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2014 Staff Picks: Part 1

We're kicking off 2015 with a new series here on the blog!  Throughout the month of January, I will be sharing our Staff Picks of 2014.  This is the first part of a multi-part series in which library staff will share their favorite books, movies and/or literary websites or blogs from the previous year.  We're starting off with Miss Sheila's picks for 2014.  So keep on reading to find out what Miss Sheila's been reading over the past year!

Although she has read many books during 2014, Miss Sheila is hard pressed to name her favorite novel.  That’s because all the books she enjoyed throughout the year fell into the nonfiction category.  Oddly enough, her favorite topic to read about is ... physics.  

“The discoveries being made daily in the science of physics, as well as the discoveries made during the last one hundred years or so are nothing short of  fascinating”, Miss Sheila tells us.  “The ideas and theories brought together by today’s physicists, Michio Kaku, Neil DeGrasse Tyson and the late Carl Sagan and Edwin Hubble are breathtaking.  Stories about the Large Hadron Collider, quantum mechanics and string theory are filled with words that read like science fiction, yet many physicists work daily to prove that those very theories are reality.  Reading physics always creates, at least with me, a new enchantment with our place in the universe.”

Some of those titles are: The Quantum Moment by Robert Crease and Alfred Goldhaber;  Absolutely Small by Michael Fayer;  The Elegant Universe by Brian Greene and The Particle at the End of the Universe by Sean Carroll.

Aside from the physics lessons, Miss Sheila says the book she most enjoyed during her reading time in 2014 was Say Kids! What Time is It? Notes from the Peanut Gallery by Stephen Davis.  “It is a wonderfully researched book about the early TV show, Howdy Doody.  I enjoyed the book so much because I enjoy puppets so much.  It was a great story about the early days of television and children’s programming.”

Miss Sheila doesn’t recall seeing any new movies throughout 2014 but does enjoy watching Twister, Men in Black, and Independence Day whenever the opportunity arises.  “Those are my three favorite movies and they never get old for me.”

Miss Sheila most enjoys websites and blogs  that help her plan Children’s StoryHour.  “I love providing a good, old-fashioned Children’s StoryHour.  A StoryHour  that features classic children’s storybooks with lovely illustrations, some flannel board stories, finger plays, songs and Puppet Theater  followed by a craft that’s  just right for the preschooler.  The children seem to enjoy that very much.  Many librarians share their ideas for StoryHour on blogs and I’m always grateful for the exchange of  ideas.”

 --written by Miss Sheila




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