Kid’s Corner: What to Read While You Wait for Your Copy of Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Cabin Fever

We’ve ordered lots of copies, but your hold on Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Cabin Fever hasn’t come in yet?  Don’t despair!  While you wait for Greg Heffley’s next adventure, try some of these series.  A good book always makes the time go faster.

 Melonhead by Katy Kelly
In the Washington, D.C. neighborhood of Capitol Hill, Adam “Melonhead” Melon, a budding inventor with a knack for getting into trouble, enters a science contest that challenges students to recycle an older invention into a new invention.  If you like “Melonhead” be sure and read “Melonhead and the Big Stink” and “Melonhead and the Undercover Operation”.

 My Rotten Life by David Lubar  (Nathan Abercrombie, Accidental Zombie)
Tired of continually having his feelings hurt by popular students and bullies, fifth-grader Nathan agrees to try an experimental formula, Hurt-Be-Gone, and becomes a half-dead zombie, a condition which, he soon discovers, has some real advantages.  Nathan’s half-dead adventures continue in “Dead Guy Spy; “Goop Soup”; “The Big Stink” and “Enter the Zombie”.

NERDS : National Espionage, Rescue, and Defense Society by Michael Buckley
Jackson Jones was the coolest kid at Nathan Hale Elementary School, until the fateful day he got braces. This unfortunate event ended Jackson’s career as king of the school. Friendless and alone, he joins five other unpopular misfits who combine their talents and use cutting-edge gadgetry to fight evil around the world.  They are the  N.E.R.D.S ! Don’t forget to check out the sequels “N.E.R.D.S. 2: M is for Mama’s Boy” and N.E.R.D.S. 3: The Cheerleaders of Doom.

Attack Of The Growling Eyeballs by Lin Oliver (Who Shrunk Daniel Funk?)
Daniel Funk, who lives with three sisters, his mother, grandmother, and great-grandmother, has always wanted a brother, and when he suddenly shrinks to the size of a toe, he discovers that he has a twin brother who is the same size. Follow Daniel’s miniature-sized story in “Escape of the Mini Mummy”; “Revenge of the Itty-
Bitty Brothers”; and “Secret of the Super-small Superstar”.

 SpaceHeadz by Jon Scieszka
On his first day at Brooklyn’s P.S. 858, fifth-grader Michael K. is teamed with two very strange students, and while he gradually comes to believe they are aliens who need his help, he has trouble convincing anyone else of the truth.  Be sure and read SPHDZ 2 and 3.   

 Charlie Joe Jackson’s Guide To Not Reading by Tom Greenwald
Charlie Joe Jackson is proud to say that he’s never read an entire book from cover to cover. When it comes to actually reading, Charlie counts on his friend Timmy McGibney to do the reading for him in exchange for an ice cream sandwich. But when Timmy decides that his price has gone up to three ice cream sandwiches, Charlie Joe Jackson is faced with two very unappealing options: let himself be blackmailed or read an entire book. What’s an enterprising non-reader to do?    

 Big Nate: In a Class by Himself by Lincoln Peirce
Supremely confident middle school student Nate Wright manages to make getting detention from every one of his teachers in the same day seem like an achievement. There are eight “Big Nate” adventures in all.

From Ginny W., Youth Services
                                      

Off the Shelf: Living the Book

Julie and Julia: My Year of Cooking Dangerously by Julie Powell and the movie based on the book both have lots of fans.  Tackling Julia Child’s classic Mastering the The Art of French Cooking would have been hard enough, but Julie Powell decided she would make all 524 recipes in a single year. The result was pure chaos. If you’re looking for similar zany true adventures to read next, try these titles:

 One day Robyn Okrant decided to take Oprah’s advice to heart. ALL of it. For one year, she followed every single scrap of advice offered by Oprah, on her TV show, in O Magazine and on Oprah.com. The result of that endeavor is Living Oprah: My One-Year Experiment to Walk the Walk of the Queen of Talk.

Remembering how much she loved the Little House on the Prairie books as a child, Wendy McClure set out to recapture that experience. As she details in The Wilder Life: My Adventures in the Lost World of Little House on the Prairie, she immersed her self in all thing Laura Ingalls Wilder. She retraced the Wilder family’s pioneer journey, attended the annual pageant held in Laura’s home town, and learned to hand-grind wheat and churn butter. What she learned only deepened her love of those childhood classics. And in addition to the book, it inspired her to start hilariously and anachronistically tweeting as @HalfPintIngalls which, as she puts it, she “walks two miles into town to send from the Twittergraph office.”

-Laura T.

Inside Scoop: Happy Holidaze Survival Guides

OK, so we ate our way through Thanksgiving with friends and family, and gave silent Thanks that we wouldn’t have to mix & mingle with certain acquaintances again for a while. But with Hanukkah, Christmas, Kwanzaa and New Year’s almost here, a whole new set of potentially awkward social moments are looming.  Find all the answers to your modern faux pas (tattoos to tweets) in the 18th revised edition of Emily Post’s (aptly subtitled) Etiquette: Manners for a New World.  And before you turn tail on Miss Emily, thumb thru for great solutions to all of your “issues”.  My top 6 selections, each solved with grace and humor include (in no particular order):      

1.         Squirt prevention – eating cherry tomatoes 

2.         Don’t be a hog – courtesy at the gym working off the eggnog

3.         Fist bumps – handshaking +

4.         Virtual manners :-} emoticons to email with your thank you notes.

5.         Uh, Sorry dude – graceful exits from snowboarding blunders

6.         Re-gifting revisited – just in time!

 Just the tip of the etiquette iceberg and fruitcake survival …. Lisa

Other new titles to help us get through the holidays:

Nature’s Prozac : Natural Therapies and Techniques to Rid Yourself of Anxiety, Depression, Panic Attacks & Stress, by Judith Sachs. 

