2.5 days is not a lot of school, but interesting patterns are already developing in library circulation. Here are the top checkouts this week:

Summer 2010 will go down in history as the summer of the Old Spice Guy. A triumph of the integration of traditional advertising and the new media, this campaign has breathed new life into a brand usually associated with the likes of Grandpa Simpson. Aside from the commercials themselves the Old Spice Guy interacted with consumers by answering questions posed to him through Twitter and Facebook. His answers took the form of short videos. Asked to comment on libraries, this was the Old Spice Guy's response:


Another video phenomenon from the summer of 2010 was an advertisement for the Brigham Young University Library made as a tribute to the Old Spice Guy:

I am linking to a short post from Nicholas Carr's blog Rough Type. Carr, author of The Shallows, has positioned himself as a cautious critic of technology and its impact on the way our brains function. Among other arguments, Carr says that reading on a screen (Kindle, iPad, smart phone) is fundamentally different than reading from the printed page. Support for his argument comes from an unlikely source: Nicholas Negroponte of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). Carr has linked to a technology article in the New York Times where Negroponte, a leading advocate of technology in the classroom, admits his inability to read for extended periods of time on the iPad because of the various distractions it offers.

As we move forward and embrace the e-literacy revolution it is important to note these changes.

Carr's Blog

This summer my family paid a visit to Hocking Hills State Park in the southeast of Ohio. Unlike a lot of Ohio, this area is hilly, forested, and features a lot of interesting rock formations including caves and cliffs. In a talk a few years ago I heard Bone creator Jeff Smith talk about how this area was the inspiration for the valley in the Bone series. Smith, a native of Ohio, lives in nearby Columbus. So, this summer we took a graphic novel inspired vacation to check out Old Man's Cave.

Saturday, August 28, 2010 saw the Toronto Public Library's Book Bash at Mel Lastman Square and the North York Reference Library. The day long festival included author readings, signings and  free book giveaways. I was on hand to check out Eric Walters (Run, We All Fall Down, Stranded, Safe as Houses, etc.) and Kenneth Oppel (Silverwing, Airborn).


Eric Walters told his audience how he creates characters for his books. As a school teacher, many of the children in his stories are based on students he has taught. To demonstrate how he does this he made up a short scenario on the spot using my son Owen as a character (Owen confers with Eric Walters in the photo to the left).












Kenneth Oppel read from his new novel for middle schoolers called Half Brother. Set in early 1970s Victoria (where Oppel grew up), it tells the story of a grade 8 boy named Ben, whose psychology professor parents bring home a baby chimp as part of an experiment to teach it American Sign Language. The chimp, named Zan, is to be treated as a human, diapers and all.

In the photo to the right  Keneth Oppel signs the RSGC Library copy of Half Brother after having made a presentation that included a reading and a discussion how he conducted research for the book.

 I think the last sports book I read was Ken Dryden's The Game years ago, but I should probably read more because they can be tremendously entertaining and riveting. When March Went Mad recounts the groundbreaking NCAA championship game of 1979 and the magical season that preceded the tournament. According to Seth Davis, an American sports broadcaster, this game paved the way for the renaissance of the NBA in the 1980s and 1990s because of the great rivalry between Magic Johnson of the Michigan State Spartans (later the Los Angeles Lakers) and Larry Bird of the Indiana State Sycamores (soon to be a Boston Celtic). To this day the championship game remains the most watched basketball game in North American television history.

This book tells the story of two dramatically different players: the flamboyant. ever smiling Johnson, and the unknown, media-shy Bird. Before wall-to-wall specialty channel coverage, before the Internet, almost no one outside their obscure mid-western conference had seen Bird and the Sycamores play. Indiana State was 33-0 before going into the championship game against favoured Michigan State (25-6).

Davis tells this story in a matter-of-fact journalistic style. There are lots of interviews with teammates, coaches, broadcasters, and university officials. There is plenty of vivid descriptions of key plays and key games. Not knowing too much about some of the technical aspects of basketball, I found some of these passages challenging, but I stuck with the book because of the author's ability to place the game in such epic terms.

Basketball fans will enjoy this book a lot. It is shelved in the senior section of the library under the call number 796.323 DAV.

Interested in finding out more about the G8/G20?

The G8 Research Group at the University of Toronto is the foremost collection of information and expertise on the G7/G8/G20 summits. Their information centre provides links to documentation, reports, statements and scholarship on these global meetings.

G8 Information Centre

Here is their information on the last time the summit was held in Toronto, at U of T's Hart House in 1988. I remember fondly the helicopters flying over my residence.

Shmoop, a U.S.-based web guide written by educators and writers, has posted its summer reading list for 2010.

1. The Hunger Games, by Suzanne Collins
   (View on Amazon)
2. The Book Thief, by Markus Zusak
   (View on Amazon)
3. Catching Fire, by Suzanne Collins
   (View on Amazon)
4. To Kill a Mockingbird, by Harper Lee
   (View on Amazon)
5. Three Cups of Tea: One Man’s Mission to Promote Peace… One School at a Time, by Greg Mortenson and David Oliver Relin
   (View on Amazon)
6. The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society, by Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows
   (View on Amazon)
7. Life of Pi, by Yann Martel
   (View on Amazon)
8. The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian, by Sherman Alexie
   (View on Amazon)
9. Ender’s Game, by Orson Scott Card
   (View on Amazon)
10. The Help, by Kathryn Stockett
    (View on Amazon)
11. The Count of Monte Cristo, by Alexandre Dumas
    (View on Amazon)
12. Fahrenheit 451, by Ray Bradbury
    (View on Amazon)
13. Graceling, by Kristin Cashore
    (View on Amazon)
14. Unwind, by Neal Shusterman
    (View on Amazon)
15. Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close, by Jonathan Safran Foer
    (View on Amazon)
16. Thirteen Reasons Why, by Jay Asher
    (View on Amazon)
17. The Omnivore’s Dilemma: Young Reader’s Edition, by Michael Pollan
    (View on Amazon)
18. Sarah’s Key, by Tatiana de Rosnay
    (View on Amazon)
19. Heart of Darkness, by Joseph Conrad
    (View on Amazon)
20. When You Reach Me, by Rebecca Stead
    (View on Amazon)

A tweet led me to this blog  consisting of scans of typed or handwritten letters, transcripts and commentary. It is a fascinating use of digital technology to preserve and share an old custom - the long form letter. Some of the pieces, such as the letter by the Challenger space shuttle astronaut Krista McAullife, are poignant. Others, like a form letter to a fan written by Steve Martin, are hilarious.