Finally!

On Tuesday, Blackberry released an Operating System upgrade which provided all sorts of upgrades to the Playbook - including an support for Android based apps.  This means that Playbook owners can now download Overdrive Media Console - the app required to download free ebooks and audiobooks from the library!

To get ebooks on your Playbook you first must update the OS:

1. Tap Settings on your Playbook (upper right hand corner).
2. Select Software Updates.
3. Tap Check for Updates, and download the new operating system.

The next step is to get the Overdrive Media Console app:

1. Tap on the App World icon on the Playbook.
2. Search for Overdrive Media Console.
3. Tap Download on the OMC app page and the app installs.
4. Open the installed OMC app. Swipe down from the top of the screen and select App Settings. Scroll down the App Settings screen until you see where to enter your Adobe ID and password. If you do not have one you can easily create one. Click Authorize.
5. Swipe down from the top of the screen and select Get Books.
6. Tap Add a Library and enter Stratford Public Library.  Select the library in Stratford Ontario from the list.  Our Overdrive site is also called downloadLibary.
7. downloadLibrary is added at the top of the Get Books screen.
8. Tap downloadLibrary to start searching!

Few other tips:

• You can check your ebooks & audiobooks out using your library card number (no spaces) and your PIN (last 4 digits of your phone number).
• You can return your ebooks & audiobooks on your playbook by tapping the red dot to the right of each of the books in the book listing within the Overdrive App. This removes the book from your account and frees it up for another reader.
• You are limited to 15 items out at one time.

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SPL Shelf Life [kids]

Winterberries and Apple Blossoms by NanForler, with paintings by Peter Etril Snyder, 39 pages.

@ SPL:  J 819.16 For 

Some picture books can be considered as works of art, and Winterberries and Apple Blossoms is definitely one of them. Sub-titled Reflections and Flavours of a Mennonite Year, this book offers a month-by-month peek at a year in the life of a young Old Order Mennonite girl through the detailed paintings of artist Peter Etril Snyder and the reflections, poems and recipes of Nan Forler.

Naomi and her close-knit family lead a plain life without modern conveniences such as computers, televisions or cars. They travel by horse and buggy. There are no expensive toys or fancy, colourful clothes. Naomi’s day is spent helping her mother in the home, helping with the farm chores, attending school and playing with her brothers and sisters.

In January, we see Naomi attending her first quilting bee and learning how to quilt. In February, we see her making a trip to the general store with her mother to purchase the dark cloth needed for a new dress. March finds Naomi in the sugar bush with her father, and in April, the family is picking stones from the fields in preparation for planting.

In each month of the year, we discover more about the peaceful, orderly life of an Old Order Mennonite community, a contrast to our fast-paced world. Naomi’s life is different in many ways from that of other children outside the Old Order Mennonite community - but there are similarities too.

Both artist Peter Etril Snyder and author Nan Forler live in the Waterloo area. Raised as a Mennonite, Mr. Snyder is well-known for his widely exhibited paintings of Mennonite country life and rural landscapes. Winterberries and Apple Blossoms is truly a visual treat for all ages – both children and adults – all the more so with the many details to be found in the paintings and the inclusion of twelve delicious recipes for Mennonite desserts at the end of the book.  

** Recommended for ages 5 years and up.

Over and Under the Snow, by Kate Messner, 38 pages.

@ SPL:  JP Messn

Under the snow is a “secret kingdom” of creatures which remain safe and warm there during the cold winter months.

Children will be fascinated to discover that mice, chipmunks, voles, shrews, groundhogs and other small animals are beneath the snow on which we walk, ski and play. Out of the sight of predators such as owls, hawks and foxes, small creatures are sleeping, eating, looking for food and traveling along narrow tunnels and paths under the snow.

Scientists tell us that this “secret kingdom” really does exist. Known as the “subnivean zone”, it consists of small open spaces, cracks and tunnels between the snowpack and the ground, created when heat from the ground melts some of the snow next to it, leaving a layer of air just above the dirt and fallen leaves. With the snow acting as insulation, the subnivean zone stays close to 0 degrees Celsius (32 degrees Fahrenheit) through the winter, giving warmth and shelter to the small creatures which depend on it for their survival.

The muted illustrations of Christopher Neal effectively depict the stillness of a quiet, snowy landscape which so effectively hides a living world beneath it. Children will be both intrigued and informed by Kate Messner’s new picture book.   

