Shelf Notes

This summer we are making more time to play with our books and spending less time in the editing chair. But we didn't want you not to have an episode . . . so here is a short episode on how we choose which book format(s) we prefer when trying to be good stewards of our resources. You can find the show notes here: https://plumfieldandpaideia.com/ask-the-librarian-book-formats/

Since 2003, Sherry Early of Meriadoc Homeschool Library has been writing thoughtful book reviews on her blog, Semicolonblog.com. Sherry’s two decades of blogging have made Semicolonblog.com a treasure trove of book reviews!

Diane Pendergraft and Sara Masarik got a little bit of a later start. They have also been aggressively reviewing nearly everything they have been reading since 2016. Despite their late start, PlumfieldandPaideia.com is also packed with careful reviews of books new and old.

Now, the two blogs have been combining forces to read and review books for the 1924 and 1964 projects, Picture Book Preschool, Landmark Books, and other large bookish projects best tackled with friends.

Many readers and librarians have asked how they can stay connected with all of the newest reviews. We decided that it made sense to launch a twice-monthly newsletter with teasers and links to all of the newest reviews. Instead of getting an email or seeing a social media post every time there is a new review, by subscribing to this newsletter, you can get a digest or roundup on the 2nd and 4th Fridays of every month.

Sign up for the newsletter here.

In the Small Publishers corner of the newsletter each month, we hope to draw your attention to something lovely from one of our beloved small publishers. We are so grateful for the good work these publishers do to revive otherwise lost good, true, and beautiful books!

July Sale: 35% Off on all print and e-book items! Sale ends midnight, July 15th. Use code july2024 at checkout. Bethlehem has some excellent reprint titles, including the Bantry Bay series by Hilda van Stockum and the Fairchild Family series by Rebecca Caudill.

Bethlehem Books has also reprinted several issues of their book review journal, first published in the '80s, called In Review: Living Books Past and Present. These little magazines are an excellent resource for librarians and readers with lists and information on hundreds of excellent living books from the past.

Smidgen Is offering a Christmas in July sale that started Saturday, July 13th and runs through July 31st. You can get 15% off sitewide.

They also have two new releases, Little Men with Clara Burd’s illustrations, and The Christmas Story, compilation and foreword by Elizabeth Yates and woodcuts by Nora S. Unwin. Read more about the background for Louisa May Alcott and Little Men in a blog post at the Smidgen Press website.

Purple House Press's new release is a beautiful reprint of Understood Betsy in paperback and hardcover, by Dorothy Canfield Fisher. Other recent reprints from Purple House are Copper-Toed Boots by Marguerite de Angeli and Jenny: The Airplane that Taught America to Fly by David Weitzman.

When you are recovering from surgery, are on bedrest, are nursing babies, or are dealing with a heavy burden, you often want a gentle book that will entertain you while it takes your mind off of the hardness of your place. Many of our listeners/readers have requested book recommendations that would be light and wholesome reading for those times when we are tired, hurting, nursing, on bedrest, or just in need of a little retreat. Here are our favorites for that: https://plumfieldandpaideia.com/books-for-bedrest/

In January we announced that the Plumfield Moms are creating custom book club guides perfect for librarians (and others) to use in their libraries. Each PDF guide comes with 25-35 pages of resources, questions, background information, invitations and book marks, participant journals, and more. Think of it as a book club in a box. All you have to do is print and host!

Hilda van Stockum’s The Winged Watchman is an edge-of-your-seat adventure story that paints a vibrant but challenging picture of WWII life for Dutch families in German-occupied Holland. The story is full of hope, joy, fortitude, a celebration of life, trust in the Almighty, and a good helping of resistance and sabotage. Based on a collection of true events that happened to van Stockum’s Dutch family during the war, the main story centers on two brothers (10 and 14), and allows us to view the sacrifices and suffering of occupation through the eyes of children.

To help you enter into the story: we have a book review posted here, and we interviewed author Hilda van Stockum’s son, John Tepper Marlin, here.

This guide has over 30 pages of everything you will need to host a memorable book club, from invitations and reading journals to enrichment suggestions and no-fail book club conversation starters and questions in one digital download. You can purchase the guide, here. And you can find more guides, here.

