Hi, I'm Erin. I am a school librarian in New Hampshire. I love to blog about anything that has to do with children's literature, the horror genre, authors, book festivals, arts and crafts, literary theory, film adaptations of books, history, libraries, classic film, women's studies and anything else that catches my interest.
Follow me on Instagram @tiedyelibraryn
A few days ago we ventured up to Portland, ME to visit the International Museum of Cryptozoology. I'd been wanting to check it out for a year or so, and we finally went.
The museum doesn't contain a whole lot of science- based exhibits; it's more like a fan's altar to mysterious sightings and local lore. There are displays on everything from Bigfoot and Yeti, including examples of known hoaxes such as Fiji mermaids and Jackelopes.
It's a pretty small museum, mostly made up of display cases containing everything from movie props to stuffed animals to casts of Sasquatch footprints.
I found out about this place on Atlas Obscura, so at least now I can check off another location I've been to.
I feel very grateful to have the friends and family that I do, and that I had a nice Christmas. They clearly understand how hard I've been working in my new library job, and their gifts encourage me to continue doing what I love.
My mom sent me some stuff from the company Out of Print. A tote bag and a cool mug that has titles of banned books. When the mug is room temperature, the titles are blacked out, but when hot liquid is poured inside, the titles are revealed.
My loving husband surprised me with several literary/library gifts. He gave me a special 150th anniversary edition of Little Women, along with a book by Anne Boyd Rioux that contains the history, analysis and criticisms of the book and its adaptations. Discussing Little Women stories and films is one of my favorite things to do! He also made me a shelf to keep all my Little Women books on, because I have quite a few.
My godmother sent me a kit to create my own miniature library, which I'm looking forward to building. I have a fairy library, which is actually an old jewelry box turned dollhouse, and I created a bookshop for Belle to run as a sort of fan fiction homage to Beauty and the Beast, but it will be a lot of fun to design my own modern library. I just wish I was small enough to live in it.
The biggest gift I received was my very own Little Free Library. These tiny lending collections are popping up all over the place, and I love how they inspire people to share and trade books and they promote literacy in communities. I can't wait to paint mine and put it out this spring.
Aside from these library-centric gifts, I also got a new teapot and some tea, a book about NH graveyards, cozy socks, bath salts, mermaid "thing a ma bobs" and more. I'm pretty much set now to spend the remainder of my Christmas break reading, taking baths (and pretending I'm a mermaid), drinking tea and working on my dollhouses.
We went for a little walk today in Canterbury, NH.
There is a place there called Church of the Woods, and we wanted to see it. It's a space that welcomes anyone of any faith to come and connect with God in a natural and simple setting.
There were no services, but we walked one of the trails as our own way of celebrating. As we walked the trails, which were covered in moss, I noticed the tiny red blooms growing on it. Nature has a way of decorating itself I guess.
When we got home, we settled in for a cozy evening with all our animals. The bunnies laid in front of the fireplace all evening, soaking up the warmth:
Eric got out his guitar and we sang a few songs before reading The Night Before Christmas and putting John to bed. Now to indulge in some eggnog with brandy and watch It's a Wonderful Life.
I'm finally on Christmas break, but I keep thinking about work stuff. Go figure- the minute I get some free time, I decided to write about work stuff.
Actually I've been meaning to write about this for a while because it's been on my mind. I've been seeing A LOT of posts lately in my librarian Facebook groups about schools that serve middle school kids, either as a middle school or as a K-8 school like mine. Many of them seem to have rules about which grades can check out which books, like "8th grade only" or some other version of that idea.
I admit that it's very challenging to curate a collection that contains "The Very Hungry Caterpillar" as well as "Thirteen Reasons Why", but I firmly believe that every student in the school should be able to find books that interest, challenge, inform, inspire and comfort them. I also have latched onto the idea as books as mirrors and windows: some students might check out "Thirteen Reasons Why" and it will let them see another person's struggle. Some may read it and see a reflection of their own experiences, and both are important.
