Favorite new books

A Cultural Journey

Namu, Y. E. (2003). Leaving Mother Lake. New York Boston: Back Bay Book, Little, Brown and Company.

Christine Mathieu has a doctorate in Moso culture and history. She met Yang Erche Namu who grew up in a small tribe in China called the Moso and the conversations followed. This book is a memoir of Yang Erche Namu’s experience growing up in a unique culture; one that may be one of only a few truly matriarchal societies. While the structure of the culture is very different from our own, the trails and feelings of a young girl with dreams is not that far from ours. In a southern area of China there is a tiny part of the country where the women shun marriage and own all the property. This area of tribal people is called “The Country of Daughters”.


Bagdasarian, A. (2000). Forgotten Fire. New York: Dorling Kindersley Publishing, Inc.

This story begins with a character as a young boy living a privileged life Armenia. The writer of the book, Adam Bagdasarian wrote the story after hearing a tape of his great uncle’s memories of his childhood in that country. He began to read and research about the time in history. His uncle was 15 years old, the youngest of 6 children and the son of a wealthy Armenian lawyer. The atrocities begin when the father is taken from the home because he is suspected of collaborating with Russia. Turkish soldiers come into the home and shoot the oldest of the brothers while the young boy and his family are forced to watch. This period in history is the example Hitler used to justify and support the argument that the world will forget an exterminated people.


Oufkir, Malika, & M. Fitoussi (1999). Stolen Lives. New York: Hyperion.

Stolen Lives is an autobiographical account of the life of Malika Ourkir. She was the daughter of a general who was the closest aide of the King of Morocco. At five, the king decided his own daughter needed a playmate and she was transferred into the King’s family. She lived her life from the age of five in the seclusion of the court harem. She was surrounded by luxury most of us can never imagine. But she lived away from the father she idealized and the mother who she adored.
In 1972, her father is executed after a failed attempt to assassinate the King. The family of the general is imprisoned in a desert penal colony for 15 years. This is the families story.


Hosseini, Khaled (2003). The Kite Runner. New York: Riverhead Books.

This is the story of two boys, their lives interwoven by circumstances and geography. The grew up together as friends; and apart, as Hassan is the son of a favored servant and a member of the Hazara people who were subordinate to the Pashtuns and Amir, son of an admired man. Amir is educated while Hassan remains at home living in a hut behind a magnificent home Amir’s father built. They spend their lives together, one serving the other.


Nafisi, Azar (2003). Reading Lolita in Tehran. New York: Random House.

The next book is not only a great read, but is important to those who work in the library field and value intellectual freedom. If it isn’t on a list of must reads, please put it on yours. Reading Lolita in Tehran is written by Azar Nafisi about her life living and teaching in Iran. She gives an account of her life, her gifted teaching and the restrictions placed on her by the mullahs who have taken over her country.
Exploring a culture that prohibits free expression is important for those of us who stand for freedom of speech, the freedom to read, freedom of creation and ultimately the effect the repression of freedom has on thought.

Haruf, Kent (2004). Eventide. New York: Knoff, Borzoi Books of Random House.


Haruf, Kent (1999). Plainsong. New York: Knofp, Borzoi Books of Random House.

Kent Haruf has been compared to John Steibeck. He takes a simple community in northern Colorado, fills it with real life characters and all their flaws, takes the reader through the trials of their lives and surprises us with a kindness that goes beyond our expectations that stays with the reader after the reading is done. I had heard of his books, but hadn’t had the chance to loose myself in them, and my ignorance led me to the second in a series. I began with Eventide, not knowing that I was in the middle of the story, but now I am glad and I prefer to read it that way. If I had read Plainsong first, I would have had answers to some of the questions the test brought up, but the elements of the characters might not have been as strong had I known everything about them to begin with.
As I read the story, it seemed to be centered around two old brothers, alone in the world, except for each other and not too unhappy about their circumstances. But the story can be read from any of the characters perspectives; a young boy living with his grandfather, two young girls whose father decides not to return home and whose mother has not determined what to do with that information, from a pretty high school girl with no chance in life, or a family with too little sense to get them through life’s difficulties to the teachers who become involved in each others lives.