** Recommended for ages 3 to 7 years.

These reviews appeared in The Stratford Gazette on February 16, 2012. Written by Sally Hengeveld, Librarian.

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SPL Shelf Life [adult]

In Other Worlds: SF and the Human Imagination by Margaret Atwood 

@SPL: 809.38762

If you're a fan of SF (science fiction, or the more inclusive acronymic interpretation speculative fiction), and you keep up with your author news, you know that Margaret Atwood has a somewhat troubled relationship with the genre and the label. Three of her books now – The Handmaid's Tale, Oryx and Crake and The Year of the Flood – could arguably be considered science fiction, and definitely fall comfortably into the speculative fiction category. So, what was with the much-publicized spat between Atwood and SF giant Ursula Le Guin, in which Atwood denied authoring any science fiction books? In Other Worlds seems to be Atwood's explanation to the slighted genre fiction community.

In the first section of the book, she declares her enthusiastic and abiding love for science and speculative fiction, and explains why she believes her work doesn't fall into the genre. She attempts a definition of science fiction, has a lively, funny discussion of why the genre's so hard to define, and deals accessibly with what functions the genre plays in our cultural psyche. The first section is, admittedly, lit theory. But Atwood's personal anecdotes and sharp sense of humour, along with her unabashed geekiness, keep the pace rolling nicely and the theory from becoming too heavy.

The second section of the book contains essays she's written on different classic SF works, wherein she applies the theory she's laid out in the first section. The third section includes some very interesting short bits of SF that Atwood has admitted to authoring. These pieces tend to have appeared in her full-length works, as either short discussions or stories written and told by characters. She's deliberately chosen fragments that are entertaining, which will be good news to readers who sometimes find Atwood a little dark and depressing. The book ends off with some appendices that are not to be missed - especially a short, blazingly snarky bit on the history of women's attire on covers of SF works. For that matter, even the book's cover is lined with some pretty adorable SF-inspired doodles by Ms Atwood herself.

For all her gleefully evil snarkiness, it's obvious that Atwood loves SF, and that she's been much inspired by the genre and its tropes since childhood. She's a fan, she wants you to be a fan, and she thinks SF does essential work in our cultural imagination. This book is a must-read for confirmed SF geeks, especially ones who love Atwood. And, hey, just a reminder: She'll be at the Tom Patterson Theatre discussing this book on Saturday, August 18^th. Tickets are available through the Festival website for anyone who wants to take their geeking to the next level.

This review appeared in The Stratford Gazette on February 23, 2012. Written by Shauna Thomas, Librarian.   

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Your Library Today... and Tomorrow... con't

Last Thursday evening, the final community engagement session for the library's Strategic Plan was held at the Falstaff Centre. One of the things that was shared with those in attendance were the final word clouds.  The word clouds were of the words collected over the past few months to describe the Library Today and the Library in the Future. Back in December we released the partial collection of words, but now we have the complete listing - over 400 words per category!


Here are the completed word clouds... 


for TODAY

for the FUTURE

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Family Day

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SPL Shelf Life [adult]

Scotched by Kaitlyn Dunnett
@SPL: FIC Dunne

Although Kaitlyn Dunnett’s heroine Amaryllis “Liss” MacCrimmon is Scottish and owns a Scottish themed shop, this series actually takes place in the completely fictional and peculiarly-named Moosetookalook, Maine.

In this third of the series, Liss, her fianc? Dan and their friend Officer Sherri Campbell, find themselves up to their bagpipes in trouble when a nosy crime blogger and book reviewer threatens to put the cozy town on the map for all the wrong reasons during the first annual Cozy Mystery Writer's Conference.

Anxious to make sure there is a second annual Cozy-Con in Moosetookalook, the concerned members of Chamber of Commerce meet at Liss’s to discuss strategy – and it seems that there is more than one person who bears a grudge against the rude reporter. This proves sticky when she ends up dead at the base of Lover’s Leap; Sherri determines it was not suicide, throwing half the town under the shadow of suspicion.

Now Liss and Dan must stay on the good side of the State Police (and Liss’s old flame, Detective Gordon Tandy) while uncovering some long-buried hatchets that relate to the case, and sort out which of the illustrious authors at Cozy-Con also had reason to see the end of the cruel critic.  

This novel has all the hallmarks of the “cozy” mystery – a charming setting, a nosy and feisty heroine (who has two cats), a memorable cast of characters, and a great balance of tension, humour and romance.

And what could be cozier than a cozy mystery that takes place at a cozy mystery writer’s conference? 