Because you are a subscriber to Shelf Notes, you can download The Princess and the Goblin for free! Just email Plumfield and let them know you would like to have The Princess and the Goblin Book Club Guide (plumfieldandpaideia@gmail.com). If you would like to see more of the guides, go to the guide page, here. You can hear the story behind these new book club guides on the Plumfield Moms State of the Podcast episode, here.

Is your library registered at the Private Lending Library Directory hosted by Biblioguides?

If not, is now a good time to add your library to the directory? It is free and easy and getting lots and lots of traction! Even if you aren't ready to lend yet, go ahead and register yourself and just note that you are still in development. It is so encouraging to be a part of that community! Just go to the Biblioguides Private Lending Libraries directory, and click on the "Add your library" link near the top of the page. It's always free and always editable by you at any time.

If yes, do you need to do any updating? The directory is a year old! It is a good time to go and see if your listing needs any updating. To update your library directory entry:

1. Sign in to Biblioguides. Use the "forgot password" link if you've forgotten your password.
2. Go to biblioguides.com/libraries (the Private Lending Libraries page) and find your library.
3. Click "Update Information" and type in the new information pertaining to your library. Easy peasy!

From Kathie Johnson, Neighborhood Children's Library, Berkeley, CA:

I always do a summer reading game that is based on geography. I want kids not just to “read books,” but become acquainted with a wide range of books and cultures. Since I have been doing these summer reading games for 15 years, we’ve already covered a lot of territory. After spending time in Asia last year, this year we are covering north-central Europe: Germany, Holland, Poland, Austria, and the Baltic States. I’m always a bit nervous when I start lining up books for the summer. Will I have enough for everyone (kids get competitive and take a lot out to read)? Will there be enough variety to keep people interested?

I knew I had lots of Grimm tales, with several versions of the most common ones (Snow White, Hansel and Gretel, The Elves and the Shoemaker, and many more), but I discovered many titles I was not so familiar with, e.g. Hans in Luck, The Three Brothers, The 7 Ravens) . I knew I had lots of books about composers from these countries, including Bach, Beethoven, Brahms, Chopin, Mozart, and others. I quickly realized there were many more biographical books about people such as Einstein, Madame Curie, Anne Frank, the Trapp family singers, Rembrandt, Corrie Ten Boom and more. Then there are the books by Meindert DeJong, especially The Wheel on the School. There are books set during WWII and some that reference the Holocaust. In addition to all these, I discovered a nice selection of books set in these countries (or books about Americans who came from these countries).

So far, everyone seems to be enjoying getting to know these cultures.

From Tiffany Slack , Matthews Christian Library, Matthews, NC:

Our summer reading program takes up a lot of time during the summer (and I'm happy to share more about how we run ours, if you want), but this month we are also hosting a family book club using the book The City Under the Back Steps by Evelyn Sibley Lampman (republished by Purple House Press). We'll have a picnic and ant-themed club meeting during lunchtime at the end of the month.

New to the Private Lending Library Directory at Biblioguides:

Ravenwood Lending Library, Bethlehem, GA. Librarian: Kathryne Childs Wilkerson. Coming soon in 2025.

Little Ladybug Library, Austin, TX. Librarian: Laura. Also planning to open in 2025.

Kids Christian Library, Calgary, AB, Canada. Librarian: Marie Vatour. Free Christian library for kids, open every Thursday from 10-5 with over 1,000 books for kids of all ages up to 16 years old.

Do you have library news to share with Shelf Notes readers? We at The Card Catalog hope you are enjoying the resources we have provided there, and we also aspire to make our monthly newsletter, Shelf Notes, a valuable source for news and encouragement to the private lending library community. If your library story is not already published on our Librarian Notices page at The Card Catalog, we would love to talk to you about adding your story there. Please email us at thecardcataloglibarians@gmail.com to submit your library story to Librarian Notices.

Also, we really enjoy hearing about what’s going on in your library and sometimes publishing that information in brief in Shelf Notes. If you have news of events or new endeavors in your library, please share with us by email at thecardcataloglibrarians@gmail.com. Thank you for all you are doing to connect children and families with good, life-giving books. Keep on doing what you are doing, and we pray for God’s blessing on all our work.