The Flu: Recommended Resources

“Got the sniffles? Feeling a little run down? You must have the Swine Flu.”

We’ve probably all heard something similar recently, and it’s no wonder. Every day brings news reports and assorted warnings from some expert or government agency suggesting every little ache and cough might be a symptom of the dreaded H1N1 (swine) flu. And then there’s the vaccine. Who should get one? Do you even need one? What about the shortages?

It’s hard to keep up with all that information. Fortunately, there are several good resources out there to help you make informed decisions about your health.
The State of Wisconsin has set up a Pandemic Flu Resource website that is loaded with up-to-date H1N1 and seasonal flu information including basic FAQs, symptom checklists, advice for caring for people with the flu, current vaccine information, a local flu clinic locator, and the Wisconsin Pandemic Influenza Toolkit for Families.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and Flu.gov both offer exhaustive collections of H1N1 facts, statistics, and guidance. The status of vaccine supply across the country can be found here as well as information about treatment and advice for specific groups, i.e. childcare providers, universities, and pregnant women, etc.

If you’d like a more visual representation of how the flu is spreading, try FluTracker, a partnership between leading researchers and Google. Google has also set up its own “Flu Trends” site mapping various flu trends and statistics around the world.

Other fantastic resources are available through the Weyenberg Library’s databases. Try digging around in the Consumer Health Complete database or jump right into the EBSCO Influenza Information Portal. They are both packed with technical reports for clinicians as well as abundant information geared toward the rest of us.

Interactive History Books

Sometimes learning about history can be a bit on the boring side. A lot of the dates and facts just don’t seem to be that important. Most kids would probably tell you that history is not in their top 10 of things to learn, but what if they could become a part of history? In the You Choose series, a child can do just that. In The Battle of the Alamo an Interactive History Adventure, you are now living in Mexico in the early 1800’s and Texas is a part of that country. You now have two paths to follow. Do you side with Mexico or with Texas? Do you dig trenches with Santa Anna’s men or will you end up fighting with Davy Crockett? Once your path is chosen, you will have 50 choices to make along the way with 16 different endings. All of the situations that you’ll encounter have happened to real people. The decisions that you make along the way will determine what your final outcome will be. Other major historical events in this series are: The Civil War, The Attack on Pearl Harbor, The Battle of Bull Run, The Civil Rights Movement, The Dust Bowl, The Wild West, World War II, The Battle of Bunker Hill, The California Gold Rush, Chinese Immigrants in America, Exploring the New World, German Immigrants in America, The Golden Age of Pirates, Irish Immigrants in America, The Japanese Internment, The Titanic, The Underground Railroad, and Westward Expansion.

Another similar series is Step into History. In this series you can become a Roman army general, a Stone Age chieftain, a 16th century sea captain, or a medieval commander of the king’s army. You will be given a challenge and it will be your job to carry it out. There are plenty of panoramas, aerials and cross sections to help you feel like you are there in the middle of the action. There are four books in this series:

Siege! Can you Capture a Castle?
Conquest! Can You Build a Roman City?
Sail! Can You Command a Sea Voyage?
Hunt! Can You Survive the Stone Age?

Who said history couldn’t be fun?

Short Stories: Alive or Dead

Oprah’s doing it, how about you? I am referring to Oprah’s never before book club selection of short stories. Oprah’s 63rd book pick is Uwem Akpan’s debut short story collection, Say You’re One of Them.

Oprah explained to her audience that she never before selected a book of short stories because she felt short stories usually leave readers wanting more. I too would never touch them oh for the obvious reasons that the plot or characters weren’t fully developed and if I was to invest my time in something I wanted the whole pie. Well, I have since changed my mind; I am no longer opposed to reading short stories.

Why the change of heart? Well, I think it has a lot to do with time. Let’s face it. There are far fewer pages to read if you have limited time for pleasure reading. Although novels are attractive because one can leave off and continue without interruption of characters etc., the short story can bring just as much satisfaction if you let it. All stories in a book need not be read or may not appeal to everyone so savoring just one or two can be just as rich of an experience.

Oprah says Uwem Akpan’s collection is a first for her because the stories left her gasping. Let’s hope the publishing industry sees it that way too. For years, short stories have not been an attractive profit making venture for publishing houses so they have not been keen on publishing them. Small publishing houses on the other hand seem to do a better job of promoting and selling them. With the state of the industry in flux, it is anyone’s guess as to the future of the short story, but there certainly seems to me to be a few notable bright spots of late.