This review appeared in The Stratford Gazette on February 16, 2012. Written by Robyn Godfrey, Librarian.   

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SPL Shelf Life [kids]

The Great Big Book of Families, by Mary Hoffman, 32 pages.
@ SPL:  J 306.85 Hof

Some families are large, with lots of children, or with grandparents, aunts and uncles living in the same house. Some families have as few as two people. Some families are stepfamilies. In some families, some or all of the children have been adopted. Some families have pets; some don’t. Some families travel a lot, and others never travel. Some families have traveled from far away to make new homes in other countries. Some families live in houses, others in apartments.

Some families are rich. Some are poor.

Some families read together. Others share sports activities. Some do both.

In some families, everyone shares their feelings, while in others, people tend to keep their feelings to themselves.

Mary Hoffman’s large, colourful book is a celebration of all types and sorts of families and their lives together – just in time for Family Day on Monday February 20. Told with sensitivity and humour, the illustrations of artist Ros Asquith enable this inclusive book to capture the diversity and the similarities of families around the world, and concludes that there is no one “right” way to be a family.

For added interest, a quirky yellow cat is hidden somewhere on each spread for children to find.

This would be a wonderful book for parents and grandparents to share with young children, especially as Family Day on February 20 approaches.

** Recommended for ages 3 to 7 years.

 

Canada On Fire, by Jennifer Crump, 202 pages.
@ SPL:  J 971.034 Cru

At the onset of the War of 1812, American President Thomas Jefferson boasted that conquering Canada would be “a mere matter of marching”. He was wrong. Often known as “the war that nobody won”, the War of 1812 continued for three years and at the end, when the Treaty of Ghent was signed, Canada had not only defended itself successfully, but a new Canadian identity and pride had been forged.

There are plenty of “Did you know?s” in this book, such as “Did you know that many of the battles of this war were fought on water – on the Great Lakes and the eastern seaboard?” and “Did you know that at one point in the war, Washington was invaded and the White House and Capitol buildings were set on fire?”

Informative and well-written, Canada on Fire would be interesting reading for both students and adults, as author Jennifer Crump’s style of writing makes the war, its battles and its heroes and personalities “come alive” for readers. The inclusion of an index, a chronology of significant dates, chapter notes, maps, drawings, and lists of primary and secondary sources of information also make this book a well-researched resource to students who are studying this pivotal time in Canadian history.

A relevant question for any book covering the War of 1812 is whether the author gives fair treatment to both sides of the conflict. In this book, the author is careful to give equal coverage to the victories and defeats of both the Canadian/British and the American troops. 

A review of this book is timely, as 2012 marks the 200^th anniversary of the start of the War of 1812 and Ontario Heritage Week will be observed from February 20 to 26.

Canada on Fire is one of the titles available in the “Canadians at War” series. Readers may also be interested an earlier book, Canada Under Attack,also by Jennifer Crump, who lives in Smooth Rock Falls, Ontario.

** Recommended for ages 13 years and up.

These reviews appeared in The Stratford Gazette on February 16, 2012. Written by Sally Hengeveld, Librarian.

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Reading Reimagined!

Enhanced, unabridged recorded books, known as DAISY audio books are now available at SPL. DAISY books can be loaned to any person who has trouble reading print because of a visual, physical, or learning disability. Have a look at the titles online or come in and browse the collection on the main floor. The Library also has a limited number of special DAISY audio players for loan. 


The CNIB collection and audio readers are also available through the Home Library Service, which offers individualized delivery of library materials to eligible persons in their place of residence. Speak to membership staff about eligibility specifics.


If you have any questions about this service please contact the library. 

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Congratulations Sam!

Our CEO, Sam Coghlan has received the OLA Larry Moore Distinguished Service Award. This award is given by the Ontario Library Association's Board of Directors to someone who has made an outstanding contribution to the libraries of Ontario through his or her work within the Association.  

Way to go Sam!

Larry Moore and Sam Coghlan

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Lunch & Learn

What are you doing on your lunch hour? Come to a free seminar at the library and learn about some of thee online tools and technologies that your library offers. Feel free to bring your lunch.

• Consumer Health Complete - Friday March 2, 12-1pm
• Ancestry Library Edition - Friday March 9, 12-1pm
• downloadLibrary & eBooks 101 - Wednesday March 14, 12-1pm
• BiblioCommons: the library catalogue - Tuesday March 27, 12-1pm
• Consumer Reports database - Friday April 13, 12-1pm
• Google Docs - Tuesday April 17, 12-1pm
• downloadLibrary & eBooks 101 - Tuesday April 24, 12-1pm
• Using your iPad - Wednesday May 2, 12-1pm

Please preregister at 519-271-0220 x 31.

