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On supermarket shelves, we are given a mind-numbing array of choices to select from. Shall we have some peppercorns on our macaroni, some cinnamon for baking, or a bit of rosemary with roast pork? Five hundred years ago, however, cooking with herbs and spices was a much simpler choice.

The post Around the world in spices and herbs appeared first on OUPblog.

Raggedy Ann and Raggedy Andy are joining the ranks of Holly Hobby and My Little Pony--iconic toys that have been "updated" for modern audiences. School Library Journal reports that Simon and Schuster and Starz Media have joined forces to return the dolls to the pop culture spotlight. The new Raggedy Ann looks awfully cute. She has a sort of manga style about her. But I loved her in her original incarnation. This must be how Pooh fans felt when Disney got their hands on the franchise and irrevocabley defined how Winnie the Pooh looked for generations of children.

I know the Random House book most people are clamoring for right now is Christopher Paolini's Brinsingr, but I'm not one of the clamoring. Mostly because I don't read fantasy. What I do read, however, is chick lit. Lots and lots of chick lit. Growing up in the mid-'90s, the premier chick lit franchise was the delightfully cheesy Sweet Valley High series. There's a certain camaraderie among Sweet Valley fans. We like to reminisce about the endless descriptions of out-there clothes, pick our favorite twin (I'm definitely an Elizabeth), and if Zazzle or CafePress had been around back then I'm sure we'd have a spate of t-shirts that proclaimed TEAM JEFFREY or TEAM TODD.

And now, those t-shirts can be ours.

Starting in April, Random House is reissuing the Sweet Valley High series. Everyone's favorite blonde, five-foot-six, lavaliere-wearing identical twins are back in all their identical-but-couldn't-be-more-different glory. Random, bless them, gave out galleys at ALA Midwinter, so I picked one up and read it.

What you may consider spoilers will follow. If you're spoiler-sensitive, now may be a good time to click your back button.

At their cores, the SVH books are still the same. They're still about life in sunny, middle-class Southern California. Jessica and Elizabeth's personalities are still the same. Jessica still schemes and ruins Elizabeth's clothes, and Elizabeth still prefers spending time with a few close friends over going to parties. Some details from the original series are changed. The twins no longer drive a Fiat Spider or hang out at the Dairi Burger. Elizabeth has an anonymous blog instead of an anonymous print gossip column. That's the bad news. The good news is that the plot still holds up, more or less.

The greatest thing about the SVH series is that the plots are timeless. Regardless of decade, teens still deal with issues of sibling rivalry, romance, feuding families, annoying but loving older brothers, and gossip. Those themes that drive the SVH series are still relevant today, which is why I think there's a good chance this repackaged series will find a new generation of readers. The other nice thing about the series is that there's no overt sex (at least, not in the first book), so this could be a nice recommendation for those who like "clean" romances or those who want a step up from The Clique but one down from Gossip Girl. Jessica and Elizabeth certainly like boys, but they're not hopping into bed with them. Even though Jessica likes a little danger in her life, she's not stupid enough to stay with the guy who endangers his life (and hers).

And years after I read the first books, I still want Lila Fowler's wardrobe.

crossposted at carlie@bccls

So what, you might ask, have I been doing?

I will spare you the litany of boring diapers, wipes, goo-goo, ga-ga mumbo-jumbo.

But I have seen how the other half lives. The other half being the men and women in our (this is geared for public libraries) communities who descend upon our stacks, our computers, our DVD piles...during normal business hours.

I have always wondered what the rest of the world does, while we all go to work and stare at screens, sit in meetings and talk on phones. Now I know! They go on walks(!), they volunteer for political campaigns (!), they take naps (!), they do laundry mid-week (!), and they scoff at the idea of needing Microsoft Outlook to help them organize their day(!!!)

Okay, maybe some of them use Outlook. But I seriously unplugged and mysteriously feel no worse the wear for it. I happily admit to having a very large GAP in my blog, news and magazine reading. But I have a very large STASH of photos with family members on beaches, at sunsets, around dining room tables and yes, even in Jackson Square, New Orleans.

Now obviously I am not recommending a wholesale mass exodus of the workforce OR of technology. Otherwise who would be around to read my pontifications? But as a temporary realignment, a small re-engagement with some of the people we serve...it's a great mini-sabbatical I can encourage, to help one remember that the world does not end with deadlines, agendas and achievements.

Sunshine can bring happiness. As can warm cookies from the oven, or to notice the tomato plant that has valiantly hung on past a frost. These fleeting pleasures, born of leisure, were mine for a time.

So indulge those seeming vagabonds among you. They may be building memories.

I have mixed feelings about this, as the original Electric Company was my favorite show when I was a kid. Somewhere I even have the LP from the show.

Sesame Workshop Appoints Project Director for The Electric Company

“Dr. Malore I. Brown has been named Sesame Workshop’s project director for a new multimedia production of The Electric Company, overseeing the re-launch of the classic series aimed at children aged 6 to 8.

Reporting to COO Mel Ming, Dr. Brown will responsible for the overall management of the multimedia project, to ensure that The Electric Company fosters children’s literacy skills and involves them in activities designed for multiple platforms.” [World Screen]

The Beatles, Beatlemania and the Music That Changed the World by Bob Spitz Little Brown 2007 I'm wondering of, when I was a middle school aged grunt, if I even knew about music and musicians that were popular 40 years earlier. That would have been the music between the wars, music of a country climbing out of the Great Depression. The biggest hit songs would have been Fred Astaire and Ginger

© Kathleen Rietz

I can't tell if my rendition of this 1920 something home or the home itself evokes the memory. I never lived there but have been fascinated for as long as i can remember by this stucco home setting as it does today on a hillside. It represents to me a simpler time I would have loved to visit. So my contribution to this week's theme REMEMBER.
Enjoy.