Learning | The Right Word: Roget and His Thesaurus

How many of you have enjoyed flipping through Roget's Thesaurus, looking for random groups of synonyms?  I think most of us used it for schoolwork, when looking for the right word to describe something, or trying not to use the same word over and over again in an essay. But I loved picking up the book and learning more about words and their relationships to other words. 

A 2015 Caldecott Honor book presents a similar pleasure, in the form of a children's picture book about the life of Peter Mark Roget.  

The Right Word: Roget and His Thesaurus by Jen Bryant and Melissa Sweet is a visual treasure trove of lists, synonyms, and facts.  It tells the tale of a shy young boy who loved to make lists.  Some of those lists turned into a book that most of us remember from our school days, Roget's Thesaurus. 

The The Right Word's pages are illustrated with watercolor, collage, and mixed media. They effectively draw the reader in, to explore, discover, and become inspired. This is clearly a book that holds interest, even after repeated readings. I saw one review that compared reading The Right Word to looking through an old curio cabinet!

The publisher of this book, Eerdmans Books for Young Readers, has a delightful video trailer for The Right Word on its YouTube Channel.  

Learning | The Christmas Coat

Christmas trees with presents under them! Such a happy sight!  When I was a young girl, my siblings and I used to spend an awful lot of time in December, inspecting the gifts, trying to discern their secrets.  We could tell which gifts contained clothes; they usually came in the "shirt boxes" the department stores provided for free in those days.  Sometimes we would guess after shaking the gift to see if something rattled inside.  We analyzed the "to" and "from" labels, trying to predict what one specific family member would give to another.

MCCALL HOMEMAKING COVER, XMAS TREE, from George Eastman House's photostream
 on Flickr.com. No known copyright  restrictions.

The Great Big Mystery Gift appeared under our tree when I was in third grade. It was too heavy and bulky for us to pick up and shake. It didn't have a label on it. Nobody saw who put it there. There was no gift tag, saying who it was for, or who was giving it.  Attempts at questioning other family members about this gift got us nowhere.  We just had to wait until Christmas Day, but it felt like forever.

On Christmas morning, it was traditional for the two youngest kids (my brother and I) to play Santa's Elves, removing the presents from under the tree, reading the labels, and handing them to their intended recipient to be opened. So Dale and I did our best. All the labeled presents were opened, and The Great Big Mystery Gift was still there. I asked my mother if she knew who it was for. She shook her head,"No." She looked as mystified as I felt!

After a dramatic pause, my father stepped forward, and picked up that giant box. I was sure it was for my mother, because she obviously wasn't in on the secret. She wrapped most of the gifts, after all! 

But he didn't give it to her. He gave it to me. ME!!! Well, that was exciting. But I was even more surprised when I opened it up. There was a brand new, double-breasted, red wool winter coat in there.  

Remember, I was the youngest of six. Most of my clothing was hand-me-downs. I don't think I ever had a brand new coat before in my life--and this was such a beautiful coat.

We all peppered him with questions.  The story emerged: he had seen it in a store, and just decided it was perfect for me.  I don't know how he knew what size to buy, because my mother usually made sure our clothes fit, but he took care of it. 

I still get a tear in my eye when I recall that Christmas. I can remember how proud I felt, when I went back to school after break, wearing my red winter coat on the playground.

Imagine my delight, when I discovered this book in our catalog:

The Christmas Coat: Memories of My Sioux Childhood, 

by Virginia Driving Hawk Sneve.  

This is the true story of the author's childhood on a Sioux Reservation in South Dakota, in the middle of the twentieth century.  

Since her father is the Episcopal priest on the reservation, she gets her clothing from the donation boxes--which have already been picked over for the best items. I have to say, I can relate to Virginia's wish for a special coat. 

Check it out!

Learning | Science! It's what's for Summer Reading

Science is the word this summer! We have science-themed programs for adults, teens, and kids. The adult theme is "Literary Elements;" for teens, it is "Spark a Reaction," and, of course, for children, it is "Fizz, Boom, Read!"

This week, let's talk about "Literary Elements," the theme for adults. Most of us realize that the library has books full of scientific facts in the non-fiction and reference areas of the collection. But we have some fiction that's scientific, too.

Fiction

I cannot think of a better fiction series to link to the "Literary Elements" theme than Camille Minichino's Periodic Table Mystery series.  The main character, Gloria Lamerino, is a retired physicist, who has a second career as a science consultant for the police. (She also happens to be in love with a police detective.) She has an amazing scientific mind and her share of foibles, and interesting friends; what's not to like?

Each book in the Periodic Table series focuses on a particular element, which is central to the solution (no pun intended) to the mystery, for example, "The Nitrogen Murder." These are fun reads, and not too gruesome. Think of them as cozy science mysteries.  

Fun fact: Camille Minichino visited the Tracy Branch Library some years back. There was a library program about mystery writers, and she was on the panel.

