Banned Books Week

This year marks the 27th anniversary of Banned Books Week, September 27 - October 4. This event is a reminder not to take for granted the freedom of expression and the choice to read freely. You can visit the Banned Books Week site or the American Library Association site to find out more about this celebration and events happening in your local area.

Trixi Thursday

Did someone find Mr. Sun by the chair?

Yes, someone found Mr. Sun by the chair!

52 Ways to Use Your Library Card

I meant to post this at the first on the month, but some how it became the end of the month. I am not sure how that happened? Any way, September is Library Card Sign-Up Month. As I posted earlier, my sister and I visited Riverside Cemetery at the beginning of the month. After visiting this oldest cemetery in the Denver area I wanted to find out more on its history. What did I do? I got out my library card went online to Douglas County Library's web site and checked out the book, Riverside Cemetery, Where the History Lies by Annette Student. Then I did a little perusing of their catalog and also checked out Denver's 2008 One Book, The Thin Man by Dashiell Hammett along with Frankenstein Makes a Sandwich by Adam Rex, Full Moon by Jim Butcher, and The Iron Tonic by Edward Gorey, because of course no library visit is complete without at least one Gorey book.

If you don't have a library card now is a great time to pick one up. You can read more about Library Card Sign-Up Month on the American Library Associations web site. They have materials you can download including 52 Ways to Use Your Library Card, which I also included below. HAPPY READING!

52 Ways to Use Your Library Card
(for each week of the year)

1. Get to know your librarian, the ultimate search engine @ your library.
2. Update your MySpace page.
3. Research new job opportunities.
4. Find a list of childcare centers in your area.
5. Learn about local candidates for office.
6. Pick up voter registration information.
7. Check out your favorite graphic novel.
8. Pick up a DVD.
9. Get wireless access.
10. Participate in a community forum.
11. Find out how to navigate the Internet.
12. Prepare your resume.
13. Get new ideas for redecorating your house.
14. Get a list of community organizations.
15. Attend a lecture or workshop.
16. Hear a local author reading his/her latest novel.
17. Join a book discussion group.
18. Attend preschool story hour with your child.
19. Get homework help.
20. Look up all kinds of health information.
21. Research the purchase of a new car.
22. Trek to another planet in a Sci-Fi novel.
23. Call the reference desk if you have a question.
24. Research your term paper.
25. Learn about the history or your city or town.
26. Decide which computer to buy using a consumer guide.
27. Check your stock portfolio.
28. Borrow or download an audiobook for your next road trip or commute.
29. Use the library’s resources to start a small business.
30. See a new art exhibit.
31. Volunteer as a literacy tutor.
32. Find a new recipe.
33. Ask for a recommended reading list for your kids.
34. Make photocopies.
35. Get a book from interlibrary loan.
36. Enroll your child in a summer reading program.
37. Take a computer class.
38. Hear a poetry reading.
39. Take out the latest fashion magazine.
40. Enjoy a concert.
41. Trace your family tree.
42. Check out a special collection of rare books.
43. Check out a legal question or issue.
44. Find out how to file a consumer complaint.
45. Learn about home improvement.
46. Borrow some sheet music.
47. Learn how to use a database or computerized catalog.
48. Find the latest romance paperback.
49. Pick up tax forms.
50. Connect with other people in the community.
51. Find a quiet spot, curl up with a book and enjoy.
52. Read a newspaper from another country.

Trixi Thursday

Cameras, Grave Stones, Comic Books and Cereal

As this weekend starts, I feel I am still recovering from the past weekend’s activities. Last Friday the illustrious illustrator, Pamela McCarville, and I went to a taping of Off The Page to talk about our children’s book, Willow May Goes to the Midnight Carnival. This will be our first big TV debut and even though I tried real hard not to be, yes, I was incredibly nervous. Luckily, Off The Page has the most gracious host, Stacy McKenzie, which help put us to ease. We were both quite impressed with her production and found the whole filming process fascinating.

I still feel I came across nervous, but I think maybe my hair will distract viewers from that fact. It had been warm and dry all week, but of course on the day of filming, it was cold and wet with 100% humidity, which natural curly hair just loves....NOT! I believe my hair took up another zip code that day and I am sure it not only frightened the camera crew and host, but also the illustrator sitting next to me who was probably afraid it was going to take over her seat at any moment.

