Travel to a book!

At the beginning of our lives, many of us grow to love books. The stories often take place in magical settings or simply places we’ve never been and so seem magical to little readers. I came across a wonderful blog post about popular children’s books and the places that inspired them.  The comments below the article are just as interesting, with a small argument going on about the origins of Winnie the Pooh.

Just click on the link above, or on the picture to go to the site and read more. A fun way to waste a few minutes!

Educate, Entertain, Empower!

In the last part of January, we’re off to Super Conference 2013 in Toronto, the annual conference for all things librarian! We spend three days going to workshops, listening to amazing speakers, and visiting the country’s largest library trade show. It’s a lot of fun and we come away with plenty of great new ideas for programs, policies and most importantly…our patrons. It helps us make our library better, stronger and more relevant in our community, so we’re lucky to be able to attend year after year.

And while the conference is still over a month away, we are busy choosing which workshops we want to attend. And believe me, it’s difficult to choose; there are SO many exciting options. If the events aren’t cancelled or too full, I’m looking forward to attending a Forest of Reading® winners showcase where authors talk about their experiences with the program, and another one called Confessions of a Social Media Librarian. And Janet is thrilled to be able to hear her favourite author, Louise Penny, speak. Maybe she’ll even get an autograph! (I’m bringing my camera, Janet, so we’ll get a picture if that happens!)

You can drop by the website and see all of the wonderful things happening during our stay in Toronto.  We’ll post lots on our Facebook page as it happens and then do a recap when we get back in February, but you might find it interesting to see everything we’ll be up to.  And mark your calendars, because if past years are any indication, there will be a massive snowstorm here in Carleton Place that Wednesday, January 30th morning.

 

Sketchtravel

Being a children’s librarian, I have favourite picture book illustrators. There are some artists who never fail to capture the sense of the book and usually, these are the books that I love to read to children again and again.  Recently, Daisuke Tsutsumi, the art director at Pixar, came up with the idea for a picture book to raise funds for the literacy project called Room to Read. His idea was to create a picture book that traveled to artists and illustrators around the globe and the project spanned over 6 years and 56, 000 miles of travel.

Sketchtravel was born.  Each artist would illustrate one blank page and then hand deliver the book to the next artist on the list.  At the end, the original book was auctioned off and funds were donated to Room to Read, but not before several editions were created for the general public to purchase (a $40 version and a $250 collector’s edition). You can see more about this wonderful project right here.

What a fantastic idea and every page is something new and amazing! This could be done so many times, with new themes or ideas for a story that illustrators could contribute to. Take a few minutes to look at the artwork.  It’s pretty amazing!

On the theme of bookstores

Following the theme of beautiful and unique bookstores this week, how about the Selexyz Dominicanen Bookstore in the Netherlands (above)?  Housed in an old cathedral it truly is majestic!

Or what about the more quaint and eclectic bookstore like the Shakespeare & Co. Antiquarian Books in Paris? Hardly what you’d expect, but it must be crammed with little gems.  It has been featured in many movies throughout the years, so you know it is a favourite place for many.

If you’re interested, there is a whole list of other really fabulous bookstores in the world.  Stop by one of them on your travels, or just dream about going someday.

Can’t afford a vacation? Go on a virtual tour!

Not all of us can afford to jet off to a foreign country for a fabulous vacation, or maybe we just don’t have the holidays built into our work schedule.  But you can still manage to see many of the world’s greatest places…by virtual tour!

Have  you ever imagined seeing the Sistine Chapel?  This virtual tour allows you to zoom in, zoom out and control the mouse speed to see every inch of the beautiful room.  This is probably an even better view than if you visited in person (although the experience must be amazing).

Or what about a panoramic view of almost any place on Earth?  Panoramic Earth allows you to choose a destination and view a famous landmark in full panoramic views.  Choose from churches, beaches, fields….whatever you can imagine, they have photographed.

Enjoy this long weekend doing some dreaming of far off places!

Travel on Frivolous Friday

The March Break is over, but people are starting to think about summer travel.  With all of the restrictions, it’s hard to figure out just what you can take on the plane with you and avoid a mass opening of each item.  So, to counter all of this travel woe, an online company called 3Floz has taken the guesswork out of your travel supplies.  They provide an extensive array of products for your hair, face and body, all neatly packaged in simple 3 ounce containers.  Each product is larger than a sample size, but would also be great for someone who just doesn’t want to spend money on a full-size product they’ve never tried. The great thing about this site is that they are willing to ship to your home, or right to your hotel! Great for people who have lost their luggage or had items taken from them during boarding.

So, don’t let those travel restrictions get you down anymore!