Shelf Notes

In our August episode of Our Librarian Life, we had what Sara Masarik called a rambunctious conversation about book clubs, summer projects, and fall programs in the libraries.

Liz Cottrill and her daughter Emily Kiser are the librarians at Living Books Library, a private lending library for Christian homeschool families in southwest Virginia and northeast Tennessee.

"Our library tale is a long one, and that is only the beginning. In retrospect, I am so thankful we did not dive in with all the shelf books we were preparing, because about the time we were getting comfortable with loaning out the FIAR (Five in a Row) bins, we decided to sell our home, move to the country, and buy a farm. I had four children at home and showing a house packed with books was not an optimal strategy. So back into boxes all the books went to be stored at a friend’s company’s warehouse. But Emily continued to process books, trekking back and forth to haul a box or two at a time home for more labeling and data entry. The house sold, and the books went into storage while we remodeled a shack on the property to become our living quarters. We missed the books."

Read the entire story of Liz and Emily's library journey

In our Book Review Roundup, a joint project from Sherry Early at Semicolon and Diane Pendergraft and Sara Masarik of Plumfield and Paideia, you can find book reviews for all kinds of books from picture books to middle grade fiction to adult novels and nonfiction to help guide your book buying choices as you put together your own unique lending library.

We've been featuring:

• picture book treasures that Sara found at the thrift store
  
• children's books published in 1964 read for the 1964 Project
  
• picture books newly added to the forthcoming expanded edition of Picture Book Preschool
  
• current recently published children's fiction
• excellent and entertaining adult fiction appropriate for both teens and moms
• Caldecott and Newbery Award and Honor books
• books related to current events, such as the Olympics and even politics

So, you can find a wide variety of reviews for a wide variety of books, all reviews written from a Christian mom/librarian perspective. Don't miss out on the next issue of Book Review Roundup, in email boxes on Friday, August 23rd.

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!

Bethlehem Books is celebrating getting books Back in Stock with a 35% off sale on everything! Visit Bethlehem Books Thursday, September 26-Monday, September 30.

Hillside Education, a publisher specializing in historical fiction reprints and Catholic education materials, has many of its reprint editions on sale, including several of the books in the Poetry for Young People series in hardcover for only $5.99. Free shipping.

Some of the books on sale include Black Fox of Lorne by Marguerite de Angeli, To Kill a King by Madeleine Polland, The Father Brown Reader by G.K. Chesterton and Nancy Carpentier Brown, and Escape to King Alfred by Geoffrey Trease.

New at Living Book Press:

• The First Book of Trees by M.B. Cormack
• The Story of Euclid by W.B. Frankland
• Tales of Troy and Greece by Andrew Lang
• The First Book of Plants by Alice Dickinson

Hannah is a sweet young lady who has grown up reading the best books. She has read and re-read classics like Jane Austen and Louisa Alcott. She has a refined taste and wants recommendations that capture some of that elegant writing and have substantial writing. Light romance and historical fiction would be enjoyed. Here are some of our forgotten favorites that might fit the bill! Sara made a video explaining the choices. You can watch it on Instagram, here. You can watch it on Mighty Networks, here. You can find the list with reviews, here.

Coming soon! The freshly updated and expanded Picture Book Preschool will be available soon!

If you already have Picture Book Preschool, no worries! When the new version is available, you will be able to login into your account at Biblioguides and download the updated version.

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!

Kensuke’s Kingdom is a story about adventure, love, faith, friendship, resourcefulness, art, and beauty, and it is absolutely worth finding out how it ends.

Ideal for middle-grade readers, this is an adventure and survival story that will tickle the imagination of readers young and old.

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 this guide, here. You can learn about our other 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.

Beautiful Books Library in Prattville, AL. Chuk Shirley, Librarian. Currently in a pilot program (no fee) but planning to open membership to the public soon.

Decatur Book Bus, Decatur, TX. Lia Carta, Librarian. See below for more information.

The Book Barn Library in Grand Bay, AL has a new name: Fort Lake Acres Lending Library. Karen Laughlin, Librarian. The library is associated with Fort Lake Acres Academy, "a small, private home based education program for children K-12." However, library membership is open to families outside the academy.

There are 93 libraries across the English-speaking world listed in the Private Lending Library Directory at Biblioguides. If you know of other living books lending libraries that are not listed, please ask them to share their information so that families can find the books that will speak to their minds and hearts at a library near them. And please share this list of libraries on social media whenever someone asks where they can find the "Good Books."

Alison Dykes' Lionheart Living Library in Johnson City, TN was featured recently on The WORLD and Everything In It podcast in the first of what is promised to be a three-part series on private lending libraries. Here's hoping the other two episodes will be as inspiring as Alison's lovely library story. Listen or read a transcript of the episode here. And share the news with friends and homeschooling acquaintances everywhere.

Lionheart Living Library, Johnson City, TN. Alison Dykes, Librarian. The library has 23,000+ books, including 79 Five-in-a-Row totes. All titles are on-line, and Lionheart offers a pick-up service in addition to weekly library hours. Evening and Saturday hours are also available.

The Decatur Book Bus, Decatur, TX. Lia Carta, Librarian. Decatur Book Bus is a mobile library open Thursdays 9-2, Fridays 10-2, and one Saturday a month. The Book Bus is a proud collaborator with the First Baptist Library in Decatur. Text the word BUS to 707-234-8135 to ask any questions and get our bus schedule sent to you each month!

Erin Ensinger of Little Library in the Big Woods in Sellersville, PA, writes about how to "Plan Your Homeschooling Year at the Little Library." This inspiration article would be useful to anyone who's doing homeschool planning at any time of the year.

Lorinda Newton of Newton Family Library in Clinton, WA talks biographies and why they are important with a list of some of her favorites.

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.