Bike to Work Day

National Bike to Work Day is Friday, May 18th, part of the League of American Bicyclists' National Bike Month, & you are invited to be part of Albuquerque's celebrations!

From the folks at Bike Hub New Mexico: "Get Fit, Look Good, Save Money on Gas: Bike To Work Day, brought to you by the City of Albuquerque and BikeABQ, is a morning of events to celebrate, encourage, and give a 'leg up' to people biking to work. Food stops will be located throughout Albuquerque and in Rio Rancho and Los Lunas, with goodies including T-shirts, leg bands, patch kits, cycling safety and commuter info and much more, while supplies last."


To read more about Bike to Work Day in Albuquerque, visit these sites:

Bike Hub New Mexico

Bicycling - from the City of Albuquerque website

To view items about bicycle touring, racing, trails, design, & more, visit the library catalog.

Happy Mother's Day!

How will you be celebrating Mother's Day today?  A card, flowers, a meal?  About.com has some nice suggestions for local Mother's Day specials, & there will be a Mother's Day Concert at the Biopark, if you need some last minute suggestions!

Regardless of your plans, whether you are a mother or a child, consider checking out one of of these books about motherhood & mothering from the library catalog!

Staff Recommendations

A Life's Work: On Becoming a Mother by Rachel Cusk

Operating Instructions: A Journal of My Son's First Year by Anne Lamott

Confessions of the Other Mother: Non-Biological Lesbian Moms Tell All edited by Harlyn Aizley

From Harvey River: A Memoir of My Mother and Her Island by Lorna Goodison

Why Be Happy When You Could Be Normal? by Jeanette Winterson


Motherhood

Making Babies: Stumbling into Motherhood by Anne Enright

Mom: A Celebration of Mothers from StoryCorps edited and with an introduction by Dave Isay

Best Friends, Occasional Enemies: The Lighter Side of Life as a Mother and Daughter by Lisa Scottoline and Francesca Serritella

The Lives Our Mothers Leave Us: Prominent Women Discuss the Complex, Humorous, and Ultimately Loving Relationships They Have with Their Mothers by Patti Davis


Memoirs of motherhood & mothering

Are You My Mother?: A Comic Drama by Alison Bechdel

My Mother's Clothes: An Album of Memories by Jeanette Montgomery Barron

Cocktail Hour Under the Tree of Forgetfulness by Alexandra Fuller


Recent & controversial!

Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother by Amy Chua

Bad Mother: A Chronicle of Maternal Crimes, Minor Calamities, and Occasional Moments of Grace by Ayelet Waldman


There is also a large selection of books to share with children about mothers under the subject heading "Mother and child - Juvenile fiction".

Words Without Borders

Courtest of DGaston7564

Sometimes our minds are limited by our language and we can only explore as far as that will carry us. Unfortunately, this can close us off to other ideas and ways of thinking and ultimately hinder our intellectual development. Discouraging thought for those who wish to expand their minds without these limitations.

Words Without Borders is an organization dedicated to tearing down these literary walls between cultures. They specialize in translating works from all over the world into English so that writers can reach new audiences and readers can gain a new perspective into other worlds and other minds. There have been over one thousand pieces published from 80 different languages and 114 different countries.

Several anthologies have been published including Words without Borders: The World through the Eyes of Writers and The Wall in My Head: Words and Images from the Fall of the Iron Curtain. They also publish a monthly magazine full of book reviews and works from international writers, including poetry, prose, essays, short stories, fiction and non-fiction. Subscribe here to their newsletter and book review list.  

Click on the book covers to check out some of these books by Words Without Borders:

                                     

Something for Nature Lovers



Courtesy of D.Eickhoff

 New Mexico is a beautiful place to be in the spring. If you would like to maximize your appreciation and knowledge of nature in New Mexico, you might want to consider checking out the Rio Grande Nature Center State Park.  

Regular nature walks are offered to view the wildlife and geology of the bosque. Moonlight tours offer a quiet, serene getaway, perfect for an affordable evening outing with that special someone. All tours are led by nature center staff and volunteers.

Bird walks are offered every Saturday and Sunday morning for a chance to view the different migrating species throughout the Rio Grande Valley. Among the different birds to be seen at the nature center are warblers, meadowlarks, hummingbird, woodpeckers, great-horned owls, various waterfowl and many others.

To experience the big bang of events at the nature center come to this year’s Herbfest 2012 presented by the Friends of the Rio Grande Nature Center. On May 12^th and 13^th from 10am to 4pm. There will be arts and crafts, native plants for sale, live music, demonstrations for wool dying and composting, a presentation for healing with herbs and much more.

If your a nature lover, check out these titles from your ABC library:

New Mexico Wildlife Viewing Guide by Jane Susan MacCarter

Wildflowers of the Sandia and Manzano Mountains of Central New Mexico by Larry J. Littlefield and Pearl M. Burns

A Field Guide to the Plants and Animals of the Middle Rio Grande Bosque by Jean-Luc E. Cartron

Birds of New Mexico : Field Guide by Stan Tekiela.