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Computer Training is back!

Do you feel that you are behind the times with computers? (or do you know someone who is?) This Winter/Spring, SPL is offering a number of computer classes to help you become more comfortable using your computer and the Internet.  Classes are hands on and limited to 6 people. Participants receive a manual that they can take home for future reference.  There is a nominal fee for the classes.

Classes are run by Krista Robinson, Information Technology Development Librarian. Krista has been running computer classes at the library for almost 10 years.

A few of the classes include:

Computer Comfort
This class is perfect for the beginner. It will cover how to use a mouse and keyboard, open and close a program, create files and navigate menus.  Training computers use Windows 7.

Internet Basics for Beginners
Struggling to wade through the sea of information online? Learn how to find what you’re looking for and make sure it’s from a trusted source. 

Savvy Searching Session
Improve your Internet research skills using advanced search functions on different search engines.  Learn to search using Internet math, phrases, special syntax, and how to use the Invisible Web.

Microsoft Word Basics
For beginners, this class introduces the basic features of Microsoft Word 2007. You will learn how to enter and format text, change margins and line spacing, and copy and paste text. Saving and printing tips will also be discussed.

Microsoft Excel Basics
For the beginner, this class is an introduction to spreadsheets using Microsoft Excel 2007. This session provides a basic overview and common uses for spreadsheets. Learn basic Excel functions and build a simple budget spreadsheet. 

Get Social on Facebook
Learn about social media using Facebook, the world's largest social networking website. You can easily connect with old friends and keep up to date with family, friends, and co-workers. 

For full details visit the library website. 

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Tax time is just around the corner...

Get in the know with our fourth seminar in our Personal Finance series:

RRSP or TFSA? What's the difference? 

Build your retirement plan and understand what you're getting. Not sure of the acronyms? Come and find out at this FREE information session. 

February 16, 1:30-3:00pm and 7-8:30pm | Library Auditorium | Free
Afternoon or evening (program repeats)

Presenters: Betsy Prospero and Carien Jutting, Fiscal Wellness, Stratford.

Register at fiscalwellness@pcin.on.ca

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Love Your Library

The Friends of the Stratford Public Library invite you to share a favourite book, author, poet, or poem on their Love Your Library board. You will find this board in the stairwell on the between the lower and main floors of the library.

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Harry Potter: Heroic Fantasy, Murder Mystery or Videogame

Now that's a question!


Come hear Associate Professor Neil Randall, PHD from the English Department at University of Waterloo look into the world of Harry Potter. 


The Harry Potter series – both books and films – has been categorized both as children’s stories and particularly the later books, as stories of heroic fantasy, but other well-known narrative structures seem to be at play. In this talk, I examine the possibility that J.K. Rowling and the film-version screenwriters, intentionally or unintentionally, drew us in by giving us both classic mysteries and level-based videogames. In fact, this mash-up of story genres might well explain the range of popularity for the stories, ranging from reverence through fascination for some and, for others, frustration and confusion. In other words, maybe Potter is a splendid example of convergence, or maybe it’s just a big mess.


Wednesday February 15 | 7-9pm | Library Auditorium | FREE | Register

Brought to you in partnership with University of Waterloo: Stratford Campus. 

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SPL Shelf Life [kids]

Kiss Me! (I’m a Prince!) by Heather McLeod, 30 pages.

@ SPL:  JP McLeo

Would you kiss a frog - even if it was a talking frog? No? Well, Ella didn’t feel like kissing one either. No matter that this frog had once been a prince who would be a king someday, and could offer her the life of a pampered princess – she wasn’t tempted, not even for a second!

When the prince described his former life, Ella was even less tempted. It turned out that the prince used to spend most of his day at the castle studying etiquette, warfare, international finances and languages. Ella didn’t think that sounded very interesting. Neither was she at all interested in wearing fancy dresses that had to be kept clean and unwrinkled everyday.

Ella and the frog became good friends, and soon, the he had to agree that Ella’s life (swimming and splashing about in the water, getting dirty in the sand and mud, exploring the world around her, playing hopscotch and other games) was much more fun than life at the castle.

Just as the frog began to forget about being a prince, however, a royal courtier arrived to take him home in a fancy horse-drawn carriage (no matter that he was still a frog, having been unsuccessful in finding anyone to kiss him).

