Home-based and Owner-managed Businesses

Our community is home to hundreds of home-based and owner-managed businesses. If you are exploring the idea of starting your own business or using your skills to add to your family's bottom line, the library can be a good resource for free and useful information. Here's a few most requested titles about planning a successful business venture.

How to Start a Home-based Tutoring Business provides teachers and those with expertise in various fields with great advice on how to work one-on-one with children who need specialized help.

Sell your crafts part-time with advice found in Crafty Superstar : Make Crafts on the Side, Earn Extra Cash, and Basically Have It All. A good handbook all around and the subtitle neatly summarizes the content.

Start & Run a Home Cleaning Business offers detailed information about target marketing, goals, training, staff, and finances.

Start Your Own Clothing Store and More covers finding your niche with advice on children's, bridal, vintage, and consignment clothing.

From NOLO Press, learn about how to turn an avocation or hobby into cash using general self-help title, Whoops! I'm in Business. Also try NOLO's How to Write a Business Plan.

The library also holds a variety of titles about business accounting, including a great series of DVDs that will be especially useful to visual learners.

Post by Bev Simmons

How Much Stuff Is Enough Stuff?

Only You Can Say...
If you have ever filled a drawer or closet to capacity (and not with aid of those clutter-busting organizers found in chain stores) you may recognize yourself a little more or a little less in one or both of these fascinating books.

In Stuff : Compulsive Hoarding and the Meaning of Things, Dr. Randy O. Frost and Dr. Gail Steketee converse with people who aren't at all materialistic but who just can't seem to throw anything out. Every item has current or future meaning; every item is saved.

Annie Leonard, a point of view advocate for sustainability, approaches the subject from a different angle in The Story of Stuff, a print companion to her hugely popular animated Internet video of the same name. Catch an interview with the author (after the ad for stuff, of course) courtesy of ABC network TV's Good Morning America show.

Early Literacy Fun for Little People

June: Fingerplay of the Month

Get out your plastic construction tools for this one! This fingerplay helps children learn to count to five while integrating some rhythmic tapping and some intense coordination for little ones. It's also sure to get the giggles going as we count to number five and our limbs are going everywhere!

Peter Works with Hammers (Follow-along Video Plus Script)

Peter works with one hammer, one hammer, one hammer
Peter works with one hammer
Yes he does!

Peter works with two hammers, two hammers, two hammers
Peter works with two hammers
Yes he does!

Peter works with three hammers, three hammers, three hammers
Peter works with one hammers
Yes he does!

Peter works with four hammers, four hammers, four hammers
Peter works with four hammers
Yes he does!

Peter works with five hammers, five hammers, five hammers
Peter works with five hammers
Then, he's done!

Further Reading
Don't forget to check out our construction and trucking books. Here are some of our favorites:
The Construction Alphabet Book by Jerry Pallotta
Raise the Roof by Anastasia Suen
Get to Work Trucks by Don Carter
Building by Elisha Cooper
New Road by Gail Gibbons
Roadwork by Sally Sutton

365 days later...

One Year in a Life
If seems as though many authors are taking a year of their life to undertake some sort of project. Throughout the year they write down their progress, their thoughts, their struggles, and what they learned in the end. By reading these types of books, we can live vicariously through the authors and experience their projects. From living the Bible to living with the land, these memoirs are an interesting kind of nonfiction that is often hard to put down.

Here's a sampling of 365 day titles:

No Impact Man : Living with as little impact on the environment as possible

A Year of Living Biblically : Following biblical laws and traditions

Animal, Vegetable, Miracle : Living off the land

Living Oprah : Following Oprah's advice

The Happiness Project : Changing your life, one self-improvement program at a time

Julie and Julia : Trying Julia Child's recipes

Eat, Pray, Love : Travel the world after a nasty divorce

Self Made Man : A woman disguised as a man in the workforce

A Year Without "Made in China" : Living without imported goods

See You In A Hundred Years : Living life as it was in Virginia in the year 1900

The Geography of Bliss : Traveling the world to find the happiest places

Post by Kathleen Sands

Classic Twists : So Very Strange...

