Extreme pumpkins

Giant squid pumpkin

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But I think libraries, especially branch libraries, are a waste of space as they exist now. They duplicate effort with school libraries and rec centers.

I work at a Twig ( too small to be a branch)-the people that come in Need us. and our number of users has grown amazingly over the last couple of months. and, BTW, I working CA - let me tell you about how bad the public school libraries are.

and yesterday had to be one of the best days ever. I started a kids book club - yesterday was the first meeting. 3 kids - all 4th graders - but it was Great. We read The witches by Roald Dahl . First - I didn't even have to ask questions to et them to start talking - they just started up. They were all voracious readers. my two favorite comments

- You know I sometimes think books are better than tv.

and then we were talking about being turned into a mouse. They decided that the worse part about being a mouse is that it would be hard to read a book - and they were wondering how long it would take to turn a page if they were a mouse.

Seriously, what else could I ask for?

Happy Birthday Burrell

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Oh, beth, what great kids!

I don't know if I was clear in my amazement before - I think it's wonderful that annotation is being taught. Looking back, it probably would have helped me immensely. It's astounding that there could be such a change in what still feels like a short period of time since I was in school.

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When I was in law school, they taught us a four color system for annontating cases in our books. It's the onlytime I've ever been taught annotation, but for a situation like a law school class, it was a fantastic skill. I don't have to read that critically much anymore, but I always annotate when I do.

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Annotating is what other pieces of paper are for. My mental block runs deep.

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Beth that's great! I love hearing about kids getting into reading.

One of the library branches here is pretty much a Twig, it's in a tiny store front and it's in an area of town that's really expanded. Building a new building had to go to a vote and it passed, but now with the funding freezes it won't happen. And it's sad too because there's so many people who could really benefit from a real branch.

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Anyone have a special celebratory treat on Friday? or reward yourselves for making it to Friday by having some treat? Something you usually get on Friday but you wouldn't usually get on other days?

I used to get a big-ass cinnamon roll on Fridays on my way to work. Now I usually get a big-ass chocolate chip brownie for lunch desert on Friday.

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I don't know if I was clear in my amazement before - I think it's wonderful that annotation is being taught.

Oh, I didn't take what you said (or anyone else, for that matter) as negative. I just get all talky-meat when it comes to English stuff. I think it's pretty great too!

Annotating is what other pieces of paper are for. My mental block runs deep.

Absolutely; I completely understand that feeling. That's why we teach alternatives.

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I can only write in cook books and text books I'm not sure I could write in any other books. Partly because once there's a mark my eyes are always drawn there and it's hard to ignore it and focus on the rest of the text.

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My library in my new town is in a strip mall. It's right next to my insurance office, as a matter of fact. I guess it's a more of a branch to the county system than an independent city library.

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