The lazy boy

Greetings everyone!  Bugzy here.  Hope you are having a good week and are staying warm.  Recently, I have heard someone talk about the "McGuffey Readers."  According to the library staff helping me,  they started in 1836. The books were published as a series of grade school readers for kids by William Holmes McGuffey.  They contained reading lessons as well as a strong moral lesson in each story.  Since then, the McGuffey Readers have sold over 120 million copies, putting them into numbers sold behind the Bible and Webster's Dictionary.

These readers are very interesting.  They are written in plain English, are easy to follow, teach good grammar and vocabulary.  But when it comes to the "moral lesson",  the Readers hit you over the head with it, so you don't miss it.

This is my attempt at a McGuffey Reader-type story.  It's my first try.

Bugzy

Once there was a boy named Kevin.  He was full of energy.  He loved to run and play sports outdoors.  Especially football and basketball.  He also liked to play video games.  He could sit and play for hours, until his parents made him get up and go do something else.  Kevin took pride in how long he could play video games, and how far he could run.  His only problem was when it came to his school work, he was lazy.

Kevin didn't want to read or work hard at school.  He didn't want to study, practice math problems, or write a paper.  He only wanted to do what he wanted to do.  His grades were always low, and his parents were always having to talk to his teachers.

One day, his teacher assigned the class to read "Alice in Wonderland."  They were going to have to take a test in class on it, and the test would make up a lot of their grade in English.  But the teacher, Ms. Gustasson, gave them three weeks to read it.  She assured the class that she would be available for help if they had problems reading the book.  Ms. Gustasson had called the local public library, and arranged for enough copies of the book for everyone.  All they had to do was to go pick it up and read it.

"Oh boy"  Kevin thought.  This is going to such an easy "A" to get.  I'll get an A and my parents will be proud of me.  I will just wait until the day before the test and watch the movie, he thought.  "This is going to be so easy". Ms. Gustasson will never know I didn't read the book.

So Kevin ran and played every day after school.  He played outside and went in and played his video games.  Whenever his parents asked him about his schoolwork, he told them he was already finished or didn't have any.  

The day before the test, Kevin asked his mother to take him to the library.   She said she would do it and hoped it would spur a greater interest in reading.  They had the movie of "Alice in Wonderland" and he checked it out.  He told his mother that they had to read the book, but not until next month.

The day of the test, Kevin was totally calm and relaxed. He had the english test aced.  He get lots of praise from his parents and from Ms. Gustasson.  It was 10:00am, time for English class.  Ms. Gustasson walked around the room and handed out the test.  She wished them all good luck.

Kevin picked up the test and started reading it.  His heart started racing.  He could feel it beating.  He broke out in a cold sweat.  He didn't know the answers to any of the questions!  It was like Ms. Gustasson had watched the movie and wrote the test so you could ONLY answer the questions if you had read the book.  

Kevin wrote a few things down and handed the test in.  The next day, Ms. Gustasson returned it to him with a big F on the top and a 0 score.  His parents were so upset, they took away his video games.  They made him show them every night before dinner what his assignments were and made him work on them all night.  Kevin flunked English and had to re-take it in the summer, so the school wouldn't let him play sports.

Kevin learned never try to get out of hard work by trying to be more clever than someone else.

PEACE
LOVE
BOOKS
BUGZY!!

Winter

Greetings everyone!  Bugzy here again.  I've been looking out my window here and North Dearborn and all I ever see is snow and ice.  Is it me, or has this been a really long winter so far?!  My  library friends told me it was coldest it has been in 20 years here Monday and Tuesday.  BRRRRRR.   I thought this was Indiana, not the Yukon!

How do you beat the winter blues?   Officially it's called Season Affective Disorder (SAD).  I don't know if someone was trying to be funny with that acronym of they were serious.  Here are a few good links for more information:
http://www.webmd.com/depression/tc/seasonal-affective-disorder-sad-topic-overview
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmedhealth/PMH0002499/

Here is some information about Vitamin D and SAD:

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/10888476
http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/reading-between-the-headlines/201307/vitamin-d-deficiency-and-depression

Who would have thought a vitamin could help with improving your mood, but evidently it does.

Of course, you know what I think:  reading a good book will help improve any mood any time of year.  Especially winter.

The bad part about Winter is when the sun is shining, you are layered up with coats and such so you don't get much sunlight on your skin.  And it is usually the sunniest when it is the coldest, so you don't spend much time outside.  Winter!! No wonder some people move to Florida!