But after a couple of weeks, he returned in the carriage, again asking Ella for a kiss. And this time, Ella agreed – to give a kiss of friendship - which un-enchanted the frog … and led to a surprising conclusion.

This untraditional retelling of The Frog Prince will delight children and keep them guessing until the end, and Brooke Kerrigan’s fun, expressive illustrations truly enhance this very entertaining story.

Kiss Me! (I’m a Prince!) is Thunder Bay resident (and former CBC radio host) Heather McLeod’s first book.

** Recommended for ages 4 to 8 years.

Princess to the Rescue, by Claudia Souza, 24 pages.

@ SPL:  JP Souza

In traditional fairy tales, princesses usually need to be rescued from something. They don’t have horses or swords, and they are afraid of dragons and many other things. They get locked up in towers, put to sleep under evil spells, or kidnapped.

Not this princess! The feisty damsel featured in this story (who is never given a name) has already rescued a prince or two. (To be specific, she’s rescued a prince who’d been turned into a frog, a prince locked in a deep dungeon, another buried in a cave in a dark forest, and yet another who’d been kidnapped by an ogre.)

Well, why can’t a princess be brave and save someone?

Riding a beautiful horse, wearing custom-made armor and toting a big purse supplied with all sorts of “secret weapons”, our princess is more than a match for any mean-spirited dragon, troll, evil spell or prince who crosses her path. She doesn’t hesitate to ask for directions, either. (Would a prince do that?) And that’s a good thing, because she is about to meet her toughest challenge yet: a prince trapped in an ogress’s jewelry box!

A jewelry box? Not a cave or a dungeon … but a box?

Yes, a jewelry box! And it’s fortunate that our princess is here now to rescue this prince, because he’s just about to faint with fear!

Can she do it?

Well, readers can probably guess the end of this entertaining, amusing tale, which proves that girls too, can be heroes (or heroines)!

** Recommended for ages 4 to 7 years.

These reviews appeared in The Stratford Gazette on February 9, 2012. Written by Sally Hengeveld, Librarian.

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SPL Shelf Life [adult]

Chango's Beads and Two-Tone Shoes by William Kennedy

@SPL: eBook in downloadLibrary

Between The Paris Wife, other books about Hemingway's matrimonial adventures, and Woody Allen's film Midnight in Paris, there's recently been a minor outburst of cultural fascination with Hemingway-the-man. For readers who haven't yet slaked their thirst, I have another work for you to consider: William Kennedy's Chango's Beads and Two-Tone Shoes.

The novel's broken into three sections. A brief introductory scene focuses on Albany, New York in 1936, and features Bing Crosby along with several of the book's main cast. The brief scene manages to be simultaneously charming and disturbing; Kennedy captures the era's complicated racial politics and their effects on personal interactions with a quick song and some snappy dialogue.

From there, the book quickly moves to Cuba in 1957. The young boy awoken by Bing Crosby's voice in the first section has become Daniel Quinn, a new journalist who lands smack in the middle of the Cuban revolution. After meeting Hemingway and beautiful, revolutionary Renata in a bar, Quinn's drawn deeply into a bewitching world of Santeria, gun running, Cuban jazz, and danger – he even interviews Castro.

This heady atmosphere breaks briefly at a crisis point, when Kennedy abruptly shifts the action back to Albany in 1968. Quinn's returned after some unnamed tragedy in Cuba. Racial tensions are coming to a head in the city in the wake of Robert Kennedy's assassination. As tensions erupt in one night of violence, Quinn is once again drawn into the heat of the action.

Themes of Santeria, jazz and revolution pull the reader through the novel at a relentless pace. Beyond the three sections mentioned above, Kennedy doesn't break the action into any chapters to give readers time to pause and digest. By the end of the novel it's clear - whatever Hemingway might have had to say about concise, uncomplicated writing, that sort of narrative no longer captures a world as complex as ours. Chango's Beads and Two-Tone Shoes is recommended to those who love the idea of Hemingway more than his writing, as well as anyone with a passion for music history, revolution and atmospheric novels.

This review appeared in The Stratford Gazette on February 9th. Written by Shauna Thomas, Librarian.

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SPL Shelf Life [kids]

Me and My Dragon, by David Biedrzycki, 32 pages.

@ SPL:  JP Biedr

Some children long for a pet cat. Others would choose a dog. The little boy in David Biedrzycki’s latest picture book, however, has his heart set on a pet dragon.