Cooking by the Book (& Sometimes the Film) for Kids

Maybe you've got a kid you'd like to see help out more in the kitchen.  Maybe you've got a voracious reader who's a picky eater.  Maybe you've got kid who loves Harry Potter (or Star Wars, or the Little House books, or the American Girl series) & is just dying to try Pumpkin Pasties! (I know as a child I was intrigued by the food prepared in Little House in the Big Woods.)  Here are some cookbooks that might interest your child, or might be of use if you are throwing a themed children's party.

The Little House Cookbook: Frontier Foods from Laura Ingalls Wilder's Classic Stories  by Barbara M. Walker

The Green Eggs and Ham Cookbook (recipes inspired by Dr. Seuss) concocted by Georgeanne Brennan

Roald Dahl's Revolting Recipes recipes compiled by Josie Fison and Felicity Dahl

The Unofficial Harry Potter Cookbook: From Cauldron Cakes to Knickerbocker Glory--More than 150 Magical Recipes for Wizards and Non-Wizards Alike by Dinah Bucholz

Once Upon a Time in the Kitchen : Recipes and Tales from Classic Childrens Stories by Carol Odell

Fairy Tale Feasts: A Literary Cookbook for Young Readers and Eaters fairy tales retold by Jane Yolen ; recipes by Heidi E.Y. Stemple

Fancy Nancy Tea Parties by Jane O'Connor

The Star Wars Cook Book: Wookiee Cookies and other Galactic Recipes by Robin Davis

Addy's Cookbook: A Peek at Dining in the Past with Meals You Can Cook Today edited by Jodi Evert [from the American Girl series - see also Felicity's Cookbook, Kirsten's Cookbook, Molly's Cookbook, Samantha's Cookbook]

The Boxcar Children Cookbook by Diane Blain

The Redwall Cookbook by Brian Jacques

The Winnie-the-Pooh Cookbook: Inspired by Winnie-the-Pooh and the House at Pooh Corner by A.A. Milne by Virginia H. Ellison

I'm in the Mood for Food: In the Kitchen with Garfield created by Jim Davis, with recipes by Barbara Albright

The Unofficial Hunger Games Cookbook: From Lamb Stew to "Groosling" -- More than 150 Recipes Inspired by the Hunger Games Trilogy by Emily Ansara Baines

You can also find more children's books with cooking storylines using a subject search under "Cooking - Juvenile".

Got a reluctant teen reader? Have them give these books about everyday & epic dangers a whirl!

Sometimes it's hard to get teens reading.  They read for school, & then when they're not at school, they have so many other activities!  If you have a teen who's reluctant to crack open a book that's not assigned, some librarians recommend hi/lo fiction, particularly if  the teens "read below grade level and can’t find books they can read that interest them".  Also you might consider the titles listed below, recommended by Voice of Youth Advocates (VOYA) magazine. Some titles may also be available in alternate formats (eBook, audio). Notes by the title such as "eBook only" refer to ABC Libraries' holdings. As always, concerned parents may want to preview the book's subject matter to test its appropriateness for their teen!

Not for the Faint of Heart: Rude Language, Challenging Authority, Physical Violence

"And now I write books for teenagers because I vividly remember what it felt like to be a teen facing everyday and epic dangers. I don't write to protect them. It's far too late for that. I write to give them weapons - in the form of words and ideas - that will help them fight their monsters. I write in blood because I remember what it felt like to bleed." ~Sherman Alexie


The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie
The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins

The Knife of Never Letting Go by Patrick Ness

One Hundred Demons by Linda Barry

Fat Kid Rules the World by K. L. Going

Looking for Alaska by John Green

Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi

Blood Red Road by Moira Young

The House of the Scorpion by Nancy Farmer

The Curse of the Wendigo by William James Henry; edited by Rick Yancey

Divergent by Veronica Roth

Where Things Come Back by John Corey Whaley

Ship Breaker by Paolo Bacigalupi


*Most books in this post were suggested by articles in Voya magazine (2/12, vol 34, # 6)

The PostSecret Universe



Courtesy of TylerIngram

The PostSecret phenomenon began in 2004 when Frank Warren began leaving blank post cards in public locations asking people to mail in their secrets. This small-scale community art project launched into a worldwide movement almost immediately.



Courtesy of Foxtongue



So far there are 5 published books full of secrets written on homemade post cards. There is a certain type of therapy that can come out of sharing a difficult secret or burden. Some read these interesting books for entertainment while some read them for self-help. Even in the library catalogue they vary in what their classifications are.

In the ABC library The Secret Lives of Men and Women : A PostSecret Book is catalogued under the call number 155.6 which is classified as the sub-topic of differential psychology.

Another book titled PostSecret : Confessions on Life, Death, and God is shelved in 741.683 with books about paper crafts and post card making.

Two other books, My Secret: A PostSecret Book and PostSecret: Extraordinary Confessions From Ordinary Lives are shelved in 615.8516 with books about therapy through writing.

Whatever your reason for checking out the PostSecret books your sure to be entertained, shocked or enlightened.

If you find yourself wanting to delve deeper into the PostSecret world, there’s a lot of things you can do in the PostSecret Community. The movement is also currently on tour, check out these upcoming events.

Check out some more PostSecrets...



Courtesy of TylerIngram



Courtesy of Wageslaves



Courtesy of whatmegsaid



Courtesy of Tortillamask