For your leisure reading consider the following short story collections.

Unaccustomed Earth by Jhumpa Lahiri is a powerful collection of stories exploring cultural divide within Bengali family life in America.

John Updike’s final book, My Father’s Tears and Other Stories published posthumously following his January 2009 death mingles narratives of his native Pennsylvania with stories of New England suburbia and of foreign travel.

In Love Stories in this Town by Amanda Eyre Ward the author balances humor and emotion as her characters travel across the United States in search of a place where they truly belong.

Everything Ravaged, Everything Burned by Wells Tower explores individuals whose lives are troubled, in disarray and confusion paralleled between the past and an uncertain future.

Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni’s, The Unknown Error of our Lives: Stories portray eight tales of women caught between the beliefs and traditions of their Indian heritage and those of their children in America.

Olive Kitteridge by Elizabeth Strout, winner of the 2009 Pulitzer Prize for fiction is a collection of 13 heart-wrenching tales focusing on the quiet intertwining lives of folks in coastal Maine.

And finally, Tobias Wolff widely regarded for his short stories has pulled together 21 favorite stories from three previous collections in Our Story Begins: New and Collected Stories.

*Short stories by a single author are shelved in our library alphabetically by the author’s last name in the fiction areas and those with stories authored by several authors can be found under “Anthology” in their respective genre.

New Music at the Weyenberg Library

Our patrons know that the best place to find that perfect book to read is their public library. If they have a subject they would like to explore, our patrons know the online resources at the Weyenberg Library are exceptional. Our patrons know that if they are looking to for up-to-the-minute current world events, the Weyenberg Library has the daily newspapers they need to find the facts. But do they know that their library is also the place to find the latest music CDs and artists?

The Frank L. Weyenberg Library has been busy this past year; researching the newest independent bands and musicians from large and small towns all over the world for our library’s collection. Here are some of the new additions from 2009.

The Constellations, a southern independent rock band of five members, have been dubbed a “supergroup” by the locals in Atlanta. The band and it’s ever expanding line-up of southern musicians is currently playing sold out shows in Atlanta’s most popular venues and will begin their first national tour this coming year. Their first CD, Southern Gothic, is now available at the Weyenberg Library.

The group The Airborne Toxic Event played to its first audience only one month after the group was formed in Los Angeles. Even though they had no recorded music or agent, their single performance found the attention of a writer for Rolling Stone magazine who listed them as one of the top 25 bands to watch. They quickly recorded their self titled first CD. Four commercial radio stations in the LA area, in a rare move, officially added the unsigned band’s song “Sometime Around Midnight” to their regular rotation (click here to listen to the song). Since then, the band has experienced national success. Their self titled first CD, The Airborne Toxic Event, is available at the Weyenberg Library.

Additional bands or artists newly available to the Weyenberg Library are:
MGMT: Oracular Spectacular
Metric: Fantasies
Arctic Monkeys: Humbug
Silversun Pickups: Swoon
Muse: The Resistance
David Gray: Draw the Line
Yeah Yeah Yeahs: It’s Blitz
Modest Mouse: No One’s First, & You’re Next

Diary of a Wimpy Kid

On Oct. 12th, the fourth book in the Diary of a Wimpy Kid series by Jeff Kinney comes out. Each book in this series has been widely popular, from the very first book to the highly anticipated fourth book. If you haven’t already checked this series out, you may want to, if only so you can stay on top of what your kids or grandchildren are reading.

Here is some information pulled from the author’s biography on Barnes & Noble’s website.


“All his life, Jeff Kinney wanted to be a cartoonist. As a student at the University of Maryland in the 1990s, he published his comic strip "Igdoof" in the college newspaper, but he soon discovered that succeeding in the real world as a syndicated cartoonist is no easy task. So, after school, he supported himself as a newspaper designer and computer programmer, while working out ideas for a children's book that combined cartoons with conventional storytelling.

Once he conceived the concept for Diary of a Wimpy Kid, Kinney devoted nearly six years to developing the storyline and artwork. Fashioned as a journal with appealing, expressive stick figure drawings on every page, Diary is narrated in the pitch-perfect (and hilariously deadpan) voice of a not-always-likeable but totally believable tweener named Greg Haffley. Poised to make the painful transition from elementary to middle school, Gregg struggles with the usual preteen angst: bullies and cliques, annoying siblings and clueless parents, faithful friends and cute, unattainable girls.

