Library YouTube Break #29:
Maurice Sendak on the Colbert Report
It’s Friday afternoon. You’re just watching the clock tick, waiting to go home for the weekend. Sounds like it’s time for another Library YouTube Break. And a funny one, too!
The Colbert Report on Comedy Central never pulls any punches in the search for laughs and satirical commentary. Stephen Colbert and his writers are masters of political and cultural lampoonery. Earlier this week, the host interviewed Maurice Sendak, world-famous author and illustrator of such children’s books as Where the Wild Things Are and Chicken Soup With Rice.
It’s obvious Sendak’s in on the game, and he answers questions with a biting honesty that’s only accepted from people who have lived long enough on Planet Earth.
After you watch Part 1 below, be sure and check out part 2 on Hulu, where you’ll get Sendak’s unedited opinions on children’s book illustrators and e-books. Too, too hilarious.
Library YouTube Break #28:
The Joy of Books
A friend nominated this video for a Library YouTube Break, and I have to say it’s a darn good one!
The staff at Type bookstore in Toronto spent tons of time moving, stacking, and animating the books for this delightful video. It’s a great promo for the bookstore with more than 2 million visits to the video on YouTube. Still, with all of the work and coordination involved, it looks more like a labor of love to me.
So, a round of applause for these Canadian bookies. Enjoy your YouTube break!
Library YouTube Break #27:
Library Road Trip
OK, so these dudes traveled around the country doing Library Road Trip video blogs, stopping at public libraries around the nation. It’s nice to celebrate public libraries, but looking at the Oklahoma City video below, I wonder how much people really learn from watching their vlogs.
Did they even talk to anyone at OKC (or at any of their stops)? For example, if they had, they would have known that Oklahoma City really doesn’t have a “main” library. The collection at the Metropolitan Library System in Oklahoma County is technically “decentralized.” That building downtown is just the “downtown” branch. They also leave the impression that the new downtown library had to be built because of the bombing. Wrong.
And they make a stop at the Oklahoma City National Memorial and Museum, and they don’t even go inside. I mean, I know this is a project centering on public libraries, but wouldn’t it have been nice if they had visited the archives inside?
OK, I’ll stop complaining. They *do* have some nice things to say about OKC. But it all just makes me wonder how much I can trust the other library vlogs they did on their road trip.
Library YouTube Break #26:
Official Hunger Games Trailer
I. Can’t. Wait.
Want more?
Internet Movie Database page on The Hunger Games
The Hunger Games Trilogy fansite
Other Okie Reads posts related to the trilogy:
• End Game
Library YouTube Break #25:
The Baby and The iPad
How do you feel about this video? It seems to be getting a lot of attention around the web, like in the post Reading is Hard! (In defence of real books) by blogger Jowita Bydlowska.
Before we get into further discussion, take a look at the video, and then we’ll talk!
So, what do you think? Is it great to see a baby interacting with an iPad, or do you worry that she won’t understand how to use print material when she’s older? Did Steve Jobs really code her OS? The author of a short post on American Editor finds it worrisome for another reason:
It symbolizes the problem I see with the future of language and the acceptance of Twitter-speak/spelling as the norm.”
Me thinks these people doth protest too much.
Here’s a story: my colleague and friend Sadie has a young son named Fox who recently put his hand on his father’s laptop screen. He stretched his fingers wide and said “bigger!” When the image on the screen didn’t respond, he looked at his dad quizzically as if to say: “What kind of crappy technology is this?!”
So Fox knows how touch screens are supposed to work. But, of course, he also knows how books and magazines work. (I mean, his mom’s a librarian. Hello?!) And I’m sure he’s figured out that all screens don’t incorporate touch technology. It’s the same with my grandnephew and grandniece. Put an iPod Touch in their hands, and they’re all over it. Put a book in their hands, and they can turn pages and read the printed word.
Young children are remarkable creatures. They are born to investigate and explore the world around them, whether they come across a rock or an iPad. More importantly, we remain learners throughout our lives. When you were growing up, did you really expect to see the day when you could pull up information, watch videos, play music and make phone calls on a device smaller than a portable transistor radio? And yet, chances are you’ve mastered that device well enough to find it remarkably useful.
Some academicians believe we are moving toward a post literate world; but, honestly, I don’t see this video as Exhibit One in any future investigation exploring why the human race has lost the ability to read.
It’s all good, people. So calm down.
Now, Siri? Now, that’s something we really have to worry about!
Library YouTube Break #24:
Wonderstruck and Hugo
Brian Selznick’s new children’s book, Wonderstruck, is out now, and it’s a wonder to read. I’m halfway through it and will do a review later. Please don’t think this book is just for kids. It’s great for adults, and would make an absolutely wonderful shared reading experience with the young people in your life.
Wonderstruck tells two intertwining stories. One story stars young Ben in 1977, and is told in prose. The other story is about a girl named Rose in 1927, and is told completely through Selznick’s amazing illustrations. To find out more, watch this tantalizing trailer from Scholastic Press.
Selznick is also the author behind the award-wining The Invention of Hugo Cabret. Like Wonderstruck, it is told with both words and pictures. The book has been made into a movie by Martin Scorsese and will debut on the big screen this Thanksgiving. But you can watch the trailer now!
Library YouTube Break #23:
ABE gives us a book moment
ABE Books is a great place to find out of print books. Thousands of book sellers at your fingertips. Enjoy.
Library YouTube Break #22
The World’s Largest Floating Library
GBA Ships is an international charity operating out of Germany. The news this week is that the largest GBA ship, Logos Hope, is docked in an Indian port until August 11. Logos Hope carries more than 7000 book titles, travels around the world promoting good literature, raises money for charity, undertakes community projects, and fosters cultural exchange during its global voyage.
Imagine living in an area of the world that has little to no access to books, and this glorious ship docks in your local harbor, opens its doors, and introduces you to a whole new world!
Directly below, see Logos Hope in 60 seconds. A longer YouTube video with much more information about the project follows in this post.
Library YouTube Break #21 Build a bookstore and they will come
Here’s a Library (bookstore) YouTube Break, thanks to the folks at GalleyCat, this morning.
So many books, so little time….
Library YouTube Break #20
The Snowman Book Trailer
Your Library YouTube Break this week is the book trailer for the work I’m reading right now, Jo Nesbo’s The Snowman. I’m fascinated by book trailers, and I have to say this one does a good job of communicating the creepiness of this crime novel. Enjoy! (Oh, and I will have a review of the book once I’m finished.)