The program will air on Broomfield Public Access TV, Channel 8, starting in October. We will be getting a DVD of the show and Stacy said we could put it up on our blog or website, so I will try to do that. I asked her if it would be okay if I had the illustrator Photoshop Jennifer Aniston in for me, but she seemed to frown upon that idea. I do want to thank her and the crew for putting together a great show that supports local Colorado authors and illustrators.

The next morning a project that my sister and I are working on took us to the Riverside Cemetery. Founded in 1876, this is the oldest operating cemetery in Denver. In its heyday the cemetery use to be quite lavish sitting next to the South Platte River with green lawns, trees, flowers and shrubs. Now it is in the middle of an industrial park right next to the railroad tracks where we had to wait for the longest and slowest coal train to pass by before we could drive through the gates. The cemetery is no longer being watered or regularly maintained and was vandalized a few years ago, which is sad considering the wealth of Colorado history that is beneath its grounds and the art above. The cemetery statuary is amazing. Since I feel this post is getting a bit long winded, I will post more in the coming days on our morning’s journey through stones of Riverside and the stories that reside with them.

From the cemetery we made our way to Mile High Comics to get our comic and graphic novel fix. I got an eclectic grouping consisting of Igor, Hell Boy, The Surreal Adventures of Edgar Allan Poo, The Umbrella Academy and a few others of varying genres. Should be some interesting reading (if I can just find the time). After that we stopped at our favorite eating place, The Shoppe, to fortify up with a big bowl of cereal and fruit. Next we stopped at the Tattered Cover to stock up on even more reading material. Finally after a few more stops and a harrowing near miss by a red car that did its darnedest to hit us, we arrived back home and collapsed on the couch for the rest of the evening. Who knew cemeteries and comic books would be so exhausting.

Here are a few of the photos from Riverside:

Trixi Thursday

Helping Dad celebrate his birthday.

Storm Front Book One of the Dresden Files by Jim Butcher

Harry’s classified reads as follows:

HARRY DRESDEN-WIZARD,
Lost Items Found. Paranormal Investigations. Consulting. Advice. Reasonable Rates.
No Love Potions, Endless Purses, Parties, or Other Entertainment.

That’s right, Harry is a wizard in modern day Chicago and you can hire him if you need help finding your car keys or what is going bump in the middle of the night up in your attic. Well that is when he is not helping out the Chicago P.D. decipher their own paranormal investigations.

In Storm Front, Book One of the Dresden Files, Lieutenant Karrin Murphy needs Dresden’s help on a gruesome double homicide. It does not take Harry long to know that black magic is behind these deaths. What Harry doesn’t know is the trouble he is about to encounter with vampires, toad demons, gangsters, fairies, killer scorpions, a sexy journalist, and one irate Chicago Police Lieutenant.

I enjoyed the storyline and Jim Butcher’s humor in this book but then I also enjoyed the brief TV series where Dresden used a hockey stick as his staff. I was disappointed when the series was canceled and did not think the Sci-Fi Channel did right by it.

Trixi Thursday with Special Guest

Hi. My Mommy went to the mountains this last weekend and took this picture of my cousin Nugget enjoying the upper deck of her cabin. She has to go out every morning and inspect all the plants to make sure they are being cared for properly, especially her catnip.




Next week back to me!

Weekend in the Mountains

This past holiday weekend we took an overnight trip to the mountain to visit my parents. They live outside of Glen Haven in an area known as The Retreat. We had a wonderful time hiking in the Comanche Peak Wilderness on Saturday and then even a better time at the Estes Puppy Park Sunday morning. My understanding is we did a good job wearing the pups out (and they did a good job of wearing us out too). Though short, it was a great weekend and here are a few photos from the trip.

At the start of the Comanche Peak Wilderness Trail Head leading to the Big Thompson River















View from trail

















The gang taking a breather by the Big Thompson River

















The Big Thompson

















River scene from trail

















Wild flower by trail

















Close up of the rushing cold water of the river

















Man and his dog

















Posing on the trail

















The infamous group photo at the end of the hike, Dad, Mom, Tasha, Rob, and LaKeit

Trixi Thursday

Trixi Thursday

Trixi Thursday

Left-Handers’ Day 2008 – Celebrate your right to be left-handed

The right-hand sister wishes the left-hand sister a very Happy Left-Handers’ Day!