For that reason, I have not made any 'rules' like that, at least not yet. We have a YA section, but most students don't venture there unless they are already interested in it, and not put off by the thicker books with higher lexiles. The section where this predicament comes up the most is our Graphic Novel section.
Many of the 4th grade girls are going through those books like wildfire, and it makes me so happy to have them coming in multiple times a week, looking for a new book. However, there are a few books in that section which border YA/more mature themes.
For example, one girl recently wanted to borrow Drama, because she's already read all Raina Telgemeier's other titles.
I told her that there are some themes in there which make some people uncomfortable, and she asked what they were. I told her that it has a character who is gay, and she asked "What does that mean?" I asked her what she thought it meant, and she still didn't know. So I asked her if she was comfortable enough asking her parents about things she doesn't know, and what they would think of her reading a book like that. . .and she thought and said "I think I'll wait 'till next year for this one." I was so proud of her for putting so much thought into her reading choice.
And even more recently, one girl wanted to check out the graphic novel adaptation of Anne Frank's diary.
Aside from the usual information about the Holocaust, there are also some parts which deal with puberty, like when she first gets her period. I told the girl that books about the Holocaust tend to make people sad and upset, and she told me she's read sad books before. I also asked her if she'd feel comfortable asking her parents questions about what she was reading, and she said she would be. So she checked the book out, and she's not the first girl in that grade to read it either.
I don't want to be a gatekeeper, or keep girls from reading a powerful and inspiring book, one that has the potential to shape their identities as it did mine. . .
But I do want to make sure they read it at the best possible time, and not before they are ready to confront things that are so woven with themes of Life and Death. And I want their parents to trust me as someone who has their children's best interests in mind when they come into the library.
There have been some up's and down's, but I'm glad to say it's been mostly up's. I've had some real positive feedback lately from the students, like drawings:
I've also been feeling the love from their families, who have been sending in baked goodies, Burt's Bees and little care packages.
1. I've had some victories to celebrate recently. I knew the week before break would be crazy, so I planned some holiday/winter themed STEM activities for grades 4 and 5, and they went over great. The kids worked hard on the assignments, but they had alot of fun together. I even had a couple of 7th grade girls ask if they could come in and try one of the projects, and they also did a great job.
2. Our book club is going really well! We're reading a book of short stories by Patrick Carman, and since he's the guy behind the ghostly Skeleton Creek series, it only makes sense that his other book would have a creep factor, too. The short stories often follow a common trope in folklore and/or horror, and since I spent a few years at YMS designing my 6th grade enrichment class around those concepts, I have tons of resources ready to go. The kids are enjoying the book club, but as I looked around the room the other day I had some extra pride because: 1)we have quite a few boys, and adolescent boys are notorious for avoiding reading. Also, there are some students in their who struggle with attention spans and/or reading. However, because the stories are short, it takes the pressure off them. Also, the introductions are audio files and the conclusions are short videos (on the book's website), so even a student who has difficulty processing text can make sense of it by listening to and viewing other parts of the story.
3. I am improving in my knowledge of coding. I have been spending time doing the Google CS First Storytelling course, since I assigned it to my 7th graders, so that helps. Plus, I have been getting into classrooms more to do lessons on coding, and the last two I did went pretty well. The first one I did did not go as well as I hoped, but I talked to the classroom teacher, and we agreed that I could do another lesson to give the kids another chance at learning code. It's pretty disappointing when a lesson doesn't go over well, but I am willing to try again, for the students and for me.
Since we were on the road for Thanksgiving, we have decided to stay in NH for Christmas. I know I will be a little homesick, but it will be really nice to have a week and a half to relax in my own house.
The other night I tortured myself by trying to find more info on the live-action Disney version of The Little Mermaid. I wasn't able to find much, but I clung to every little scrap I could find.
Luckily, there is another little mermaid to distract me for a little bit. I was so excited when I saw that the most recent adaptation of my favorite fairy tale is on Netflix.
I watched it alone, so I could give it my undivided attention. It's not a straight retelling of Andersen's tale, but rather an updated/slipstream interpretation.