Although Kinney never intended to publish his book online, when the opportunity arose to serialize Greg's adventures on Funbrain.com, he knew he'd found the perfect way to reach his target audience. In 2004, the comic strip began appearing in daily installments on the website. The feature was a huge hit, attracting thousands of hits a day. Moreover, the online version paved the way to Kinney's five-book deal with the publisher Harry N. Abrams.

Armed with fresh, new story lines, Kinney launched the print sequence in 2007. From the very first installment, entitled simply Diary of a Wimpy Kid, the series was a success -- especially with reluctant readers who found the diary-with-doodles format far more accessible than conventional books. Gregg, with his hilarious antics, backfiring schemes, and totally unfiltered thoughts (his mom has agreed not to read what he writes!), has struck a responsive chord -- both with kids who identify with his growing pains and with grownups who vividly recall their own.”


This is a very entertaining series that is appropriate for both boys and girls. If you like the series, here are some other books that contain the charm and entertainment that the Diary of a Wimpy Kid books do:

Babymouse by Jennifer L. Holm
Max Quigley: technically not a bully by James Roy
The Dork Diaries: tales from a not-so-fabulous life by Rachel Renee Russell
Raymond and Graham Rule the School by Mike Knudson
The Last Invisible Boy by Evan Kuhlman
Dragonbreath by Ursula Vernon
Bone by Jeff Smith

Hobbies for the Winter Months

Soon we’re all going to be cooped up inside, waiting for warm weather once again. Many will travel far and near for sledding, skiing, ice skating, curling, Nordic skiing, hockey, and mass snowball fights to enjoy the sparse daylight, but you don’t have to worry at night! Aside from reading many many books from your library, you can pick up a couple and start on some brand new hobbies to carry you through the winter.

Drawing is always something tough, but being artistic with a brush or pencil can happen by learning a bit from the Complete Art Foundation Course, Watercolor School, or spiff up your walls with a little Stenciling Technique.

Learning a language is a great way to spark up some new neurons in your mind or even brush up those skills you know you have! Start your immersion with a couple of phrases in Danish, Mandarin, Norwegian, Swedish, French, German, Japanese, Korean, Russian, or Spanish. You’ll never know who you’ll impress with a little “Good evening, how are you?” (Guten Abend, wie geht es Ihnen?).

Telling a good joke has always been fun, so a good joke book will make any night even watching TV turn into something interesting. This Pretty Good Joke Book will give you some brand new material, or remind you of the joke that got away. Comedy Comes Clean and Joey Adams' Encyclopedia of Humor are always worthy of a look for those bits of humor you can’t do without. Checking out Monty Python’s Flying Circus can always give you some great entertainment while looking to brush up on your repertoire as well.

Feeling like you need some more comfy blankets around the house? Crocheting can get an afghan or two around the house, and there are quite a few books available to give you some ideas of what you can make: Afghans & Crochet Classics, 300 Crochet Stitches, Essential Crochet: Create 30 Irresistible Projects with a few Basic Stitches, and Son of Stitch 'n Bitch: 45 Projects to Knit & Crochet for Men for a little variety in your patterns.

Also, don’t forget that your favorite rainy day activities work well when keeping out of the cold with the family!

Fall in Wisconsin

The leaves on all of the trees around town are beginning to change colors, and for me this means that my favorite season has begun! One of the best parts of autumn is the mix of cool weather and beautiful changing scenery, which is the perfect set-up for a walk around town.

Ozaukee is a great county for beautiful nature hikes with the interurban trail stretching throughout several towns. The trail is a fun and safe way to enjoy time spent outdoors, whether it is alone, with a friend, biking, hiking, rollerblading, or walking a dog. For anyone looking for ways to enjoy nature at its best time of year, I suggest reading a few books on hiking. Pet owners will love Hiking with Dogs: Becoming a Wilderness-Wise Dog Owner by Linda Mullally. For those of you who will not be taking a furry companion along, The Walker's Companion and The Complete Walker are excellent guides.

Backpacking and camping are also great ways to spend time outdoors when the weather is cool. Hiking & backpacking: a complete illustrated guide and How to Make Your Own Lightweight Camping & Hiking Gear are also full of fun and adventurous ideas.


For more ideas about places to go see while the weather is so nice, here are a few more titles available at the library:

50 Hikes in Wisconsin
Follow the Trail: a Young Person's Guide to the Great Outdoors
Hiking Wisconsin