If you are left-handed or have left-handed pals, you can visit the official Left-Handers’ Day 2008 site to find out more on how to celebrate this special day and download free left-handed posters :) .

How To Be A Villain by Neil Zawacki

For all you wanna be Evil-Doers out there, this book is a must read. Neil Zawacki ‘s How To Be A Villain helps you discover and develop your inner talent of being malicious, power-hungry, and/or insane. His book starts off with a simple test to answer what those voices inside your head have been asking, “Am I Evil?” including questions such as:

How do you start your morning?
A. Rise at six, shower while humming chipper tune
B. Perform vigorous knee bends and enjoy bracing five-mile jog
C. Hit the snooze alarm until hopelessly late for work
D. Sip a cup of coffee, read the newspaper, plot the downfall of civilization

What did you want to be when you grew up?
A. Police Officer
B. Doctor
C. Ballerina
D. Supreme dark overlord of all mankind, or a lawyer

Once you have determined if you possess the qualities to be a villain, you are ready to begin your journey down the destructive path of darkness with Zawacki’s book to help guide you along the way. He covers how to determine your underlying evil motives (greed, revenge, insanity or evil by nature), the importance of evil branding (evil name, slogan, jingle, logo, etc.), developing your evil laugh, choosing your sinister lair, deciding on your method of mayhem, how to select your henchmen, thwarting the forces of good, and the right fashion for your particular bedlam. But it does not end there my disturbing friends, also included is The Evil Plan Generator. This simple fill-in the blank form will assist you in constructing your own diabolical plan to wreak havoc on the unsuspecting world.

Once you have successfully become a Villain, I highly recommend Zawacki’s second book, The Villain’s Guide to Better Living, for better evil home design, evil health, evil work, evil social life, and evil travel.

Bwa-ha-ha-ha!!!

Good Omens by Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman

What book should one read when getting to go see the fantasico comedian Eddie Izzard? Well I am sure there are several, but I highly recommend the Good Omens The Nice and Accurate Prophecies of Agnes Nutter Witch, by Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman.

It is a story about Armageddon, demons, angels, and prophecies. The world is going to end this Saturday; the Divine Plan has been set in motion. However, you know that old saying “The best-laid plans of mice and men/often go awry,” or in this case “The best-laid prophecies of the Almighty and the Prince of Darkness for the end of the world may not quite go as foretold.” Yes, it seems that a certain demon and his angel pal, who have been living amongst us humans, aren’t too keen on giving up their current life-style. Couple that with an aging sergeant of the Witchfinder Army and a spiritual guide on a motor scooter along with the four horsemen on Harleys, and of course, the end of the world would not be complete without at least one UFO encounter, you could see where perhaps things might not go as expected. Oh, then there is the small issue of misplacing the Antichrist, but hey, sometime these things happen.

Like the back of the cover says, “What’s so funny about Armageddon? More than you’d think....” Good Omens is a hard-to-put-down LOL read to the very end.

Trixi Thursday

Eddie Izzard

My sister and I treated ourselves to a night on the town last Wednesday night with dinner at the Paramount Cafe and then a EDDIE IZZARD show!! It was fantastico!

With bits on Noah's Arc and The Ten Commandments, he exceeded our expectations and added about 20 more laugh lines to our faces. I hope he will come back for future shows considering the record breaking heat here in Denver (going on 22+ days over 90 degrees, and a handful of those have been over 100). But despite the heat we had an awesome time and can't wait until the DVD comes out to relive the hysterical magic!

Trixi Thursday

The Sandman (Vol. 7): Brief Lives by Neil Gaiman

That’s right, two of Neil Gaiman’s Sandman graphic novels in one week. In Vol. 7: Brief Lives, Delirium, the youngest of the Endless decides that she wants to find her older brother, Destruction, who left the family and his responsibilities 300 years ago. She first goes to her sisters Desire and Despair but they refuse to help her in her quest. She then goes to her brother Dream and to her surprise he agrees to accompany her on a journey through the waking world to locate their long lost brother. What starts out as a trip to bring things back to the way they were, ends up changing The Endless forever.