It begins with a grandmother reading the book to her little grand-daughters, and most of the story is told in a flashback; the setting is Mississippi in the 30's or 40's. The little girl Elle is sick, and after her uncle Cam hears of a miracle cure, they travel to a circus to try and purchase some (although he doesn't really believe it will cure her- he seems like he's hoping to disprove it).
While they are enjoying their night at the circus, they go to a show where the ringleader unveils a large tank, claiming that inside is a real, live mermaid. Elle pushes her way to the front of the crowd, wanting to see for herself. She sees a beautiful young woman inside, with a tail. They seem to have an instant connection to each other, as they place their hands on opposite sides of the glass.
Of course, Cam doubts that that she is actually a mermaid, especially after he and Elle run into the mermaid while out on a walk. Elle asks why she has legs, and the mermaid tells her that mermaids have the ability to transform back and forth with the tides.
The movie Hook was imaginative in its use of slipstream thought: "What is Peter Pan had grown up? What if he left Neverland and forgot who he was?" This retelling of The Little Mermaid has a similar thought process.
In the text, the little mermaid does fall in love with a Prince, and become human to meet him. However, the prince falls in love with another woman, and marries her instead. The mermaid is offered a chance to return to her family under the sea, if she stabs him in the heart and allows his blood to fall on her legs, she is told it will transform back into a tail. However, she loves him so much that she cannot bear to hurt him, so she resigns herself to her fate: becoming sea foam. Because of her selflessness, she is instead granted a soul, and lives forever as a Daughter of the Air, watching over the prince and his bride.
In this version, the slipstream thought is like: "What is the little mermaid did not become a Daughter of the Air? What is she was granted a soul, but someone else owned it?"
Much like Hook takes place many years after the original story (which was penned by JM Barrie in 1904), this version of The Little Mermaid also takes place decades after the original story would have happened, leading us to believe that the mermaid has been in servitude for the entire time.
The cinematography in the water scenes is beautiful and dream-like.
There's no Sea Witch in this version; instead the villain is a cruel ringleader who has discovered how he can capture and control the magic of others.
The film is on the short side, which is fine. A fairy tale composed for children doesn't need to be an epic.
Overall, I enjoyed a fresh take on my favorite fairy tale; it has enough differences to be interesting, but enough similarities to be faithful to the original.
I finally got sit down and watch Hold Your Man. I've been wanting to see this movie since I first heard of it, in highschool! I remember asking to inter-library loan it at our local library, and they weren't able to find a VHS copy of it. It was difficult to find on DVD for a long time too, because there's not much demand for little-known pre-code films to be transferred onto various types of media, each time a new format becomes popular.
I am guessing that streaming video is making these types of old movies easier to find and view, and I hope that it is also giving them a renaissance by allowing more viewers to discover them, but maybe that's too optimistic of me.
Anyways, Hold Your Man is another film that pairs the King of Hollywood with Jean Harlow. I've always liked their on screen chemistry. Clark Gable (pre-mustache) and Harlow always seemed like two puzzle pieces that fit together. He usually played a gangster or conman, and she was never duped by his crooked smile and smooth words, playing more than a few tricks of her own. Harlow oozed sensuality, with her bedroom eyes and her filmy dresses and satin robes, and she often played a character who is well-known to more than a few men, but because of her cherubic face, viewers know there's more heart to her than she lets on. Despite her bleached blonde hair and her pencil-thin eyebrows, she still managed to look innocent and vulnerable, that is, when she wasn't a wise-cracking tough cookie.
The first moment she appears on screen, she's in the bathtub. Conman Eddie Hall (Gable) busts into her apartment as he's evading some policemen.
She screams and covers herself, emerging a moment later in a black satin robe. In just that introduction, the pre-code characteristics of the film are evident: the audience catches a glimpse of her bare body, and afterwards she allows him to change clothes in her apartment, after they've only known each other for five minutes. She hands him a robe from her closet and he remarks "Hey, this a man's robe!" In 1933, an unmarried lady would not have had a man's robe in her home. . .unless she was more like a Lady of the Night. . .and she also would not have had numerous photos of other men hung up in her bedroom.