Here is a fun little thing:  it is a computer "widget"  that counts the days down until Spring, March 20 2014.   At the present moment, that is 69 Days, 5 hours and 13 minutes until Spring.  Yea!!

I'm green, so you know I love the summer months!  And springtime, everything turns green and comes alive.  And my antennae get cold outside very fast, and so does my tail.  No fun trying to thaw out a frozen tail.

PEACE
LOVE
BOOKS
Bugzy

Happy New Year!!

Greetings everyone!  Happy New Year from Bugzy.  Hope you had a safe New Year's Eve.

I have been reading up today how many different traditions there are for New Year's around the world.  People have all kinds of crazy and sometimes strange things they do to supposedly bring "luck" to the new year.Eating certain types of food is a popular one.  So is engaging in some type of activity that you usually do not do.  Let's list some:

• German tradition has eating sauerkraut and pork brings luck
• In Louisiana some believe black-eyed peas brings good fortune
• In Spain, people try to eat 12 grapes all a the same time at midnight.  
• In the Philippines, people eat fruits or foods that are round.  It is said the round food represents coins and will bring good fortune.
• In some South American countries, like Brazil, what color of underwear you wear at midnight will determine your luck for next year:  white will bring peace, red will bring love, gold means wealth.
• In Columbia, people will carry suitcases around at midnight; it is said that this will bring a new year filled with travel and adventure.
• In Thailand, people smear their faces with gray talc powder and spray each other with water or throw buckets of water on everyone.  (I have also read that it is the middle of summer in Thailand then, so it actually feels really good and is fun.)
• In Ireland, people will throw bread against a wall; it is said to warn away evil spirits that will bring bad luck.  (Does it have to be bread?  I wonder if cupcakes, cookies, buns, or some other baked good will work?)
• In a small village in Peru, people engage in fist fights to settle any differences and start the new year with a clean slate.  No, I'm not making this up.

Mama expressing her displeasure with a right cross

Of course, there are lots of people doing "new year's resolutions".  I think it's great.  If you want to take advantage of the change of date to better yourself, more power to you.

The most popular that I have read about are losing weight, getting in shape, stop smoking, drink less alcohol, eat healthier foods, learn something--like a foreign language, spend less on your credit card, recycle more, travel more.Me, I don't have to work on some of these because I'm already a very handsome young man!   And I don't smoke or drink, so there is two more!!

I am going to try to do one thing more:  I am going to try to write to you all every week.  We'll see how I do.   Wish me luck!

PEACE

LOVE

BOOKS!

Bugzy

The Great Annual Holiday Party

Greetings Everyone!  Happy Holidays to you and your family.  I just wanted to share some pictures of last week's Great Annual North Dearborn Holiday Party.  The turnout was very good; I saw lots and lots of parents and children.  I didn't get to buy or eat any cookies at the cookie sale, but I heard it was great.

One of our Friends helping

Friends of the Library cookie sale

The Gingerbread house craft.  Who's the cute little girl?  She looks familiar

Santa Claus

Harpist Donna Jo Tucker, me and friends

Santa and Donna Jo

Me and Santa.  Awww.

PEACE
LOVE
BOOKS!!

BUGZY

A few moments with the fabulous Becca G in Bugzy's Corner

Greetings everyone!!  Hope you are having a great day.  Happy holidays to everyone!  Christmas is only a week away.  Hope you all have your holiday shopping done.  Check back, I may post some Christmas things next week.  You know I love Christmas!

On to the show.  Today I am with Becca Greene.  She works at Youth Services at the Lawrenceburg Library downtown.

Miss Becca

Me:  Greetings Becca!  Great to see you again.  Nice to have you in Bugzy's Corner.  Ready for a few questions?

Becca:  Yes I am.  Nice to see you again as well.

Me:  You know, if we opened a business up together, we could be B & B?   No, people might be confused and think we were a Bed and Breakfast.  But Hey, that'd be great!  B & B's B&B!

Becca:  Ha Ha Bugzy.

Me:  Let's start out with an easy one:  What is your favorite movie for kids?

Becca:  Today my favorite movie for kids would have to be “Aladdin”.

Me:  Does the library have it?

Becca:  Yes, we have several copies on DVD.

Me:  Great!  What is your favorite pizza topping (Besides cheese)?