copyright - Cindy Moore

San Antonio

It hits you and you can't remember why you didn't recall the existence of the
humidity and the heat as you deplane. Fying for the first time from the
prespective of a thirteen year old will be remembered just for the look on his
face. However, never before remembering the heat made my son immediately
whine and ask to go home. Now, that would cut short our few days in Texas!
Tomorrow, the Alamo and the Riverwalk and hopefully the San Antonio Public
Library. Tonite he got to partake in the Hyatt Regency Golf Resort and Spa's
winding river. He floated around the property, discovering bridges, two
pools, a waterfall, basketball and volleyball water games with a restaurant
near the banks. S'mores were being cooked on the island and a movie was set
up with blankets out on the lawn. Quite a change from the snow we had this
morning in Wyoming! It was all going well, until that snake wiggled under his
foot. :)

Bring Us Your Questions

Reference librarians love problems. They love the puzzle that is presented when someone has an information need and comes to the library looking for some help finding information. They love to be able to help with the search process and share the resources of the library. The difficulty for library users is, for some, at some times, it is not easy asking for information. Witness, there are people who would rather eat dirt than stop and ask for directions. There is an actual term for this. Library Anxiety. Studies have been done! The researchers believe that it comes from a widely held impression that human beings should intuitively know their way around every library. The idea that everyone should have been born with “library skills” without the years of practice, experience and education like those that work in the field, or they will be considered as less informed or competent seems unrealistic.

I think that many times librarians look busy. It is true, they are busy, there is much more work involved in maintaining the library collection and records and running a library that I would have thought before working in a library. I am always surprised when people approach the desk saying, “I know you are busy” or “Sorry to bother you” or “This is a stupid question but.....” There are no stupid questions! We relish questions! Please bother us! Libraries are trying coffee bars and gift shops; we have eliminated the shushing and installed computers to create a friendly, warm atmosphere for everyone. We want to be accessible, we want to demystify the Dewey System and we want the library to be a place for everyone. Mostly we would like you to be comfortable asking questions of us. We are sure that there are many people who do not realize all that a library offers in sources and services.

Reference librarians live to help people find information. We like students who come to the library working on assignments from school, needing to do research on a specific topic. We like people who are looking for information for repairing vehicles. The Library has a collection of Chilton manuals and two electronic databases that index information. We love to show off the databases, choosing a database that specializes in certain subjects, using controlled vocabulary and thesauri to narrower a topic and more carefully define your search. We will be happy to help you find books. We understand that everyone has not studied these systems and probably do not live and breathe the Dewey Decimal System like library staff does. This is our job; to assist you in finding the information within the library, within other libraries that reciprocate our services with Inter Library Loan, within the deep web of the Internet or from the databases that the Sweetwater County Library System or the State Library has subscribed to. We will help you if you would like some assistance with the computers or show you WYLDCAT; our database for locating books.

I understand library anxiety; the world is full of information and information sources. You can google almost any subject but will your instructor/employer accept that as a credible source? We are bombarded with 24 hour news, blogs, list serves, online communities, instant messaging, digital libraries, databases, e-mail news services, websites and wikis. There are many choices of information and information services. Reference librarians will ask you questions to narrow or define your need and determine a search strategy that will meet the need you have. We will search information and sources to assist you, we will question you after you have had a chance to look at and evaluate if the material found will be of use and we will restructure the search until we find material that will fit your need. Librarians will be happy to help!

Dr. Seuss and the Big Mistake

I have to imagine that Theodor Seuss Geisel might have been musically inclined. I have never heard that he played an instrument or liked to sing but his particular slant of genius seems acoustical in nature. “Oh the places you’ll go! There is fun to be done! There are points to be scored. There are games to be won.” He manipulated words and changed or made them up to fit into his composition. Reading Dr. Seuss books causes memories and comfort to bubble up with the alien language and soothing rhythm; the silly ten legged creatures and the action the wild illustrations create. He transformed the reading landscape.

Dr. Seuss wrote to children and respected their nature but he originally intended to write great adult books. He spent his early childhood estranged from his peers and castigated by his teachers. In the early part of the 20th century it wasn’t cool to color outside the lines. His characters were weird, the plants could move, the buildings were crooked, his cows could fly, the ears were too long. Breaking rules and having an unusual viewpoint was unacceptable. These children’s books were unorthodox and weren’t like other storybooks with the programmed respect for authority. He wrote with an enchanting connection to children about adult ideas. His first book, “And to Think I Saw it on Mulberry Street” gave a peeper’s view into medical problems. “The 500 Hats of Bartholomew Cubbins” is a fanciful tale that looked into the heart of absurd class distinctions. “Horton Hatches the Egg” followed with lessons about integrity during adversity. Theodor then wrote a book for his father who loved to fish called “McElligot’s Pool”, a favorite of Seuss fans and his first Caldecott award winner. “Bartholomew and the Oobleck” warned us to be careful what we wished for and never allow our own sense of importance to become environmentally destructive. A man before his time, these were written during the 1940’s.