The Ugly Christmas Sweater Party Book : the Definitive Guide to Getting Your Ugly On, by Brian Miller

Off the Shelf: Humor for the holidays – from blogs to books

Like any young twenty-something, I’d be lying if I said I didn’t spend too much time browsing around the internet, checking my favorite blogs and tumblrs for something funny to share.  That said, I was pleasantly surprised to find that when I entered the names of a few of my favorite authors into our library catalog, I found many books by said authors.  Since then, I’ve definitely taken to checking out the physical collection and letting the books sit open on the coffee table, ready to pick up my mood or start a conversation.  Here are a few of my favorites. 

 Stuff White People Like by Christian Lander.  A definitive listing of the places, hobbies, foods and secret passions of white people.  With entries like “Apple products”, “organic food”, and “not having a TV”, Lander really hits the Portland hipster demographic square on the head.  The book is a must-read for Oregon locals.  Aside from answering your questions about the mysterious white man and his love of Arrested Development, if you grab it now you might just get it before it was cool.   Originated as this website. 
      
I am Maru by Mugumogu.  Everyone is aware of the overwhelming presence of cats on the internet, so much so that I would never, ever recommend a Google search on the subject.  But the pudgy (ok, fluffy) Scottish Fold tabby from Japan managed to slide his way into more hearts than the rest, and it’s hard to tire of watching the adorable prankster catapult himself face-first through boxes.  In “I am Maru”, Maru’s owner gives a photographic history of Maru, starting with his life as a big-eyed kitten and leading through his infamous love of boxes.  After all, who could turn down 95 pages of that face?  Catch the famous cat on his owner’s Youtube feed.

Our front pages : 21 years of greatness, virtue, and moral rectitude from America’s finest news source from The Onion.  It might not be a blog, it might not be America’s finest news source, but you have to admit—it is funny.  This collection of headlines and timelines is a perfect mix from both the print and online content.  Ripe with zingy news stories and perfect accompanying images, the Onion may not be appropriate for everyone, but with lines like “Archeological Dig Uncovers Ancient Race of Skeleton People”, I’m hooked.  The Onion has released quite a few print collections, even a Christmas edition, so by all means don’t stop here.  

Quite a few other favorite sites and blogs have made their way into our collection, so the next time you find yourself sitting in front of our online catalog, just punch in the author or the site’s name and see what we have.  A few other favorites include Justin Halpern’s blog, Regretsy, Cracked.com’s columnists, and more. 
   
- Rob

Straight out of the box: New Non-Fiction on the Best Seller Carts at Cedar Mill and Bethany November 2011

Blue Nights by Joan Didion. Didion writes honestly about her feelings about being a parent, about her daughter, and about growing older. 

The Conference of the Birds written and illustrated by Peter Sis.  Sis adapts the ancient Persian epic poem with his unique, beautiful illustrations. 

Food Rules by Michael Pollan, illustrated by Maira Kalman.  Artist Kalman, whose work you may have seen in the picture book section, and who previously illustrated Strunk and White’s Elements of Style, now opens her paint box to interpret Pollan’s best seller.

The Garner Files, an autobiography by James Garner

Holidays in Heck by P.J. O’Rourke.  A follow-up to 1988′s  Holidays in Hell, O’Rourke writes about his travels with and without his family to far and not-so-far off locations.

How I Got This Way, an autobiography by Regis Philbin

Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me? (and other concerns) by Mindy Kaling.  Kaling (writer, producer, director and sometimes star of NBC’s The Office) muses on fame, friendship, family and how to sneak out of a party early. 

Maphead by Ken Jennings.  Jeopardy legend Jennings delves into the world of geography geeks and map nerds, of which he is proudly one.

Nearing Home: life, faith, and finishing well by Billy Graham.  Graham once again takes up the pen not only to share his personal experience of growing older but also to teach some important lessons on how to view time here on Earth.

SEAL Target Geronimo: the inside story of the mission to kill Osama Bin Laden by Chuck Pfarrer

Shaq Uncut, an autobiography by Shaquille O’Neal

Shockaholic by Carrie Fisher.  Fisher picks up where she left off in Wishful Drinking- dishing hilariously on her relationships and life in Hollywood.

Spontaneous Happiness by Andrew Weil.  This book presents integrative treatment strategies for low mood and depression; offers advice on lifestyle, behavior, and dietary changes; and helps readers assess their own emotional wellness and build personalized plans to manage their moods.

That is All by John Hodgman.   Hodgman- Daily Show correspondent, mustache-cultivator, and self-described deranged millionaire – finally completes his three volume compendium of ALL WORLD KNOWLEDGE*.

*(That he made up.)

 Then Again, an autobiography by Diane Keaton

The Time of Our Lives by Tom Brokaw.  In previous books, the news anchor covered the history of the Greatest Generation and the Baby Boomers. In The Time of Our Lives, he turns his attention to the current millennium and the state of America today and into the future.

Van Gogh, the life by Steven Naifeh