Some planning for such an unusual pet is definitely necessary.

Firstly, where can you find a dragon? Secondly, is a fire-breathing or a non-fiery dragon the best choice? Thirdly, do you want a one, two or three-headed dragon?

One of the most important considerations of all is to choose a dragon that will fit in your house (as opposed to a house that will fit your dragon!)

Be sure to buy your dragon a collar and leash so that you can take him for a walk each day. He’ll need some special dragon toys, too.

Here’s some more useful advice: give your dragon lots of room at home and keep a fire extinguisher handy. Don’t forget to teach your dragon how to fly. Most importantly, hug him every day and read to him each night.

If you are lucky enough to “own” a dragon, you likely don’t need to worry about bullies bothering you, or about having to eat your brussel sprouts - dragons love them, apparently (brussel sprouts, that is, not bullies).

David Biedrzycki’s clever tongue-in-cheek “instruction guide” also provides tips about dragon discipline and diet. With its colourful, goofy illustrations, it’s a “must-read” for any child who dreams of owning a pet dragon!

** Recommended for ages 4 to 7 years.

 

Wishworks, inc.  by Stephanie Tolan, 146 pages.

@ SPL:  J FIC Tolan

Feeling lonely at his new school, Max wants very much to have a dog – a dog to be his best friend, one that would join him in all sorts of exciting adventures. Perhaps a dog could keep those three bullies from harassing him every day at school, too. (It’s not his fault that he’s “the new kid”, or that he, his mom and little sister have had to move because of his parents’ divorce.) Max is sure that a dog would help everything that’s going wrong for him lately.

When Max discovers a mysterious store called “Wishworks, inc.”, that grants wishes (“guaranteed”) for its customers, he asks for a dog.

By no stretch of the imagination is “Ratty” the big, strong dog that Max has envisioned in his daydreams. A scruffy, thin, stray dog, Ratty no sooner appears on Max’s doorstep that she is into one act of mischief and trouble after another. Max can’t, for one second, imagine Ratty accompanying him on thrilling adventures to vanquish dragons, two-headed beasts … or bullies at school.

Max and Ratty do have “adventures” together, but they’re certainly not the type of adventures that Max has been dreaming about - except in his nightmares!

Max decides to visit Wishworks inc. again to ask for a second wish. The results are unanticipated, to say the least!

Likeable characters and an engaging plotline with some surprising twists add up to an enjoyable story that exemplifies the theme, “Be careful what you wish for (and what you “unwish” too).”

** Recommended for ages 8 to 11 years.

These reviews appeared in The Stratford Gazette on February 2, 2012. Written by Sally Hengeveld, Librarian.

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SPL Shelf Life [adult]

I Didn't Ask to be Born (But I'm Glad I Was) by Bill Cosby
@SPL: 792.7028092 Cosby

The nice thing about picking up a book of essays by Bill Cosby is that you can start to read anywhere in the book and you'll still end up smiling. You can read a long essay and have a big belly laugh or a snort over a short essay or read an in-between essay and just giggle. The other nice thing about reading funny essays by Bill Cosby is that you just cannot help hearing that voice - slightly raspy, with the drawn-out words and dramatic pauses... which is when you cannot help seeing him in your mind, too. The dead-pan or the sly smile that has entertained generations on stages and screens across North America as well as in numerous books.
I Didn't Ask to be Born is his latest foray into print, full of witty observations, warm memories, quirky illustrations (by George Booth) and QR codes. QR codes? You may ask what the 70-something former Dr. Huxtable is doing, dabbling in technology. Well, when scanned with a smartphone, each QR code will take the reader off on a little trip for additional content, even video. But if you are smartphoneless, there is plenty of amusing content in hand between the pages to which nearly anyone can relate. There is the teenage Bill overdoing himself in cologne to impress a girl (Axe wearers take note). Or the father Bill dealing with his child's first bad word, or not being able to come up with a quick answer for his eight-year-old daughter who doesn't want to clean up her room. Or the grandfather Bill with a grandson obsessed with Godzilla (which is only slightly better than a large purple dinosaur it seems). However my personal favourites are his musings on "the missing pages" from the Book of Genesis, and of course the one where he has a "Who's on First?" conversation with a former talk-show guest who is originally from North, South Carolina, 90 miles southeast of Due West. Not to be missed!


This review appeared in The Stratford Gazette on February 2nd. Written by Robyn Godfrey, Librarian.  

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