But So Much Fun...

Over our circulation desk, we've enjoyed conversing with fans of Quirk Classics. What's quirky? Classic novels we all 'ought' to read get turned in to contemporary monster mash-ups. Good writing prevails, the parodies work, and the original classics are awash in the light of renewed attention. How cool is that?

Though not a Quirk Classic, Seth Grahame-Smith's Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter is similar in intent and flavor. Rumor also has it that the always inventive Tim Burton will produce a movie based on the book...

Cake In a 'Cup'

Delightful Morsels for Any Party
June is a month famous for celebrations. Whether you are marking a graduation or Father's Day; hosting a baby or bridal shower; or adding fun to children's party, the library offers many titles that feature fantastic ideas for making your event special.

What's New Cupcake? : Ingeniously Simple Designs for Every Occasion by Karen Tack & Alan Richardson, who brought us Hello Cupcake! early last year, certainly lives up to its subtitle. The walrus and chocolate moose recipes alone make for a fun book.

For party planning, try Plan a Fabulous Party... In No Time by Tamar Love; the book offers some great advice about planning and structuring your special occasion. Diane Warner's Great Parties on Small Budgets also provides suggestions for all types of special theme parties. A variety of additional titles about entertaining are also available. Ask at the desk and we'll help point the way.

Post by Bev Simmons

Graphic Novels...

No Longer a 'Novel'ty

Graphic novels are coming in the door on a regular basis here, @ your library. We'd ask you to weigh in and tell us which are your favorites and to let us know the cool ones we've missed! Below are some of the titles already considered greatest by you, the discriminating reader:

Graphics for Kids

King Arthur: Excalibur Unsheathed (Graphic Myths and Legends Series)

Peach Fuzz

Pokemon Diamond and Pearl Adventure!

Bone

Babymouse

Ninja Baseball Kyuma!

Benny and Penny

MouseGuard

Naruto

Also peruse our Young Adult collection and find a variety of graphic novels, standalone and series, geared to the interests of middle grade readers and teens.

Post by Kathleen Sands

Shakespeare Who?

Shakespeare : A Classic Life
If anyone made a list of outstanding world literary giants, undoubtedly Shakespeare would be on the list. However, did Shakespeare really write Shakespeare?

James Shapiro attempts to answer this age-old and often controversial question (subject of many a high school or college paper) in his book entitled Contested Will : Who Wrote Shakespeare? History, mystery, controversy and evidence come together and yield a fascinating study about who deserves to wear the cap of literary genius. Discussion of forgeries, conspiracy theories, codes, ciphers, and claimants certainly add to the appeal of this well written, well researched volume about 'The Bard'.

For a companion read, try Shakespeare's Wife (2007) by noted feminist author Germaine Greer. This book, about Anne Hathaway (1556?-1623), created quite a stir in the press when first released. Still, descriptions of life in 17th century Stratford -- and a portrait of the Ann who might have been -- make for a good read.

Further Reading, Listening, Viewing
The library also holds a variety of resources by and about Shakespeare, in a variety of formats. Ask at the desk and we'll connect you to the resources you find most useful.

Post by Bev Simmons

Geocaching

Summer Fun for the Family

If you enjoy puzzles and outdoor activities with a touch of science thrown in, try geocaching. This worldwide pastime allows people to hide an object (geocache) in a secret location with the expectation that other people will find the object using GPS (global positioning system) technology. Geocaching also comes with its own lingo and generally accepted rules of conduct.

To learn more about this pastime, the library's collection includes a few handy introductory titles for adults and kids:

It's a Treasure Hunt! : Geocaching & Letterboxing

Outdoor Navigation with GPS by Stephen W. Hinch

The Complete Idiot's Guide to Geocaching by the editors and staff of Geocaching.com

Let's Go Geocaching by John McKinney

Surf's Up

For web-based information, visit Geocaching.com, the largest web site about the pastime.