In 1957, Dr. Seuss understood the importance of words and children’s recognition of those words so he wrote “The Cat in The Hat” using 225 words that first graders need to learn to read. People weren’t use to seeing characters with disdain for adults but the book became a success. “Green Eggs and Ham” was written on a bet. His publisher didn’t think a book could be written using only fifty words. Many children have learned to read using that text. He entertained and taught without patronizing kids.

As he grew older, his viewpoint grew serious. He wrote “The Lorax”, a commentary on pollution in the late sixties. “Marvin K. Mooney Will You Please Go Now!” was parodied and “Richard M. Nixon, Will You Please Go Now!” was published. The president resigned nine days later. Dr. Seuss’s favorite book was “The Butter Battle Book” which explored the futility of war. My personal favorite is “Sneetches” which affectionately made us examine our differences and the disgraceful behavior of building boundaries based on visible variations.

“How the Grinch Stole Christmas” was Dr. Seuss’s only mistake. While I can agree that the Grinch went through a mighty transformation the day Christmas was saved, he was not the story’s real hero. The real hero was a small girl – Cindy-Lou Who – who maintained her excitement of celebration and intuitively knew that the spirit and joy resided within. Without the Grinch we wouldn’t have seen the redemption factor necessary for a great book. Without Cindy-Lou Who we wouldn’t have the standard to measure that change. The story and the illustrations are distinctively Seuss and have stood the test of time. Dr. Seuss showed us simplicity, purity and the beauty of life from within and through the eyes of a child.

The New Underdog - Boys

The tides have reversed. Many educators feel that boys are now the underdogs in the classroom. The thinking that occurred when girls were discriminated against in academics and sports brought about legislation that equalized our treatment of girls. Now we are taking a look at the status of boys and find that boys are a year and a half behind in reading and writing. Boys are less committed to school and less likely to go to college compared to girls. The U.S. Department of Education finds that girls are no longer shy and demoralized, instead they outshine boys; they get better grades, have higher educational goals, plan more difficult academic programs and participate in advanced placement classes more often. Girls participate in greater numbers in student government, in honor societies, in newspaper writing and in debate. Girls read more books. Girls perform better in artistic and musical tests. More girls than boys study abroad.

Boys are more often suspended from school, more likely to be held back and more likely to drop out. Boys are three times more susceptible to an attention deficit or hyperactivity diagnosis. More boys get involved in alcohol, drugs and crime than girls. More girls attempt suicide, but when boys attempt suicide they are more likely to succeed. Parents have observed that girls try harder to please their parents, keep their papers neater and do extra credit while boys rush through homework wanting to get outside or play. We used to see that boys outperformed girls in science and math while girls outperformed boys in reading and writing. We are now seeing that girls have caught up in science and math while boys continue to test poorly in reading and writing. People without good reading skills are going to find employment difficult in our increasingly information driven economy. Equally harmful is our inability to recognize or accept that boys are at risk, we are too conditioned to believe that we have short changed our girls.

I can see both sides of the research; girls suffer from unattainable images of beauty, ridiculous standards for weight and many are mega-pleasers. It is also clear that our boys generally are not as engaged in school. It is my contention that boys are held to impossible standards to be strong and responsible. Boys are rewarded for their skills in sports while not often praised for being smart in school. Adolescence appears to be successful if survived, but I would like to think our children could survive with some skills that will facilitate their lives and dreams. Both sexes have their intricate attributes and abilities. There is a legitimate concern for boys in the area of reading. I have seen this at home; I never had to threaten my daughter to get her to read while the closest relationship my son has with a book is when one fell on his foot. Apparently there are many things he finds more electrifying than books.

Jon Scieszka, whose innovative funny writing style appeals to boys, is the editor of the book; Guys Read, a collection of stories by authors -usually about themselves. Scieszka also has a website: GuysRead.com. He contends boys read if useful, fun or funny. Jeff Wilhelm, professor at Boise State, believes that boys read things connected to their lives, they prefer something they can immediately use, talk about, argue about or do something with. School reading rarely interests them, even those boys who go on to advanced degree work. So the problem lies with us and our conception of literature. When we devalue graphic novels, comic books, video game instructions and computer manuals, we may devalue boys. Graphic novels, comic books, Calvin and Hobbes, Garfield and the Guinness Book of World Records may interest boys. Books about video games, like Halo, may work. Engaging boys in any reading will allow them to progress in their reading skills. We do them a disservice disallowing them the opportunity.