Becca:  Mushrooms!

Me: That's good;  Phil at the North Dearborn Branch loves mushrooms too!

YUMMY!

 Me:  What is the greatest breakfast cereal of all time?

Becca:  Honeycomb

Me:  As in "Honeycomb's big...yeah yeah yeah!
It's not small...no no no!
Honeycomb's got...a big big bite!
Big big (taste/crunch) in a big big bite!

Now I have that jingle stuck in my head!

Becca:  You're welcome!

Me: What is your favorite  movie?

Becca:   My all-time favorite movie, not sure that it classifies as a children’s movie, but I would watch it over and over when I was growing up is, “The Boy Who Could Fly”.  Here is a link for more information: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0090768/

Me: What is your earliest library memory?

Becca:   My Grandmother use to take me to the library when I was a kid. It was a very small one room library and they had these old slant top reading desks. I don’t remember ever checking out a book but I spent hours upon hours sitting at one of those desks reading. Here is a picture of a similar desk!

Me:  That's a great story.  Aren't grandmothers wonderful?

Becca: Yes.  My grandmother and I used to go fishing together. We had our special fishing spot and we would always have a contest to see who caught the most fish.

Me:  Awww, gives me a warm fuzzy feeling.  Little Becca and her grandmother fishing. Have you ever played team sports?

Becca:  Oh yes! I played just about everything in school.  Tennis and volleyball were my favorites

Me:  That is interesting.  Ever get hit in the face with a volleyball?

Becca:  No, that I recall.  Why do you ask?

Me:  With all of that jumping and hitting the ball hard, you would think someone would get hit on a regular basis.

What did you want to be as a child when you grew up?

Becca:  A music producer

Me:  Wow very interesting;  Why is that?

Becca:  I wanted to be a music producer because I love music and at the time I just thought it would be cool to work with the “stars”, but then I realized I couldn’t carry a tune myself so that wasn’t going to work out for me.

Me:  The music world's loss is our gain.  What is your favorite children’s book?  You can have several.

Becca:  Actually, mine is a series of books. The Chronicles of Narnia. There was a teacher when I was in third grade that started reading these to us and I have loved them ever since!

Me:  Here is the most important question:  who is your favorite Muppet?

Becca:  Gonzo, of course!!

Me:  Great, our friend Sheila loves Gonzo too!!  He was always very sweet.

Last question but not the least:  What do you like best about being a librarian?

Becca:  Books, books and more books! There is always something new to discover

Me:  Thanks for being here today in Bugzy's Corner Becca.   Until next time,

PEACE
LOVE
BOOKS!

BUGZY

Who stole my book!?

WHO STOLE BUGZY’S BOOK?

One day, Bugzy was walking through the woods,  enjoying the trees, the flowers, the fresh air, the softness of the wind on his face.  He was thinking about how much he liked trees; how nice it is to sit under a tree on a nice day and read a book, or how nice it is to find shelter under a tree when it’s raining.  He walked up a hill covered in green grass and clover.  Tiny purple flowers dotted the landscape here and there. 

It was beautiful day, bright and sunny.  Bugzy settled under the oak, enjoying its shade.  He laid down, resting his head on its massive trunk, and begun to read his book.  Soon, he began to get tired.  His eyes were feeling very heavy, so he put his book down and decided to take a little afternoon nap. 

When Bugzy woke up, he reached next to him to pick his book back up and continue reading.  Only he could not find it.  He got up, thinking he had been laying on it while napping.  But it was not there either.  Frantically, he looked all around, but his book was gone. 

“Well, it didn’t just walk off by itself” said Bugzy.  “Someone must have taken it!  But who?” he said.  “I guess I will have to go ask around and see if anyone saw anything.” 

Bugzy saw a little brown bunny rabbit down the hill, munching on some of the clover.  He walked down the hill and asked “Excuse me Mr. Bunny, have you seen my book?  It has a blue and white cover.  I’m sure someone has taken it and I want to find it.  Can you help?”

“No, I’m sorry young man” said the bunny.  “I have been here for some time, but did not see anyone.  Try asking Mr. Deer on the other side of the hill.”

“Ok, thanks” said Bugzy.  I will try that.

So Bugzy marched up the hill and past the oak tree, and down to another pasture.  After some walking, Bugzy found Mr. Deer.