The last couple of volumes our tall dark dream man only had cameos where in this volume he was the leading man. It is a fast read for me as I was anxious to see what the final destination of their journey had in store for them...I was not disappointed.

Trixi Thursday

GUD Issue 3 Pre-launch Contest

On the Monster Librarian blog they announced a contest from GUD (Greatest Uncommon Denominator) magazine, who I had recently added as a friend on Goodreads. What a small cyber world we live in. GUD magazine is full of entertaining stories, art and poetry. The Issue 3 Pre-launch Buzz Contest is basically what I am doing here. You post about their contest with a link back to the GUD Issue 3 Pre-launch Contest post, then leave a comment on the GUD Issue 3 Pre-launch Contest post that you did in fact post on their the GUD Issue 3 Pre-launch Contest, then you will be entered to win a full set of GUD, Hardcopy Issues 0-3.

They are also offering 2 bonuses. Bonus #1 is the first 10 entries win a PDF of Issue 3, and sorry, but my guess is that train has long since taxied and taken off the runway. However, Bonus #2 is if you create an account by signing up you get a freebie from Issue 3. Hopefully I will not get in trouble for this, but my freebie was a short story The Dragon’s Thorn, Sword of Kings [& Fred]. I am currently reading The Good Omens by Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman, and I thought this story had a bit of that Pratchett humor in it. The story was a fun and amusing quick read. But, here is where I let the cat out of the bag or should I say bat, and how they are going to lure you in. Oh yes, that cool looking cover you see above...is a diagram of a steam bat model! And they say they have instructions on page 205 of the magazine. If that doesn’t cry hours of electrifying entertainment I don’t know what does?

Please go take a look at their site, if you don’t want to take part in the Issue 3 Pre-launch Contest, you can still sign-up for an account, read your free sample story, get hooked and then back for the full issue (which is also available in a PDF downloadable format).

Hmmm, wonder if there are any steam bat races? Because I am sure with a few minor tweaks, steam bat model could easily be turned into the super turbo steam bat model. Though I am sure liability waivers would have to be signed.

The Sandman Vol. 5: A Game of You by Neil Gaiman

I am continuing in making my way through Neil Gaiman’s Sandman Volumes, not exactly in order mind you, but I have been able to follow along with out any issues. In fact that is the wonderful thing about Sandman, though all intertwined, the stories can also stand on their own.

In the A Game of You, we find Barbie, who we first met in the The Sandman Vol. 2: The Doll's House, living in a grungy city apartment building with a colorful cast of eccentric neighbors. The story would have been interesting enough just following the lives of this motley crew, but it also moves us back and forth from the warped world of this urban apartment to a dream realm of talking animals, a mystical stone, and an the evil Cuckoo. A bird? Perhaps. We do see glimpses of the Dream Lord, Morpheus, through out the book, but the story centers mainly on Barbie and her two worlds. Neil Gaiman’s books are always filled with surprises and unexpected turns and this one is no different. And as I have found with all the Sandman Volumes I have read, the artwork and design is out of this world.

Trixi Thursday

More Coloring Sheets

At the Starbucks reading last week we had a few requests for coloring sheets with the dancing skeleton and alas we did not have any, BUT we do now! I just added to my web page, icatsnitram.com, not only the dancing skeleton, but the flying rat, circus tent and two puzzles. If there are any other Willow May characters that you would love to color, please let me know and I will see what I can do to also add them on my web page.

Starbucks KinderCare Reading

The illustrator and I did a reading to a group of KinderCare children at Starbucks last Thursday. It was kind of like a summer field trip for them and it was cute as they all wore shirts that had “Summer Adventure” across the front. Of course listening to Willow May is always an adventure. After the reading we handed out coloring sheets, crayon boxes with character stickers on them, buttons and temporary tattoos. Starbucks handed out a slushy lemonade drink with a snack. It was a great bunch of kids, so polite and well behaved. I want to thank Anna at Starbucks and KinderCare for giving us the opportunity to entertain them a beautiful summer morning. The day before we were having 100 mph wind gust (perhaps exaggerated), but just a light breeze Thursday morning, and we finished right before the 100-degree hotness set in for the day. There are more photos on the publisher’s website if you want to take a look.