Science Fiction

There is another fiction genre that dovetails nicely with this year's theme: science fiction.This genre is chock full of interesting stories and talented writers.  Science fiction stories are based on imagined and/or future worlds. They often feature scientific or technological advances. Some of these worlds portray dystopian societies, for example, Ray Bradbury's classic, Fahrenheit 451, in which books are burned. (Eek!)

Not fiction, but a really good story

Biographies are accounts of real people's lives. I find that reading a biography can be as engrossing as a fictional story.  

For example, read this book by Berkeley neurobiologist Sybil Lockhart: Mother in the middle: a biologist's story of caring for parent and child. 

Many of us have had the experience of caring for an elderly parent with dementia, and caring for our own children at the same time.  Lockhart's story is especially interesting, because her expertise in neurobiology allows her to alternatively marvel and cringe at the effects of the disease progression on her mother--and at the developmental biological effects occurring in her growing daughters. 

Learning | Bibliographies at the Lieberry

Ouch! The title of this post really bothers me.  I hope it bothers you, too.  I hope you say the word library correctly.  

Library comes from the French word, librarie (bookshop or bookstore,) which in turn came from the Latin librarium (chest for books.)  Would you care to guess what the Latin root libr- means? It means book. 

Library Defined, By the American Heritage First Dictionary,
 Lester Public Library, Two Rivers, Wisconsin
Photo courtesy of Lester Public Library's photostream on Flickr.com.
Some rights reserved.

Libr- originally meant the inner bark of trees (paper or parchment.) It's also related to the English word leaf. Sometimes, the pages in a book are referred to as leaves.

Since the word comes from libr-, it is very important to keep that r sound when pronouncing library. Checking out books has nothing to do with lies or berries!

In English, we use the word library to mean a place for books--usually the kind of place that lends books, rather than selling them.  Other countries have a word for the same thing, but since they still use words like librarie or libraria for establishments that sell books, they call lending libraries by a word like bibliothèque, Bibliothek, or biblioteca.

Bibliothèque de l'université de Caen.
Photo courtesy of Karl Dupart's solcarluscaen photostream on Flickr.com.
Some rights reserved.

Bibliothèque comes from another word that means book. That Greek word, biblion, is also the source of the words Bible and bibliography.  Bibliographies! Ah, yes, the other part of the post title that bothers me:  The misuse of the word bibliography. Bibliography comes from biblio- (book) and -graphy (writing.)  It usually is used to refer to the list of books cited in a scholarly work.

Bible, Solomon Teaches Youth, Walters Manuscript W.51, fol. 54r from the Walters Art Museum's photostream on Flickr.com. Some rights reserved. Bibliography, from Zoonoses: The Lethal Gifts of Livestock: bibliography slide, by Delia Grace, ILRI 'livestock live talk' seminar, 31 Oct 2012, from ILRI's photostream on Flickr.com. Some rights reserved.

I hear customers asking for a bibliography when they really mean a biography. These words sound similar, so it's easy to make that mistake. But if you remember that the root biblio- means book, maybe you can remember that a story of a person's life is not a bibliography, but a biography.  

Especially since the Latin root, bio- means life. Think of other words that contain the root bio-, like biology (study of life) or antibiotic (a medicine that destroys or inhibits the growth of microorganisms.)

Speaking of biographies, I hear another mistake frequently. Many people ask for the autobiography section of the library, when they really mean the biography section. An autobiography is an account of a person's life, written by that person.  So, if the author of a biography is the same person the book is about, it is an autobiography. 


These are a few of my favorite picture books in the children's biography section:

Stone Girl, Bone Girl: the Story of Mary Anning

Bon Appétit!: the Delicious Life of Julia Child




The following autobiography by George Carlin is most decidedly not for children, but he sure knew his way around words:

Last Words

Do you have a favorite biography, or autobiography--or even a favorite bibliography? Tell me about it in a comment below.

Just Life | Biographies Are Wonderful

I recently finished two biographies. They were eye openers.

One was The alley of love and yellow jasmines: a memoir by Shohreh Aghdashloo. She is the first Iranian actress to be nominated for an Oscar. 

The other was Cooked seed: a memoir by Anchee Min.
 
These two biographies not only have given me a glimpse into the lives of these two individuals, but also history lessons about the hardship of living during revolutionary Iran and during Mao's rein in China.

I tell you, biographies are great.

If you don't have time or energy to dive into a huge biography, then consider checking out a short biography like these:

Curie (1867-1934) in 90 minutes

Darwin (1809-1882) in 90 minutes

Einstein (1879-1955) in 90 minutes

The Library system also has biographies on audio format. My favorite biography on CD is Battle hymn of the tiger mother. After listening to this bio, I realized what a lenient mom I am. I recommend this audio to all the moms out there.

If you want to introduce biographies to your child, consider checking out biographies by Mike Venezia.  His biographies are full of fun illustrations and fun facts. My daughter, a third grader, loves his books.

So on your next trip to your local library, don't forget the biographies.

Signing off until next Monday- Panteha