Reader Services

This section contains specifics as to special services to readers that the Pioneer Library System provides through the hometown libraries.

Also includes regular articles highlighting the collections as well as book reviews written by staff and patrons.


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March 2010 Staff Book Reviews Print E-mail
Frequently Asked Questions - Reader Services
Monday, 01 March 2010 00:00
In Like a Lion, Out Like a Lamb by Lorie Hill
March roars in like a lion
So fierce,
The wind so cold,
It seems to pierce.
The month rolls on
And Spring draws near,
And March goes out
Like a lamb so dear

According to the OSU extension office, the origin of the poem and saying is the night sky's constellations At the beginning of the month the lion, Leo, is in the sky and at the end of the month, Aries, the ram, is visible. Many people also associate the saying with the weather, which can be pretty harsh like a lion in March. In case you don't want to go out in the weather or want to enjoy a good book when the weather gets more lamb-like, check out some of these staff reviewed books. There are stories of cows, dogs, and even sheep mixed in with mystery and suspenseful adventure.


book jacket for Dairy QueenDairy Queen by Catherine Gilbert Murdock
Staff Reviewer: Jenny Stenis, Center for Reader's Services
four stars

When DJ isn't in school she is milking the cows, baling and hauling hay and mucking out the barn.  DJ's father owns a dairy farm, while he coaches the high school football team, but when he has to have his hip replaced, DJ takes over the farm chores while her brother becomes the high school baseball star.  DJ's older brothers were both star high school football players that earned scholarships to major universities.  DJ knows a lot about hard work and football and when the coach (a close family friend) from the next town over wants her to teach his star quarterback all she knows she really baulks.  But she does it.  But she also falls in love with him and playing football.  This is a really fun coming-of-age story for upper middle and high school readers.  If you like this title you might also like There's a Girl in My Hammerlock by Jerry Spinelli.  This book is on the 2009 Young Adult Sequoyah Master List

 

book jacket for Dog on ItDog On It: a Chet and Bernie Mystery by Spencer Quinn
Staff Reviewer: Diane Burrough, Shawnee Public Library
four stars

Anyone who loves dogs and mysteries will get a kick out of this book.  Bernie is a recently divorced, down on his luck private detective.  Chet, an intelligent but easily distracted dog, is Bernie's partner and tells the story.  Bernie is hired to find a teenage girl who may or may not be missing.  The reader will probably have the cased solved well before Bernie does, but it is getting there that is the reward.  The antics of Chet, a mutt who flunked our of K-9 school but found a better life with Bernie, and his commentary on both humans and dogs is the real heart of the book.  Chet is very serious about his role as Bernie's partner but sometimes he is compelled to stop his pursuit of a suspect to take a quick nap or grab a stray potato chip he finds on the floor.  The first in a new series, you can get it and the sequel Thereby Hangs a Tail at your hometown library.

Read more...
 
Happy Library Lover's Month Print E-mail
Frequently Asked Questions - Reader Services
Friday, 05 February 2010 11:19

Portrait of Giovanni CasanovaFebruary is the month of love - and has even been celebrated as Library Lover's Month. So in honor of lovers of libraries we share with you a little bit of information about the most famous library lover...

Giovanni Giacomo Casanova (April 2, 1725 – June 4, 1798) is widely remembered as the world’s greatest lover. He was a soldier, spy, diplomat, writer, and adventurer. He also happened to be, of all things, a librarian!  His memoirs, which are the primary reason he is remembered, were written during the time at the end of his life when he was a librarian for Count Waldstein of Bohemia.  Despite his reputation as a scoundrel, he did have a great love.

Casanova met his great love in Cesena around 1749, a young and mysterious Frenchwoman named Henriette. He was quoted to say, "People who believe that a woman is not enough to make a man equally happy all the twenty-four hours of a day have never known a Henriette."  Even a notorious lothario like Casanova was able to be tamed by a single woman.  Sadly, their romance did not end happily ever after.  Henriette left him - and his romantic adventures returned to their scandalous ways. 

Imagine what else you might find out - by visiting your hometown library today!

 
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