“Excuse me Mr. Deer, have you seen my book?  It has a blue and white cover.  I’m sure someone has taken it and I want to find it.  I was sitting under the mighty oak up the hill. Can you help?”

“Oh, let me see here” said the deer.  “I have been eating grass here all afternoon, and I did not see anyone go up the hill” the deer said. 

“If you go up the hill and past your oak tree, you will find a hedgehog in some tall grass.  If you ask her, she might know something.”

So Bugzy walks back up the hill, past the oak tree, and back down the hill.  He’s getting a little tired and frustrated now.  He hikes across the meadow and finds Mrs. Renee Hedgehog in the tall grass. She has a bright yellow flower tucked in her fur.

“Excuse me, Mrs. Hedgehog, I don’t mean to disturb you, but can you help me?”  Bugzy asks.

“Yes I will young man.  How can I help you”she says.    

                                             

“I am looking for my book.  It has a blue and white cover.  Someone took it while I was napping under the oak tree.  Did you see anyone go up there?  Have you seen my book?” Bugzy asks.

“No, I don’t think so.  I don’t recall seeing anyone or anything go up the hill.  But try asking Mr. Raven.  I saw him land in your oak tree on the hill. Surely he has seen something while he was flying around” said Mrs. Hedgehog.

“Thank you” Bugzy says.  “I hope he has seen my book, or who took it.”

Bugzy again hikes across the meadow  and back up the hill to the mighty oak.  On the bottom branch sits a large black raven.

“Hello Mr. Raven, I’m looking for my book.  It has a blue and white cover.  Someone took it when I was napping under the tree.  No one has seen anything.  I hope you have” Bugzy says.

“Well, well, well” the Raven cawed.  “I might have seen something.  A book you say?  How do I know it is even yours?  Maybe YOU stole it from someone else” said the Raven.

“IT HAS MY NAME IN FRONT!”  Bugzy says.  “It says “To Bugzy, happy reading always, love you, Mom.” 

“That is very nice” says the Raven.  “I will have to remember that.” “Bye now!”

“HEY, get back here” Bugzy says.  The raven tries to fly away, and Bugzy jumps up and catches him. 

“Spill it, bird” Bugzy says.  “Where is my book?  I know you something.”

Just then, the raven’s legs grow longer, about two feet long, with claws and brown fur.  His head gets bigger and turns into a snout, with brown furry ears.  His black tail feathers turn into a white and brown furry tail.  He looks at Bugzy and says “Surprise!”

“COYOTE!”  “COYOTE the trickster” shouts Bugzy with authority.  “I should 

have known it was you.  Where is my book?” Bugzy says, not letting go of him.

“Didn’t you like my little game?” Coyote asks.

“No, I did not” Bugzy replies.

“Oh come now”  says Coyote.  “Wasn’t it fun, trekking up and down that hill all those times!  HE HE HE, it sure was funny watching you.  Work up a sweat, did we?”

“How many of those animals were you, pretending to be helpful” Bugzy asks.

“All but Mrs. Hedgehog, she was really just trying help and be nice” Coyote says.  “Where’s the fun in that?” he says.

“Give me back my book, and I’ll be on my way” Bugzy says.

“NO WAY” says Coyote.

Bugzy then lifts Coyote up high with top two arms, squeezing Coyote tight.  He then starts tickling Coyote’s belly with his other arms.

“Ho ho ho, heee, heee, haaa haaa, all right”  Coyote laughs.  “It’s up in the tree a few feet, no harm done, heee haa.  Now let me down.”

Bugzy lets Coyote down.  He sneers and Bugzy and runs off. 

 Bugzy climbs up a few branches and gets his book back.  “Silly Coyote” he says.  “Hopefully, that’s the last I see of him, but I doubt it.” 

(Coyote is a character in several Native American tribe’s myths.  He is known as a trickster and can change shapes.)

For more books and information on Native American myths and legends, try:

J299.72 American Indian Mythology

398.208997 Native American Myths

970.00497 Brief Guide to Native American Myths

PEACE
LOVE
BOOKS!

Bugzy

I didn't know my mother was so famous....

Here is a picture of actor LeVar Burton (Star Trek, Roots, Reading Rainbow) with a copy of a book that my mother, Tara Callan King, illustrated.  It was written by Derek Munson and published by Chronicle Books, c. 2000.  Excuse me for bragging, but that's pretty cool.

Bugzy

LeVar Burton

LeVar Burton and Enemy Pie