturday, August 8th — “to rave reviews,” according to our friends at The Examiner!

You can see in Sean Gorman’s picture above that we haven’t quite finished unpacking — notice the boxes in the front hall? (I think you can see a couple, if you look carefully). But still, people have been coming in, and we are happy that everyone seems to love the new building — and also that we can generally find what everyone needs!

Our Grand Opening is going to be on September 12th, and I hope everybody will be able to come!

In the meantime, we will be having some special programs in our new program rooms!

Story Times will begin the last full week of August. Stories for 4 and 5 year olds will be on Tuesday the 25th at 4:00 PM, stories for toddlers 9 – 18 months old will be on Wednesday the 26th at 10:30, and family story time, for children 18 months old and up, will be on Wednesday at 11:00.

We will also have an exciting workshop for older children on Thursday, August 27th at 4:00!

A miniature book, made by Malachi McCormick

The number is (914) 666-8041

That’s it for now — I’ll post more news, and especially more pictures, very soon.

~D.

…which we would never be able to use in the library (I don’t think). But isn’t it cute?

You can even put a newspaper in his mouth!

Soon, we will be moving into our new “green” building (green in the environmental sense — it will be faced with brick). I have been asked to plan shelving and furniture for the new Children’s room, so I have been thinking, searching — and discovering some wonderful things! Some of my favorite items probably won’t be possible for us – partly because I cannot find United States distributors for them. But I hope we may eventually have something like these “livingstones” in the Children’s room.

Livingstones furniture

And how about these tangram shelves for housing games, or a display of the newest graphic novels, in the teen area?

Tangram shelving from Lago Co., Italy

Aren’t these amazingly creative and cool?

And the company provides a whole slew of possible designs at this link. (PDF file)

It’s wonderful what you can find online, isn’t it?

Enjoy!