She also would not be chatting casually with a shirtless criminal, as she wears nothing but a satin bathrobe, in her bathroom.
One of my favorite things about watching classic films is how I am able to interpret history through the story's lens.
For example, in the beginning of the film, conman Eddie is lamenting a scam that wasn't as lucrative as he'd hoped, and his buddy says "What a waste of a Depression- you can't tell a banker from a bum", which isn't difficult to figure out, given the 1933 setting.
Furthermore, after Ruby (Harlow) is sent to a women's reformatory, one of her roommates begins ranting about the brokenness of a social class system, saying "We don't do anything that debutantes don't do, but you don't see them in here", and one of them women calmly explains "She's a communist."
Communists were kind of a self-contained group, but the Great Depression led to an increase in enrollment for this political party, as many people wondered how an economy that was so prosperous in the previous decade was now failing them. Later, when this woman's sewing machine breaks down, she rants again that "all machines are broken", and declares that machines are responsible for the Great Depression.
While in the reformatory, Ruby discovers that she's pregnant. This is a HUGE pre-code indicator, because Ruby is not married yet.
The film takes its title from a song that's played throughout the story. Here's a clip of Jean Harlow singing it:
Something I particularly enjoyed about the story is that the preacher who marries Eddie and Ruby is black, and Eddie expresses his gratitude and appreciation for the man's kindness. Clark Gable never understood the division of people based on skin color. As a child growing up in Ohio, he was known to play baseball with any boy. When I visited the Clark Gable birthplace and museum a couple years ago, the guide told a story that he and some friends hitchhiked on a train to play a game with another group of boys in a neighboring town. When they arrived, the boys they met said they wouldn't play ball with blacks, so they just got right back on the train and headed home again, rather than leave out anyone.
Gable also made his disgust known over the Academy's rules, when Hattie McDaniel, the first black woman to receive an Academy Award, was not allowed to sit at the table with her co-stars, but had to sit alone at a table in the back of the room. Even that had been a compromise, since the nightclub had a strict no-blacks policy. Gable had wanted to boycott the ceremony and not attend, but McDaniel asked him to go, for her.
The story moves along quickly, and it has a happy ending. I would watch it again
I haven't had much time to write lately, which is why my posts are so few and far between. I am finally getting around to writing about a couple things from Thanksgiving break.
We usually stay in NH for Thanksgiving, and travel for Christmas, but this year we swapped our plans, and spent Turkey Day in my home city.
I had school the day before Thanksgiving, so that night we just drove to Albany, and then arrived at my family's on Thursday.
We were able to try some new things while we were there, including ther now-famous Dill Pickle Pizza. The little pizzeria Rhino's had been in operation for over a decade, when they were inspired to create it. The crust is covered in a garlic cream sauce, and cheese, and then topped with slices of dill pickle. They're not out of a grocery store jar either- the ones that top the pizza, and delicious, old-fashioned style ones, and of course the pizza is sprinkled with dill seasoning.
In August of 2018, the Dill Pickle Pizza went viral. I saw it all over Facebook before I even realized it was from Rochester, NY. I am glad to report that it IS worthy of all the attention, and I plan to make it a regular tradition now on my trips (just like Garbage Plates).
One night, I actually went out on a date! (It's OK, it was with my husband.) We went to a couple places for drinks, including Fifth Frame Brewing. I tried the Thrift Store Recliner (chocolatey with peanut butter flavor).
On our drive back home, we made a little stop in Seneca Falls. Seneca Falls is believed to be the basis for Bedford Falls, in It's a Wonderful Life.
There's a museum dedicated to the film there which we visited, and of course we took a walk on the bridge, too.
Being in the museum reawakened my drive to watch more classic films. It's a great feeling when you can reclaim some little part of yourself that felt like it was slipping away.
I've been so busy with my new job and all the new responsibilities that come with it, and now all the stresses of the holiday season, that I hadn't been able to indulge in some of my favorite activities, like working on dollhouses or finding a classic movie to sit down and watch and analyze. . .
In my next post, I'll discuss one of the movies I watched.
